Malkara

Malkara
Malkara
District and municipality
	Map showing Malkara District in Tekirdağ Province
	Malkara Location in Turkey Malkara Malkara (Marmara)
	Coordinates: 40°53′36″N 26°54′15″E / 40.89333°N 26.90417°E
Country	Turkey
Province	Tekirdağ
Government
• Mayor	Ulaş Yurdakul (CHP)
Area	1,243 km2 (480 sq mi)
Population (2022)	50,988
• Density	41/km2 (110/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+3 (TRT)
Postal code	59300
Area code	0282
Website	www.malkara.bel.tr

Malkara (Greek: Μάλγαρα, Malgara) is a municipality and district of Tekirdağ Province, Turkey.^[2] Its area is 1,243 km² (the largest in Tekirdağ Province),^[3] and its population is 50,988 (2022).^[1] It is located at 55 km west of Tekirdağ and 190 km from Istanbul. The mayor is Ulaş Yurdakul (CHP).

Climate

Malkara experiences a

hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa),^[4] with hot, dry summers, and chilly, rainy, somewhat snowy winters.^[5]

Climate data for Malkara (1991–2020)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	7.6 (45.7)	9.1 (48.4)	12.4 (54.3)	17.5 (63.5)	23.1 (73.6)	27.9 (82.2)	30.4 (86.7)	30.8 (87.4)	26.2 (79.2)	20.0 (68.0)	14.3 (57.7)	9.1 (48.4)	19.1 (66.4)
Daily mean °C (°F)	3.8 (38.8)	4.8 (40.6)	7.6 (45.7)	12.0 (53.6)	17.2 (63.0)	21.7 (71.1)	24.1 (75.4)	24.3 (75.7)	20.0 (68.0)	14.8 (58.6)	9.9 (49.8)	5.4 (41.7)	13.8 (56.8)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	0.6 (33.1)	1.3 (34.3)	3.6 (38.5)	7.2 (45.0)	11.9 (53.4)	16.0 (60.8)	18.2 (64.8)	18.5 (65.3)	14.8 (58.6)	10.7 (51.3)	6.3 (43.3)	2.3 (36.1)	9.3 (48.7)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	74.73 (2.94)	72.53 (2.86)	72.05 (2.84)	47.68 (1.88)	46.41 (1.83)	49.35 (1.94)	25.48 (1.00)	12.69 (0.50)	46.42 (1.83)	76.56 (3.01)	82.38 (3.24)	100.85 (3.97)	707.13 (27.84)
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm)	8.0	7.9	7.5	6.4	5.7	5.2	2.8	2.2	4.1	5.5	6.3	9.2	70.8
Average relative humidity (%)	81.3	78.9	75.6	70.9	68.6	65.2	61.5	61.5	66.3	74.7	79.3	81.4	72.1
Source: NOAA^[6]

History

Byzantine

period.

Once the area had been brought under Ottoman control it was settled with Turks from Anatolia and a Turkish town emerged which thrived supplying the Ottoman cavalry regiments. Malkara was then used as a place of exile for those out of favor in the Ottoman court including:

Hacı Evhat – personal tutor to Suleiman the Magnificent, who exiled Evhat in 1524 when he did not like the lessons
campaign against Persia
in 1580
Melek Ahmed Pasha – Grand Vizier, 1650–51
Boynuyaralı Mehmed Pasha – Grand Vizier, 1656
Bekri Mustafa Pasha – Grand Vizier, 1688–89

The 17th-century Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi described Malkara as a tidy, hard-working town of 150 houses of tiled roofs noted for production of honey, cheese, and leather.

At the end of the 18th century Malkara was the scene of an uprising by the Janissary troops in protest against plans by Sultan Selim III to replace them with a new model army.

Malkara was occupied by Russian troops in the

Balkan Wars

of 1912–1913. In the aftermath of the 1913 Ottoman coup d'état, Malkara was reoccupied by Ottoman troops.

During World War II, the Greek part of Thrace was occupied by German and Bulgarian troops, and when Turkey was preparing for a possible entry into the war against the Axis powers, refugees from Greece were briefly housed in Malkara for their safety.

Malkara today

Malkara is a small market town serving the countryside around it, which is mostly devoted to growing sunflowers for seeds and oil. There are also one or two coal mines. Many of the people of Malkara originate in the Balkans and are liberal- and secular-minded.