Bingöl

Does a city’s memory change when its name does? Bingöl, which older generations knew as Çapakçur, is a good reason to ask… Today the city, named for the thousand lakes (bin göl) in its mountains, sits in the valley carved by the Göynük River, at the foot of the Bingöl Mountains. One name goes, another comes; but the valley where the city sits, the river flowing by and the mountains around it remain the same.