Emirdağ

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Emirdağ is district of Afyonkarahisar Province in Turkey, on the road from the city of Afyon to Eskişehir. It covers an area of 2009 km², and the population (2000) is 47,321 of which 20,495 live in the town of Emirdağ itself.

The mountains of Emirdağ rise steeply behind the town. The region is vulnerable to earthquakes. The weather is very cold in winter.

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[edit] History

The area has been occupied since at least 1437 BC by a succession of peoples beginning with Hittites, Lydians, Persians, Greeks and Romans. The ruins of the ancient Phrygian and Byzantine city of Amorium (fr) lie about 12km away from Emirdağ.

Emirdağ used to be one of the four main Byzantine cities in Anatolia, hometown of the Byzantine Amorian dynasty (Michael II, Theophilus and Michael III), but was completely destroyed and its inhabitants massacred in 838-845 by the Abbassid Caliph Al-Mu'tasim.

The area was settled by Turkmen from 1068 onwards and particularly following the battle of nearby Bolvadin, between the Byzantines and the Seljuk Turks. Later further waves of Turkmen followed including the Dulkadir dynasty and Yuruk nomads were settled here by the Ottoman Empire. However the town of Emirdağ would have contained the usual Ottoman mixture of Armenians, Greeks and others of Turkish and non-Turkish ancestry. The second mayor (1880-1885) of the town (then named Aziziye) was Ohannes Ağa, which is a Christian name. There seem to be no non-Muslims in the villages nowadays, but there were probably still some in the beginning of the 20th century. Until the foundation of the Turkish Republic the town was named Aziziye in honour of Sultan Abdülâziz.


[edit] Emirdağ (and Brussels) today

Many Turkish migrants in Belgium and the Netherlands originally came from Emirdağ and the surrounding villages, including Karacalar where there is a strong Alevi minority. People originally went abroad to work as miners in the 1950s and nowadays are typically occupied with running restaurants, cafes, and bars.

This emigration helps to explain why the population growth in Emirdağ in recent decades has been less than most Anatolian towns (the population of the town in 1960 was 10,069). It also means that in summer the district is swollen with local families returning on vacation.

Many of these families have invested their savings in apartment buildings, offices and shops (and smart cars) in Emirdağ, which therefore has the appearance of a town far wealthier than its industry and commerce can really support. This is still a typical Turkish country town and quite conservative; the tea-gardens are segregated into areas for families and single men. There are some basic restaurants and internet cafes. There is a jandarma training camp in Emirdağ and the army is important for the economy of the town in winter.


The people of Emirdağ have a reputation in Turkey for being rude and argumentative, and for being reluctant to be identified with the province of Afyon (by for example supporting Eskişehirspor rather than Afyonspor in the local football derbies, and registering their cars in Eskişehir rather than Afyon (and thus getting a different numberplate). The local cuisine includes arabaşı a soup with dumplings.

[edit] Politics

Until 2004 Emirdağ municipality was controlled by the social-democratic (CHP) under mayor, Ismet Güler. However in 2004 the mayorship was however won by moderate islamist (AKP), Lütfi Ihsan Dag, leading a right-wing coalition (AKP, MHP, DYP, ANAP). The council has an alderman for external affairs, currently Metin Edeer (MHP), who has been living in Brussels since 1978, where he runs two restaurants and presides over an association of people from Emirdağ (EYAD); he visits Emirdağ during the summer holidays.

[edit] Notable natives

Emirdağ has long had a rich folk culture and has given us many folk songs (türkü) and singers including in the 20th century...

  • Aşık Yoksul Derviş - poet and folk singer, and his nephew....
  • Kubat - popular singer specialising in a hybrid of Turkish folk music with electronic instruments. He was brought up in Belgium of an Emirdağ family.

Other famous Emirdağ people include...

  • Azra Akın - Miss World 2002, brought up in Holland of an Emirdağ family.
  • Tevfik Başer - film director

[edit] External links


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Coordinates: 39°01′N, 31°09′E

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