Mersin
—  City  —
Mersin Location of Mersin within Turkey
Coordinates: 36°48′N 34°38′E / 36.8°N 34.633°E / 36.8; 34.633Coordinates: 36°48′N 34°38′E / 36.8°N 34.633°E / 36.8; 34.633
Country	Turkey
Region	Mediterranean
Province	Mersin
Government
• Mayor	Macit Özcan (CHP)
Area
• City	1,772 km2 (684 sq mi)
Elevation	100 m (300 ft)
Population (2010)[1]
• Density	466/km2 (1,210/sq mi)
• Metro	843,429
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Postal code	33XXX
Area code(s)	(+90) 324
Licence plate	33
Website	Mersin

Mersin (Ancient Greek: Ζεφύριον, Zephyrion) is a large city and a port on the Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. The metropolitan area in the entire Mersin Province had a population of 195,000 (city center) as of 2010,^[1] making it Turkey's sixth most populous city. It is also part of an interurban agglomeration – the Adana-Mersin Metropolitan Area – and lies on the western part of Çukurova, a geographical, economical and cultural region. According to Evliya Çelebi, the city is named after the Mersinoğullari clan; another theory is that it is made from the myrtle (Greek: μύρτος, μυρσίνη) which grows abundanlty in the region.^[2]

Mersin is important for Turkey's economy, and Turkey's largest seaport is located here. Mersin's nickname within Turkey is "Pearl of the Mediterranean" (Turkish: Akdeniz'in İncisi) and the city will host the 2013 Mediterranean Games.

History[link]

This coast has been inhabited since the 9th millennium BC. Excavations by John Garstang of the hill of Yumuktepe have revealed 23 levels of occupation, the earliest dating from ca. 6300 BC. Fortifications were put up around 4500 BC, but the site appears to have been abandoned between 350 BC and 300 BC.

In subsequent centuries, the city became a part of many states and civilizations including the Hittites, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Seleucids and Lagids. During the Ancient Greek period, the city bore the name Zephyrion (Greek: Ζεφύριον^[3]) and was mentioned by numerous ancient authors. Apart from its natural harbor and strategic position along the trade routes of southern Anatolia, the city profited from trade in molybdenum (white lead) from the neighbouring mines of Coreyra. Ancient sources attributed the best molybdenum to the city, which also minted its own coins.

The area later became a part of the Roman province of Cilicia, which had its capital at Tarsus, while nearby Mersin was the major port. The city, whose name was Latinized to Zephyrium, was renamed as Hadrianopolis in honor of the Roman emperor Hadrian.

In 375, the Roman Empire was split in two and this area fell into the half ruled from Byzantium (later Constantinople), which became the centre of trade in this part of the world, drawing investments and trade, and causing Mersin to lose its attractiveness.

The city was Baptist early and was the see of a worshiper. Le Quien (Oriens christianus, II, 883) names four bishops of Zephyrium: Aerius, present at the Council of Constantinople in 381; Zenobius, a Nestorian, at the Second Council of Constantinople in 432-434; Hypatius, present at the Council of Chalcedon in 451; and Peter, at the Council in Trullo in 692. The city remains a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church, Zephyriensis; the see has been vacant since 1966.^[4]

Then came the Arabs, Egyptian Tulunids, Seljuk Turks, Mongol Empire, Crusaders, Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, Mamluks, Anatolian beyliks, and finally the city was conquered by the Ottomans from the Ramadanid Principality in 1473 and formally annexed by Selim I in 1517.

During the American Civil War, the region became a major supplier of cotton to make up for the high demand due to shortage. Railroads were extended to Mersin in 1866 from where cotton was exported by sea, and the city developed into a major trade center.

In 1918, Mersin was occupied by French and British troops in accord with the Treaty of Sevrès. It was liberated by the Turkish army in 1920. In 1924, Mersin was made a province, and in 1933 Mersin and İçel provinces were joined to form the (greater Mersin) İçel province.

Atatürk and Mersin[link]

Atatürk's House

Mersin Halkevi

Atatürk visited Mersin ten times and stayed in Mersin five times. He said, 'Mersin is the most important trade area in Turkey between Turkey and The World'. The 'Atatürk House' (more formally Atatürk Museum) was established there and it is still used as a museum.

Climate[link]

Mersin has a typical Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa) with hot and dry summers and warm and wet winters. Mersin has its highest rainfall in winter; mainly December and January which gives Mersin its healthy, nurtured coastline. The driest months are summer with hardly any rainfall at all.

