Its southwestern course makes a "great bend" to the southeast past the site of ancient Carchemish as it drops into a desert where the Tabaqah Dam formed Lake Assad in 1968.
Erzincan is located on this river's western branch, the Karasu. The eastern branch, the Murat Nehri, rises north of Lake Van and joins the Karasu at Keban, near Malatya, before the combined river carves a gorge through the Taurus Mountains. Its southwestern course makes a "great bend" to the southeast past the site of ancient Carchemish as it drops into a desert where the Tabaqah Dam formed Lake Assad in 1968. Later it receives its tributary the Khabur and divides into the Hillah and Hindiyah branches before flowing past Najaf and entering Lake al-Hammar near the Persian Gulf.  FTP, name this river, which then forms the Shatt-al Arab with its companion, the Tigris, before emptying into the sea.
Erzincan is located on this river's western branch, the Karasu.
Euphrates