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 km².

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

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 is known as Arteskos (Αρτεσκός). In Ancient times, the city was also called

Burtudizon Burtudizon was a town of ancient Thrace, inhabited during Roman and Byzantine times. Its site is located near Babaeski in European Turkey East Thrace or Eastern Thrace ( tr, Doğu Trakya or simply ''Trakya''; el, Ανατολική Θρά� ...

, 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- Muhacir,

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,

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, are Cultural Muslims, who belong to the Hanafi school 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 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 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. Babaeski9

*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,

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