Historical data show that like the North Anatolian fault zone, which was delineated by a series of earthquakes during this century from east to west, so was the conjugate Eastern Anatolian fault zone delineated from the northeast to the southwest by a succession of large earthquakes in earlier times, with a major event at its junction with the Dead Sea fault system. This event was associated with surface faulting and occurred in a region seismically quiescent for nearly two centuries.