Covering an area of around 6,335 ha (15,650 acres),[3] it was established as the 42nd national park of Turkey on 31 October 2016,[1][2] on the 100th anniversary of the defensive battle of the Ottoman Army at this site.

After the Russian troops captured Erzurum on 16 February 1916,[3] the defense battles, fought in and in mountainous area around Bayburt under the command of the V Corps Fevzi Çakmak between 20 March and 15 July 1916, changed the course of the Eastern Front.

Traces left by gun carriages of the artillery and trenches on the battlefield survived without any deterioration except for climate factors.

Part of the national historic park was declared as Mount Kop Tourism Area on 17 October 1993.

The basement rocks of the region are represented by pre-Jurassic, small-scale metamorphic masses, generally composed of gneiss, schist and amphibolites, which includes dunite, harzburgite, lherzolite, wehrlite, pyroxenite and abbro giving outcrop over large areas.