The city came under Seljuk rule after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 and the local Armenians established principalities in the area.

[6] The region around Gargar and the Mor Bar Sauma Monastery became a particular base of power for local chiefs of Syrian and Armenian origin.

Close relations between the Armenians and the Crusader states, however, continued until Nur ad-Din captured the area in 1150.

The area came under the rule of Timurtash of the Artuqids for his support for Nur ad-Din and later the Seljuks from the beginning of the 13th century.

The locals failed at removing the rulership of Kilij Arslan II during the late 12th century.

The local Armenians welcomed American missionaries approaching them during the 19th century at first, but prevented them from converted them later on.

[13] The names of 224 villages in Adiyaman Province was Turkified as part of the campaign to remove any mention of Kurdishness in the country.

[18] The Turkish authorities put the province under State of emergency (OHAL) in the early 1990s as part of the Kurdish–Turkish conflict.

[33] The province is generally more pious than other Kurdish areas in Turkey[34] and has been a hotspot for radicalization and Islamism in recent years (see Dokumacılar).

[35] Historian Şahidin Şimşek argued that Hanafi adherents in the province had been manipulated by the state to believe that Kurdish nationalism equated to Alevism.