Backed by the foothills of theNur Mountains, Osmaniye lay on one of the oldSilk Roads and was always a place of strategic importance since it straddled the main route betweenAnatolia and the Middle East.
Osmaniye lies at the centre of a rich agricultural region watered by theCeyhan river and known for growing peanuts. During the intensely hot summers many residents escape either to the Mediterranean coast or into the Nur mountains. Theyayla ofZorkun is a particularly popular mountain retreat.
Osmaniye is strongly associated withDevlet Bahçeli, the leader of theMHP, who was its member of parliament for many years.
Although Osmaniye was probably ruled in turn by theHittites,Persians,Byzantines andArmenians, there is nothing left to show their presence in the modern city.
The Ulaşlı remained the dominant local power into the period of theOttoman Empire and were even involved in theCelali uprisings, during a period of crisis for the Ottomans in the 17th century. Eventually, in 1865 the Ottoman general Derviş Paşa was charged with bringing law and order to the Çukurova. He established his headquarters in the Osmaniye villages of Dereobası, Fakıuşağı and Akyar and brought the Ulaşlı down from the mountains to the village of Hacıosmanlı. This eventually became the province of Osmaniye. It was named as Cebeli Bereket during the Ottoman period and was renamed after the formation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923.[3]
Between 1924 and 1933 the city of Osmaniye was the capital of the province of the same name. However, in 1933 the province was abolished and Osmaniye became the district governorate for Adana province. Then in 1996 Osmaniye was reinstated as Turkey's 80th province with the city of Osmaniye as its capital. Since then it has received more investment for infrastructure and now feels more like a city than the market town of old.
Osmaniye town has few attractions for visitors other than the city-centre Kent Müzesi (City Museum).[4] However, it makes a good base for visiting the scant remains of the nearby Roman city ofHierapolis-Castabala which huddles at the base of a craggy rock with a castle, probably built by the Armenians, perched on top of it.[5]
