Sper (Armenia)

İspir
Ispir castle and the historic citadel mosque.
İspir
Coordinates: 40°29′01″N 40°59′43″E / 40.48361°N 40.99528°E / 40.48361; 40.99528Coordinates: 40°29′01″N 40°59′43″E / 40.48361°N 40.99528°E / 40.48361; 40.99528
Country	Turkey
Province	Erzurum
Government
• Mayor	Osman Çakır (AKP)
• Kaymakam	Hüseyin Engin Sarıibrahim
Area
• District	2,012.46 km2 (777.02 sq mi)
Population (2012)
• Urban	6,570
• District	16,338
• District density	8.1/km2 (21/sq mi)
Post code	25900
Website	www.ispir.bel.tr

İspir (Georgian: სპერი Speri; Armenian: Սպեր Sber or Sper), is a town and district of Erzurum Province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey, on the Çoruh River. The mayor is Osman Çakır (AKP). The district has a population of 30,260 while the town has a population of 11,789.

İspir is the historical Speri for Georgians and Sper for Armenians.

İspir is known from the 3rd millennium BC. The name Sper is thought by some to be derived from Saspers, a tribe mentioned by Xenophon;

Speri was part of the Georgian Kingdom of Tao-Klarjeti.In the 4th-3rd centuries BC it was organized into a province of the Iberian Kingdom as noted by Strabo, and during subsequent centuries it frequently changed hands between Georgians and Armenians.Alexander the Great sent one of his generals Menon to conquer Speri, but Menon and his forces were defeated and killed. Sper was an Armenian Bagratid domain in the fourth to sixth centuries, a domain whose territory also comprised the Bayburt plain until that was lost to the Byzantines (perhaps in 387).

In the 7th century it passed to the Arab Caliphate; in 885 Bagratuni Kingdom of Armenia. Under the medieval Kingdom of Armenia, it was part of the province of Upper Armenia and was famous for its gold mines. In the 11th century it was conquered by the Seljuqs. Ispir was under the control of the Saltukids till 1124 when the Georgians took over power, governed by Zakare and Ivane Zakarids as a fief. It was recaptured by Mughith ad Din Tughrul, son of the Seljuk sultan Kilij Arslan II, sometime between 1201 and 1225. He build a mosque in the citadel which still survives. It was conquered in 1242 by the Mongols; was regained by Georgian Kingdom during the reign of George V the Brilliant (1314–1346), it remained part of the Kingdom before its disintegration, which then passed into the hands of Georgian Atabegs belonging to the House of Jaqeli; it was conquered in 1502 by Persia and was probably in 1515 taken by the Ottoman Empire from the Georgian ruler of Samtskhe. The valley of Ispir was almost completely Christian in the early 16th century. Muslims would increase in later centuries and eventually become the majority. The town was occupied in 1916 by the Russians during World War I and recaptured by the Turks in 1918.