To the east of Erzurum, close to the ancient caravan route, now the Erzurum-Tabriz highway, adjoins the arched Hasanbaba mountain range. Overhanging the road, controlling the valley, is the ancient fortress of Hasankale, at the foot of which lies the small town of Pasinler (the old name of Hasankale and Hesenqele, which means Hassan's fortress).
The fortress is located on the ancient Great Silk Road, in the northern part of the Pasin Plain, on a steep cliff near a mountain slope. The Erzurum fortress was supposedly built by the Byzantines in the first half of the fifth century AD.
The citadel rises to the edge of the sky and is truly breathtaking when you when you look at it from below, from the side of Ilija. This fortress is a beautiful stone structure, as majestic as the Milky Way, it is a sort of a kind of shield on the plain. Except for the commandant, the Imam and the muezzin, there is no one in it. On the fortress hill in the middle of the town you can hear a whole concert of muezzins (muezzin - calling the faithful to prayer from the top of the minaret).
Horses and donkeys can not climb this mountain slope, so in ancient times everything had to be transported to the fortress by hand. For Murad-khan IV, the conqueror of Yerevan, it was an important castle, which, despite its small size, it served as a watchtower.
Pasinler is a rather large fortress with two rows of walls. It's a beautiful stone fortification, which has the shape of a quadrangle with sides resembling a huge swan. Its walls are about eighteen arshins high. On three sides there are very shallow ditches, but there is no particular fear or dread of the enemy, for the place is very low, and the ground is soaked with water, that the enemy, even if he wanted to, he can't dig trenches here. If one digs down to a depth of at least one elbow deep, there's water right away - it's a ruinous and hopeless place.
Erzinjan gate faces west. This gate with its iron gates is huge in size. The secret gate and the gate of Ilija, located in the eastern are locked. There were about seven hundred soldiers in the fortress, a fine armoury and sixty small and large cannons.
Within the citadel are five hundred and ninety brick winter houses, covered with clay, it has nine neighbourhoods and nine mihrabs. The most beautiful cathedral mosque of all those present within the citadel is the the mosque of Suleiman Khan. It is a mosque of old workmanship, low and with one minaret. It is also covered with clay. There is a small market, one caravanserai, one bathhouse and six schools for children. The inhabitants were all brave, able and skilful people, and, in spite of their poverty, remarkably hospitable.
Both in the fortress itself and near it there are no vineyards or gardens - here for most of the year, the winter is harsh and extremely cold. However, despite this, the cereal crops are quite rich.
