Ankuzu Baba

A legendary warrior-dervish remembered by his tomb atop the Ankuzu rocks about 7-8 km north of Harput. According to tradition he was martyred during the conquest of Harput in the campaigns for Anatolia, his body remaining undecayed in a cave for many years; today he is buried in that area, his tomb beside the lodge and mosque built by Beyzade Efendi (1810-1904). His precise identity and death date cannot be documented (one tradition holds he was a soldier in the 8th-9th-century Arab-Byzantine wars); it is therefore recorded transparently as being of disputed identity/grave-certainty. Its location, one of the highest points in the area, is also known as a place of visitation and recreation. (Sources: harput.web.tr; evliyalar.net; Günışığı Gazetesi.)