Babaeski is a
town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
and district of
Kırklareli Province
Kırklareli Province ( tr, ) is a Provinces of Turkey, province in northwestern Turkey on the west coast of the Black Sea. The province neighbours Bulgaria to the north along a long border. It borders the province of Edirne to the west and the ...
in the
Marmara region of
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
. The countyship has a population of 29,342 and the total area of the district is 652 km
2.
Name
The name Babaeski is believed to have originated according to the following legend: the Ottoman Sultan,
Mehmet the Conqueror
Mehmed II ( ota, محمد ثانى, translit=Meḥmed-i s̱ānī; tr, II. Mehmed, ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror ( ota, ابو الفتح, Ebū'l-fetḥ, lit=the Father of Conquest, links=no; tr, Fâtih Su ...
, stopped in town on his way to Constantinople before the
final siege of the city. He happened to meet an old man in front of the old mosque which is nowadays called Small Mosque (Küçük Cami) and asked him when the town was established. The man replied "Eskidir, eski," meaning "It is old, old." When the Sultan asked the man's age, he replied again, "Baba... eski," which means "The father is old." From then on, the name Babaeski has been used for the town.
History
In
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
times, the area was known as Boulgarophygon ( in
Byzantine Greek
Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the Ottoman co ...
), and was the site of a
major Byzantine defeat by the Bulgarians in 896. In
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
is known as Arteskos (Αρτεσκός). In Ancient times, the city was also called
Burtudizon, latinized as Burdidizum.
Facts
Babaeski lies on a relatively flat landscape where the highest point does not exceed 150 m. The Devil Stream (Şeytan Deresi) flows through the land of the district. Agriculture is the main industry. Sunflowers, wheat are the main crops grown along with some vegetables. Industrial development has sped up in the last decade mainly in the form of textile factories.
Babaeski hosts the annual Babaeski Agricultural Festival in late July to early August where national singers perform.
Population
The population in Babaeski and villages who belong to Babaeski District, are of different background, like
Anatolian Turks
The Turkish people, or simply the Turks ( tr, Türkler), are the world's largest Turkic ethnic group; they speak various dialects of the Turkish language and form a majority in Turkey and Northern Cyprus. In addition, centuries-old ethnic ...
,
Balkan Turks
The Balkan Turks or Rumelian Turks ( tr, ) are the Turkish people who have been living in the Balkans since the Ottoman rule as well as their descendants who still live in the region today. The Turks are officially recognized as a minority in Bos ...
-
Muhacir
Muhacir or Muhajir (from ar, مهاجر, translit=muhājir, lit=migrant) are the estimated 10 million Ottoman Muslim citizens, and their descendants born after the onset of the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, mostly Turks but also Albanians, ...
,
Yörüks
The Yörüks, also Yuruks or Yorouks ( tr, Yörükler; , ''Youroúkoi''; bg, юруци; mk, Јуруци, ''Juruci''), are a Turkish ethnic subgroup of Oghuz descent, some of whom are nomadic, primarily inhabiting the mountains of Anatolia ...
,
Amuca tribe
The Amuca tribe ( tr, Amuca Kabilesi) is one of the nomadic Yörüks who belong to the Oghuz Turks tribesKlyashtorny, S.G. (1997"The Oguzs of the Central Asia and The Guzs of the Aral Region"in ''International Journal of Eurasian Studies'' 2 of ...
,
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
Megleno-Romanians
The Megleno-Romanians, also known as Meglenites ( ruq, Miglinits), Moglenite Vlachs or simply Vlachs ( ruq, Vlaș), are a small Eastern Romance people, originally inhabiting seven villages in the Moglena region spanning the Pella and Kilkis reg ...
,
Pomaks
Pomaks ( bg, Помаци, Pomatsi; el, Πομάκοι, Pomáki; tr, Pomaklar) are Bulgarian-speaking Muslims inhabiting northwestern Turkey, Bulgaria and northeastern Greece. The c. 220,000 strong ethno-confessional minority in Bulgaria is ...
,
Romani people in Turkey
The Romani people in Turkey ( tr, Türkiye'deki Romanlar) or Turks of Romani Background ( tr, Roman kökenli Türk) are Turkish citizen and the biggest subgroup of the Turkish Roma, they are Sunni muslims, mostly of Sufism branch,https://acikbi ...
and
Crimean Tatars
, flag = Flag of the Crimean Tatar people.svg
, flag_caption = Flag of Crimean Tatars
, image = Love, Peace, Traditions.jpg
, caption = Crimean Tatars in traditional clothing in front of the Khan's Palace
...
, are
Cultural Muslims
Cultural Muslims are religiously non-practicing individuals who still identify with Islam due to family backgrounds, personal experiences, or the social and cultural environment in which they grew up.
Definition
In Central Asia and in former co ...
