Karaisalı

Karaisalı is a small city and a district in Adana Province of Turkey, administratively a part of the Metropolitan Municipality of Adana.

The area contains the reservoirs of Çatalan and Nergizlik. There is a wrestling tournament in the late-April to early-May at Salbaş and a countryside festival in the last week of August at Kızıldağ.

History

In Greek and Roman times there was a city here named Midelle. Following the arrival of the Turks in the area the name was changed to Çeceli and inhabited by the Yüreğir and Menemencioğulları and Ramazanoğulları tribes.

Between 1481 and 1496 the city was controlled by the Mameluks and once these had been defeated by Ottoman sultan Selim I he passed control to the Ramazanoğulları dynasty. The current name Karaisalı was later given in memory of a Ramazanoğulları lord.

The city was not occupied during the Turkish War of Independence in the early 1920s and became a centre of Turkish resistance for the Çukurova area.

Karaisalı today

Long-term mayor of Adana, Aytaç Durak is from Karaisalı and during his term the district was included in the Metropolitan Municipality of Adana.