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

Piri Reis (full name Hacı Ahmed Muhiddin Piri - Hadji Ahmed Muhiddin Piri, Ahmet ibn-i el-Haç Mehmet El Karamani; Reis was a Turkish military rank akin to that of captain) was an Ottoman admiral, geographer and cartographer born between 1465 and 1470 and died in 1554 or 1555.

He is primarily known today for his maps and charts collected in his Kitab-ı Bahriye (Book of Navigation), a book that contains detailed information on navigation, as well as very accurate charts (for its time) describing the important ports and cities of the Mediterranean Sea. He gained fame as a cartographer when a small part of his first world map (prepared in 1513) was discovered in 1929 at the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul. His world map is the oldest known Turkish atlas showing the New World, and one of the oldest maps of America still in existence anywhere (the oldest known map of America that is still in existence is the map drawn by Juan de la Cosa in 1500). Piri Reis' map is centered on the Sahara at the latitude of the Tropic of Cancer.^[1]

In 1528 Piri Reis drew a second world map, of which a small fragment (showing Greenland and North America from Labrador and Newfoundland in the north to Florida, Cuba and parts of Central America in the south) still survives. According to his imprinting text, he had drawn his maps using about twenty foreign charts and mappae mundi (Arab, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Indian and Greek) including one of Christopher Columbus.^[2]

Biography[link]

Surviving fragment of the first World Map of Piri Reis (1513)

For many years, little was known about the identity of Piri Reis. His name, roughly translated, means Captain Piri.^[3] His ethnic origin is debatable, with sources referring to him as of "Christian, possibly Greek";^[4][5] "Jewish";^[6] or "ethnic Turkish"^[7] ancestry.

Today, based on the Ottoman archives, we know that his full name was "Hadji Ahmed Muhiddin Piri"^[8] and that he was born either in Gelibolu (Gallipoli) on the European part of the Ottoman Empire (in present-day Turkish Thrace),^[9][10] or in Karaman (his father's birth place) in central Anatolia,^[11] then the capital of the Beylik of Karaman (annexed by the Ottoman Empire in 1487). The exact date of his birth is unknown. The honorary and informal Islamic title Hadji (Turkish: Hacı) in Piri's (Hadji Ahmed Muhiddin Piri) and his father's (Hadji Mehmed Piri) names indicate that they had completed the Hajj (Islamic pilgrimage) by either going to Mecca themselves, or by officially financing someone who went there and completed the rituals also on their behalf.

He was the son of Hadji Mehmed Piri, and began engaging in government-supported privateering (a common practice in the Mediterranean Sea among both the Muslim and Christian states of the 15th and 16th centuries) when he was young, in 1481, following his uncle Kemal Reis,^[12] a well-known corsair and seafarer of the time, who later became a famous admiral of the Ottoman Navy.^[9] During this period, together with his uncle, he took part in many naval wars of the Ottoman Empire against Spain, the Republic of Genoa and the Republic of Venice, including the First Battle of Lepanto (Battle of Zonchio) in 1499 and Second Battle of Lepanto (Battle of Modon) in 1500. When his uncle Kemal Reis died in 1511 (his ship was wrecked by a storm in the Mediterranean Sea, while he was heading to Egypt), Piri returned to Gelibolu, where he started working on his studies about navigation.

By 1516, he was again at sea as a ship's captain in the Ottoman fleet. He took part in the 1516–17 Ottoman conquest of Egypt. In 1522 he participated in the Siege of Rhodes against the Knights of St. John, which ended with the island's surrender to the Ottomans on 25 December 1522 and the permanent departure of the Knights from Rhodes on 1 January 1523 (the Knights relocated first (briefly) to Sicily and later (permanently) to Malta). In 1524 he captained the ship that took the Ottoman Grand Vizier Pargalı İbrahim Pasha to Egypt.

