Hopa ( Laz and , Hamshen ) is a town in Artvin Province in northeast Turkey. It is located on the eastern Turkish

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

coast about from the city of Artvin and 18 kilometres from the

border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...

with Georgia. It is the seat of Hopa District.İlçe Belediyesi
Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 12 January 2023. Its population is 23,846 (2021).

Geography

Hopa is on the Black Sea Coast from Artvin and from the Sarp border crossing (into Sarpi) on the Georgian border. The land climbs sharply from 10m above sea level in the coastal areas up into the Sultan Selim Mountains, the hillsides are well watered and green with alder, chestnuts, hornbeams and other deciduous trees. The highest point is Mt Yavuz Sultan Selim at 1513m. The climate is mild and wet, although only July and August are warm enough to be called summer. There is annual snowfall in winter. The town consists of 7 quarters: Bucak, Merkez Kuledibi, Ortahopa, Sundura, Yukarı Kuledibi, Cumhuriyet and Sugören.

History

The area was part of the kingdom of Colchis but was always vulnerable to invasions, first the Scythians from across the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

, then the Muslim armies led by Habib, son of

Caliph Uthman Uthman ibn Affan ( ar, عثمان بن عفان, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān; – 17 June 656), also spelled by Colloquial Arabic, Turkish and Persian rendering Osman, was a second cousin, son-in-law and notable companion of the Islamic prop ...

who controlled the area from 853 AD to 1023 when it was conquered by the Byzantines from the Sac Emirate allied to the

Abbasids The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...

. The Seljuk Turks led by

Alp Arslan Alp Arslan was the second Sultan of the Seljuk Empire and great-grandson of Seljuk, the eponymous founder of the dynasty. He greatly expanded the Seljuk territory and consolidated his power, defeating rivals to the south and northwest, and his v ...

conquered the area in 1064. With the collapse of the Seljuks, the Artvin area came under the control of the

Ildeniz Shams al-Din Ildeniz, Eldigüz or Shamseddin Eldeniz ( fa, اتابک شمس‌الدین ایلدگز, died c. 1175–1176) was an atabeg of the Seljuq empire and founder of the dynasty of Eldiguzids, atabegs of Azerbaijan, which held sway over A ...

, one of the

Anatolian Turkish beyliks Anatolian beyliks ( tr, Anadolu beylikleri, Ottoman Turkish: ''Tavâif-i mülûk'', ''Beylik'' ) were small principalities (or petty kingdoms) in Anatolia governed by beys, the first of which were founded at the end of the 11th century. A secon ...

Ottoman 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 last ...

brought it into the Ottoman Empire during his campaign against the Crimea that took place in 1490–1512. Lala Mustafa Pasha made it part of the Childir Eyalet formed in 1578. The area was captured by Russia following the

Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878) The Russo-Turkish wars (or Ottoman–Russian wars) were a series of twelve wars fought between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 20th centuries. It was one of the longest series of military conflicts in European histor ...

and many people of Hopa moved westwards away from the Russian-controlled zone. Hopa was returned as part of the

Treaty of Brest Litovsk The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (also known as the Treaty of Brest in Russia) was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire), that ended Russia's ...

in 1918 and formally joined Turkey on 14 March 1921. The Sarp border gate was opened on 31 August 1988 with the "International Road Transport Agreement" between Soviet Union and Turkey and gave a big boost to Hopa in trade and tourism. There is currently a high rate of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

in Hopa, attributed to fall-out from the

Chernobyl disaster The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union. It is one of only two nuc ...

, across the

from here. Between 2001 and 2004, cancer cases sharply increased in the Black Sea region, especially in Hopa, with 47.9% of all deaths during this time being due to cancer.

Economy

The economy is based on trade, fishing and agriculture, mostly tea, nuts (especially hazelnuts) and

kiwifruit Kiwifruit (often shortened to kiwi in North American, British and continental European English) or Chinese gooseberry is the edible berry of several species of woody vine A vine (Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' ...

. There are two tea factories, the Black Sea Copper Works, a Thermal Power Plant, the Hopa port and the Hopa Vocational School. It has direct bus connections to

Trabzon Trabzon (; Ancient Greek: Tραπεζοῦς (''Trapezous''), Ophitic Pontic Greek: Τραπεζούντα (''Trapezounta''); Georgian: ტრაპიზონი (''Trapizoni'')), historically known as Trebizond in English, is a city on the Bl ...

Rize Rize (Greek language, Greek: ρίζα, Laz language, Laz: რიზინი, Georgian language, Georgian: რიზე, , Ottoman Turkish: ريزه) is the capital city of Rize Province in the eastern part of the Black Sea Region of Turkey. Rize ...

, Artvin, Ardahan,

Kars Kars (; ku, Qers; ) is a city in northeast Turkey and the capital of Kars Province. Its population is 73,836 in 2011. Kars was in the ancient region known as ''Chorzene'', (in Greek Χορζηνή) in classical historiography ( Strabo), part of ...

, Erzurum and Sarp which go on to Georgia. The Sarp border gate was opened on 31 August 1988 with the "International Road Transport Agreement" between

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

and Turkey and gave a big boost to Hopa in trade and tourism. The Hopa Port is managed by a privately owned company Hopa Limani and is active in international trade.Hopa Ekonomisi

Notable people

* Cemil Aksu (born 1977), Hemshin political and social activist * Özcan Alper, Director *

Adem Büyük Adem Büyük (born 30 August 1987) is a Turkish professional footballer who plays primarily as a Forward (association football), striker but also as a Midfielder, left winger for Manisa F.K., Manisa. He is a former international for Turkey, also ...

(born 1987), footballer * Kazım Koyuncu (1971–2005), rock guitarist and singer *

Tolga Zengin Tolga Zengin (born October 10, 1983) is a Turkish retired football goalkeeper. His impressive performances at the start of the 2006–07 season for Trabzonspor earned him a call-up to the Turkey national football team for a friendly against Lux ...

(born 1983), footballer

Climate

This area is characterized by equable climates with few extremes of temperature and ample precipitation in all months. Hopa has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

( Köppen: ''Cfa).''

References

External links

the Municipality

Photo and Art website

Photo and mountaineering

photos of Hopa in local news websiteHopa Port's web siteHopa Otelleri
{{Authority control Populated places in Artvin Province Black Sea port cities and towns in Turkey Fishing communities in Turkey Populated coastal places in Turkey Hopa District District municipalities in Turkey