Aşıkşenlik, formerly Yakınsu and historically Tskhvara (), is a neighbourhood of the town Çıldır, Çıldır District, Ardahan Province, Turkey.Mahalle, Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 16 January 2023. Its population is 277 (2021). Before the 2013 reorganisation, it was a town (belde).Law No. 6360, Official Gazette, 6 December 2012 . It is populated by Karapapakhs.
Etymology
The former name of Aşıkşenlik village is Tskhvara. Tskhvara (ცხვარა), a Georgian place name, was written as Skhvara (سخوارە) in Ottoman Turkish. This name was later pronounced as ‘Sukhara’.გურჯისტანის ვილაიეთის დიდი დავთარი: გამოკვლევა: წიგნი III), Sergi Jikia, Tbilisi, 1947-1958, 3 volumes, volume III (1958), pp. 65, 383. Tskhvara (ცხვარა) may be related to the Georgian word ‘tskhvari’ (ცხვარი), meaning sheep. This word also means ‘Fischer's cornflower’ (Centaurea fischeri)."ცხვარი" - A Comprehensive Georgian-English Dictionary, London, 2006, 2 volumes ISBN 0-9535878-3-5"ცხვარა" - A Comprehensive Georgian-English Dictionary, London, 2006, 2 volumes ISBN 0-9535878-3-5
Geography Aşıkşenlik is from Çıldır, from Ardahan and from the Georgia border check point. It is situated in a high altitude wetland.
History
Aşıkşenlik is an old settlement. It was captured by Seljukid sultan Alp Arslan in 1064. After Harzemshah, Kipchaks and Mongols dominations it was annexed by the Ottoman sultan Süleyman I in 1546. According to Evliya Çelebi who lived in the 17th century, Aşıkşenlik (then known as Sukara) was one of the wealthiest towns of the Ottoman Empire in the east.
The village of Tskhvara was part of Georgia before it was captured by the Ottomans in 1578. Indeed, the remains of megalithic structures in the village indicate that it was an ancient settlement.ხუციშვილი, თეიმურაზ; გოზალიშვილი, ბებურ; იმედაშვილი, ანა; კოღუაშვილი, შალვა; მაისურაძე, დავით; წიქარიშვილი, ლევან - "ტაო-კლარჯეთის ძეგლების 2019 წლის საკვლევი ექსპედიციების ანგარიშები" Tiflis, 2021, pp. 81-82. ISBN 978-9941-9746-3-2 In the Ottoman census of 1595, Tskhvara consisted of 18 Christian households, most of whose heads bore Georgian names.გურჯისტანის ვილაიეთის დიდი დავთარი: გამოკვლევა: წიგნი III), Sergi Jikia, Tbilisi, 1947-1958, 3 volumes, volume III (1958), pp. 382.გურჯისტანის ვილაიეთის დიდი დავთარი: გამოკვლევა: წიგნი III), Sergi Jikia, Tbilisi, 1947-1958, 3 volumes, volume II (1941), p. 260
The village of Tskhvara was ceded to Russia by the Ottoman Empire following the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. In the 1886 census of the Russian administration, Sukhara (Сухара) was one of eight villages in the Sukhara sub-district (Сухаринскій маркязъ) of the Çıldır district (uchastok) of the Ardahan Okrug. It was also the administrative center of the sub-district (маркязъ). The village had a population of 806, of whom 7 were Turks and 799 were Karapapak.Свод статистических данных о населении Закавказскаго края, извлеченных из посемейных списков 1886 г., Tbilisi, 1893, "Kars oblast": 428
In 1877 Russians captured Aşıkşenlik during the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878). But in 1921 it was returned to Turkey.Mayor’s page
References