Tirebolu

Tirebolu
—  District  —
Location of Tirebolu within Turkey.
Coordinates: 40°00′N 38°49′E / 40°N 38.817°E / 40; 38.817
Country	Turkey
Region	Black Sea
Province	Giresun
Government
- Mayor	Burhan Takır
Area
- Total	210 km2 (81.1 sq mi)
Population
- Total	17,450
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
- Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Postal code	28500
Area code(s)	(+90) 454
Licence plate	28
Website	http://www.tirebolu.bel.tr/

Tirebolu (formerly Tripoli; Ottoman Turkish: Tireboli, Greek: Τρίπολις) is a district and town of Giresun Province, Turkey, the Ancient Greek and Byzantine Greek Tripolis.

Geography

Tirebolu itself is a small town of 16,000 people located on the hill named Ayana which rises from the Black Sea shore just to the west of the Harşit River estuary. Tirebolu has a little harbour and a fishing fleet but the mainstay of the local economy is growing hazelnuts.

History

In his Anabasis, the Greek Xenophon (431–360 BC) wrote that Colchians, Drilae, Habibs, and Tiberians had been living in the eastern parts of the Black Sea region during the centuries (BC).

The Naturalis Historia of Pliny the Elder tells us that nearby Tripolis was founded (elsewhere dated as 656BC) as a trading colony of the Ancient Greek city-state of Miletos, one of nearly 90 along the Black Sea coast.

Tripoli was next part of the Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, one of the three cities that give the town its name, the others being Andoz (today's Espiye) and Bedrama (or Bedrum) in the Harşit valley. The Empire of Trebizond was then formed when the Crusaders captured Constantinople) in 1204 and the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I of Trebizond escaped to the Black Sea coast. Tripoli was in the territory of this empire.

In 1397 the town was conquered by the Ottoman Empire general Hacı Emiroğlu Süleyman.

In 1916 this coast was occupied by Russian troops for two years during the First World War.

From 1916 to 1922, this Greek-inhabited town suffered in the Greek genocide in which many Ottoman Greeks were murdered by Turkish authorities. The surviving Greek population was expelled from their ancestral homes in Turkey as part of the Greek-Turkish population exchange of 1923.

Places of interest

The coast here is attractive and is rare in that it has not been much damaged by the Black Sea coast highway, which runs through tunnels behind the town, so with its castle, other ancient buildings including Ottoman Empire period houses, and its beaches Tirebolu is one town on this coast that has attractions for visitors. The nearest airport is Trabzon 80 km (50 mi) away. Other attractions include:

• the ruins of a Greek Orthodox monastery on Haç Dağı mountain.

Notable residents

• Cengiz Karahasanoğlu, writer whose family history is entitled from Turkestan to Tirebolu.

External links

• (Turkish) the municipality
• (Turkish) the district governorate
  • photos of Tirebolu
  • and more
• Pictures from the castle
• Old photo collection

v • d • e Tirebolu in Giresun Province (in the Black Sea region) of Turkey Urban districts Giresun Rural districts Alucra - Bulancak - Çamoluk - Çanakçı - Dereli - Doğankent - Espiye - Eynesil - Görele - Güce - Keşap - Piraziz - Şebinkarahisar - Tirebolu - Yağlıdere Regions Provinces Aegean Afyonkarahisar - Aydın - Denizli - İzmir - Kütahya - Manisa - Muğla - Uşak Black Sea Amasya - Artvin - Bartın - Bayburt - Bolu - Çorum - Düzce - Giresun - Gümüşhane - Karabük - Kastamonu - Ordu - Rize - Samsun - Sinop - Tokat - Trabzon - Zonguldak Central Anatolia Aksaray - Ankara - Çankırı - Eskişehir - Karaman - Kayseri - Kırıkkale - Kırşehir - Konya - Nevşehir - Niğde - Sivas - Yozgat Eastern Anatolia Ağrı - Ardahan -Bingöl - Bitlis - Elazığ - Erzincan - Erzurum - Hakkâri - Iğdır - Kars - Malatya - Muş - Siirt - Tunceli - Van Marmara Balıkesir - Bilecik - Bursa - Çanakkale - Edirne - Istanbul - Kırklareli - Kocaeli - Sakarya - Tekirdağ - Yalova Mediterranean Adana - Antalya- Burdur - Hatay - Isparta - Kahramanmaraş - Kilis - Mersin - Osmaniye Southeastern Anatolia Adıyaman - Batman - Diyarbakır - Gaziantep - Mardin - Şanlıurfa - Şırnak