Edremit, Balıkesir

For other uses, see Edremit (disambiguation).

Edremit
Altınoluk resort center near Edremit
Edremit Location of Edremit within Balıkesir Province
Coordinates:
Country	Turkey
Region	Aegean
Province	Balıkesir
Government
• Mayor	Kamil Saka (CHP)
Area
• District	731.32 km2 (282.36 sq mi)
Population (2012)
• Urban	55,255
• District	127,459
• District density	170/km2 (450/sq mi)
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Postal code	10x xx
Licence plate	10
Website	http://www.edremit.bel.tr

Edremit (Ottoman Turkish: ادرمد‎) is a district in Balıkesir Province, Turkey, as well as the central city of that district, on the west coast of Turkey, not far from the Greek island of Lesbos.

It is situated at the tip of the gulf with the same name (Gulf of Edremit), with its town center a few kilometers inland, and is an important center of trade, along with the other towns that are situated on the same gulf (namely Ayvalık, Gömeç, Burhaniye and Havran). It is also one of the largest district centers of Balıkesir Province. The district of Edremit, especially around Kazdağı, is largely covered with forests.

History

The name of Edremit corresponds to that of the ancient city of Adramyttion (Άδραμύττιον) or Adramytteion (Άδραμύττειον) or, in Latinized form Adramyttium, a city of Asia Minor on the coast of Mysia. It was to this port that the ship belonged on which the author of the Acts of the Apostles (probably Luke the Evangelist) and Paul the Apostle set out from Caesarea Maritima for the first part of their journey to Rome. The ship, which appears to have been a coastal trading vessel, conveyed them only to Myra, in Lycia, whence they sailed on an Alexandrian ship for Italy.

In classical times, Adramyttium received settlers from Athens and Delos. It later belonged to the Roman province or Asia, whose capital was Ephesus.

Adramyttium became the seat of a Christian suffragan diocese of the Metropolitan Archbishopric of Ephesus, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Adramyttium, which only remains as a Latin Catholic titular see.

In May 1914, thousands of Muslim refugees who had fled from the Balkans arrived in the town of Adramyttium and proceeded to ransack the shops and homes of the town's Greek community. According to Arnold J. Toynbee, the Ottoman government armed and organised the refugees. Many Greeks found refuge in the town church before fleeing to the harbour where they were then granted passage to the neighbouring island of Lesbos. Turks continued to massacre or evict Greeks in the following months in surrounding villages.

The ancient city was on the coast, 13 kilometres southwest of the modern city and 4 kilometres west of Burhaniye.

Economy

Edremit's economy relies largely on the production of olives, as well as on tourism. Edremit is known as the olive capital of Turkey. Kaz Dağı National Park, extending around the ancient Mount Ida (mentioned in Homer's epic poems such as the Iliad), is situated within the boundaries of Edremit district and is an important tourist attraction with its natural scenery and a number of picturesque small villages around it.

Demographics

In ethno-cultural terms, the population of Edremit is a mixture of Balkan Turks, descendants of immigrants from Balkans, Aegean Islands, some Circassians, as well as native Tahtacı Turkmens, who pursue their own traditions and life-style to this day. A private museum of ethnography in the village of Tahtakuşlar is one of the rare institutions in Turkey focusing on Tahtacı culture.

Notable people from Edremit

• George Mouzalon (born in Edremit in 1220, Byzantine Greek megas domestikos)
• Hülya Avşar (born in Edremit in 1963, father from Ardahan)
• Panos Dukakis (born in Edremit in 1896, father of American politician Michael Dukakis)
• Caner Erkin (born in Edremit in 1988)
• Sabahattin Ali (Author-Journalist)

External links

• Pictures of the town of Edremit

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: