Kahramanmaraş is the capital
city of
KahramanmaraşKahramanmaraş is a province of Turkey. Its provincial capital is Kahramanmaraş city, the traffic code is 46.-Districts:Kahramanmaraş province is divided into 10 districts:*Afşin*Andırın*Çağlayancerit*Ekinözü*Elbistan*Göksun...
ProvinceTurkey is divided into 81 provinces, called il and rayonler in Turkish ....
in southeastern
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
. The city lies on a plain at the foot of the
Taurus MountainsTaurus Mountains are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, from which the Euphrates and Tigris descend into Iraq. It divides the Mediterranean coastal region of southern Turkey from the central Anatolian Plateau....
and has a population of 326,198 as of 2000. The region is best known for the popular Turkish singer/songwriter
KiracAli Tufan Kıraç , better known as Kıraç, 1972 is an Anatolian rock-pop singer-songwriter.He has contributed albums such as Kayıp Şehir, Zaman and many others...
, its production of
salepSalep , refers to both the orchid as well as to the salep drink. It is a flour made from grinding the dried tubers of Orchis mascula, Orchis militaris and related species of orchids, which contain a nutritious starch-like polysaccharide called glucomannan.- Etymology :It has been claimed that the...
, a flour made from dried orchid tubers, and its
distinctive ice creamDondurma is the name used for ice cream in Turkey. In English it specifically refers to Turkish ice cream. It is made of goat milk using traditional methods. This ice-cream originates from the Turkish region of Kahramanmaraş...
.
Kahramanmaraş was founded as a
HittiteThe Hittites were an ancient Anatolian people who spoke a language of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family and established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia ca. the 18th century BC. The Hittite empire reached its height ca...
city-stateA city-state is an independent republican country whose territory consists of a city which is not administered as part of another local government....
ca.
Kahramanmaraş is the capital
city of
KahramanmaraşKahramanmaraş is a province of Turkey. Its provincial capital is Kahramanmaraş city, the traffic code is 46.-Districts:Kahramanmaraş province is divided into 10 districts:*Afşin*Andırın*Çağlayancerit*Ekinözü*Elbistan*Göksun...
ProvinceTurkey is divided into 81 provinces, called il and rayonler in Turkish ....
in southeastern
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
. The city lies on a plain at the foot of the
Taurus MountainsTaurus Mountains are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, from which the Euphrates and Tigris descend into Iraq. It divides the Mediterranean coastal region of southern Turkey from the central Anatolian Plateau....
and has a population of 326,198 as of 2000. The region is best known for the popular Turkish singer/songwriter
KiracAli Tufan Kıraç , better known as Kıraç, 1972 is an Anatolian rock-pop singer-songwriter.He has contributed albums such as Kayıp Şehir, Zaman and many others...
, its production of
salepSalep , refers to both the orchid as well as to the salep drink. It is a flour made from grinding the dried tubers of Orchis mascula, Orchis militaris and related species of orchids, which contain a nutritious starch-like polysaccharide called glucomannan.- Etymology :It has been claimed that the...
, a flour made from dried orchid tubers, and its
distinctive ice creamDondurma is the name used for ice cream in Turkey. In English it specifically refers to Turkish ice cream. It is made of goat milk using traditional methods. This ice-cream originates from the Turkish region of Kahramanmaraş...
.
History
Kahramanmaraş was founded as a
HittiteThe Hittites were an ancient Anatolian people who spoke a language of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family and established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia ca. the 18th century BC. The Hittite empire reached its height ca...
city-stateA city-state is an independent republican country whose territory consists of a city which is not administered as part of another local government....
ca. 1000 BC. Later, the city was called
Germanicia Caesarea (Γερμανίκεια,
Germanikeia, in Greek) in the time of the
RomanThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
and
ByzantineThe Byzantine Empire or Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on the capital of Constantinople, and ruled by Emperors in direct and de jure succession to the ancient Roman Emperors...
empires.
Marash in Syriac/Aramaic ܡܪܥܫ was an importent Syrian Orthodox diocese. Mor Dionysius Bar Salibi (+ 1171) was it's bishop.
Until 1973, Kahranmanmaras was known as
Maraş pronounced
Marash. It gained its modern name on October 7, 1973 when the
Grand National Assembly of TurkeyThe Grand National Assembly of Turkey is the unicameral parliament of Turkey which is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Constitution. It was founded in Ankara on 23 April 1920 in the midst of the Turkish War of Independence...
added "Kahraman" to the name. The addition of "Kahraman" ("hero" in Turkish) was in commemoration of the victory against the
French Armenian LegionThe Armenian Legion, established with the French-Armenian Agreement , was a foreign legion unit within French Army. The Armenian legion was established under the goals of the Armenian national liberation movement and was an armed unit besides the Armenian volunteer units and Armenian militia during...
during the
Battle of MaraşBattle of Maraş , a part as well as a cornerstone in several respects of the Turkish War of Independence, is the comprehensive term used for the three-weeks of wholescale conflict, principally on urban ground, between Turkish National Forces and French occupation forces in and around the city of...
in the
Turkish War of IndependenceThe Turkish War of Independence is the political and military resistance developed by Turkish Nationalists to the Allied partitioning of the Ottoman Empire after its defeat in World War I...
. After the war, Maraş also received the
Turkish Medal of IndependenceTurkish Medal of Independence was a special military decoration issued in limited number by Grand National Assembly of Turkey in accordance with the Act 66 of November 29, 1920. It was awarded to military personnel and civilians, who had made important contributions to the country during the...
