Çorlu

Çorlu (pronounced [ˈtʃoɾɫu] ( listen)) is a northwestern Turkish city in inland Eastern Thrace that falls under the administration of the Province of Tekirdağ.^[2] 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.^[3]

History

Bronze Age relics have been found in various areas of Thrace including Çorlu and by 1000 BC the area was a Phrygian colony named Tzirallum/Tzirallun or Tzirallon. The area was subsequently controlled by Greeks, Persians, Romans and the Byzantines. 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 Bulgarian 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.

Çorlu today

The city today is larger in population than the provincial center of Tekirdağ, 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 Albanians and Bosnians flown in during the Kosovo conflict^[4] 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.

Economy

With more than 300 factories, Çorlu is largely a textile producing town, with Levi's 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.^[5]

Gallery

Sister cities

• Aden, Yemen
• Kumanovo, Macedonia
• Thies, Senegal
• Ebolowa, Cameroon
• Bandaressalam, Comoros
• Sinop, Turkey
• Montgomery, Alabama, USA
• Grenville, Grenada
• Luxor, Egypt
• Alert, Nunavut, Canada

References