Geography

Tömük is in the rural area of Erdemli

Erdemli

Erdemli is a town and district of Mersin Province in the Mediterranean region of Turkey, west of the city of Mersin.-Geography:The district extends from the Mediterranean coastal plain, the largest agricultural area in Mersin Province, to high in the Taurus Mountains where there is forest, and...

 district, which is a part of Mersin Province. Although the midtown is 3 km (1.9 mi) north of the seaside, newer quarters of the town are founded at the seaside just on the main highway  connecting Mersin

Mersin

-Mersin today:Today, Mersin is a large city spreading out along the coast, with Turkey's second tallest skyscraper , huge hotels, an opera house, expensive real estate near the sea or up in the hills, and many other modern urban...

 to the west. Highway distance to Mersin is 27 km (16.8 mi) and to Erdemli is 12 km (7.5 mi). The population is 10 887. as of 2010.

History

The earliest settlers were the members of a Turkmen

Turkmen people

The Turkmen are a Turkic people located primarily in the Central Asian states of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and northeastern Iran. They speak the Turkmen language, which is classified as a part of the Western Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages family together with Turkish, Azerbaijani, Qashqai,...

 tribe of a certain Elvan Bey in the 14th century. They founded the village of Elvanlı

Elvanlı

- Geography :Elvanlı is a part of Erdemli district which itself is a part of Mersin Province. Situated at it is north of state road and north of the Mediterranean Sea coast. Distance to Erdemli is and to Mersin is . The altitute of the village is about . The population of the village is 2131...

 a few kilometers east of Tömük. Tömük was a just a hamlet

Hamlet (place)

A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...

 used occasionally by the Elvanlı residents. But, early in the last years of the 18th century, people from other villages began to populate Tömük. In 1969, Tömük was decleared a township.

Economy

The major economic activity is citrus

Citrus

Citrus is a common term and genus of flowering plants in the rue family, Rutaceae. Citrus is believed to have originated in the part of Southeast Asia bordered by Northeastern India, Myanmar and the Yunnan province of China...

 horticulture. Olive

Olive

The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...

, tomato

Tomato

The word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...

 and pepper are among the other important crops. Services for summer houses in the coastal band also contribute to town economy.