Elazığ

GENERAL CHARACTERISTIC OF THE REGION
	ELAZIĞ

The city of Elazığ is a city in the Eastern part of Anatolia. It is the center of the province of the same name. Elazığ has 9.153 kilometers square area and it is bordered by the provinces of Bingöl to the east and Northeast, Diyarbakır to the south, Malatya to the west and southwest, Erzincan to the northwest, and Tunceli to the north. Elazığ has a rough and mountainous area. It is located between provinces of Tunceli High Mass and middle of southeast Toros Mountains. Elazığ is bordered Hazar and Maden Mountains and Ak mountain to the south, Karaboğa mountains, which is extension of southeast Toros mountains, to the east, Peri Stream and Keban Dam Lake to the north, Karakaya Dam Lake to the west and southwest. The Hasan mountain located in Baskil Mountainous region in the west interrupts the flow of Euphrates river and the river continues to flow by circling the mountain. Sırma Hill of the Ak mountains located southeast of Palu rises to 2576 meters and this hill is the highest point of the province.
The low parts of the province are Uluova and Palu Plains which are located in the middle of the sequence of the depressions placed in the south of the Eastern Anotolian region . Peri stream and other narrow plains located in the vallaeys of Euphrates and Murat rivers, are the other low-lying areas in the province. A large part of the Uluova Plain fed by Haringet River are inundated by Keban Dam Lake. Plains which occupy high zone of Karaboğa and Ak Mountains are very important for stock-breeding. The Hazar Lake is located in the tectonic depression between the Mastar and Hazar Mountains which occupy center of the province.
Elaziğ has rich surface water resources. Euphrates and Dicle Rivers collect all waters of the rivers of the province. The point where Murat and Karasu Rivers join and Murat River and its tributary Peru are now inundated by the Keban Dam Lake. The Karakaya Dam Lake, on the other hand, is located in the bend of Euphrates River Baskil mass.The major tributaries of Murat River located within the province are Haringet and Cip streams.
	Hazar Lake is most important natural lake. The lake which is 1248 meters above the sea level is new discharging its water into the Euphrates Basin through a tunnel constructed to operate hdyro- power plant in 1957 while it discharged its water only to Tigris River Basin in previous years. Keban Dam Lake is second artificial lake of the Turkey and it has 675 kilometres square area. The area of the Karakaya dam lake is 298 kilometres square. Cip River is a tributary of Murat River. There is a little artificial dam lake back of the Cip Dam which constructed on the Cip River.
The rich forest resources of the province has diminished significantly as a result of clear-cutting, grazing animals, and cutting trees for fuel. The existing forest areas in the province are mostly damaged small wood and replaced with bushes and forest areas where villagers have wood-cutting rights. In the upper elevations, it is possible to see birch-trees and oak forest.