In 1547, Piri had risen to the rank of Reis (admiral) as the Commander of the Ottoman Fleet in the Indian Ocean and Admiral of the Fleet in Egypt, headquartered in Suez. On 26 February 1548 he recaptured Aden from the Portuguese, followed in 1552 by the capture of Muscat, which Portugal had occupied since 1507, and the strategically important island of Kish. Turning further east, Piri Reis captured the island of Hormuz in the Strait of Hormuz, at the entrance of the Persian Gulf. When the Portuguese turned their attention to the Persian Gulf, Piri Reis occupied the Qatar peninsula and the island of Bahrain to deprive the Portuguese of suitable bases on the Arabian coast.

He then returned to Egypt, an old man approaching the age of 90. When he refused to support the Ottoman Vali (Governor) of Basra, Kubad Pasha, in another campaign against the Portuguese in the northern Persian Gulf, Piri Reis was publicly beheaded in 1554 or 1555.

Several warships and submarines of the Turkish Navy have been named after Piri Reis.

[edit] Kitab-ı Bahriye (Book of Navigation): 1521 and 1525

Piri Reis is the author of the Kitab-ı Bahriye, one of the most famous pre-modern books of navigation, including a world map. Although he was not an explorer and never sailed to the Atlantic, he compiled over twenty maps of Arab, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Indian and older Greek origins into a comprehensive representation of the known world of his era.^[13] This work included the recently explored shores of both the African and American continents; on his first World Map of 1513, he imprinted the description "these lands and islands are drawn from the map of Columbus."^[14] In his text, he also wrote that he used the "maps drawn in the time of Alexander the Great" as a source, but most likely he had mistakenly confused the ancient Greek geographer Ptolemy of the 2nd century AD with the same named General of Alexander (of six centuries before) since his map is similar with the Jan of Stobnica famous reproduction map of Ptolemy, printed in 1512.^[15] The ancient book had been translated in Turkish after a personal order of Mehmed II some decades before.^[16] The Columbus origin of the Atlantic part of the map is confirmed by the contained errors (such as Columbus’ belief that Cuba was a continental peninsula)^[17] since at the time the manuscript produced, the Spaniards were already for two years in Mexico. Apart from the maps, the book also contained detailed information on the major ports, bays, gulfs, capes, peninsulas, islands, straits and ideal shelters of the Mediterranean Sea, as well as techniques of navigation and navigation-related information on astronomy, together with information about the local people of each country and city and the curious aspects of their culture. There are thirty legends around the world map, twenty-nine in Turkish and one in Arabic, the latter is giving the date as the Muharrem month of 919 AH (corresponding to the Spring of 1513 AD) but most studies have identified the more probable date of completion as 1521.^[18][19][20] It was revised in 1524-1525 with additional information and better-crafted charts in order to be presented as a gift to Suleiman I. The revised edition had a total of 434 pages containing 290 maps.

Kitab-ı Bahriye has two main sections, with the first section dedicated to information about the types of storms; techniques of using a compass; portolan charts with detailed information on ports and coastlines; methods of finding direction using the stars; and characteristics of the major oceans and the lands around them. Special emphasis is given to the discoveries in the New World by Christopher Columbus and those of Vasco da Gama and the other Portuguese seamen on their way to India and the rest of Asia.

Map of Europe, the Near East and North Africa in the Kitab-ı Bahriye (Book of Navigation) of Piri Reis.

The second section is entirely composed of portolan charts and cruise guides. Each topic contains the map of an island or coastline. In the first book (1521), this section has a total of 132 portolan charts, while the second book (1525) has a total of 210 portolan charts. The second section starts with the description of the Dardanelles Strait and continues with the islands and coastlines of the Aegean Sea, Ionian Sea, Adriatic Sea, Tyrrhenian Sea, Ligurian Sea, the French Riviera, the Balearic Islands, the coasts of Spain, the Strait of Gibraltar, the Canary Islands, the coasts of North Africa, Egypt and the River Nile, the Levant and the coastline of Anatolia. This section also includes descriptions and drawings of the famous monuments and buildings in every city, as well as biographic information about Piri Reis who also explains the reasons why he preferred to collect these charts in a book instead of drawing a single map, which would not be able to contain so much information and detail.

