Silivri, formerly Selymbria (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Σηλυμβρία), is a municipality and

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its population is 217,163 (2022). It lies along the

Sea of Marmara The Sea of Marmara, also known as the Sea of Marmora or the Marmara Sea, is a small inland sea entirely within the borders of Turkey. It links the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea via the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, separating Turkey's E ...

, outside the urban core of

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, containing many holiday and weekend homes for residents of the city. The largest settlement in the district is also named Silivri. Silivri is located bordering Büyükçekmece to the east,

Çatalca Çatalca () is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Istanbul Province, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 1142 km2, making it the largest district in Istanbul Province by area. Its population is 77,468 (2022). It is in Eas ...

to the north, Çorlu and

Marmara Ereğlisi Marmara Ereğlisi (; ), also spelled Marmaraereğlisi, is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Tekirdağ Province, Turkey. Its area is 175 km2, and its population is 29,549 (2022). Facts Ereğli is 30 km east of the to ...

(both districts of

Tekirdağ Province Tekirdağ Province (, ) is a province and metropolitan municipality of Turkey. Its area is 6,190 km2, and its population is 1,142,451 (2022). It is located in the East Thrace region of the country, also known as European Turkey, one of only t ...

) to the west, Çerkezköy to the north-west (one of

) and with the Sea of Marmara to the south. It is, with an area of , the second largest district of Istanbul Province after

. The seat of the district is the city of Silivri. Established in 2008, Turkey's most modern (and Europe's largest) prison complex is located west of Silivri.

History

Ancient

Silivri, the ancient

Selymbria or Selybria (), owed its historical importance to the natural harbor and its position on the major commercial roads. It was a colony of

Megara Megara (; , ) is a historic town and a municipality in West Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis Island, Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken ...

founded on a steep 56 m high hill east of the bay, but excavations show that it was a Thracian settlement before it was a Greek colony. According to

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

, the city's name is a combination of the name of the mythological founder of the city, Selus, and the Thracian word that Strabo thought was used for'' polis'', "bria". This, however, did not mean polis, and had another meaning. Selymbria is the birthplace of the physician Herodicus, and was an ally of the

Athenians Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

in 351 BC. Until the second half of the 2nd century BC, the city could preserve its autonomy, but after its neighbours

Byzantium Byzantium () or Byzantion () was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' continued to be used as a n ...

and Perinthos became more powerful, the city fell under their control during the next centuries. The settlement shrank into a village under the governance of the Roman Empire. In the early 5th century, the town was officially renamed Eudoxiopolis (

: Εὐδοξιόπολις), during the reign of the Byzantine emperor

Arcadius Arcadius ( ; 377 – 1 May 408) was Roman emperor from 383 to his death in 408. He was the eldest son of the ''Augustus'' Theodosius I () and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla, and the brother of Honorius (). Arcadius ruled the eastern half of ...

(377–408), after his wife Aelia Eudoxia, though this name did not survive.

Medieval

In 805 AD, the Bulgarian Khan Kroum pillaged the town. In the late 9th century, Emperor

Michael III Michael III (; 9/10 January 840 – 24 September 867), also known as Michael the Drunkard, was Byzantine emperor from 842 to 867. Michael III was the third and traditionally last member of the Amorian dynasty, Amorian (or Phrygian) dynasty. He ...

constructed a fortress on the top of the hill, the ruins of which still remain, during an era in which the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

suffered attacks by

Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Rom ...

corsairs and Rus raiders. With the

Fourth Crusade The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...

, and the fall of Constantinople to the

Latin Empire The Latin Empire, also referred to as the Latin Empire of Constantinople, was a feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. The Latin Empire was intended to replace the Byzantin ...

in 1204, the fortress fell in quick succession to the

, Bulgarian, back to the Latins and finally was recaptured by the Byzantine successor state of the

Empire of Nicaea The Empire of Nicaea (), also known as the Nicene Empire, was the largest of the three Byzantine Greeks, Byzantine Greek''A Short history of Greece from early times to 1964'' by Walter Abel Heurtley, W. A. Heurtley, H. C. Darby, C. W. Crawley, C ...

in 1247, who were finally able to recapture Constantinople and restore the empire in 1261. In 1346, the Ottomans became an ally of the pretender for the Emperor John VI Cantacuzenus (1292–1383), and helped him against his rival John V Palaeologus (1332–1391). The same year, Sultan Orhan I married Theodora, the daughter of John VI in Selymbria. In 1399, Selymbria fell to the Ottomans, marking their complete encirclement of Constantinople by land in Europe. Many contemporary observers believed from then on it was a mere matter of time before the Ottomans took the Byzantine capital. However, after their disastrous defeat at the hands of

Timur Timur, also known as Tamerlane (1320s17/18 February 1405), was a Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timurid dynasty. An undefeat ...

the Ottomans returned Selymbria and several other possessions to the Byzantines in 1403. It was sometimes attacked by the Ottomans in later years, but was not captured. During the

Fall of Constantinople The Fall of Constantinople, also known as the Conquest of Constantinople, was the capture of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Empire. The city was captured on 29 May 1453 as part of the culmination of a 55-da ...

in 1453, Selymbria, along with Epibatos, stood up against the Ottoman armies, and surrendered only after the city had fallen. The town remained a summer resort during the Ottoman time, as it was during the Byzantine era.

