Ermenek 5.63

Ermenek is a town and district of Karaman Province in the Mediterranean region of Turkey. As Ancient Germanicopolis (in Isauria; has namesakes), a former bishopric, it remains a Latin Catholic titular see.The district forms the core of the plateau region Taşeli. According to 2014 census, population of the district is 29,957 of which 11,332 live in the town of Ermenek.NamesThe town was historically known as Germanicopolis, Germanig and possibly Clibanus; which later mutated to Ermenek.HistoryGermanicopolis was an Ancient town in the Roman province of Isauria. (Hierocl. p. 709; Concil. Chalced. p. 659; Const. Porphyr. de Them. i. 13.) The city took its name from Germanicus, grandson of first Emperor Octavian Augustus, as several others.The crusaders sustained a great defeat near the city in 1098. It passed to the Turkic dynasty of the Karamanids and became a centre of the Avşar Turks in 1228. During the Karamanid period, several of Ermenek's historical mosques were constructed, notably : Akca Mosque (1300), Ulu Cami (1302), Sipas Mosque (1306) and Meydan mosque (1436). It was later incorporated into the Ottoman Empire, becoming part of the Karaman Province, where it was the second most important town after Karaman itself.