A century after Piri's death and during the second half of the 17th century, a third version of his book was produced, which left the text of the second version unaffected while enriching the cartographical part of the manuscript. It included additional new large-scale maps, mostly copies of the Italian (from Battista Agnese and Jacopo Gastaldi) and Dutch (Abraham Ortelius) works of the previous century. These maps were much more accurate and depict the Black Sea, which was not included in the original.^[21]

Copies of the Kitab-ı Bahriye are found in many libraries and museums around the world:

Copies of the first edition (1521) are found in the Topkapı Palace, the Nuruosmaniye Library and the Süleymaniye Library in Istanbul, the Library of the University of Bologna, the National Library of Vienna, the State Library of Dresden, the National Library of France in Paris, the British Museum in London, the Bodleian Library in Oxford and the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.

Copies of the second edition (1525) are found in the Topkapı Palace, the Köprülüzade Fazıl Ahmed Paşa Library, the Süleymaniye Library and the National Library of France.

In popular culture[link]

• Piri Reis features in Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed: Revelations. In that video game set in 1511 AD, he has taken leave from the Sultan's Navy to work on chart and map making in Constantinople. He is portrayed as a friend of the Assassin Order; his greatest contribution to the game is teaching main character Ezio Auditore how to better use Ottoman bombs.^[22]
• Reis' maps are referenced in the novel The Space Vampires, in which it is stated that Reis used extraterrestrial information to increase the accuracy of his maps.

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Maps by Piri Reis

• Piri Reis map
• Ottoman Navy
• Geography and cartography in medieval Islam
• List of cartographers
• Indian Ocean campaigns
• Assassin's Creed: Revelations

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Piri Reis Map and translation of the texts
• İnan, Afet: Life and works of Pirî Reis: the oldest map of America. Ankara 1975.
• Kahle, Paul: Die verschollene Kolumbuskarte von 1498 in einer türkischen Weltkarte von 1513. Berlin/Leipzig 1933. (In German)
• Kahle, Paul (Hrsg.): Piri Re'îs. Bahrîje. Das türkische Segelhandbuch für das Mittelländische Meer vom Jahre 1521. Berlin 1926. (In German)
• McIntosh, Gregory C.: The Piri Reis Map of 1513. Athens and London: University of Georgia Press, 2000.
• Mesenburg, Peter: Kartometrische Untersuchung und Rekonstruktion der Weltkarte des Piri Re`is (1513). In: Cartographica Helvetica, No. 24 (2001), 3–7. (In German)
• Soucek, Svat: Piri Reis and Turkish Mapmaking After Columbus: The Khalili Portolan Atlas. Vol. 2 of Studies in the Khalili Collection. London: The Nour Foundation and Azimuth Editions, 1992; New York: The Nour Foundation, Azimuth Editions, and Oxford University Press, 1996.
• Asensi, Matilde: El origen perdido. Editorial Booket, Barcelona 2005. (In Spanish) 308pp. ISBN 84-08-06185-2. A work of fiction featuring the Piri Reis map, and with the map appearing on the cover.

External links[link]

• The Piri Reis Project, with links to an early edition of A. Afetinan's book and to a reproduction of the Piri Reis Map
• The Piri Reis map (Steven Dutch)
• Paul Lunde, 1992, A Muslim History Of The New World, Saudi Aramco World

Fatih Terim, Commendatore OSSI, (born 4 September 1953) is a Turkish football former player and manager. Terim was born in Adana, Turkey to Nuriye and Talat Terim.^[1] His father Talat, is a Turkish Cypriot who emigrated to Turkey.^[2][3][4][5] Terim is regarded as a hard-line motivator whose no-nonsense approach was honed during 11 years as a rugged defender with Galatasaray. His nickname is İmparator, which is the Turkish word for "Emperor". This nickname is also widely used in Italy in his reference.

In a survey conducted by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) in 80 countries, Terim was placed among the best 8 managers in the world. He received his award at a ceremony held in Rothenburg, Germany on January 8, 2001. Terim was nominated to be named UEFA manager of the year 2008. Eurosport named Terim as the best coach at Euro 2008.^[6] In December 2008, Terim was ranked the 7th best football manager in the world by World Soccer Magazine.^[7] Despite his successful record as the manager of Turkey in UEFA Euro 2008, Terim resigned from his post in October 2009 upon the failure of Turkish national team's qualification for FIFA World Cup 2010.

