History

          Historical background of Yusufeli is traced to years of. 3000 BC, it means that related to Bronze Age. Hurri's, Urartu, Persians, Romans, Byzantine, Georgians and Armenians lived at Yusufeli. Than Yusufeli live Seljuklian, Saltuk, İlhanlı, Timur, Akkoyunlu, Safevi and Ottoman periods. It changed to a county of Çıldır with the name Kiksim in 1879. Then because of the war between Otoman Empire and Russia it became a county of Erzurum. Because of the rocky geography it was difficult for all villages to transport easily to city center therefore Ögdem became the county center. After a while it noticed it also difficult to serve public services from Ögdem therefore Kılıçkaya(Ersis) became the center of county. (Also Ersis means a place where no boys lives. Because of the war between Otoman Empire and Russia in 1878 and first wold war all the boys had gone to war and most of the boys died therefore it was called Ersis.) In the year 1912 the county name became Yusuf İli because the former name Kiskim was conflicted with the name Keskin which was a county of Ankara at that time. The city center became the current place in 1950.