Saimbeyli

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Coordinates: 37°48′N, 35°57′E

Saimbeyli
Location in Turkey
Location of Adana Province
Overview
Region Mediterranean Region, Turkey
Province Adana Province
Area 1170 km²
Elevation 1050 m
Coordinates 37°48′ N 35°57′ E
Postal code 01xx
Area code 0322
Licence plate code 01

Saimbeyli is a district of Adana Province in the Mediterranean region of Turkey. The town of Saimbeyli is in the Toros mountains, 157km north of the city of Adana, by a difficult road. Population (2000) 17,140.

The town of Saimbeyli is on the river Göksu (one of the sources of the Seyhan, in a valley between the forested mountains of Dibek and Bakır. There is a pass through the mountains from here to Kayseri and the valley is watered by many mountain streams.

Contents

[edit] History

The area was occupied as far back as the Hittite period and many other civilisations subsequently. Then this is the spot where the Armenian city of Hadjin stood, the name coming from the son of an Armenian lord of the castle of Anavarza on the Cilician plain. When the plain was occupied by Turks, the Armenians retreated to the mountains and Hadjin was founded in 1096.

The city thrived and later passed into Ottoman hands.

During the early years of the 20th century there are accounts of violence between the majority Armenian community of Hadjin and the Turkish residents and also the Kurdish tribes living in the surrounding mountains. Violence and tension escalated up to and beyond World War I with the role and response of the Ottoman authorities the subject of varying claims (please see Armenian Genocide for the bigger picture}. Memoirs of residents have been found for example, and supported by reports in the archives of the Turkish state, describing how in 1915 Hadjin was the scene of a massacre when the Armenian residents turned on the Turkish population of the town, (this at a time when most of the Turkish men were away fighting in World War I). [1]. There are no Armenians in Saimbeyli today. The city of Hadjin was destroyed during WWI and the Turkish War of Independence.

[edit] Saimbeyli today

The people live from farming, especially raising sheep and goats, but also growing grains and fruit, especially cherries, mainly for local consumption. There is potential for mining iron ore, there is forestry and there is high meadow for summer grazing in places such as Çatak Yaylası, which is also a popular picnic place with a small waterfall, also Saimbeyli's main water supply.

[edit] Places of interest

  • near the village of Bahçeköyü there is a castle perched on a rock. This rock has been fortified since antiquity and the castle played an important role in the crusades.
  • Hadjin castle (known as Badimon in the middle ages)

[edit] See also


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