Playing career[link]

In 1969, Terim's professional football career began as a junior player with Adana Demirspor. Because of his financial difficulties, he was the only player in the team who was being paid secretly by the club at the time. Three years later, he became the captain of the team. He recalls his first game with the captain badge. Just before the game, I cheered up my teammates, as a captain has to do, and ran out to the field. As I looked back on the field, no one was behind me. I was so fast that nobody could follow me. I was so excited. Terim played 6 more years with Adana Demirspor. As a successful striker, he joined Galatasaray in 1974. As the team captain, he had to fill in for injured defenders and eventually he ended up playing regularly as a sweeper/defender. Terim played for 11 years for the Istanbul club. However, during his time with Galatasaray, the club was not able to win the championship trophy in the Turkish league. Terim was capped to the Turkish national team 51 times, from 1974 to 1985, and was the national team captain for 35 international games, establishing the national record for both categories at his time. He ended his playing career in Galatasaray in 1985. Abdullah Gegic, a legendary football coach with Partizan Belgrade (of former Yugoslavia) and Eskişehirspor (of Turkey), knew Terim from his days as a central defender and described Terim as an intelligent defender with Beckenbauer like qualities. Gegic attributed Terim's successes as a coach to his unique understanding of the game that was developed during his time playing as a central defender.

Managerial career[link]

Early years[link]

After retiring from professional football his initial training came from Jupp Derwall while they were at Galatasaray. Terim's coaching career began when he was appointed the coach of Ankaragücü. He coached the club for 18 months and moved on to coach Göztepe in İzmir which lasted one year. He did not have any significant success with these teams. In 1990 he was appointed as assistant to Turkey's national coach Sepp Piontek, where he also coached the U21 team. After serving as assistant coach for three years, he was appointed Turkish national team coach in 1993. Three years later, the Turkish national team succeeded in qualifying for the final tournament of the Euro '96 for the first time in its history under his management. Although the national team did not perform well in the tournament (losing all the games, and not being able to score a single goal), the qualification to the tournament was still considered a great achievement for Turkish football. After Euro 1996, Fatih Terim signed a contract with Galatasaray. Under his management Galatasaray won the championship in the Turkish league for four consecutive years, crowning his achievements by winning the UEFA Cup in 2000, making Terim the most successful Galatasaray manager in its history. His departure allowed Mircea Lucescu to clinch the UEFA Super Cup in 2000 for Galatasaray.

Fiorentina[link]

His success with Galatasaray lead Terim to Serie A, signing a one year contract with Fiorentina. His aggressive and offensive style of football, and his tense relations with the mercurial club president and owner Vittorio Cecchi Gori made Terim a favourite amongst Fiorentina fans. In Fiorentina, Terim had a significant start, beating Milan (4-0) and holding Juventus to a 3-3 thrilling draw, and eliminating Milan 4-2 on aggregate to reach the final of the Coppa Italia. However, in the middle of the 2000-01 season, Terim declared that he was not going to extend his contract with the club since Cecchi Gori did not intend to make the investments that he requested. After his declaration, the team's performance declined significantly, and his continuing clashes with the club president urged him to resign before the season ended. Romanian football legend Gheorghe Hagi praised his work in Florence, "In five months he built up a phenomenal side at Fiorentina. Name me another foreigner capable of that. He's extraordinary - he could coach any side."^[8]

AC Milan[link]

In the summer of 2001, he was named the coach of Milan turning down offers from other clubs like Barcelona and Liverpool. Immediately he signed Rui Costa, Ümit Davala and Filippo Inzaghi to the club. He transformed Milan's system, playing with a system very similar to the Total football style of Rinus Michels, playing a 4-3-1-2 with Rui Costa as the key player. Terim built a highly offensive and aggressive Milan, but during this period Milan was well known for being vulnerable at the back, conceding goals and drawing against lesser teams. After several disappointing results his contract was terminated, making his Milan career last only 5 months.

