Erzincan is one of the oldest cultural centers in Anatolia . Erzincan is situated on the route of the Silk Road and was reigned over by Hitites, Urartians, Persians, Romans. Erzincan’s population has been affected by social and economic developments as well as by a number of earthquakes that have occured in the city. Most noteably the earthquake that destroyed the city on December 27, 1939 that registered at 8.2 on the Richter Scale. Researchers claim that the history of location goes to the paleolitic age. In the excavations on the Erzincan Plane, some archeological discoveries show that the history of the city dates from between 3000 and 2000 BC. Erzincan has a continental climate bearing a more temperate climate than the other provinces in the Eastern Anatolia Region. The annual temperature averages 10.6 degrees, the coldest month is January with an average temperature of -3.7 degrees celsius, the warmest month on average is the month of August at 23.9 degrees celsius.

Erzincan cuisine is all about variety and the region is famed for its delicious mouth watering pastries. The dishes of note in Erzincan are: Kete is a flaky pastry filled with butter roasted flour or chopped walnut, mostly famous in Erzurum, Van, Kayseri, Kars and Sivas Provinces. Each Kete, from different city, has a signature shape, taste and texture so you can easily distinguish from one another such as those in a shape of letter, those shaped in a medium square because it is generally prepared in large baking trays. Or they can be a large whole and round pastry that aren’t sliced up. In addition, some of have slightly sweet filling with walnuts with some having savory flour fillings. Wheat and animal products constitute most of the main ingredients of the citys cuisine. Bulgur, yarma, tarhana, eriste and dovme are the most consumed flour-based foods of the city. Especially, bulgur which is used in many of the Erzincan dishes. Sirin, gesafe, esgili, kesme soup, sarma, water pastry are among the significant offerings from the culinary culture of the city. Erzincan is also famous for its roasted chickpeas (Turkish: tava leblebi) and tulum cheese (Turkish: Tulum Peyniri). Erzincan Tulumu is a pungent sheep milk cheese made in the Erzincan Province. Traditionally, it is aged in a goat skin and you can still see vendors in the Istanbul Spice Bazaar unwrapping it from its animal skin sheath. But today it is more and more being aged in plastic tubs, a process that has changed the way the cheese tastes and its appearance.