Fatsa | |
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 Map showing Fatsa District in Ordu Province | |
  Fatsa Location in Turkey | |
| Coordinates:41°01′50″N37°30′0″E / 41.03056°N 37.50000°E /41.03056; 37.50000 | |
| Country | Turkey |
| Province | Ordu |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | İbrahim Etem Kibar (AKP) |
Area | 363 km2 (140 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 10 m (30 ft) |
| Population (2022)[1] | 126,775 |
| • Density | 350/km2 (900/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+3 (TRT) |
| Postal code | 52400 |
| Area code | 0452 |
| Climate | Cfa |
| Website | www |
Fatsa is a municipality anddistrict ofOrdu Province,Turkey.[2] Its area is 363 km2,[3] and its population is 126,775 (2022).[1] It lies on theBlack Sea coast.
The oldest recorded name of the town is Polemonion (Ancient Greek:Πολεμώνιον, Latinized as Polemonium), afterPolemon I of Pontus. A derivative of Polemonion, i.e. Bolaman, is the modern name of the river passing through Fatsa (the river is the ancientSidenus).[4] The present name, Fatsa, has been influenced bymodern Greek Φάτσα or Φάτσα Πόντου (φἀτσα is derived fromItalianfaccia), which translates as "face or housefront on the sea", but has in fact mutated from Fanizan, the name of the daughter of KingPharnaces II of Pontus, through Fanise, Phadisana (Greek:Φαδισανή),[5] Phadsane[6] Phatisanê[7] Vadisani (Greek:Βαδισανή), Phabda,[8] Pytane, Facha, Fatsah[7][9] into today's Fatsa. Apart from Polemonion, another Greek name of the town was Side.[10]
The history of Fatsa goes back to antiquity, when the coast was settled byCimmerians, andPontic Greeks in the centuries BC. The ruins on Mount Çıngırt (the ancient rock tombs and vaults) are from this period.
Fatsa was first mentioned, in the era of theKingdom of Pontus, asPolemonium, after KingPolemon I, the Romanclient king appointed byMark Antony. UnderNero, the kingdom became a Roman province in AD 62. In about 295,Diocletian (r. 284–305) divided the province into three smaller provinces, one of which wasPontus Polemoniacus, called after Polemonium, which was its administrative capital.
As theRoman Empire developed into theByzantine Empire, the city lost some of its regional importance.Neocaesarea became the capital of the province, and theDiocese of Polemonion was asuffragan of themetropolitan see ofNeocaesarea.[11] Due to partition of the Byzantine Empire as a result of theFourth Crusade, Fatsa became a part of theEmpire of Trebizond in 1204.
In the 13th and 14th centuriesGenoese traders established trading posts on the Black Sea coast.[12] Fatsa became one of the most important of these ports. There is a stone warehouse on the shore built in this period.
Following the conquest of the Empire of Trebizond by the Ottomans in 1461, Fatsa become a part ofRûm Eyalet and later a part ofTrebizond Eyalet of theOttoman Empire and remained within theSanjak of Janik until the collapse of the Empire in 1921. Fatsabecame a district of Ordu Province, following the formation of theRepublic of Turkey in 1923.
In 2020, archaeologist discovered ruins of a church at the bottom of the lake Gaga.[13]
Discovered in 2021, the ruins of a monastery dedicated to Saints Constantine and Helena and dating back to the 5th or 6th century were excavated in the following years.[14]
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Following the Turkish conquest ofAnatolia by theSeljuk Sultanate of Rum and later by the Ottomans, Muslim settlers arrived at Fatsa in the middle of the 14th Century.[17] The early MuslimTurkish settlers includedTurkomens, whose descendants make up the majority of Fatsa's currentAlevi Muslim community.[18] In 1999, a religious worship complex that serves to both Alevis andSunni Muslims was opened in Fatsa, which was unprecedented in Turkey.[19]
In the second half of the 19th century, Fatsa'sSunni population increased significantly, as some ofChveneburi (Sunni MuslimGeorgians) fromBatumi andKobuleti (Turkish:Çürüksu), who fought in the Ottoman army against theRussian forces inRusso-Turkish War (1877–78) under Ali Pasha of Çürüksu[15] and some of theAbazins andCircassians,[20] who were forced to leave their ancestral land inNorth Caucasus after the end of theCaucasian War in 1864, were settled in Fatsa and in the surrounding villages. The Circassian immigrants had an immediate impact on the local economy by introducing silk production to the area. In 1868, 3 millionpiastres worth of silk was sold in Fatsa.[20]
During the Byzantine period, as early as the 9th century, anOrthodoxdiocese was located in Fatsa (Diocese of Polemonion).[11] Fatsa'sChristian population during the Ottoman era was made up byPontic Greeks andArmenians,[21] who thrived as craftsmen and bureaucrats. According to the last Ottoman census carried out in 1914, the Christians made up 12% of Fatsa's total population of 40,339.[22][23] After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Fatsa's Christian population diminished. The last Pontic Greek community left Fatsa in 1923 as a part of thePopulation exchange between Greece and Turkey, when 770 Muslim families fromThessaloniki,Greece were settled in Fatsa and the indigenousPontic Greek population of Fatsa were settled inKaterini and in the village ofTrilofos Himachal, both in thePieria region ofGreece. Two members of Fatsa's Pontic Greek community, after the population exchange in 1923, became politicians in Greece;Alexander Deligiannidis, born in Fatsa in 1914 served in the Greek Parliament as a member ofNational Radical Union Party (1956 - 1964) andTakis Terzopoulos, born in Fatsa in 1920 served as the mayor of Katerini (1964 - 1967).
