| Summary: | In this article, a text from the archive of Šu-Ištar, discovered in 1992 season of Kültepe excavations, is introduced. This text is a letter sent from a merchant called Iliya to Šu-Ištar and contains some new information about Subartu region which is a problematic subject in Mesopotamian history. Subartu was recorded only as nisbe in about 20 published Kültepe tablets. But in this letter, it was used for the first time with a certain geographical meaning. According to statements in the text it is understood that Assyrian traders were active commercially in that region, too. It is more important to emphasize that the articulation of a trader to another for suing him in Subartu makes us think that there were also Assyrian colonies in that region. Because it is well known that the lawsuits between the merchants could only take place in the centers of kārum and wabartumstations or in the city assembly of Asur. If it is taken into consideration that Subartu region comprises the entire Northern Mesopotamia from the Zagros Mountains to the Amanos ranges, it is not easy to determine which part of this vast area was corresponded to the Subartu according to our text in the 2nd millennium B.C.
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