, given to the city as a whole for such actions as the
Sütçü İmam IncidentSütçü İmam incident was the first action against the French occupying forces in Maraş, Turkey on 31 October 1919...
.
In December 1978, Kahramanmaraş was the site of a massacre of leftist Alevis. A Sunni nationalist group, the
Grey WolvesGrey Wolves or Idealist Youth is an ultra-nationalist neo-fascist youth organization of the Turkish Nationalist Movement Party . It is accused of terrorism....
, incited the violence that left over 700 dead. The incident was of key importance in the Turkish government's decision to declare martial law, and the eventual military coup in 1980.
Industry
Kahramanmaraş's industry is mainly based on
textileA textile is a flexible material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw wool fibres, linen, cotton, or other material on a spinning wheel to produce long strands...
and ice cream. Kahramanmaraş is one of the biggest textile industry cities of Turkey. Companies like Kipaş, İskur, Arsan and Bozkurt are one of the richest companies in the city. Also, many of the American clothing companies like
AéropostaleAéropostale, Inc. , usually referred to as Aéropostale or Aéro, is an American clothing retailer that sells casual clothing with over 900 stores in the United States, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Peru, and the United Arab Emirates. Their stores tend to be located in shopping malls...
and
American EagleAmerican Eagle Outfitters is an American clothing and accessories retailer based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1977 by Mark and Jerry Silverman as a subsidiary of Retail Ventures, Inc., a company which also owned and operated Silverman's Menswear. The Silvermans sold their...
are supplying their yarns from Kahramanmaraş.
Some of the internationally-known ice-cream companies like Mado, Yaşar Pastanesi, EDO and Ferah Pastanesi started their business in this ice-cream city and thousands of people visit Kahramanmaraş, just because of its ice-cream (
dondurmaDondurma is the name used for ice cream in Turkey. In English it specifically refers to Turkish ice cream. It is made of goat milk using traditional methods. This ice-cream originates from the Turkish region of Kahramanmaraş...
in Turkish).
The town was (and may still be) the home town of the 172nd Armoured Brigade of the Turkish Second Army.
http://www.iskenderiye.com/yasam/yemek/ayrinti.asp?sirano=61130
Sports
The city has a local
footballAssociation football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players using a spherical ball...
team called;
KahramanmaraşsporKahramanmaraşspor is a Turkish football club based in Kahramanmaraş.They have brought up one of the greatest players of all time, Goldenfoot Joku who had a goal scoring ratio of 1.7 goals per game and is famous for his record 6 goals against Mersin I.Y. one of which broke the goalkeeper's wrist...
which is currently in Turkish 2nd Division Category B Group 5. Kahramanmaraşspor plays its home games in Hanefi Mahçiçek Stadium. Some famous Turkish players like
Mehmet ÖzdilekMehmet Özdilek Nicknamed Şifo Mehmet. He began his football life at Ladikspor/Samsun. When he was 16 Kahramanmaraşspor scouted him and transferred in. He was the topscorer in the season 1987-88 when Kahramanmaraşspor was the champion of the 2. Turkish League. After the promotion of his team he...
and
Kemalettin ŞentürkKemalettin Şentürk is a retired Turkish footballer who spent most of his career at Turkish first division team Fenerbahçe S.K., mainly as a sweeper .-Football career:...
played in Kahramanmaraşspor before transferring to bigger clubs.
Notable natives
- Aziz Atas - Legendary Kurdish footballer who had spells with AC Milan and Real Madrid
- Nestorius
Nestorius was Archbishop of Constantinople from 10 April 428 to 22 June 431. He was accused of heresy that later bore his name, Nestorianism, because he objected to the popular practice of calling the Virgin Mary the "Mother of God" theotokos; he instead preached that "Mother of Christ" would be...
- V Century religious leaderstyle="float: right;"|- |The Assyrian Church of the East known officially as the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East , in Persian القدس وابسته به پاپ کاتولیک آشوری...
- Sünbülzade Vehbi - Turkish poet
- Necip Fazıl Kısakürek
Ahmet Necip Fazıl Kısakürek was a Turkish poet, novelist, playwright and philosopher. He is also known with his initials NFK. He was noticed by the French philosopher Henri Bergson, while Necip Fazıl had been a student of his in Sorbonne during the 1920s...
- Turkish poet and writer
- Mehmet Akif İnan - Turkish poet and writer
- Erdem Bayazıt - Turkish poet and writer
- Cahit Zarifoğlu - Turkish poet and writer
- Nuri Pakdil - Turkish poet and writer
- Nazif Gürdoğan - Turkish writer and academician
- Alaaddin Özdenören - Turkish poet and writer
- Rasim Özdenören - Turkish poet and writer
- Bejan Matur - Turkish poet and writer
- Aşık Mahzuni Şerif
Aşık Mahzuni Şerif , also known as Mahsuni Şerif, was a Turkish folk musician, ashik, composer, poet, and author.Mahzuni Şerif was born in Berçenek village of Afşin, Kahramanmaraş, Turkey in 1940....
- Turkish folk singer/songwriter
- Kıraç
Ali Tufan Kıraç , better known as Kıraç, 1972 is an Anatolian rock-pop singer-songwriter.He has contributed albums such as Kayıp Şehir, Zaman and many others...
- Turkish singer/songwriter
- Şeref Eroğlu
Şeref Eroğlu is a Turkish wrestler who competed in the Men's Greco-Roman 66 kg at the 2004 Summer Olympics and won the silver medal....
- European and World champion, Olympic medalist wrestler
External links