Mersin today[link]

Mertim Tower

Today, Mersin is a large city spreading out along the coast, with Turkey's second tallest skyscraper^{[citation needed]} (the 52-floor Mertim Tower, which was the tallest skyscraper in Turkey for 13 years between 1987 and 2000, until the completion of the İş Bankası Towers in Istanbul), huge hotels, an opera house, expensive real estate near the sea or up in the hills, and many other modern urban amenities, although still nothing like the long-established nightlife and culture of İstanbul or İzmir.The seaside of Mersin is the longest seaside in Turkey as well as in Eastern Mediterranean. The population of the city is 843,429 (with all provinces 1,647,899) according to 2010 estimates. The population of the sub municipalities within Greater Mersin is shown below:^[6]

The Metropolitan Municipality is now trying to rescue the sea front with walkways, parks and statues, and there are still palm trees on the roadsides especially where the young generation like to hang out in the cafés and patisseries of smart neighbourhoods such as Pozcu or Çamlıbel. These are established neighbourhoods where there are many well-known shops and restaurants with years of experience and reputations to protect. The city centre is a maze of narrow streets and arcades of little shops and cafes, with young people buzzing around on scooters. The old quarter near the fish market is where you will find the stalls selling tantuni and grilled liver sandwiches.

One of the most distinctive features of the city as a whole is the solar heating panels, they are everywhere, on top of every building.

Turkey now plans to construct its first nuclear power plant some 80 miles west of Mersin.^[7] In March 2008, Turkey opened the bidding for the construction of the plant. Environmental groups, such as Greenpeace, oppose this plan.^[7]

Cuisine[link]

The local cuisine is famous, and restaurants specializing on the Mersin Region can be found all over Turkey, and includes specialties such as:

• Ciğer Kebap, (Liver on Mangal), typically served on lavaş with an assortment of meze at 12 skewers at a time,
• Tantuni, a hot lavaş wrap consisting of julienned lamb stir-fried on a sac on a hint of cottonseed oil,
• Bumbar, lamb intestines filled with a mixture of rice, meat and pistachios, that are served either grilled or steamed,
• Cezerye, a lokum made of sweet carrots, covered in ground pistachios or coconuts,
• Karsambaç, peeled ice, (or even snow) served with a topping of pekmez or honey,
• Künefe, a wood-oven baked dessert based on a mixture of cheese and pastry; famous all throughout the Levant,
• Kerebiç, a shortbread filled with pistachio paste, also famous throughout the Levant,
• Şalgam suyu, a beverage made of fermented red carrots, very popular in Southern Turkey, that is known somehow to cure hangover.

Economy[link]

The port is the mainstay of Mersin's economy. There are 45 piers, a total port area of 785,000 square metres (194 acres), with a capacity of 6,000 ships per year.

Adjacent to the port is Mersin Free Zone established in 1986, the first free zone in Turkey, with warehouses, shops, assembly-disassembly, maintenance and engineering workshops, banking and insurance, packing-repacking, labelling and exhibition facilities. The zone is a publicly owned center for foreign investors, close to major markets in the (Middle East, North Africa, East and West Europe, Russian Federation and Central Asia. The trading volume of the free zone was USD 51,8 billion in 2002.

Mersin has highway connections to the north, east and west. Mersin is also connected to the southern railroad. Adana airport is 69 kilometres (43 mi).

70% of the male population and 46% of the female population is employed. Unemployment is about 6.7%.^{[citation needed]}

Mersin port is an international hub for many vessels routing to European countries.Its now operated by PSA.

Mersin University[link]

Mersin University was founded in 1992 and started teaching in 1993–1994, with 11 faculties, 6 schools and 9 vocational schools. The university has had about 10 thousand graduates, has broadened its current academic staff to more than 2,100 academicians, and enrolls 22,000 students.

Culture[link]

Kızkalesi (Korykos)

Because the city has been a crossroads for centuries, the local culture is a medley of civilizations. Mersin has a State Opera and Ballet, the fourth in Turkey after Istanbul, İzmir and Ankara. Mersin International Music Festival was established in 2001 and takes place every October. The photography association Mersin Fotograf Derneği (MFD), is one of the most popular and active cultural organizations in the city. Some cultural activities are sponsored by the İçel sanat kulübü (i.e., Art club of Mersin) There is a great museum in the city centre.

The municipal cemetery is interesting as people of all faiths and denominations can be buried here.

The City hosts the Roman Catholic Co-Cathedral of St. Anthony of Padua.

In order to swim in clean water you need to get out of town, perhaps an hour along the coast. The beaches at Kızkalesi, Ayaş, Susanoğlu (app. 50–70 km west) are popular with families while young people prefer Akyar, Yapraklı koy, Narlıkuyu or quieter bays along the coast, some of which are very attractive indeed.

