Urla, İzmir

Urla
District and municipality
Map showing Urla District in İzmir Province
Urla Location in Turkey Show map of Turkey Urla Urla (İzmir) Show map of İzmir
Coordinates: 38°19′20″N 26°45′53″E / 38.32222°N 26.76472°E / 38.32222; 26.76472
Country	Turkey
Province	İzmir
Government
• Mayor	Murtaza Dayanç
Area	727 km2 (281 sq mi)
Population  (2022)[1]	74,736
• Density	100/km2 (270/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+3 (TRT)
Area code	0232
Website	www.urla.bel.tr

Urla is a municipality and

standing out. An annual international Artichoke Festival has been celebrated since 2015.

The name "Urla" is derived from the Greek Βουρλά ("Vourla") meaning marshlands and the town was cited as such in western sources until the 20th century. Bryela (Byzantine name meaning Woman of God i.e. Holy Maria) whereas it has been suggested that due to the transposition of vowels Bryela has become Vourla, meaning marshlands. Urla is where the ancient city of Klazomenai is located and its remains are much visited, while the name lives on in the unofficial appellation used in the region for part of the coastline of the district, "Kilizman" which is a still-used derivative of Klazomenai. (Former name of Güzelbahçe). With literacy among the highest in Turkey at 97%, Urla is also home to İzmir Institute of Technology. Urla prides itself for having raised two important men of letters, Giorgos Seferis and Necati Cumalı.

Geography

The district center is located in the middle of the isthmus of a small peninsula which protrudes northwards in the Gulf of İzmir, but its urban tissue is comparatively loose and extends eastwards to touch the coast and to cover a wide area which also includes a large portion of the peninsula. Sizable parts in the municipal area, owned by absentee landlords, remain uninhabited or are very rural in aspect. The peninsular coastline present a number of compounds constituted by seasonal residences along the beaches and the coves and which are administratively divided between Urla center's municipal area or its depending villages.

Urla district area's eastern end neighbors the westernmost district of the Greater Metropolitan Area of

targeting İzmir's professional classes start to show a rising interest for that section as well.

Composition

There are 37

Economy

Enterprises in Urla	2007
Services	592
Industrial	16
Commerce	1,200
Exporters	4
Agricultural	3,204

Secondary and/or seasonal residences continue to play a key role in Urla's economy, as demonstrated by the high number of residences (26,000 in all for the district) as compared to its population. Although Urla is keen to upgrade its arguments as a tourism destination with a wider appeal, the number of beds available in its accommodation units remains rather modest at only 185.

Urla's fish restaurants and other local specialties, notably a layered pastry called "katmer" is famous. Urla's name is also associated in Turkey with a particular breed of "okra", red in color, called "kınalı bamya" in Turkish.

While there are no large

in Urla, mid-size distributors and small commerces abound, especially in the coastal section of the district center. The total number of companies for the district as a whole was 1,812 in 2007. There are four banks operating through four branches in Urla.

In 2006, the district realized exports reaching 524,068 US Dollars, mostly agricultural products with added value. Some marble and lime is quarried but the contribution of mining activities to the general economy of the district is low. The same can be said for industrial activities in general, which are almost exclusively based on agriculture or livestock. The three small

present in the district center since the 1990s, employing about 650 people, usually house enterprises focused on maintenance and reparation activities.

Fruit&vegetable production	2006 (tonnes)
Olive (for olive oil)	14,205
Tomato (for table consumption)	5,200
Watermelon	4,300
Okra (red)	3,700
Olive (for table consumption)	3,700
Tomato (for sauce)	2,600
Artichoke	1,500
Grape (for table consumption)	1,146
Satsuma	852
Cabbage	750
Aubergine	600
Watermelon	560
Chili pepper	420
Lettuce	340
Broccoli	250
Grape (for wine)	240
Orange	135
Nectarine	105

Agricultural production remains the determinant activity for much of the district. In the district's total agricultural area of 971.5

) in particular, correspond for each only to 1 or 2 per cent of the total area used for agriculture, their added value for the district economy as a whole is significant.

Agriculture based on

.

17 per cent of the district's land, although suitable for agriculture, is still unused currently.

In

enterprises are present in the coastal areas of four villages (Balıklıova, Gülbahçe, Uzunkuyu, Zeytinler).

There are 6 stock farms (horse breeding and care) and two enterprises engaged in dog breeding and care in Urla.

Education and Health

There are 16 students for each teacher and 492 patients for each doctor in Urla. ^{[citation needed]}

History

Limantepe

Information on Urla region's pre-

pursued by an international team since 1979. Some researchers refer in its context to the possible most ancient regularly used port in the world.

Klazomenai - Kilizman

Urla was an important cultural centre also in its

.

The oldest attested olive oil production facilities were recently discovered in Klazomenai. The traces also indicate first exports of olive oil by way of sea.

Olive oil extraction installation (işlik) dating back to the third quarter of the 6th century BC uncovered in Klazomenai is the only surviving example of a level and weights press from an ancient Greek city and precedes by at least two centuries the next securely datable earliest presses found in Greece.^[5] It was restored and reconstructed in 2004-2005 through collaboration between Ege University, a Turkish olive-oil exporter and a German natural building components company, as well as by local artisans, on the basis of the clearly visible millstone with a cylindrical roller and three separation pits. The olive oil obtained turned out to be quite a success in business terms as well.

Turkish era

In the summit of Ottoman power, during the 16th century, Urla was almost entirely incorporated into the

. After 1923, Urla became a Turkish majority town.

Seferis and Cumalı

Urla had two important men of letters among his sons: It is the birthplace of the Greek poet and

Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations

) grew up in Urla.

Archaeology

In January 2021, archaeologists headed by Elif Koparal, announced the discovery of the ruins of a 2500 year-old temple of Aphrodite from the 5th century BC. Among other findings in and around the temple, they found a statue piece depicting a woman, a terracotta female head and an inscription that reads, "This is the sacred area".^[9] The traces of the temple were first excavated in 2016.^[10][11][12]

Notable people

• Soner Ergençay, Turkish football player
• Duygu Sakallı, Turkish handballer
• Giorgos Seferis, Greek poet and diplomat, Nobel Prize in Literature 1963
• Ecumenical Patriarchate
• Iakovos Tombazis & Emmanouil Tombazis, Greek revolutionaries with familial origins from Urla

Festivals

• Urla Artichoke Festival
• Mart Dokuzu Herb Festival

See also

• Limantepe
• Klazomenai
• İzmir Institute of Technology

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Urla.

External links

• Urla news portal

Resources

• "Report: Urla, 33p" (PDF) (in Turkish). İzmir Chamber of Commerce. 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 October 2012.
• Urla's names as referred to by Dr. Mahmut Tolon