Mersin in Turkey
Friday, 3 May 2024 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: European Union / Europäische UnionCategory/Kategorie: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time: 6 minutes Mersin is a large city and port on the Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of the Mersin Province (formerly İçel). It is made up of four district governorates, each having its own municipality: Akdeniz, Mezitli, Toroslar and Yenişehir. Mersin lies on the western side of Çukurova, a geographical, economic and cultural region of Turkey. It is an important hub for Turkey’s economy, with Turkey’s largest seaport being located here. The city hosted the 2013 Mediterranean Games.
As urbanisation continues eastward, a larger metropolitan region combining Mersin with Tarsus and Adana (the Adana-Mersin Metropolitan Area) is in the making with more than 3.3 million inhabitants. Adana Şakirpaşa Airport (ADA), 69 kilometres (43 mi) from Mersin city center, is the nearest international airport. There are ferry services from Mersin to Famagusta (Mağusa) in Northern Cyprus. Mersin is linked to Adana via Tarsus by way of TCDD trains.
Today, Mersin is a large city spreading out along the coast. It has the longest seashore in Turkey as well as in the Eastern Mediterranean. The Metropolitan Municipality has rescued long stretches of the seafront with walkways, parks and statues, and there are still palm trees on the roadsides. Since the start of the Syrian War in 2011 Mersin has acquired a large population of Syrian refugees. On 6 February 2023 Mersin was shaken by the twin Turkey-Syria earthquakes. Citizens made homeless in cities further to the east also flocked to Mersin in search of shelter.
Mersin is best known in Turkey for its tantuni, and restaurants serving it can be found all over the country. The provincial cuisine includes specialties such as:
- Ciğer kebap, (liver on mangal), typically served on lavaş with an assortment of meze at 12 skewers at a time,
- Tantuni, a hot lavaş wrap consisting of julienned lamb stir-fried on a sac on a hint of cottonseed oil,
- Bumbar or mumbar, lamb intestines filled with a mixture of rice, meat and pistachios, that are served either grilled or steamed, famous throughout the Levant ,
- Cezerye, a lokum-like delight made of caramelized carrot paste, covered in (sometimes sliced) pistachios and often also sprinkled with ground coconut,
- Karsambaç, a variety of shaved ice served with pekmez or honey as toppings,
- Künefe, a wood-oven baked dessert based on a mixture of cheese and pastry; known all throughout the Levant,
- Kerebiç, a shortbread filled with pistachio paste, also famous throughout the Levant,
- Şalgam suyu, a beverage made of fermented red carrots, very popular in Southern Turkey.
Mersin is home to a State Opera and Ballet, the fourth in Turkey after Istanbul, İzmir and Ankara. Mersin International Music Festival was established in 2001 and takes place every October. The photography associations Mersin Fotoğraf Derneği (MFD) and Mersin Olba Fotoğraf Derneği (MOF) are amongst the city’s most popular and active cultural organisations. Some cultural activities are sponsored by the İçel Sanat Kulübü (Art Club of Mersin) and Mediterranean Opera and Ballet Club. The Mersin Citrus Festival is a festival organized to promote the citrus produced in Mersin. The festival typically includes folk dancers from different traditions and sculptures constructed from different types of citrus. The first festival was held in 2010. The festival is held annually on a weekend in November.
Read more on Wikivoyage Mersin and Wikipedia Mersin (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.
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