Çorlu
Encyclopedia
Çorlu (ˈtʃoɾɫu) is a northwestern Turkish city in inland Eastern Thrace that falls under the administration of the Province of Tekirdağ
. It is a rapidly developing industrial center built on flatland located off the E80
highway between Istanbul
and Turkey's border with Greece
and Bulgaria
. As of the 2000 census, the city's population is 206,134 - almost triple the 1990 figure of 74,681. There is a Jewish community.
relics have been found in various areas of Thrace including Çorlu and by 1000 BC the area was a Phrygia
n colony named Tzirallum/Tzirallun or Tzirallon. The area was subsequently controlled by Greeks
, Persians
, Romans
and the Byzantine
s. The Roman name of Çorlu was Cænophrurium, and was the place where Emperor Aurelian
was murdered in 275. There were important Roman and Byzantine fortifications here and the town was a base for controlling large areas of Thrace.
Following a tumultuous early history, Çorlu was brought under Ottoman
control by Sultan Murad I
, who immediately ordered the destruction of the Roman walls as part of a policy of opening up the town under Pax Ottomana
. In the Ottoman period, the town remained an important staging post on the road from Istanbul to Greece.
In the early 16th century, the nearby village of Uğraşdere was the battleground where Sultan Beyazid II defeated his son Selim I
(August 1511); a year later Beyazid II was defeated by Selim and was the first Ottoman father to be overthrown by his son. Beyazid II died in Çorlu on his way to exile in Dimetoka. Coincidentally, Selim
himself died in Çorlu nine years into his reign. Both father and son are buried in Istanbul.
In the late 18th century, when the Ottoman Empire began to decline in military as well as economic power, the city found itself at the crossroads of numerous conflicts. Turkish refugees were settled in the city when the Ottomans lost control of Crimea
to the Russians. The grandchildren of these refugees met the Russians themselves when Çorlu was briefly occupied by Russian troops in The Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. During the Balkan Wars
of 1912-1913, Çorlu was the command post of the Ottoman army, but was taken by Bulgaria
n troops in December 1912. The city was recaptured by Turkish forces during the Second Balkan War
in July 1913. Çorlu was then occupied by Greek troops from 1920 to 1922 during the Turkish War of Independence
, and was freed after the struggles of the national resistance.
The city formally became a part of the Republic of Turkey following the declaration of the Republic in 1923. Çorlu continues to be an important garrison of the Turkish army today as the home of the 189th Infantry Regiment.
, owing to a population growth initially caused by the emigration of Turks from Bulgaria
that complemented the traditional left-leaning, industrial working-class of Çorlu, and a second wave of migrants from rural Anatolia
in the 1990s who came to work in the factories, who now make up the conservative populace of the city. Another group, albeit smaller in numbers, is the Romani community. The city also had a temporary population of ethnic Albania
ns and Bosnians flown in during the Kosovo conflict
as part of Turkey
and Macedonia's efforts to aid the suffering populaces of former Yugoslavia
by offering them temporary asylum.
The town center bears the hallmarks of a typical migration-accepting Turkish rural town, with traditional structures coexisting with a collection of concrete apartment blocks providing public housing
, as well as amenities such as basic shopping and fast-food restaurants, and essential infrastructure but little in the way of culture except for cinemas and large rooms hired out for wedding parties
. Çorlu's shopping facilities have recently been enhanced by the completion of the 25 km² Orion Mall. While there is little to no nightlife, save for the town's now-infamous sex industry, as Çorlu is close to Istanbul, locals can and often do easily go to "the city" for the weekend.
and Mavi Jeans
being among the companies that have factories here as well as large outlet centers intended to attract consumers from all over Thrace and Istanbul looking for discount clothing. In addition to textiles, Çorlu produces foodstuffs and soft drinks like Coca-Cola, and Unilever products like Algida ice-cream and Calvé condiments. As of 2009, Hewlett-Packard and Foxconn Group have come together for a joint venture in the town to build a large factory and production complex that will enable the two companies to use Çorlu, and Turkey in general, as the hub of their production activities for Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
, Yemen Kumanovo
, Macedonia
Thies
, Senegal Ebolowa
, Cameroon Bandaressalam
, Comoros Sinop
, Turkey Montgomery, Alabama
, USA Grenville
, Grenada Luxor
, Egypt Alert, Nunavut
, Canada
Tekirdag Province
The Tekirdağ Province is in Trakya , the northwestern part of Turkey. The capital city is Tekirdağ. It is famous for its meatball called "Tekirdağ köfte" and the Turkish alcoholic drink called Tekirdağ rakısı.-Districts:...