The book titledLiterary Publications, Testimonials and Narratives in Pieria (1918 - 2010) (Greek:Λογοτεχνικές εκδόσεις, μαρτυρίες και αφηγήσεις στην Πιερία) includes chronicles of some of Fatsa's Pontic Greeks on their exodus from Fatsa to Katerini, including an anecdotal account by Chalkidis Ef. Theophilus (Greek: Χαλκίδης Ευθ. Θεόφιλος) (b. Fatsa in 1900 - d. Katerini 1985).[16]
In 1919, in Fatsa, there were 8 churches (Greek Orthodox,Greek Evangelical andArmenian Apostolic) served by 9 priests.[24] After the departure of the last Christian community in 1923, the churches were closed and later demolished.[17] The last remaining church in Fatsa was in town's Kurtuluş District and was demolished in the late 1980s.
During the social unrest in Turkey in the 1970s, a major international incident in the area was the kidnapping of threeNATO engineers (twoBritish, oneCanadian) from theÜnye radar station in 1972 by the members ofPeople's Liberation Army of Turkey,[25] which had a support base in Fatsa.
In 1976,Nazmiye Komitoğlu was elected as the mayor of Fatsa, who was the first female mayor elected in the Black Sea region of Turkey. Following her death in office,[26]Fikri Sönmez, a localChveneburi,[18] was elected as the mayor on 14 October 1979.[27] Sönmez and hisMarxist–Leninist organisationDevrimci Yol, which was made up by local committees under the slogan "The red sun will rise in Fatsa", controlled the municipality until 11 July 1980.[28]
After his election as the mayor, Sönmez divided Fatsa into eleven regions and created people's committees, which had power to recall government authorities.[26] Sönmez was blamed creating a new state inside the Turkish Republic by the prime minister of Turkey at the time,Süleyman Demirel.[29]
This era ended when, upon the initiative of theNationalist Movement Party supporting the provincial governor, theTurkish military conducted an operation called Operation Target (Turkish:Nokta Operasyonu) against the town.[30]On 8 July 1980, theTurkish Army surrounded Fatsa. On 9 July theGeneral Staff of Turkish Armed Forces, GeneralKenan Evren arrived at Fatsa. On 11 July 1980, the army moved into the town, and Mayor Sönmez and 300 others were arrested by the army.[18] OperationTarget is believed to be the rehearsal for the1980 Turkish coup d'état led by Gen. Kenan Evren.[31]
Throughout this turbulent period, Fatsa lost a significant number of its people as they migrated away to jobs in Turkey's larger cities or abroad. Immigrants from Fatsa constitute the largest proportion of the Turkish community inJapan.[32]
The current mayor of Fatsa is İbrahim Etem Kibar from the conservativeAK Party.[33]
Fatsa is located on a strip of coastline between theBlack Sea and the Janik Mountains (Turkish:Canik) and watered by the rivers ofElekçi,Bolaman,Yapraklı andBelice. Fatsa has ahumid subtropical climate (Köppen:Cfa); warm and humid in summer, cool and damp in winter, with occasional - but sometimes heavy - snowfalls.
There are 89neighbourhoods in Fatsa District:[34]
The local economy depends on agriculture and fishing. In the early 20th century, the town thrived as a port and trading post, as there was no coastal road to in the region. There are fishing fleets harboured at the port in Fatsa and in the small districts of Yalıköy andBolaman (Polemonium) and in the hamlet of Belice, which forms a natural harbour. TheBlack Sea Coastal Highway runs through Fatsa bringing passing trade.
Before the 20th century,maize andrice were the main grains grown in the hinterland. From the 1920s onwards, the coastal swamps were dried up by irrigation works, rice growing ceased and the town grew. During this time, hazelnuts were introduced to the area. About 80% of arable land is planted withhazelnuts. The higher mountain areas of the district are covered in forest.
The countryside and coast of Fatsa are lush in spring and summer time. A number of places in and around the town attract visitors, including;
The annualFatsa Çınar Festival was used to be held in July which included concerts, sports competitions, a beauty contest and various other activities. The last festival was held in 2008.
Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Sidenus".Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.
Media related toFatsa at Wikimedia Commons| International | |
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