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Cappadocia

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Cappadocia is an ancient region name that is covering 5 cities now in middle Anatolia: Nevsehir, Aksaray, Kirsehir, Kayseri and Nigde. It covers a land of almost 450 km² and all these cities have some interesting sites to see even though most of the amazing valleys and caves have been formed in Nevsehir and Aksaray. The region was under the control of many civilizations in the history such as Assyrians, Hittites, Persian, Romans, Seljuks and Ottomans. The Hittites are accepted as the first carvers in Cappadocia realizing the softness of the rocks and they carved houses & other dwellings into the rocks rather than building them. The name of the region comes from a word “Katpatuka” from Persian language. When they were in control, they domesticated the wild horses in the region and used in transportation. After the while, the other civilizations started to call the region as Katpatuka meaning “the land of beautiful horses”. Cappadocia region had started to have some Christian population when Romans controlled the region in the 1st century A.D. As the only official religion in Romans was the Pagan religion, The Romans did not like the idea of having a new religion in their land and they started to persecute the citizens living in Cappadocia. The Christians living in Cappadocia carved some secret churches in the deepest sections of the valleys or carved some underground cities in the region to protect themselves from the Roman soldiers. Today, these underground cities are one of the most visited sites in the region and they in UNESCO World Heritage list. After the legalization of Christianity in Roman Empire in 4th century, people started to carve some visible churches in the region and they started to form 3 distinctive Christian centers in Cappadocia: Goreme, Soganli and Ihlara. These 3 places in Cappadocia have the most numbers of churches in the region and all these 3 areas offer a different experience to the visitors. In 11th century, Seljuks (Middle-Asian Turks) who were Muslims controlled the area and they started to live together with the Christian population peacefully in the region. Ottomans conquered the region in 15th century and they were in control until 1923 when the Turkish Republic was founded. After the foundation of the republic, Greek and Turkish have reached an agreement to change the population. So, after the population exchange, the population of Cappadocia has become 99% Muslim.