Elbistan (Old Anatolian Turkish: Ablasta, Ablastayn, Ablastin, Ablistan;^[2] Kurdish: Elbistan;^[3] Arabic: البستان (Al-Bustan) ^[4]) is a municipality and district of Kahramanmaraş Province, Turkey.^[5] Its area is 2,201 km²,^[6] and its population is 141,307 (2022).^[1] It is the second-largest district of the province by area. The rural neighbourhoods of the district are populated by majority Kurds, while the urban town is populated by majority Turks .

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Elbistan
District and municipality
Map showing Elbistan District in Kahramanmaraş Province
Elbistan Location in Turkey
Coordinates: 38°12′05″N 37°11′18″E
Country	Turkey
Province	Kahramanmaraş
Government
• Mayor	Erkan Gürbüz (CHP)
Area	2,201 km2 (850 sq mi)
Elevation	1,150 m (3,770 ft)
Population  (2022)[1]	141,307
• Density	64/km2 (170/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+3 (TRT)
Postal code	46300
Area code	0344
Website	www.elbistan.bel.tr

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The name "Elbistan" was pronounced similarly in Byzantine and Islamic sources. Elbistan was known as Plasta and Plastentia (Greek: Πλαστεντία) in antiquity. Elbistan was known as Ablasta (Armenian: Աբլաստա) according to Armenian historians in the early 11th century. According to Baldric of Dol the city was known as "Ablistan" till 15th century. Egyptian-Mamluk historian Muhammad ibn Iyas wrote the city's name as "Albistan". Alaüddevle Bozkurt Bey from Dulkadirids used the name "Elbistan" in the official documents. After Dulkadirids were conquered by the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century, the current name became prevalent. Among the rural people of Elbistan it is pronounced as "Albıstan". Albistan means "the orchard" in Arabic.^[7]

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The beginnings of Elbistan are to be found in the mid-10th century and seems to have been settled first by Armenian immigrants.^[8] By the end of the 11th century, the town had become the most important one in the Elbistan plain, was fortified against Turkish raiders and was seat of an Armenian bishop.^[8] When the army of the First Crusade passed through Anatolia recovering land for the Byzantine Empire in 1097, Peter Aliphas was installed as governor of Plastentia.^[9]

In 1277 the Mamluks led by Baybars defeated a Mongol army in the Battle of Elbistan. Thereafter, Elbistan and the region around it became part of the Mamluk northern frontier.^[10] In 1337 Zeyneddin Karaca Bey captured the town from the Mamluks and established the Beylik of Dulkadir with the region around Elbistan and Marash as its center.^[11] Nevertheless, Dulkadirids continued to pay homage to the Mamluks and fought with the Karamandids to defend Mamluk interests though they sought for more autonomy.^[10] The Dulkadirids controlled the region for 178 years until the Ottomans finally conquered it in 1515.^[11]

Elbistan became then known as "vilayet-i Türkmân" in the Ottoman documents.^[12] Evliya Çelebi's Seyahatnâme from the 17th century gives information about the region that in the mountains and towns mostly reside Turkmens who originally migrated from Bukhara.^[13][14] It seems that some local chiefdoms were given varying degrees of autonomy, notably around the localities of Haticepınar and Kasanlı.

Evliya Çelebi noted that the majority of the town's population was Turkoman in his seyahatname.^[15] Currently, the majority of the population of the district is Sunni Turkish^[16] with a significant Alevi and Sunni Kurdish population.^[17][18] Turkish Alevis are also present.^[19] The Turkmen Alevism of the region is historically rooted in the Alevi Turcoman Beylik of Dulkadir in the 14th century.^[2][20]

Elbistan has a fairly dry climate with cold winters and hot, dry summers. Elbistan's climate is classified as a dry-summer continental climate (Köppen: Dsa).^[21]

The Elbistan coalfield supplies lignite to the nearby Afşin-Elbistan power stations in Afşin.

It is said that air pollution in Turkey from the nearby coal-fired power stations also affects Elbistan, as well as smoke from landfill.^[23] In late 2020 the oldest plant Afşin-Elbistan A, was said by opposition MP Ali Öztunç to be still operating without filters.^[24]

There are 92 neighbourhoods in Elbistan District:^[25]

• Mustafa Atici, Swiss politician of Kurdish descent
• Mazlum Çimen, ballet dancer, award-winning film score composer and folk singer
• Fidan Doğan, murdered Kurdish activist
• Tulay Goren, missing Kurdish schoolgirl
• Kemal Gözükara, mathematician, businessman and president of the Istanbul Arel University
• Mahir Ünal, Turkish MP and former minister of Culture and Tourism
• Tahsin Yücel, Turkish translator, novelist, essayist and literary critic