, who belong to the
Hanafi school
The Hanafi school ( ar, حَنَفِية, translit=Ḥanafiyah; also called Hanafite in English), Hanafism, or the Hanafi fiqh, is the oldest and one of the four traditional major Sunni schools (maddhab) of Islamic Law (Fiqh). It is named afte ...
of
Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagre ...
.
Sights
Some historical sites in Babaeski are:
*Eski Cami (The Old Mosque), built during the Mehmet the Conqueror period in 1467. It is still in use.
*Cedid Ali Paşa Camii, built by the great architect, Sinan, during the period of
Süleyman the Magnificent
Suleiman I ( ota, سليمان اول, Süleyman-ı Evvel; tr, I. Süleyman; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the West and Suleiman the Lawgiver ( ota, قانونى سلطان سليمان, Ḳ ...
in 1555. It is built in the style of the great
Selimiye Mosque in
Edirne
Edirne (, ), formerly known as Adrianople or Hadrianopolis (Greek: Άδριανούπολις), is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, ...
which is also designed by
Sinan
Sinan (Arabic: سنان ''sinān'') is a name found in Arabic and Pre-Islamic Arabic inscriptions, Early Arabic, meaning ''spearhead''. The name may also be related to the Ancient Greek name Sinon. It was used as a male given name.
Etymology
Th ...
. It was destroyed by the
Bulgarian army
The Bulgarian Land Forces ( bg, Сухопътни войски на България, Sukhopŭtni voĭski na Bŭlgariya, lit=Ground Forces of Bulgaria) are the ground warfare branch of the Bulgarian Armed Forces. The Land Forces were established ...
during the
Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defe ...
and was later reconstructed. It is also still open for worship.
*Dördüzlü Çeşme (The Tetrahedral Fountain), built in the 17th century. It has four sides and a dome centered in a square.
*Babaeski Bridge, built in 1633 during the period of
Murad IV
Murad IV ( ota, مراد رابع, ''Murād-ı Rābiʿ''; tr, IV. Murad, was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1623 to 1640, known both for restoring the authority of the state and for the brutality of his methods. Murad IV was born in Cons ...
. It is part of D-100 international highway and is still in use.
*The Bath, built in the
classical single dome style. It is also still in use.
*Atatürk Elementary School, built by the then sub-governor (kaymakam) Tevfik Gür in 1914. It is a one-story building with wooden roof and
Ottoman Turkish style
eave
The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural styl ...
s. It now serves as the vocational school of the
University of Thrace.
Gallery
File:Babaeski1.jpg,
File:Babaeski2.JPG,
File:Babaeski3.JPG,
File:Babaeski4.JPG,
File:Babaeski5.JPG,
File:Babaeski6.JPG,
File:Babaeski7.JPG,
File:Babaeski8.JPG,
File:Babaeski10.JPG,
File:Babaeski11.JPG,
File:Babaeski12.JPG,
File:Babaeski13.JPG,
File:Babaeski14.JPG,
File:Babaeski15.JPG,
File:Babaeski16.JPG,
File:Babaeski17.JPG,
File:Babaeski18.JPG,
File:Babaeski19.JPG,
File:Babaeski20.JPG,
See also
*
Ağayeri, Babaeski
*
Alpullu, Babaeski
Alpullu is a town in Kırklareli Province, Turkey.
Geography
Alpullu is a belde (town) in Babaeski district of Kırklareli Province. At the distance to Babaeski is and the distance to Kırklareli is . Alpullu is at the junction of the main ra ...
*
Büyükmandıra, Babaeski
*
Çavuşköy, Babaeski
*
Çengerli, Babaeski
*
Çiğdemli, Babaeski
*
Düğüncülü, Babaeski
*
Erikleryurdu, Babaeski
*
Ertuğrulköy, Babaeski
*
Kadıköy, Babaeski
*
Karabayır, Babaeski
*
Karacaoğlan, Babaeski
*
Karahalil, Babaeski
*
Karamesutlu, Babaeski
*
Katranca, Babaeski
*
Kuleli, Babaeski
*
Kumrular, Babaeski
*
Kuzuçardağı, Babaeski
*
Minnetler, Babaeski
*
Mutlu, Babaeski
*
Müsellim, Babaeski
*
Nacak, Babaeski
*
Nadırlı, Babaeski
*
Oruçlu, Babaeski
*
Osmaniye, Babaeski
*
Pancarköy, Babaeski
*
Sinanlı, Babaeski
*
Sofuhalil, Babaeski
*
Taşağıl, Babaeski
*
Taşköprü, Babaeski
*
Terzili, Babaeski
*
Yeniköy, Babaeski
*
Yenimahalle, Babaeski
References
External links
District municipality's official website{{Districts of Turkey, provname=Kırklareli, image=Kirklareli}
Cities in Turkey
Populated places in Kırklareli Province
Districts of Kırklareli Province