Altınözü ( ar, الْقُصَيْر, ''el-Kusayr'') is a district in the south-east of

Hatay Province Hatay Province ( tr, Hatay ili, ) is the southernmost province of Turkey. It is situated almost entirely outside Anatolia, along the eastern coast of the Levantine Sea. The province borders Syria to its south and east, the Turkish province of A ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

, on the border between Turkey and

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. The mayor is Rıfat Sarı ( AKP).

History

The region which was known as al-Quṣayr, was part of the

Principality of Antioch The Principality of Antioch was one of the crusader states created during the First Crusade which included parts of modern-day Turkey and Syria. The principality was much smaller than the County of Edessa or the Kingdom of Jerusalem. It exte ...

during the Crusader era. In 1180, patriarch

Aimery of Limoges Aimery or Aymery of Limoges (died 1196), also ''Aimericus'' in Latin, ''Aimerikos'' in Greek and ''Hemri'' in Armenian, was a Roman Catholic ecclesiarch in Frankish Outremer and the fourth Latin Patriarch of Antioch from c. 1140 until his death. ...

fled to the region, after he had excommunicated Bohemond III in

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ� ...

. The latter besieged the region, but nobleman

Rainald II Masoir Rainald is a name of a number of historical persons listed in the Domesday Book.

supported the patriarch, until King Baldwin IV sent a delegation to settle the dispute. During the land reform of

Abdulhamid II Abdülhamid or Abdul Hamid II ( ota, عبد الحميد ثانی, Abd ül-Hamid-i Sani; tr, II. Abdülhamid; 21 September 1842 10 February 1918) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 31 August 1876 to 27 April 1909, and the last sultan to ...

, the region was part of the Aleppo vilayet. After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, the

Ankara Agreement The Agreement Creating An Association Between The Republic of Turkey and the European Economic Community, commonly known as the Ankara Agreement ( tr, Ankara Anlaşması), is a treaty signed in 1963 that provides for the framework for the co-oper ...

was signed in 1921, in which France was in control for 3 years, until the annexation of Hatay by Turkey, and the region was named as Altınözü.

Geography

Altınözü stands on the fertile Kuseyr plateau, and several crops such as

olives The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' 'M ...

(the largest olive growing area is in this part of Turkey),

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

, grains and other crops are grown here. The district gets its water from the Yarseli reservoir.

Demographics

The district has a population of 52,819, out of which 7,379 live in the town of Altınözü. There is also a refugee camp called the ''Altinozu Camp'' that houses 1,350 Syrian Sunnis who have fled the Syrian civil war.Syrian refugees in Turkey: Will they ever go home?
/ref> The population of the district is mostly Muslim with an Antiochian Greek Orthodox (also known as

Rûm Rūm ( ar, روم , collective; singulative: Rūmī ; plural: Arwām ; fa, روم Rum or Rumiyān, singular Rumi; tr, Rûm or , singular ), also romanized as ''Roum'', is a derivative of the Aramaic (''rhπmÈ'') and Parthian (''frwm'') ...

Orthodox) Christian community encompassing two churches in the capital of the district and the entirely Christian village of Tokaçlı.

Notes

References

Sources

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External links

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local information, follow ''galeri'' for photos
Towns in Turkey Populated places in Hatay Province Districts of Hatay Province {{Hatay-geo-stub