Current Time in Adıyaman, Turkey

Adiyaman lies in south-eastern Turkey, on a plateau at the foot of the Taurus mountains where the highlands fall away towards the Euphrates and the plains of Mesopotamia. The city is the capital of a province of the same name, set among orchards, tobacco fields and vineyards, with the reservoir of the Ataturk Dam glittering to the south and the peak of Mount Nemrut rising to the north-east. Summers are hot and dry, winters cold enough for snow on the surrounding hills.

The city has a population of around three hundred thousand. Its economy is based on agriculture and food processing, especially tobacco, pistachios, apricots and cotton, together with textiles, petroleum extracted from nearby fields, and a growing tourism sector. The Southeastern Anatolia irrigation project has transformed farming across the province in recent decades.

People have lived in this region for many thousands of years, and the province contains some of the oldest known settlements in the world. In antiquity it belonged to the kingdom of Commagene, a small but wealthy state that flourished between the Roman and Parthian empires and mixed Greek and Persian traditions. The town later passed through Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Seljuk and Ottoman hands, each leaving traces in its fortress and mosques. Modern Adiyaman grew rapidly in the twentieth century, and it suffered severely in the earthquakes of February 2023, which destroyed much of the city centre and prompted a large reconstruction effort that continues today.

The province's great treasure is Mount Nemrut, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most extraordinary archaeological places in the world. On a summit more than two thousand metres high, a Commagene king built a burial mound flanked by colossal seated statues of gods, whose enormous stone heads now lie tumbled on the terraces. Visitors climb before dawn to watch the sun rise behind the heads, a sight that has become an emblem of Anatolia. Nearby stand the Roman bridge of Cendere, the tumulus of Karakus with its columns, and the hilltop ruins of Arsameia and Perre, an ancient city with rock-cut tombs on the edge of Adiyaman itself.

In the city, the archaeological museum displays finds from Commagene and from the many sites drowned by the Euphrates reservoirs, including mosaics and statues. Local culture is Anatolian and partly Kurdish, expressed in music, folk dance and a cuisine of kebabs, bulgur dishes, stuffed vegetables and rich desserts made with local pistachios. Boat trips on the Ataturk reservoir and visits to villages half-submerged by its waters are popular excursions.

Highways connect the city to Gaziantep, Malatya and Sanliurfa, a railway station lies at nearby Kahta, and an airport offers flights to Istanbul and Ankara. Adiyaman University serves the province with faculties of medicine, engineering, education and archaeology.

Adiyaman deserves attention as the gateway to Mount Nemrut and to the remarkable ancient heritage of the upper Euphrates, and as a city rebuilding itself with determination.