The Sazliyka or Rakitnitsa ( bg, Сазлийка,, ; also transliterated ''Sazlijka'' or ''Sazliika'') is a river in southeastern

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

, a left tributary of the Maritsa. It originates in the Sarnena Sredna Gora mountains. In its upper course until

Radnevo Radnevo ( bg, Раднево ) is a town in southern Bulgaria, part of Stara Zagora Province, located in the eastern Upper Thracian Lowlands. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Radnevo Municipality. As of December 2009, the town has ...

, it is also known as the ''Rakitnitsa'' or ''Syuyutliyka''. The river is 121.7 kilometres in length and has a

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...

of 3,366 square kilometres. Its average

discharge Discharge may refer to Expel or let go * Discharge, the act of firing a gun * Discharge, or termination of employment, the end of an employee's duration with an employer * Military discharge, the release of a member of the armed forces from serv ...

Galabovo Galabovo ( bg, Гълъбово , from гълъб ''galab'', "dove" + -ovo) is a town in south-central Bulgaria, part of Stara Zagora Province. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Galabovo Municipality. As of December 2009, the town ...

is 17 cubic metres per

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

. The Galabovo Reservoir is located along the river. The name is thought to be derived from the

Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish ( ota, لِسانِ عُثمانى, Lisân-ı Osmânî, ; tr, Osmanlı Türkçesi) was the standardized register of the Turkish language used by the citizens of the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extens ...

''saz'', " bulrush", with a Bulgarian feminine suffix. The name of its upper course, ''Syuyutliyka'', is also from a Turkish root, ''söğüt'', " osier", while ''Rakitnitsa'' is its Bulgarian translation, the equivalent word for "osier" being ''rakita''.

References

* * Rivers of Bulgaria Landforms of Stara Zagora Province Landforms of Plovdiv Province {{Bulgaria-river-stub