Pertek Castle

Turkey, Turkey

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Pertek Castle in Tunceli Province, Turkey, likely originated in Urartian times around the 8th century BCE to guard nearby copper mines and trade routes along the Murat River, with its current form built in the 11th century by Seljuk Mengujekid beys on sheer cliffs.

Restored under Ottoman rule in the 16th century alongside local mosques, it featured basalt stone walls, clinker tiles, cisterns for sieges, two defensive lines, and a monumental gate once adorned with an eagle relief noted by traveler Evliya Çelebi.

Since the 1974 Keban Dam flooded the area, the fortress stands isolated on a scenic island amid the reservoir, its lower gate occasionally revealed by droughts as a layered monument of Eastern Anatolian history.