Mut is a town and district of

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 ...

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 and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

region of

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 ...

. Mut is a rural district at the foot of the

Sertavul Pass The Sertavul Pass ( tr, Sertavul Geçidi) is a mountain pass situated on the central Taurus Mountains at the border of Mersin Province with Karaman Province on the road from Konya over Karaman to the Mediterranean coast at Anamur or Silifke. The ...

on the road over 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 ...

from

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

and

Konya Konya () is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium (), although the Seljuks also called it D ...

to the

coast at

Anamur Anamur is a town and district in Mersin Province, Turkey, the westernmost district of that province, bordering on Antalya Province. Anamur contains Anatolia's southernmost point, It is a coastal resort known for its bananas and peanuts. Etym ...

Silifke Silifke ( grc-gre, Σελεύκεια, ''Seleukeia'', la, Seleucia ad Calycadnum) is a town and district in south-central Mersin Province, Turkey, west of the city of Mersin, on the west end of Çukurova. Silifke is near the Mediterranean co ...

. Mut is known for its special apricot variety, ''Mut şekerparesi'', and a statue of a girl carrying a basket of them stands at the entrance to the town. The summer is hot and the people of Mut retreat to high meadows (so called yayla) even further up the mountainside. The forests up here are home to wild boar, and the Gezende reservoir on the Ermenek River is a welcome patch of blue in this dry district. The dam has a hydro-electric power station built in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

History

The area has probably been inhabited since the time of the

Hittites The Hittites () were an Anatolian people who played an important role in establishing first a kingdom in Kussara (before 1750 BC), then the Kanesh or Nesha kingdom (c. 1750–1650 BC), and next an empire centered on Hattusa in north-cent ...

(2000 BC), and was later part of ancient

Cilicia Cilicia (); el, Κιλικία, ''Kilikía''; Middle Persian: ''klkyʾy'' (''Klikiyā''); Parthian: ''kylkyʾ'' (''Kilikiyā''); tr, Kilikya). is a geographical region in southern Anatolia in Turkey, extending inland from the northeastern co ...

. Under the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

, the town was called Claudiopolis.''Alahan Monastery: A Masterpiece of Early Christian Architecture'', Michael Gough, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New Series, Vol. 26, No. 10 (Jun., 1968), 457.JSTOR

Alahan Monastery Alahan Monastery ( tr, Koja Kalessi)''Some Recent Finds at Alahan (Koja Kalessi)'', Michael Gough, Anatolian Studies, Vol. 5, (1955), 115. JSTOR is a complex of fifth century buildings located in the mountains of Isauria in southern Asia Minor (Mer ...

, north of Claudiopolis, was started in the second half of the fifth century by the

Emperor Leo I Leo I (; 401 – 18 January 474), also known as "the Thracian" ( la, Thrax; grc-gre, ο Θραξ),; grc-gre, Μακέλλης), referencing the murder of Aspar and his son. was Eastern Roman emperor from 457 to 474. He was a native of Dacia A ...

and later finish by

Emperor Zeno Zeno (; grc-gre, Ζήνων, Zénōn; c. 425 – 9 April 491) was Eastern Roman emperor from 474 to 475 and again from 476 to 491. Domestic revolts and religious dissension plagued his reign, which nevertheless succeeded to some extent in forei ...

. The Romans were succeeded by the Kingdom of Armenia. In the 13th century the Armenians were replaced by the Karamanid clan who founded the state of the same name. The mosque of Lal Pasha, and the Red Minaret (''Kızılminare'') are among the buildings from the Karamanids that still stand in Mut today.

Economy

Small cattle breeding is one of the important livelihoods of the region.

Notable natives

* Durmuş Yalçın (Politician) *

Karacaoğlan Karacaoğlan was a 17th-century Anatolian Turkish folk poet and ashik. His exact dates of birth and death are unknown but it is widely accepted that he was born around 1606 and died around 1680. He lived around the city of Mut near Mersin. His ...

(Poet) *

Musa Eroğlu Musa Eroğlu (born 1946) is a Turkish folk musician and bağlama virtuoso. He was born in the Mut county district of Mersin. He is a Tahtacı. He completed his secondary education in Mut. He then started to perform Turkish folk dance and music. I ...

(Musician) *

Hüseyin Gezer Hüseyin Gezer (1920 – 27 December 2013), was a Turkish sculptor. He was born at Kıravga village of Mut district in Mersin Province in a village 1920. He attended elementary school in Mut, middle school in Silifke and graduated from Necati ...

(Sculptor) *

Seyhan Kurt Seyhan Kurt is a French-Turkish poet, writer, anthropologist and sociologist. Biography He was born in the commune of Bourgoin-Jallieu in Grenoble, France. He studied at the École de Jean Jaurès in Lyon. He studied painting in France and dr ...

(Poet, writer) *

Fikri Sağlar Fikri Sağlar (born 1953) is a Turkish social democrat politician. He was Minister of Culture in the early 1990s, and a member of the parliamentary commission which investigated the Susurluk scandal. He has been a columnist for ''Birgün''. In ...

(Politician) * İbrahim Özat (Painter) * Ziya Özel (Researcher) * Doğan Atlay (Researcher)

Well-known residents

* Mut is one of the places in the area that claims to be the burial place of the folk poet

. * The folk musician (

bağlama The ''bağlama'' or ''saz'' is a family of plucked string instruments, long-necked lutes used in Ottoman classical music, Turkish folk music, Turkish Arabesque music, Azerbaijani music, Kurdish music, Armenian music and in parts of Syria, I ...

player)

was born in Mut. *The

Anatolian leopard ''Panthera pardus tulliana'' is a leopard subspecies native to the Iranian Plateau and surrounding areas encompassing Turkey, the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Iraq, Iran, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and possibly Pakistan. Since ...

was last sighted near Mut, in the locality called "Dandi" in 2001.

References

External links

District municipality's official website
Populated places in Mersin Province Districts of Mersin Province Mut District Towns in Turkey {{Mersin-geo-stub