‘Ephesus is celebrating its 110th anniversary of excavations,’ says Professor Olus Arik', who is leading the dig at Hasankeyf. ‘We need a minimum of fifty years here and we have just nine or ten' .
A legend told by Cheref-Ouddin, Kurdish prince of Bitlis, in his book “Cheref-Nameh” (Marvels of the Kurdish Nation), written exactly 400 years ago, recalls an Arab prisoner called Hasan.
"Hasan, who was had been sentenced to death, requested a last favour. He asked if he could  ride, for one last time, his beloved horse in the courtyard of the fortress, towering above the waters of the Tigris river, where he was incarcerated? His last request was granted -- and during the course of his ride, the prisoner jumped off his horse over the wall of the fortress into Tigris -- a formidable leap of 150 meters. The horse died on landing in the waters but the prisoner escaped, to the astonishment of all who witnessed the scene. According to legend, the spectators exclaimed: “Hasan Keif?” (Hasan, How), and from that day on the name was bestowed on the fortress which has kept it through the centuries."

Hasankeyf is one of Turkey's most important heritage which has got only countable days left  before its eventual loss to flooding waters.  Hasankeyf (Greek: Kiphas; Latin: Cepha; Arabic: Hisn Kayfa; Syriac: Hesno d-Kifo; Kurdish: Hesenkeyf) is a city located along the Tigris River in Batman Province in south-eastern  Turkey.  Hasankeyf excursion will astound every one with its  roots of the ancient civilizations of the upper Mesopotomia.  It is an ancient city, with roots going back  to  10,000 years.

In summers  the temperatures get very high , so  if you have a choice of time,  plan your tour in April to May or September to end of October. You can get to Hasankeyf using Diyarbakir as a base,   map of location
 


   
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The remains of the old bridge across Tigris river
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Hasankeyf  had been the capital city of Artukogullan between the years 1101 and 1231. The castle of the city is built on a high hill in the south of Tigris (Dicle).  Imam Abdullah dervish lodge, Zeynel Bey tomb, Hasankeyf palace and bridge are among the structures to stand still.
Originally a Roman frontier town named Cepha. An important out post for Byzantines. After Arab control 640 C name changed  from Greek Kiphas to Hisn Kayfa. In the centuries followed it became today's Hasankeyf. One can find many remains of Artukids. According to an Arab Chroicle the bridge built over Tigres river regarded finest in Anatolia. Artukids emir Fahreddin Kara Aslan repaired it in 1116. After Mongol invasion of Anatolia Hasankeyf took its share and never recovered its past glory. Fatih, Mehmet I annexed it for Ottoman domination in 1416.

The Romans had built a fortress on the site and the city became a bishopric under the Byzantine Empire. It was conquered by the Arabs, in ca. 640, who built a bridge over the Tigris river. The city was successively ruled by the Artukids and Ayyubids. The city was captured and sacked by the Mongols in 1260. Following the Ottoman ascendancy established by Selim I in the region in early 16th century, the city has become part of the Ottoman Empire since the reign of Sultan Süleyman I's campaign of Irakeyn (the two Iraqs, e.g. Arabian and Persian) in 1534, at the same time as Diyarbakýr, Mosul, Baghdad and Basra.
hasankeyf tour
Hasankeyf - A City in Peril
Though it was declared a natural conservation area by Turkey in 1981  archaeologists are now working against the clock to discover the secrets of ancient Hasankeyf before it is flooded by the waters of the proposed Ilisu dam. Dr S. Guyer quoted to say
‘Try to imagine a steep cliff rising from the water and crowned by a decaying castle, the whole face of it perforated with cave-dwellings of a very early date in which the present inhabitants live; and at the end of the cliff a ruined mosque with a minaret, from the side of which a grandiose and now broken medieval bridge stretches over the majestically winding river to the opposite shore.’
This is how Dr S. Guyer described his first sight of Hasankeyf as he sailed down the River Tigris through south-eastern Turkey, heading for Iraq. The German adventurer made his journey in the early 1920s, although if he went back today, little would have changed. What he would find is a small army of Turkish archaeologists working against the clock to discover the secrets of ancient Hasankeyf before it is flooded by the waters of the proposed Ilisu dam. The Turks say their aim is to have the dam operational by the next decade.