Silivri (district)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Silivri is a district of Istanbul along the Sea of Marmara in Turkey, used mainly as holiday and weekend homes for residents of the city.

The largest town in the district is Silivri itself - see Silivri for the history of this ancient town.

Silivri is located at 41°03′N 28°20′E bordering Büyükçekmece to the east, Çatalca to the north, Çorlu and Marmara Ereğli (both districts of Tekirdağ) to the west and with the Sea of Marmara to the south. It is with an area of 860 km² the largest district of Istanbul. The seat of the district is the city of Silivri.

The district consists of 8 towns and 18 villages, and its population is 108,155 (2000 census). 44,530 in the city of Silivri, the remaining in the surrounding towns an villages - listed below.

1 History
2 Holiday resort
3 Agriculture
4 High schools
5 List of Towns and villages of Silivri
6 See also
7 References

[edit] History

see Silivri for the history of the town, the ancient Selymbria (or Selybria) a port along the Marmara coast with a hilltop trading post behind, named after a Greek general and later occupied by Macedoanians, Romans, Byzantines and whoever else was in control of the city of Istanbul. Following the Ottoman conquest of the city Turkish soldiers were settled here and the church converted to a mosque, the town becoming the classic Ottoman urban mix of Jews, Greeks, Turks and Armenians. It was occupied by Bulgarian troops in 1915 and by Greek forces for two years durring the Turkish war of Independence (up until 1922). In the population exchange of 1924 the Greek occupants were replaced by Turkish families from Greece. The Jewish community eventually relocated to Istanbul and then Israel. Most of the residents today are families of Turkish minorities in Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and Albania who came here after the population transfer in 1922.

[edit] Holiday resort

During the summer months, the population increases 4-5 times. Silivri is 67 km far from the city center of Istanbul, and is a popular summer resort for many Istanbul residents with its 45 km long coast. It is on the highway D-100 and the motorway O-3 (E-80), which connect Turkey to Europe via Edirne. It takes about an hour and a half to get here from the city so is feasible for use in the summer months as a weekend and holiday retreat, although the road out here is heaving with traffic in summer.

Being so accessible from Istanbul the Marmara coast has long been used for holidaying by Istanbul's people. As the city has grown these facilities have moved further and further away. Once Florya and Yeşiköy were resorts, today it's Tekirdağ and even further. Silivri had its heyday in the 60's and 70s as families would come by the busload to complexes of holiday flats that were built on the beach. Most had their own stretch of beach, perhaps with their neighbour's raw sewage running straight into the sea. The Marmara Sea here has suffered from pollution in the 80s and 90s but now efforts have been made to clean it up and people do swim. Some of these places have sports centres, discos, go-kart tracks, games rooms for the kids etc and many Istanbul families have pleasant memories of trips to Silivri in the 70s and 80s, sitting on the beach in the summer moonlight while the kids run about until they drop from tiredness. Some still go today. All the facilities are located in the holiday housing area, the town centre of Silivri has little to offer in the way of cinema, theatre or any other cultural amenities.

Now the coast has also been blessed with resort hotels and country clubs with sport facilities including golf courses, horse riding centres and tennis courts, health and conference centers. At weekend the area is crowded with day trippers.

With all this development it's hard to find a stretch of open coastline.

The winter months are cold here, as bitter weather blows across Thrace from the Balkans, and holiday homes in Silivri are not much used from mid-September until May or even June.

[edit] Agriculture

The district has great agricultural potential thanks to its almost flat landscape, mild Thracian climate and yield-effective soil, and in the 1950's and 1960's the pasture was so rich that the yoghurt of Silivri was renowned. Now the reputation of the yoghurt has declined due to poor quality control and mismanagement of the brand. Yhe Silivri Yoghurt Festival used to be a major event but nowadays there is less interest and in someyears it is not even held. Wheat (246 km²), sunflower (105 km²) and barley (50 km²) are cultivated here. Vineyards were once important but have declined since the 1970s. Livestock is still important.

[edit] High schools

Silivri Lisesi (Silivri High School) Visit web site
Hasan - Sabriye Gümüş Anadolu Lisesi (Anatolian High School) Visit web site
Özel Balkan Lisesi (Private Balkan High School) Visit web site
Necip Sarıbekir Lisesi
Teknik Lise ve Endüstri Meslek Lisesi (Technical High School and Industry - Profession High School) Visit web site
Şerife Baldöktü Meslek Lisesi (Şerife Baldöktü Profession High School)

[edit] List of Towns and villages of Silivri

Towns (total population 41,669) (Büyük Çavuşlu, Celaliye-Kamiloba, Çanta, Değirmenköy, Gümüşyaka, Kavaklı, Ortaköy, Selimpaşa), and villages (total population 21,956) (Akören, Alipaşa, Bekirli, Beyciler, Büyük Kılıçlı, Büyük Sinekli, Çayırdere, Çeltik, Danamandıra, Fener, Gazitepe, Kadıköy, Kurallı, Küçük Kılıçlı, Küçük Sinekli, Sayalar, Seymen, Yolçatı).

[edit] See also

Silivri

[edit] References

	Districts of Istanbul
Adalar \| Avcılar \| Bağcılar \| Bahçelievler \| Bakırköy \| Bayrampaşa \| Beşiktaş \| Beykoz \| Beyoğlu \| Büyükçekmece \| Çatalca \| Eminönü \| Esenler \| Eyüp \| Fatih \| Gaziosmanpaşa \| Güngören \| Kadıköy \| Kağıthane \| Kartal \| Küçükçekmece \| Maltepe \| Pendik \| Sarıyer \| Silivri \| Sultanbeyli \| Şile \| Şişli \| Tuzla \| Ümraniye \| Üsküdar \| Zeytinburnu