Rize is the capital of
Rize ProvinceRize is a province of north-east Turkey, on the eastern Black Sea coast between Trabzon and Artvin. Its capital is the city of Rize.-Etymology:The name comes from Greek , meaning "mountain slopes". The Georgian name is რიზე, Laz name is Rizini....
, in northeast
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...
, on the
Black Seaur a loser!The Black Sea is an inland sea bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas and various straits. The Bosporus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects it to...
coast.
thumb
The city is built around a small bay on the
Black Seaur a loser!The Black Sea is an inland sea bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas and various straits. The Bosporus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects it to...
coast, on a narrow strip of flat land between the sea and the mountains behind. The coastal strip is being expanded with landfill and the city is growing up the steep hillsides away from the coast. Rize enjoys a mild, extremely wet climate, vulnerable to storms coming off the Black Sea and therefore the surrounding countryside is rich with vegetation and is attracting more and more visitors every year.
Rize is a center for processing and shipping the tea grown in the surrounding area.
Rize is the capital of
Rize ProvinceRize is a province of north-east Turkey, on the eastern Black Sea coast between Trabzon and Artvin. Its capital is the city of Rize.-Etymology:The name comes from Greek , meaning "mountain slopes". The Georgian name is რიზე, Laz name is Rizini....
, in northeast
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...
, on the
Black Seaur a loser!The Black Sea is an inland sea bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas and various straits. The Bosporus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects it to...
coast.
Geography
thumb
The city is built around a small bay on the
Black Seaur a loser!The Black Sea is an inland sea bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas and various straits. The Bosporus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects it to...
coast, on a narrow strip of flat land between the sea and the mountains behind. The coastal strip is being expanded with landfill and the city is growing up the steep hillsides away from the coast. Rize enjoys a mild, extremely wet climate, vulnerable to storms coming off the Black Sea and therefore the surrounding countryside is rich with vegetation and is attracting more and more visitors every year.
Rize is a center for processing and shipping the tea grown in the surrounding area. Tea was introduced in the region in the 1940s and 1950's, changing the region's destiny, which was desperately poor until then. The city has a tea research institute founded in 1958 and tea gardens are the main sight in the town's panoramic view.
TeaTea is the agricultural product of the leaves, leaf buds, and internodes of the Camellia sinensis plant, prepared and cured by various methods...
and
kiwifruitThe kiwifruit, often shortened to kiwi, is the edible berry of a cultivar group of the woody vine Actinidia deliciosa and hybrids between this and other species in the genus Actinidia...
plants are even planted in gardens around the town. The secondary activity is
fishingFishing is the activity of catching fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
. Rize is linked by road with
TrabzonTrabzon, historically known as Trapezus and Trebizond, is a city on the Black Sea coast of north-eastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. Trabzon, located on the historical Silk Road, became a melting pot of religions, languages and culture for centuries and a trade gateway to Iran in...
(41 miles [66 km] west),
HopaHopa is a district of Artvin Province of Turkey, from the city of Artvin, at the eastern end of Turkey's Black Sea coast, on the border with Georgia.-Geography:...
(55 miles [88 km] east, on the
GeorgiaGeorgia Georgia Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Situated at the juncture of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the east by Azerbaijan...
n border, and
ErzurumErzurum is a city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. The name "Erzurum" derives from "Arz-u Rûm"...
(north). The nearest airport is in Trabzon.
Rize is a quiet town, a typical Turkish provincial capital with little in the way of night life or entertainment. However the border with Georgia has been open since the early 90's, the Black Sea coast road has been widened and Rize is now wealthier than in previous decades; there are more cars in the streets, higher buildings on the sea front, and some places for young people to go are opening up now. The visitors to the surrounding countryside also contribute to the economy of the town.
Mountains
Notable mountains
- Kaçkar (3.937 m)
- Barut
Barut is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Jemielnica, within Strzelce County, Opole Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It lies approximately east of Jemielnica, north-east of Strzelce Opolskie, and east of the regional capital Opole....
(3.251 m)
- Ziglat (3.511 m)
- Verçenik (3.711 m)
- Hipot
Hipot is an abbreviation for high potential. Traditionally, Hipot is a term given to a class of electrical safety testing instruments used to verify electrical insulation in finished appliances, cables or other wired assemblies, printed circuit boards, electric motors, and transformers.Under...
(3.560 m)
Rivers
From east to the west
- Fındıklı Deresi
- Büyükdere
- Pazar Suyu
- Karadere
- İyidere
İyidere is a town and district of Rize Province on the Black Sea coast of north-eastern Turkey, 14 km from the city of Rize.Formerly known as Aspet, İyidere is a green rural district...
Economy
The economic structure of Rize is based primarily around its geographic location. Rize is a very mountainous city, making industrial development difficult and impractical. Given the lack of air and rail transit, most goods have to travel by truck or ship, which makes exporting and importing more difficult. Rize's primary trading partner is Trabzon, the most developed city of northeast Black Sea region. Rize's main exports are agriculturally based; tea and kiwi fruit are among its most popular commodities.