Galatasaray[link]

In the summer of 2002 he returned to Galatasaray. Due to internal problems within Galatasaray's management, financial difficulties of the club, and the failure of his transfer policies, he had a disappointing performance. This led him to resign and take a break in his managing career in March 2004. In the meantime clubs like Internazionale and Roma tried to lure Terim back to the Serie A, but with no success. In the summer of 2005, Terim was asked to manage the Turkish national team once again.

Turkey[link]

He successfully led Turkey to the semi-finals of Euro 2008, where they eventually lost to Germany. Shortly after the success at Euro 2008, he was recommended by former Newcastle United manager Bobby Robson for the Newcastle managerial position, but he was overlooked for the job. After a disappointing qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup, where Turkey failed to make the automatic qualification or play-off's, Terim resigned from the position.

Euro 2008[link]

Terim and his Turkey side were hailed as the "comeback kings". Turkey started Euro 2008 with defeat to Portugal. As Turkey trailed Switzerland at half-time, Terim's tactical changes were the spur. Turkey went on to snatch a win two minutes into stoppage time. In the final winner-take-all group game against the Czech Republic, who were riding a comfortable two goal lead, Turkey shocked the football world by coming back and scoring three goals in the final fifteen minutes. During their quarter final clash with Croatia, Turkey had extreme difficulty in finding attacking options, having been handicapped with many suspensions and injuries. As the game looked to be heading into a penalty shootout, Terim and Turkey were stunned when Croatia scored in the 119th minute of extra time to almost certainly win it. Terim did not allow his players to give up. Turkey again somehow managed an equalizing goal, sending the game into a penalty shootout. Turkey subsequently won the shootout and progressed to the semi-finals. Eventually losing to Germany in the semi-finals with 13 available players, Terim finished his campaign at the tournament with an amazing statistical record - out of the estimated 490 minutes of playing time, Turkey only lead for 13 of them. Terim's contract was extended to 2012 at the conclusion of the tournament, despite heavy speculation that he may return to Italy or go to England to manage at club level.

World Cup 2010[link]

Since going out of the European Championships in the semi-finals Terim has continued to manage the Turkish National Team. In the World Cup 2010 qualifying stage, they have won 2, drawn 2 and lost 2 matches, leaving them 4 points adrift from second placed Bosnia-Herzegovina up to April 2009. This has seen Turkey move up to 10th position in the FIFA World Rankings. On 11 October 2009 announced his resignation from his job,^[9] the game on 14 October 2009 was his last game as manager of the Turkey national football team.^[10]

Galatasaray[link]

After an unsuccessful season, Galatasaray was being unable to qualify for European football. After the internal conflict amongst board members in addition to the poor performance of the squad during the 10-11 season, Galatasaray appointed a new chairman Ünal Aysal. Ünal Aysal's first scoop for building a better Galatasaray squad to claim the dominance in the Süper Lig was to appoint a new manager. Ünal Aysal called up Fatih Terim his first and the only choice for a third time to manage Galatasaray, and 3rd Fatih Terim era for Galatasaray has been started. As of January 7, 2012, Galatasaray currently has a winning streak in the Super Lig of 8 games and is currently the Leaders of the league with 69 points (9 points ahead of rivals Fenerbahce). Galatasaray is having one of their best seasons since Terim took charge of Galatasaray for the 3rd time and also has made Galatasaray gain many successful youth players such as Semih Kaya, Emre Çolak, Berk Unsal but only 2 of the 3 has a place in the first 11 because Berk Unsal still has yet to prove himself at the age of 17. At the end of the season, Terim strolled to success and Galatasaray was the champion again.

Honours[link]

Player honours[link]

Galatasaray

• Türkiye Kupası: 1975-76, 1981-82
• TFF Süper Kupa: 1982

Managerial honours[link]

U-21 Turkey

• Mediterranean Games: 1993

Galatasaray

• Süper Lig: 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2011–12
• Türkiye Kupası: 1998-99, 1999-00,
• TFF Süper Kupa: 1996, 1997
• UEFA Cup: 1999-00

Awards and achievements[link]

• UEFA Euro 2008 Manager of the Tournament: 2008

Career statistics[link]

Player[link]

^[11]