Mersin

This coast has been inhabited since the 9th millennium BC. Excavations by John Garstang of the hill of Yumuktepe[4] have revealed 23 levels of occupation, the earliest dating from ca. 6300 BC. Fortifications were put up around 4500 BC, but the site appears to have been abandoned between 350 BC and 300 BC.

Over the centuries, the city was ruled by many states and civilisations including the Hittites, Assyrians, Urartians, Persians, Greeks, Armenians, Seleucids and Lagids. During the Ancient Greek period, the city bore the name Zephyrion (Greek: Ζεφύριον[5]) and was mentioned by numerous ancient authors. Apart from its natural harbour and strategic position along the trade routes of southern Anatolia, the city profited from trade in molybdenum (white lead) from the neighbouring mines of Coreyra. Ancient sources attributed the best molybdenum to the city, which also minted its own coins.

Hellenistic sculpture in Mersin Archaeological Museum

The area later became a part of the Roman province of Cilicia, which had its capital at Tarsus, while nearby Mersin was the major port. The city, whose name was Latinised to Zephyrium, was renamed as Hadrianopolis in honour of the Roman emperor Hadrian.

After the death of the emperor Theodosius I in 395 and the subsequent permanent division of the Roman Empire, Mersin fell into what became the Byzantine Empire.

The city was an episcopal see under the Patriarchate of Antioch. Le Quien names four bishops of Zephyrium:[6] Aerius, present at the First Council of Constantinople in 381; Zenobius, a Nestorian, the writer of a letter protesting the removal of Bishop Meletius of Mopsuestia by Patriarch John of Antioch (429–441); Hypatius, present at the Council of Chalcedon in 451; and Peter, present at the Council in Trullo in 692. The bishopric is included in the Catholic Church's list of titular sees, but since the Second Vatican Council no new titular bishop of this Eastern see has been appointed.[7]

Cilicia was conquered by the Arabs in the early 7th century, by which time it appears Mersin was a deserted site. The Arabs were followed by the Egyptian Tulunids, then by the Byzantines between 965 and c.1080 and then by the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. Under Armenian Cilicia, the region of Mersin served as the powerbase for the House of Lampron. From 1362 to 1513 the region was captured and governed by the Ramadanid Emirate, first as a protectorate of the Mamluk Sultanate, then as an independent state for roughly a century and then as a protectorate of the Ottoman Empire from 1513 until 1518 when it was annexed into the Ottoman Empire and turned into an imperial province.

From Mersin Archaeological Museum

During the American Civil War, the region became a major supplier of cotton to make up for the high demand due to shortage. Railroads were extended to Mersin in 1866 from where cotton was exported by sea, and the city developed into a major trade centre.

In 1909, Mersin's port hosted 645 steamships and 797,433 tons of goods. Before World War I, Mersin exported mainly sesame seeds, cotton, cottonseed, cakes and cereals, and livestock. Cotton was exported to Europe, grain to Turkey and livestock to Egypt. Coal was the main import into Mersin at this time. Messageries Maritimes was the largest shipping line to use the port at Mersin.[8]

In 1918, the Ottoman Empire collapsed and Mersin was occupied by French and British troops in accordance with the Treaty of Sèvres. It was recovered by the Turkish Army in 1921 at the end of the Franco-Turkish War. In 1924, Mersin was made a province, and in 1933 Mersin and İçel provinces were merged to form the (greater Mersin) İçel Province. The capital of the province was Mersin. In 2002 the name of the province was changed to Mersin Province.[9]

As of 1920, Mersin had five piers at its port, with one privately owned by a railroad company serving Mersin, Tarsus, and Adana.[10]

Limonluk neighbourhood

Today, Mersin is a large city spreading out along the coast, with skyscrapers, huge hotels, an opera house, expensive real estate near the sea or up in the hills, and many other modern urban amenities. it has the longest seashore in Turkey as well as in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The Metropolitan Municipality has rescueed long stretches of the seafront with walkways, parks and statues, and there are still palm trees on the roadsides especially where the younger generation like to hang out in the cafés and patisseries of smart neighbourhoods such as Pozcu or Çamlıbel with many well-known shops and restaurants. The older city centre is a maze of narrow streets and arcades of little shops and cafes. Around the fish market several stalls and shops sell Mersin's signature dish tantuni as well as grilled liver sandwiches.

Since the start of the Syrian War in 2011 Mersin has acquired a large population of Syrian refugees whose presence is reflected in some of the shops, cafes and restaurants especially in the area of Mezitli known as Little Latakia.[11][12]

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 has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa, Trewartha climate classification: Cs), a type of subtropical climate with hot, humid summers and mild, wet winters. Mersin has its highest rainfall in winter. The driest months are in summer with hardly any rainfall at all. The highest temperature of Mersin was recorded on 3 September 2020 at 41.5 °C (106.7 °F).

The Mersin Interfaith Cemetery, in the Yusuf Kılıç district, serves as a cemetery for all religions with graves of Muslims, Christians and Jews.[22][23]

• 
  Cathedral of St. Anthony of Padua
• 
  Muğdat Mosque in Yenişehir was built in the 1980s
• 
  Mersin Cemevi, an Alevi place of worship

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.

Local TV channels

• Kanal 33
• İçel TV
• Sun RTV
• Güney TV

Local radio channels

• Radyo Metropol (101.8)
• Tarsus Süper FM (91.1)
• Tempo 94 FM (94.3)
• Örgün FM (94.7)
• Tarsus Star FM (95.5)
• Tarsus Radyo Time (97.7)
• Flaş FM (98.3)
• Mix FM (91.6) (sadece yabancı müzik, 1993-günümüz)
• Kent Radyo (98.5)