Conclusion
Contemporary Harput/Mezre, now called Elazığ (a shortened and altered version of the more regal sounding former provincial name of Mamuretülaziz), like many drab provincial Anatolian metropolises, bears few reminders of its imperial past. The ancient Urartu fortress, around which the bustling neighbourhoods of Harput once stood, now stands in splendid isolation perched high above the central city. The buildings that once comprised the campus of Euphrates College have long ago been demolished, along with the churches that were once an architectural mainstay of the hilltop city. The Armenian past of the once dual city has been methodically erased. Few reminders exist of the sojourners that regularly travelled between the villages that still dot the surrounding countryside and the factories of the American northeast. The Elazığ municipality website’s page on the region’s history ends abruptly in 1880, and makes no mention of its once substantial Armenian population....