Gülek
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Gülek is a town in
Mersin Province Mersin Province ( tr, ), formerly İçel Province ( tr, ), is a province in southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast between Antalya and Adana. The provincial capital and the biggest city in the province is Mersin, which is composed of f ...
,
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 ...
.


Geography

Gülek is situated along a valley on the
Taurus Mountains The Taurus Mountains ( Turkish: ''Toros Dağları'' or ''Toroslar'') are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, separating the Mediterranean coastal region from the central Anatolian Plateau. The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğird ...
. The main pass of these mountains, which is known as Gülek Pass (ancient ''
Cilician Gates The Cilician Gates or Gülek Pass is a pass through the Taurus Mountains connecting the low plains of Cilicia to the Anatolian Plateau, by way of the narrow gorge of the Gökoluk River. Its highest elevation is about 1000m. The Cilician Gates ha ...
''), is just east of the town. The average altitude of the town is about . The population of the town was 2934 as of 2012.


Administration

Gülek is a part of Tarsus district, itself a part of Mersin province. Gülek was a village in the first half of the 20th century. It became the seat of its township in 1954.


History

Macedonian emperor
Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...
(reigned 336–323 BC) crossed Taurus mountains through the
Cilician Gates The Cilician Gates or Gülek Pass is a pass through the Taurus Mountains connecting the low plains of Cilicia to the Anatolian Plateau, by way of the narrow gorge of the Gökoluk River. Its highest elevation is about 1000m. The Cilician Gates ha ...
during his campaign against Darius III (reigned 336–330 BC) of the Achaemenid Empire. Gülek citizens believe that the ancient inscriptions in the pass were erected by Alexander. But, actually, these inscriptions were erected much later by the Roman Emperor
Caracalla Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname "Caracalla" () was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. He was a member of the Severan dynasty, the elder son of Emperor S ...
(reigned 211–217) during his campaign against the
Parthian Empire The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conque ...
. The town (then known as Hins Bwls) was established during the
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 ...
era. In 652
Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...
armies annexed Gülek and surrounding territory. From 861, Gülek fell under many states, including the
Byzantine Empire 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 ...
, the Sultanate of Rum, Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, and the
Ramadanids The Ramadanid Emirate (Modern Turkish: ''Ramazanoğulları Beyliği'') was an autonomous administration and a ''de facto'' independent emirate that existed from 1352 to 1608 in Cilicia, taking over the rule of the region from the Armenian Kingdo ...
. In 1517, sultan
Selim I Selim I ( ota, سليم الأول; tr, I. Selim; 10 October 1470 – 22 September 1520), known as Selim the Grim or Selim the Resolute ( tr, links=no, Yavuz Sultan Selim), was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1520. Despite las ...
(reigned 1512–1520) of 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) ...
annexed Gülek. In 1832, Gülek was briefly occupied by the forces of the rebellious
Muhammad Ali Pasha Muhammad Ali Pasha al-Mas'ud ibn Agha, also known as Muhammad Ali of Egypt and the Sudan ( sq, Mehmet Ali Pasha, ar, محمد علي باشا, ; ota, محمد علی پاشا المسعود بن آغا; ; 4 March 1769 – 2 August 1849), was ...
of
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 ...
but was returned to Ottoman control after the convention of Kütahya. After the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, French forces tried to occupy Gülek, but after the local militia forces from Gülek ambushed the French forces on 27 May 1920 at the pass of Karboğazı, the French army gave up this project. During the Turkish Republic era the name of the settlement was ''Panzinçukuru'' and ''Yaylaçukuru'' up to 1954. In 1954 the settlement was declared a seat of township and renamed as Gülek. Above the Cilician Gates and a few kilometers from the village is Gülek Kalesi (Armenian: Kuklak; Arab: Kawlāk), a large fortification of considerable antiquity which retains evidence of Byzantine and Arab periods of occupation, but is primarily a construction of the 12th and 13th centuries attached to the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. Its circuit walls and towers at the south and west cover a distance of over 450 meters. An extensive photographic survey and plan of Gülek Castle was made between 1973 and 1979.
The survey was conducted by the University of California at Berkeley.


References and Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gulek Towns in Turkey Yaylas in Turkey Populated places in Tarsus District