According to Evliya Çelebi travels in eastern and southeast Anatolia comparative analysis of some castles and other sources

In the 17th century, the great Ottoman traveler Eyliya Çelebi visited many cities and castles through his travels to Eastern Region of Turkey and wrote his observations in detail in his work named Seyahatnâme. In some parts of Seyahatnâme, he mentioned shortly about castles and castle towns that he visited, but in other parts of the book he gave detailed explanations about these castles and castle towns. Our work includes information given by Evliya Çelebi about some of the castles (Ahlat Kalesi, Adilcevaz Kalesi, Bitlis Kalesi, Diyarbakır Kalesi, Erzurum Kalesi, Mardin Kalesi, Van Kalesi) which are important in the history of the region and gives a comparison of this information with other scientific studies.Evliya Çelebi often used mystical elements and religious items to explain how castles, which are topics of our work, were built and where the names of castles came from. Also, he benefited from what he read, heard and experienced while explaining the historical development of the castles.In his work, while Eyliya Çelebi was telling about castles? history before the period of Ottoman Empire, we see that he didn?t stick to a chronological narrative, didn?t mention some important states in the region and gave inaccurate or misinformation. On the other hand, he gave very detailed information about the castles? history in the period of Ottoman Empire. Since Seyahatnâme gave information about a very large area, it shouldn?t be expected that whole information written in Seyahatnâme is full and correct. However, this doesn?t mean that Seyahatnâme is not an important source, because Seyahatnâme presents a wealth of information for people who carefully examine it.In conclusion, Seyahatnâme includes very significant information enlightening the castles? architecture and period?s administrative structure. Especially, Evliya Çelebi?s experiences during his travels to castle-towns like Diyarbakır, Van, Bitlis provide unique information about the social and political structure of the period. Key Words: Castle, Travels, City, Architecture, Administration.