Sanli Urfa
Sanli Urfa (in Turkish Şanlıurfa) is a city in eastern Turkey, about 80 kilometres east of the Euphrates River.
According to Muslim tradition it is the location of Ur, and the birthplace of Abraham is said to be at a mosque in the city. The Great Mosque at Urfa was built in 1170, on the site of a Christian church the Arabs called the "red church." probably incorporating some Roman masonry. Contemporary tradition at the site identifies the well of the mosque as that into which the towel (mendil) of the prophet Jesus was thrown (see Image of Edessa).
In ancient and medieval times it was called Edessa (for a more detailed history of the city, see that article). Under the Ottomans it was a centre of trade in cotton, leather, and jewellery. It still has ruins of its ancient walls and of an Arab castle. The population is about 275,000 (1990). There were three Christian communities, Syrian, Armenian, and Latin. The last Syrian Christians left in 1924 and went to Aleppo.