. It is a rapidly developing industrial center built on flatland located off the E80
European route E80
European route E 80, also known as Trans-European Motorway or TEM, is an A-Class West-East European route, extending from Lisbon, Portugal to Gürbulak, Turkey, on the border with Iran...
highway between Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
and Turkey's border with Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
and Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
. As of the 2000 census, the city's population is 206,134 - almost triple the 1990 figure of 74,681. There is a Jewish community.
History
Bronze AgeBronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
relics have been found in various areas of Thrace including Çorlu and by 1000 BC the area was a Phrygia
Phrygia
In antiquity, Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now modern-day Turkey. The Phrygians initially lived in the southern Balkans; according to Herodotus, under the name of Bryges , changing it to Phruges after their final migration to Anatolia, via the...
n colony named Tzirallum/Tzirallun or Tzirallon. The area was subsequently controlled by Greeks
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
, Persians
Persian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...
, Romans
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
and the Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
s. The Roman name of Çorlu was Cænophrurium, and was the place where Emperor Aurelian
Aurelian
Aurelian , was Roman Emperor from 270 to 275. During his reign, he defeated the Alamanni after a devastating war. He also defeated the Goths, Vandals, Juthungi, Sarmatians, and Carpi. Aurelian restored the Empire's eastern provinces after his conquest of the Palmyrene Empire in 273. The following...
was murdered in 275. There were important Roman and Byzantine fortifications here and the town was a base for controlling large areas of Thrace.
Following a tumultuous early history, Çorlu was brought under Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
control by Sultan Murad I
Murad I
Murad I was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1361 to 1389...
, who immediately ordered the destruction of the Roman walls as part of a policy of opening up the town under Pax Ottomana
Pax Ottomana
Pax Ottomana is a term used to describe the economic and social stability attained in the conquered provinces of the Ottoman Empire, which, at the height of the Empire's power during the 16th and 17th centuries, applied to lands in the Balkans, Anatolia, the Middle East, North Africa and the...
. In the Ottoman period, the town remained an important staging post on the road from Istanbul to Greece.
In the early 16th century, the nearby village of Uğraşdere was the battleground where Sultan Beyazid II defeated his son Selim I
Selim I
Selim I, Yavuz Sultân Selim Khan, Hâdim-ül Haramain-ish Sharifain , nicknamed Yavuz "the Stern" or "the Steadfast", but often rendered in English as "the Grim" , was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to...
(August 1511); a year later Beyazid II was defeated by Selim and was the first Ottoman father to be overthrown by his son. Beyazid II died in Çorlu on his way to exile in Dimetoka. Coincidentally, Selim
Selim I
Selim I, Yavuz Sultân Selim Khan, Hâdim-ül Haramain-ish Sharifain , nicknamed Yavuz "the Stern" or "the Steadfast", but often rendered in English as "the Grim" , was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to...
himself died in Çorlu nine years into his reign. Both father and son are buried in Istanbul.
In the late 18th century, when the Ottoman Empire began to decline in military as well as economic power, the city found itself at the crossroads of numerous conflicts. Turkish refugees were settled in the city when the Ottomans lost control of Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
to the Russians. The grandchildren of these refugees met the Russians themselves when Çorlu was briefly occupied by Russian troops in The Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. During the Balkan Wars
Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913.By the early 20th century, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia, the countries of the Balkan League, had achieved their independence from the Ottoman Empire, but large parts of their ethnic...
of 1912-1913, Çorlu was the command post of the Ottoman army, but was taken by Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
n troops in December 1912. The city was recaptured by Turkish forces during the Second Balkan War
Second Balkan War
The Second Balkan War was a conflict which broke out when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Serbia and Greece, on 29 June 1913. Bulgaria had a prewar agreement about the division of region of Macedonia...
in July 1913. Çorlu was then occupied by Greek troops from 1920 to 1922 during the Turkish War of Independence
Turkish War of Independence
The Turkish War of Independence was a war of independence waged by Turkish nationalists against the Allies, after the country was partitioned by the Allies following the Ottoman Empire's defeat in World War I...
, and was freed after the struggles of the national resistance.
The city formally became a part of the Republic of Turkey following the declaration of the Republic in 1923. Çorlu continues to be an important garrison of the Turkish army today as the home of the 189th Infantry Regiment.
Çorlu today
The city today is larger in population than the provincial center of TekirdağTekirdag
Tekirdağ , the ancient Bisanthi , is a city in Eastern Thrace, in the European part of Turkey. Tekirdağ is the capital of Tekirdağ Province, felt by the local people to be a quieter and more pleasant town than the industrial centre of Çorlu, which it administers. The city population as of 2009 was...
