Belen is a town and district of Hatay Province in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

region of south-central

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 in ...

Etymology

When describing his visit to the region in the 17th century,

Evliya Çelebi Derviş Mehmed Zillî (25 March 1611 – 1682), known as Evliya Çelebi ( ota, اوليا چلبى), was an Ottoman explorer who travelled through the territory of the Ottoman Empire and neighboring lands over a period of forty years, recording ...

mentioned that ''belen'' means ''slope'' in the Turkmen language.

Demographics

In late 19th century, traveler

Martin Hartmann Martin Hartmann (9 December 1851, Breslau – 5 December 1918, Berlin) was a German orientalist, who specialized in Islamic studies. In 1875, he received his doctorate at the University of Leipzig as a student of Heinrich Leberecht Fleische ...

listed 6 of the 12 settlements in the

nahiyah A nāḥiyah ( ar, , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level division w ...

of Belen as Turkish and the rest without any information on the population.

Geography

The district of Belen consists of a small town of the same name and the surrounding villages in the forested slopes of the

Nur Mountains The Nur Mountains ( tr, Nur Dağları, "Mountains of Holy Light"), formerly known as Alma-Dağ, the ancient Amanus ( grc, Ἁμανός), medieval Black Mountain, or Jabal al-Lukkam in Arabic, is a mountain range in the Hatay Province of south ...

. The Belen Pass is the main route across the mountains and joins the coastal city of

İskenderun İskenderun ( ar, الإسكندرونة, el, Αλεξανδρέττα "Little Alexandria"), historically known as Alexandretta and Scanderoon, is a city in Hatay Province on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Names The city was founded as Ale ...

with

Antakya Antakya (), historically known as Antioch ( el, Ἀντιόχεια; hy, Անտիոք, Andiok), is the capital of Hatay Province, the southernmost province of Turkey. The city is located in a well-watered and fertile valley on the Orontes Rive ...

. The pass is a key route between

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

. The Belen district is known for its cool clean air (especially when compared with the heat of the Mediterranean coast below) and its mountain spring water. The roadside restaurants in the pass have long been a stopping place for travellers, serving the typical dishes of

Hatay 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 ...

, and especially "Belen tava", meats fried in tomatoes, garlic, spices and peppers. Belen itself is a small market town with a post office and other basics. The people of Belen are conservative; the municipality is currently (2010) controlled by the Turkish far-right MHP, with the other seats held by the AKP.Meclis Üyeleri
, Belen belediyesi

History

Known in earlier times as "Maziku Bagras" and "Bab-ı İskenderun" the pass was brought into the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

in 1516 after the

Battle of Marj Dabiq The Battle of Marj Dābiq ( ar, مرج دابق, meaning "the meadow of Dābiq"; tr, Mercidabık Muharebesi), a decisive military engagement in Middle Eastern history, was fought on 24 August 1516, near the town of Dabiq, 44 km north of ...

. The Ottomans posted a guard on the pass, the main route from Syria to

, and gave the area the name "Belen". In 1535 following a visit by

Suleyman 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� ...

a wall was built to secure the pass along with a caravanserai, a mosque and a bathhouse, and with these facilities Turkish families were settled on the mountainside, partly acting as watchkeepers on the pass, along with the military garrison. This early Ottoman architecture is still in place. The town grew, acquiring the typical Ottoman mix of Muslim and non-Muslim traders and villagers. the 16th century traveller

noted the harsh climate, the narrow streets and the forest on the steep hillsides. Belen was key to the defence of the Ottoman Empire during the struggle against the breakaway

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

ian army in 1827. 13,000 people died during the Egyptian struggle to take the pass, they eventually succeeded but during their retreat from Anatolia were harried by bandits at Belen again. Along with the rest of

Hatay State Hatay State ( tr, Hatay Devleti; french: État du Hatay; ar , دولة هاتاي ''Dawlat Hatāy''), also known informally as the Republic of Hatay ( ar , جمهورية هاتاي ''Jumhūriyya Hatāy''), was a transitional political entity t ...

, Belen became part of Turkey in 1939.

References

External links