Denizli

Denizli
City
View of the city from above
Licence plate		20
Website	www.denizli.bel.tr

Denizli is a city in Aegean Turkey, and seat of the province of Denizli. The city forms the urban part of the districts Merkezefendi and Pamukkale, with a population of 651,200 in 2022.^[2]

Denizli has seen economic development in the last few decades, mostly due to textile production and exports.^[3][4]

Denizli also attracts visitors to the nearby mineral-coated hillside hot spring of

The ancient ruined city of Hierapolis, as well as ruins of the city of Laodicea on the Lycus, the ancient metropolis of Phrygia, are nearby. Also in the vicinity of Honaz, about 10 mi (16 km) west of Denizli is, what was, in the 1st century AD, the city of Colossae.

The weather is hot in Denizli in summers, whereas in winters, it may occasionally be very cold with snow on the mountains that surround the city. Some years, snow can be observed in the urban areas. Springs and autumns are rainy, with a mild warm climate.

Name

The word deniz means 'sea, large lake'. No sea or lake can be found near Denizli. However, the original Turkish name for the place was Tonguzlu, pronounced as toŋuzlu or doŋuzlu, later donuzlu (from toŋuz 'wild boar'). Thus Tonguzlu means a 'place where boars dwell'. Because of the phonetical process (t->d, ŋ->n), the name was changed into denizlü or denizli, similar in pronunciation but different in meaning, in order to avoid the connotation 'boar, pig', which is considered offensive in Islam.^[5] Ibn Battuta recorded that the city was called Dun Ghuzluh. The latter is said to mean 'the town of the swine'.^[6]

History

In antiquity, it was an important Greek town, called Attouda (Αττούδα), that existed through the

The city was conquered by the

Ibn Battuta visited the city, noting that "In it there are seven mosques for the observance of Friday prayers, and it has splendid gardens, perennial streams, and gushing springs. Most of the artisans there are Greek women, for in it are many Greeks who are subject to the Turks and who pay dues to the sultan, including the jizya, and other taxes."^[8]

In the 17th century, the Ottoman traveller

Denizli has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa or Trewartha: Cs), with hot, dry summers and mild to cool, rainy winters. The inland areas, like Çardak, Bozkurt, Çivril, and Çal districts/counties of the province are cooler and have a higher elevation than the seaside, western part of the Province. Therefore, there are climatic differences within the province and even in the Denizli urbanized area.^{[citation needed]} The land is open to winds coming from the Aegean Sea as the mountains are perpendicular to the coastline.

Denizli today

Economy

During World War I, Denizli mined chromium.^[11]

Transportation

Denizli Çardak Airport is about 45 minutes drive from the city center.

The extension of İzmir-Aydın highway to Denizli has been announced for several years. Initial infrastructure was laid in Aydın, but the rest is still forthcoming. The present Aydın-Denizli road, has a very high level of traffic, especially trucks, with each town along the road possessing its own industrial zone.

Places of interest

• Asia Minor, the stadium, the amphitheatre and the odeon, the cistern and the aqueduct. (see further Laodicean Church
  )
• Hierapolis and Pamukkale World Heritage Sites -20 km (12 mi) north of Denizli Pamukkale traventines. The city of Hierapolis was founded by the Pergamon King Eumenes II in 190 BC. Its closeness to Laodicea led to commercial and military rivalry. The town was built in Greek style. Despite suffering a violent earthquake in 17 AD, it reached its peak during the Roman and Byzantine periods. It was reconstructed during the 2nd and 3rd centuries in stone from quarries in the area, in a Roman style. The town had its most glorious years during the reign of Roman Emperors Septimius Severus and Caracalla and became an episcopal seat during the expansion of Christianity. However, as a result of several earthquakes, the most violent of which was in 1354, a great part of the town was destroyed, and its people migrated.
• The
  Seljuq caravanserai Akhan, which is 6 km (4 mi) from Denizli City on the Ankara highway, and a great part of which still remains, was constructed by Karasungur bin Abdullah in 1253-54 when he was acting as the commander of Ladik. It was recently restored along with the Ottoman konaks
  nearby and is set to become a visitor's attraction by its own right.
• Honaz mountain is a popular picnic excursion for Denizli's people in summer.
• The nearby village of Goncalı, which is on the railway line, is another excursion. People come to eat the charcoal-grilled thinly-cut kebab called çöp şiş, preferably with the local süzme yoghurt and a glass of rakı.
• There is a statue of
  Atatürk
  at Çınar Meydanı in the city centre.
• Seljuk akıncı
  unit is located there. Many locals visit and pray at the tomb especially on weekends.
• Teraspark Shopping and Lifestyle Center, Teraspark AVM, located in Yenişehir. Teraspark AVM is the biggest shopping center in Denizli.
• Forum Çamlık Shopping and Lifestyle Center, Forum Çamlık AVM, located in the heart of the city centre, Demokrasi Meydanı/Square and surrounded by residential areas, welcomes more than 450,000 people within a catchment area of 20 minutes. The design of Forum Çamlık was inspired by the rich architectural elements that are unique to Province of Denizli. Local stones like Denizli travertine and marble are used for the cladding of many buildings.

Notable people

Ancient sites of Denizli

• Laodikeia
• Hierapolis
• Trapezopolis

Twin towns – sister cities

Denizli is twinned with:^[12]

• Almelo, Netherlands, since 1974
• Brăila, Romania, since 2005
• Isani (Tbilisi), Georgia, since 1993
• Jiaozhou, China, since 2004
• Muan, South Korea, since 2009
• Pavlodar, Kazakhstan, since 1995

Denizli also cooperates with Bursa and Tokat in Turkey.^[12]

See also

• Merkezefendi

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Denizli.

• Denizli travel guide from Wikivoyage