The Murat River, also called Eastern Euphrates (Turkish: Murat Nehri, Kurdish: Çemê Miradê, Armenian: Արածանի, romanized: Aratsani), is a major source of the Euphrates River. The Ancient Greeks and Romans used to call the river Arsanias (Ancient Greek: Ἀρσανίας). It originates near Mount Ararat north of Lake Van, in Eastern Turkey, and flows westward for 722 km (449 mi) through mountainous terrain. Before the construction of the Keban Dam, the Murat River joined the Karasu River or Western Euphrates 10 km (6.2 mi) north of the dam site and 13 km (8.1 mi) north of the town of Keban.[1]
In Muş Province, the river is interrupted near Toklu by the Alpaslan-1 Dam,[2][3] which was completed in 2009. The Alpaslan-2 Dam was completed in 2021[4] and is located downstream of Alpaslan-1. The river merges into the reservoir of the Keban Dam, at one time Turkey's largest dam, which was completed in 1974 and provides electrical power.[5]
In Bingöl and Elazığ provinces, Kalehan Energy has four dams planned for the river: from upstream to downstream, the Upper Kaleköy Dam, Lower Kaleköy Dam, Beyhan I Dam, and Beyhan II Dam. The Beyhan I and Upper Kaleköy dams are already completed. Once completed, all four dams will have a combined installed capacity of 1,855 MW.[6]
Origin of the river name
The present name is usually connected with the Turkish given name Murat or the word from which that name derives, murat'purpose, intention, desire'. But this may be folk etymology, so Hrach Martirosyan tentatively proposes derivation from Old Armenianmōrat, murat'mud, marsh'.[7]
The river was called Arșania in sources of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, and Arsanias in Classical Greek and Roman sources.[8] Those forms may be derived from an earlier form of Armenian ԱրածանիAratsani, which Armen Petrosyan derives from an Armenian descendant of the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂erǵ'white, bright'.[9][10] Armenian Aratsani may have developed from an earlier form *Artsani (whence Akkadian Arșania with the addition of the toponymic suffix -iya and Greek Arsanias) under the influence of many other Armenian toponyms beginning with Ara-.[10]
^Kessler, Karlheinz (1995). "Šubria, Urartu and Aššur: Topographical Questions around the Tigris Sources". In Liverani, Mario (ed.). Neo-Assyrian Geography. Università di Roma, Dipartimento di scienze storiche, archeologiche e antropologiche dell'Antichità. p. 57.
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