Education
Rize University was founded in 2006. It consists of the following faculties:
- Merkez Milli Piyango Egitim Kampusu - Central Milli Piyango Education Campus
- Ilahiyat Kampusu - Theology Campus
- Egitim Fakultesi (Cayeli/Rize) - Cayeli Teachers' Training College Campus
- Rize Meslek Yuksekokulu - Rize Vocational Higher Education School
- Findiklı Meslek Yuksekokulu (Findiklı/Rize) - Findikli Vocational Higher Education School
- Ardesen Meslek Yuksekokulu (Ardesen/Rize) - Ardesen Vocational Higher Education School
As of 2007, the university was also building a Faculty of Medicine.
Notable natives
- Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is a Turkish politician, a former mayor of Istanbul and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey since 14 March, 2003...
Politician and current prime minister
- Mesut Yılmaz
Ahmet Mesut Yılmaz is the former leader of the Motherland Party and was the Turkish prime minister in the 1990s....
- Politician and former prime minister
- Köksal Toptan
Köksal Toptan is a Turkish lawyer and politician with the AKP. He earlier served as government minister in three cabinets. He now acts as the speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey....
Politician, Speaker of Parliament
- İsmail Bilen
İsmail Bilen was a Turkish politician of Hemshinli origin...
Politician, Former General Secretary of Communist Party of Turkey (TKP)
- Fahri Tatan
Fahri Tatan is a Turkish professional footballer who plays for Denizlispor in the Turkish Super Lig.-Club career:...
- football player
- Kazım Ayvaz
Kazım Ayvaz , is a former Turkish Olympic medalist sports wrestler in the Lightweight class and a trainer. He won the gold medal in Men's Greco-Roman wrestling at the 1964 Olympics and became twice World champion.He was born 1938 in Rize of north-eastern Turkey...
- Olympic medalist and world champion in wrestling
- Mehmet Akif Pirim
Mehmet Akif Pirim , is a former Turkish Olympic medalist sports wrestler in the Featherweight class , and currently a trainer...
- Olympic medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling
- Temel Kotil
Temel Kotil is an aeronautical engineer and serves as the president and CEO of the Turkish Airlines since April 2005....
- aeronautical engineer and CEO of Turkish Airlines
- Zafer Biryol
Zafer Biryol is a Turkish professional footballer who plays as a forward for Altay S.K. in the TFF Second League. He is 1.82 meters tall and weighs 75 kilograms.-Club career:...
- football player
- İsmail Türüt
İsmail Türüt is a Turkish folk singer from the Black Sea Region.-Albums:*Laz Uşağı* Komşu Kızı Lazmısın Çerkezmisin*Ondan Kaynana Olmaz*Çay Güzeli* Güzellere Bayram Var Hamsi*Kara Sevdalı Fatma*Zorla Güzellik Olmaz...
- Singer of folk music of the Black Sea region
- Sedat Peker
Sedat Peker is a Turkish businessman and the current chairman of Turkish football club Antalyaspor. His main business areas are jewellery and pharmacy....
- current chairman of Turkish football club Antalyaspor
Çaykur RizesporÇaykur Rizespor is a Turkish sports club based in Rize. Çaykur Rizespor is currently playing in the Bank Asya 1. League. The club was founded in 1953 in green-yellow colours and had professionalship status in 1968 as Rizespor and changed her names to blue-green...
, the local football team, play in the Turkish Super League and are local heroes, occasionally capable of defeating even the big Istanbul teams. They play in green and blue, reflecting the blue of the sea and the green of the tea growing on the hillsides.
Others who have never lived in Rize but come from Rize families include:
- Baris Manco
Barış Manço was a Turkish rock singer, composer, and television producer. He composed about 200 songs, some of which were translated into a variety of languages including English, Japanese, Albanian, Greek, Italian,Bulgarian, Romanian, Persian and Arabic...
Famous singer and song writer.
- Sezen Aksu
Sezen Aksu is a Turkish pop music singer, song-writer and producer who sold over 40 million albums worldwide...
Famous singer and song writer, born in izmir but originally Pazar/Rize
- Tarkan
Tarkan Tevetoğlu , popularly known as Tarkan, is a World Music award winning Turkish pop singer born in Germany and raised in Turkey. Tarkan has been known for the use of sexual and romantic themes in his work and has been nicknamed the "Prince Of Pop" by the media...
the Turkish pop star
- Asena
Asena is the name of a female wolf in Turkic mythology. It is associated with a Göktürk ethnogenic myth "full of shamanic symbolism".The legend runs as follows. After a battle, only an injured young boy survives. A she-wolf with a sky-blue mane named Asena finds the injured child and nursed him...
television's best-known belly dancer
- Murat Karayalçın
Murat Karayalçın is a prominent Turkish politician. He is a former foreign minister and a former mayor of Ankara. He is the leader of Social Democratic People's Party .-References:* Biyografi.info - * Biyografi.net -...
Politician, leader of the SHPThe current Social Democratic People's Party or SHP is a Turkish left social-democratic political party established in 2002 by Murat Karayalçın, former Ankara Metropolitan Mayor and Foreign Minister ....
Population figures
| Year |
Population |
| 1975 |
36.044 |
| 1980 |
43.407 |
| 1985 |
50.221 |
| 1990 |
52.031 |
| 1997 |
73.420 |
| 2000 |
78.144 |
External links