a small town in Turkish Asia, about 40 m. below Hillah, on both banks of the Euphrates (3 1 ° 5 8 ' 47" N., 44° 58' 18" E.), which is here spanned by a floating bridge. Formerly a military post for the control of the Affech territory, and a telegraph station, it was in 1893 made the capital of the sanjak, instead of Hillah, on account of its more strategical position. This transfer of the seat of government represented a step in the development of Turkish control over the central regions of Irak.