Hasankeyf, by Mehmet Masum

Just like any other ancient city, Hasankeyf has seen many glorious past events in its history. Here the Romans had built the Cephe fortress. Then it became the Kiphas fortress and a bishopric under the Byzantine Empire. It was conquered by the Arabs, in 640 A.D, and renamed Hisn Kayf. When the city was successively captured by the Artukids as their capital in the 12th century, Hasankeyf started to see its golden age; the Old Tigris Bridge was made over the mighty Tigris River, and soon became the staging post on the Silk Road. The Ayyubids captured the city in 1232 and built the mosques that made Hasankeyf an important Islamic center. Then the Dark Age came, the city was captured and sacked by the Mongols in 1260. The history could have stopped there but it didn’t. After the summer homes for Ak Koyunlu emirs had built, the city started to rise from its ashes; followed by the Ottoman ascendancy, established by Selim I in the region in the early 16th century. Hasankeyf became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1515, during Sultan Süleyman I’s campaign of Irakeyn in 1534, at the same time as Batman, Mosul, Baghdad and Basra.

Nikon D200 with Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 | Exposure 1/250sec @ f/2.8 | ISO 400 | Focal Length 17mm
Hasankeyf, by Mehmet Masum

Award Winner: Photo of the Day | December 18
Award Score: 67 (Value 12, Clarity 13, Composition 18, Style 12, Skill 13)
Photo of the Day Award Category: Travel Photography
Photograph Location: Hasankeyf, Batman Province | Turkey

Photographer: Mehmet Masum Suer (Diyarbakir, Turkey) Registered
Mehmet Masum Suer is a Kurdish international photographer and freelance journalist living in city of Diyarbakir in Turkey. He began his career as a journalist in 1974, then worked for different agencies and newspapers of Turkey as a reporter, photo-journalist, writer, redactor and representative. He quit journalism after 1993, and got involved on his researches about history, culture and language. Mehmet Masum Suer has been taking photos professionally in different fields besides photojournalism since 2005. Suer takes pictures of historic places and buildings especially in citys of Diyarbakir, Mardin, Van and Hasankeyf. Meanwhile he has been involved on a project of taking photos of famous Kurdish politicians and artists. Cultural, historical values, and works of art are the subjects that take his attention. Suer also records the cultural festivals, and presentations as documentaries. Some of his exhibitions took place in Turkey, Iraq, and USA. Photos of Suer are especially used in touristic publications such as guide books, brochures, and postcards as well as they are used in international tourism fairs, newspapers, and magazines.

Portfolio: http://www.photo.net/photos/diyarbakir
Portfolio: http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/masum
Portfolio: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/myshot/gallery/367769
Gallery: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/user/Id=21052
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/masumsuer
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mehmet-Masum
Twitter: http://twitter.com/masumsuer