20 Eyl
Rize
Rize is one of the smallest provinces of Turkey on the Black Sea coast but also one of the most important since it is the tea-industry center with processing and packing factories.
The city is built in an area where the bright green tea bushes cover entire mountainsides. From Ziraat Park in the city you will have a panoramic view of the area and be able to capture that unique beauty.
You may have the opportunity, to have the best blend of tea, at the Summer Tea Festival, and taste the very famous, rarely found Anzer honey which comes from the mountains around. Do not forget to purchase high quality, lightweight summer clothes, known by the name of the city “Rize Bezi”. In the city the 16th century Islam Pasha Mosque and the remains of a Genoese castle can also to be seen.
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20 Eyl
Kastamonu
Kastamonu is a lovely city hidden in the midst of forests in Anatolia. The beauty of the 12th century Byzantine castle at the foot of the hill welcomes you. The 13th century Atabey Mosque and the Ibni Neccar Mosque are worth visiting. In the village of Kasaba you will have the opportunity to see one of the most elegant wood carvings of Turkey, on the Mahmut Bey Mosque.
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20 Eyl
Ordu
At the foot of a verdant hill, is the province of Ordu, one of the calmest and greenest sites along the Black Sea coast of Turkey. Due to its rainy climate, the land is fertile, with vegetable and fruit gardens, and wide forests covering the whole area.
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19 Eyl
Nigde
Lying on a plateau embellished by volcanic peaks is this city of Central Anatolian Region, which was called “Nahita” in the Hittite period. Since its foundation, it has been a commercial center, standing on the ancient trade route between Anatolia and the Mediterranean.
Much later, the land was taken over by the Seljuks, who filled the city with many works, presenting the exquisite Seljuk artistic and architectural styles. One of the important remains from those years is the Alaeddin Mosque, which is really the most beautiful monument in Nigde, with its wonderful stonework over the ornate portal. From an inscription found here, this elegant building is understood to have been constructed in 1203, and was later restored during the reign of Alaeddin Keykubat. The citadel in the area is the same, owing its current condition to the Seljuks, and constitutes another interesting sight, with a clock tower inside.
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19 Eyl
Yozgat
217 km from Ankara, is Yozgat, the history of which extends as far back as the Hittite period. It was an important residential area in Anatolia in those times, and Alisar, one of the main Hittite cities, lies inside the borders of this province. Bogazkoy and Alacahoyuk, though not being part of Yozgat, are near enough to reflect the central position of the site then, with notable ruins found in the district.
Today’s city of Yozgat, on the other hand, is rather new, founded in the 18th century by the Ottomans. Capanoglu Ahmet Pasha, who was the “Bey” of the Turkmens at that time, was the founder; and the Capanoglu Mosque which carries his name, stands as a remain of this period together with the Suleyman Bey Mosque.
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19 Eyl
Batman
One of the southeastern Anatolian cities, Batman is a little province which takes its name from the river flowing on its west. The Batman river, spanned by the old Malabadi Bridge, draws the province’s border with Diyarbakir, and then joins Tigris (Dicle) River passing through the land. The southeastern extensions of the Taurus Mountains on the other hand, stand on the eastern side of the region, together with the 1288 m high Raman Mountain. Here is one of the main crude oil production centers of Turkey, and the refinery at Batman was the first founded one in the country.
The history of the province reaches back to antiquity, and the land saw numerous dynasties throughout its long history. Experiencing Arab invasion around 700 AD, Batman was later dominated by Seljuks first and then by the Mongolians. It was annexed by the Ottoman Empire in 1514 after being under the influence of the Akkoyunlu and the Safevid throughout the 15th century.
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19 Eyl
Kilis
In June 1995 President Demirel approved the bill that allowed the government to name the southeastern border township of Kilis as a new province of Turkey.
Kilis, situated near the Turkish-Syrian border in the South-eastern Anatolian Region en route to Gaziantep is an especially charming area, dotted with vineyards and olive groves on all sides. It was originally known as Kilis (mentioned in the Assyrian archives) and was a very important town in Asia Minor in ancient days for frontier commerce. It is still famous today for its cotton, silk weaving and leather products.
Though not definitive, the history of Kilis is believed to date back to 3000 BC. The city lived out the times of the Assyrians, Hurri-Mitani, Hittites, Persians, Romans, Byzantine and the Ottomans. In 636 AD the area was occupied by Caliph Omer and used as an outpost against the Byzantine Empire. Kilis was attached to the County of Urfa during the Crusades and subsequently lived under the Seljuks and Mamelukes. It was finally annexed by the Ottoman Empire during the reign of Yavuz Sultan Selim. Early in this century, following the First World War, Kilis was regained from the occupying forces upon Ankara Treaty acted on 7 December 1921 during the War of Liberation. Kilis was given the status of province on 6 June 1996 with its administrative districts of Elbeyli, Musabeyli and Polateli. The province has 138 villages (51 of them attached to the central district, 46 to Musabeyli, 23 to Elbeyli and 18 to Polateli), a sub-district (Yavuzlu) and 69 sub-villages.
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