Images[link]

• Mersinnn.JPG

  Atatürk's House and Peace Statues

• Mersin Peace Sculpture.jpg

  Peace Sculpture

• Mersin Church.JPG

  One of the churches in Mersin

• Mersin Night.JPG

  Mersin at night

• Mersin Wiki 1.jpg

  Bird's-eye view of Mersin

• 

  Bird's-eye view of Mersin 3

• Mersin Wiki 11.jpg

  One of the marinas in Mersin

• Mersin Wiki 3.jpg

  "Running Horses" Sculpture

• Mersin Wiki 4.jpg

  Decorative Arch

• Mersin Wiki 5.jpg

  One of the fountains in Mersin

• Mersin Wiki 6.jpg

  Decorative Lake Set

• Mersin Wiki 7.jpg

  The Entrance of the Culture Park, Mersin

• Mersin Wiki 8.jpg

  Mersin Cumhuriyet Meydanı (Republic Square)

• Mersin Wiki 9.jpg

  Mini Open Theatre

• Mersin Wiki 10.jpg

  Fountains

International relations[link]

Twin towns — Sister cities[link]

Mersin is twinned with:

• Kushimoto, Japan
• Latakia, Syria
• West Palm Beach, United States of America
• Oberhausen, Germany
• Valparaiso, Chile

Notable people[link]

• Karacaoğlan - 16th century folk poet
• Musa Eroğlu - Composer,musician
• Haldun Dormen - Theatre & film actor and director
• Seyhan Kurt - Poet,writer,sociologist
• Müfide İlhan - First woman mayor in Turkey in the 1950s
• Ahmet Kireççi (aka Mersinli Ahmet) - Olympic medalist wrestler
• Nevit Kodallı - Composer
• Nevin Yanıt - Female sprinter (European champion in 100 m hurdles)
• Atıf Yılmaz - Film director and producer

See also[link]

• Adana-Mersin Metropolitan Area
• Çukurova
• Akdeniz, intercity municipality of Mersin
• Mezitli, intercity municipality of Mersin
• Toroslar, intercity municipality of Mersin
• Yenişehir, intercity municipality of Mersin
• Cilicia War
• Gözne
• Soli, Cilicia
• Yumuktepe
• Kazanlı
• Chronology of the Turkish War of Independence
• List of mayors of Mersin
• Mersin İdmanyurdu, footbal team of the city, attending top level division in 2011-12 season.
• Gulf of Mersin
• Mersin Grand Mosque
• Mersin Harbor
• Mersin railway station
• Mersin Halkevi
• Mertim
• Mersin Feneri
• Muğdat Mosque
• Atatürk Parkı

References[link]

Notes[link]

• Blue Guide, Turkey, The Aegean and Mediterranean Coasts (ISBN 0-393-30489-2), pp. 556–557.
• Blood-Dark Track: A Family History (Granta Books) by Joseph O'Neill, contains a detailed and evocative history of the city, viewed from the perspective of a Christian Syrian family long resident in Mersin.
• Richard Talbert, Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World, (ISBN 0-691-03169-X), p. 66
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company. 

External links[link]

Wikisource has the text of the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia article Zephyrium.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mersin

• Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites
• Catholic Encyclopedia "Zephyrium"

v t e Mersin in Mersin Province (in the Mediterranean region) of Turkey Urban districts Mersin - (Akdeniz - Mezitli - Toroslar - Yenişehir) Rural districts Anamur - Aydıncık - Bozyazı - Çamlıyayla - Erdemli - Gülnar - Mut - Silifke - Tarsus Regions Provinces Aegean Afyonkarahisar - Aydın - Denizli - Izmir - Kütahya - Manisa - Muğla - Uşak Black Sea Amasya - Artvin - Bartın - Bayburt - Bolu - Çorum - Düzce - Giresun - Gümüşhane - Karabük - Kastamonu - Ordu - Rize - Samsun - Sinop - Tokat - Trabzon - Zonguldak Central Anatolia Aksaray - Ankara - Çankırı - Eskişehir - Karaman - Kayseri - Kırıkkale - Kırşehir - Konya - Nevşehir - Niğde - Sivas - Yozgat Eastern Anatolia Ağrı - Ardahan -Bingöl - Bitlis - Elâzığ - Erzincan - Erzurum - Hakkâri - Iğdır - Kars - Malatya - Muş - Siirt - Tunceli - Van Marmara Balıkesir - Bilecik - Bursa - Çanakkale - Edirne - Istanbul - Kırklareli - Kocaeli - Sakarya - Tekirdağ - Yalova Mediterranean Adana - Antalya- Burdur - Hatay - Isparta - Kahramanmaraş - Mersin - Osmaniye Southeastern Anatolia Adıyaman - Batman - Diyarbakır - Gaziantep - Kilis - Mardin - Şanlıurfa - Şırnak

v t e Metropolitan centers in Turkey Adana Ankara Antalya Bursa Diyarbakır Erzurum Eskişehir Gaziantep İstanbul İzmir Kayseri Kocaeli Konya Mersin Sakarya Samsun