Şanlıurfa (Urfa - Riha )

Şanlıurfa often known Urfa or in Kurdish: Riha, is a city in south-eastern Turkey, and the capital of Şanlıurfa Province. Urfa is situated on a plain about 80km east of the Euphrates River. A large part of the population of Urfa is Kurdish, with a sizeable minority of Arabs. 'Şanlı' means great, glorious, dignified in Turkish and Urfa was officially re-named Şanlıurfa (Urfa the Glorious) by the Turkish Grand National Assembly in 1984, in recognition of the local resistance in the Turkish War of Independence.The history of Şanlıurfa is recorded from the 4th century BC, but may date back to the 8th century BC. It was one of several cities in the Euphrates-Tigris basin, the cradle of the Mesopotamian civilization. According to Turkish Muslim traditions Urfa is the biblical city of Ur, due to its proximity to the biblical village of Harran. Urfa is also known as the birthplace of Abraham, commemorated by a mosque in the city and the birthplace of Job. Among the tourist attractions shown in this video are: - Ulu camii - the Pool of Sacred Fish (Balıklıgöl) where Abraham was thrown into the fire by Nimrod. - the mosque of Halil-ur-Rahman built in 1211 - Rizvaniye Mosque - an Ottoman mosque adjoining the Balıklıgöl complex.