, owing to a population growth initially caused by the emigration of Turks from Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
that complemented the traditional left-leaning, industrial working-class of Çorlu, and a second wave of migrants from rural Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
in the 1990s who came to work in the factories, who now make up the conservative populace of the city. Another group, albeit smaller in numbers, is the Romani community. The city also had a temporary population of ethnic Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
ns and Bosnians flown in during the Kosovo conflict
Kosovo War
The term Kosovo War or Kosovo conflict was two sequential, and at times parallel, armed conflicts in Kosovo province, then part of FR Yugoslav Republic of Serbia; from early 1998 to 1999, there was an armed conflict initiated by the ethnic Albanian "Kosovo Liberation Army" , who sought independence...
as part of Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and Macedonia's efforts to aid the suffering populaces of former Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
by offering them temporary asylum.
The town center bears the hallmarks of a typical migration-accepting Turkish rural town, with traditional structures coexisting with a collection of concrete apartment blocks providing public housing
Public housing
Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is owned by a government authority, which may be central or local. Social housing is an umbrella term referring to rental housing which may be owned and managed by the state, by non-profit organizations, or by a combination of the...
, as well as amenities such as basic shopping and fast-food restaurants, and essential infrastructure but little in the way of culture except for cinemas and large rooms hired out for wedding parties
Party
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, or recreation. A party will typically feature food and beverages, and often music and dancing as well....
. Çorlu's shopping facilities have recently been enhanced by the completion of the 25 km² Orion Mall. While there is little to no nightlife, save for the town's now-infamous sex industry, as Çorlu is close to Istanbul, locals can and often do easily go to "the city" for the weekend.
Economy
With more than 300 factories, Çorlu is largely a textile producing town, with Levi'sLevi Strauss & Co.
Levi Strauss & Co. is a privately held American clothing company known worldwide for its Levi's brand of denim jeans. It was founded in 1853 when Levi Strauss came from Buttenheim, Franconia, to San Francisco, California to open a west coast branch of his brothers' New York dry goods business...
and Mavi Jeans
Mavi Jeans
Mavi Jeans is a brand of denim jeans founded in 1991, headquartered in Istanbul, Turkey.Mavi Jeans designs a full collection of jeans wear, for young women and men...
being among the companies that have factories here as well as large outlet centers intended to attract consumers from all over Thrace and Istanbul looking for discount clothing. In addition to textiles, Çorlu produces foodstuffs and soft drinks like Coca-Cola, and Unilever products like Algida ice-cream and Calvé condiments. As of 2009, Hewlett-Packard and Foxconn Group have come together for a joint venture in the town to build a large factory and production complex that will enable the two companies to use Çorlu, and Turkey in general, as the hub of their production activities for Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
Sister cities
AdenAden
Aden is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea , some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a...
, Yemen Kumanovo
Kumanovo
Kumanovo is a city in the Republic of Macedonia and is the seat of Kumanovo Municipality which is the largest municipality in the country. Municipal institutions include a city council, mayor and other administrative bodies.-Name:...
, Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
Thies
Thiès
Thiès is the third largest city in Senegal with a population officially estimated at 320,000 in 2005. It lies 60 km east of Dakar on the N2 road and at the junction of railway lines to Dakar, Bamako and St-Louis...
, Senegal Ebolowa
Ebolowa
Ebolowa is the capital of Cameroon's South Province. It has a population of 79,500 . It is a colonial town and a notable agricultural centre.- Overview :The main crop is cocoa...
, Cameroon Bandaressalam
Bandaressalam
Bandaressalam is a village on the island of Mohéli in the Comoros....
, Comoros Sinop
Sinop, Turkey
Sinop is a city with a population of 36,734 on İnce Burun , by its Cape Sinop which is situated on the most northern edge of the Turkish side of Black Sea coast, in the ancient region of Paphlagonia, in modern-day northern Turkey, historically known as Sinope...
, Turkey Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...
, USA Grenville
Grenville
-People:* Bevil Grenville , English soldier* George Grenville , British politician who served as Prime Minister between 1763-1765* George Nugent-Grenville, 2nd Baron Nugent , British politician...
, Grenada Luxor
Luxor
Luxor is a city in Upper Egypt and the capital of Luxor Governorate. The population numbers 487,896 , with an area of approximately . As the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of Thebes, Luxor has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open air museum", as the ruins of the temple...
, Egypt Alert, Nunavut
Alert, Nunavut
Alert, in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada, is the northernmost permanently inhabited place in the world, from the North Pole. It takes its name from HMS Alert, which wintered east of the present station, off what is now Cape Sheridan, in 1875–1876.Alert was reported to have five permanent...
, Canada