Modern

On the order of

Suleiman the Magnificent Suleiman I (; , ; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the Western world and as Suleiman the Lawgiver () in his own realm, was the List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman sultan between 1520 a ...

, architect

Mimar Sinan Mimar Sinan (; , ; – 17 July 1588) also known as Koca Mi'mâr Sinân Âğâ, ("Sinan Agha (title), Agha the Grand Architect" or "Grand Sinan") was the chief Ottoman Empire, Ottoman architect, engineer and mathematician for sultans Suleiman ...

built 1562 a stone bridge with 33 arches just west of Silivri. The historical bridge, called "Uzunköprü" (The "Long Bridge"), is still in use today, however one arch is not visible due to sedimentation. Prior to World War I, some Silivrian Jews immigrated to the town of

Camagüey Camagüey () is a city and municipality in central Cuba and is the nation's third-largest city with more than 333,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Camagüey Province. It was founded as Santa María del Puerto del Príncipe in 1514, by Sp ...

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

ns occupied Silivri on February 5, 1878 for 1 month until 3 March 1878.

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

ns occupied it on November 16, 1912 for 9 months until May 30, 1913. During the war, many more

Sephardim Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendan ...

in the city left as conditions worsened due to the war. Many of these Turkish Jews emigrated to the United States settling primarily in New York and Seattle. Others went to Palestine, France and South America. According to the

Treaty of Sèvres The Treaty of Sèvres () was a 1920 treaty signed between some of the Allies of World War I and the Ottoman Empire, but not ratified. The treaty would have required the cession of large parts of Ottoman territory to France, the United Kingdom, ...

, Silivri became a part of Greece on July 20, 1920. However,

Italians Italians (, ) are a European peoples, European ethnic group native to the Italian geographical region. Italians share a common Italian culture, culture, History of Italy, history, Cultural heritage, ancestry and Italian language, language. ...

took it over from the withdrawing Greek troops on October 22, 1922, according to the Armistice of Mudanya. Finally, Turkish forces entered Silivri on November 1, 1922. It was part of

province between 1923–1926 and was bounded to

Istanbul Province Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

in 1926. It was enlarged with joining of Gümüşyaka (formerly Eski Ereğli) village from Çorlu district.

Composition

There are 35

neighbourhoods A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neighbourh ...

in Silivri District: * Akören * Alibey * Alipaşa * Bekirli * Beyciler * Büyük Çavuşlu * Büyük Kılıçlı * Büyük Sinekli * Çanta Balaban * Çanta Sancaktepe * Çayırdere * Çeltik * Cumhuriyet * Danamandıra * Değirmenköy İsmetpaşa * Değitmenköy Fevzipaşa * Fatih * Fener * Gazitepe * Gümüşyaka * Kadıköy * Kavaklı * Kavaklı İstiklal * Küçük Kılıçlı * Küçük Sinekli * Kurfallı * Mimar Sinan * Ortaköy * Piri Mehmet Paşa * Sayalar * Selimpaşa * Semizkumlar * Seymen * Yeni * Yolçatı

Holiday resort

During the summer months, the population increases 4–5 times. Silivri is far from the city center of Istanbul, and is a popular summer resort for many Istanbul residents with its coast. It is on the highway D.100 and the motorway E80, which connect Turkey to Europe via

Edirne Edirne (; ), historically known as Orestias, Adrianople, is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the Edirne Province, province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, Edirne was the second c ...

. It takes about an hour and a half to get here from the city so is feasible for use in the summer months as a weekend and holiday retreat, although the road out here is heaving with traffic in summer. Being accessible from Istanbul, the Marmara coast has long been used for holidaying by Istanbul's people. As the city has grown, these facilities have moved further and further away. Once

Florya Florya is a quarter () belonging to the Bakırköy district of the greater Istanbul, Turkey. It is located along Marmara Sea, and borders to the northeast the neighborhood of Yeşilköy, to the northwest that of Küçükçekmece. Its residents are ...

and Yeşilköy were resorts, today it is Tekirdağ and even further. Silivri had its heyday in the 1960s and 1970s as families would come by the busload to complexes of holiday flats that were built on the beach. The Marmara Sea suffered from pollution in the 1980s and 1990s but now efforts have been made to clean it up. All the facilities are located in the holiday housing area, the town centre of Silivri has little to offer in the way of cinema, theatre or any other cultural amenities. Now the coast has also been blessed with resort hotels and country clubs with sports facilities including golf courses, horse riding centres and tennis courts, health and conference centers. At weekend the area is crowded with day trippers. With all this development it is hard to find a stretch of open coastline. The winter months are cold here, as bitter weather blows across Thrace from the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

, and holiday homes in Silivri are not much used from mid-September until May or even June.

Agriculture

The district has great agricultural potential thanks to its almost flat landscape, mild

Thracian The Thracians (; ; ) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied the area that today is shared between north-eastern Greece, ...

climate and yield-effective soil, and in the 1950s and 1960s the pasture was so rich that the

yogurt Yogurt (; , from , ; also spelled yoghurt, yogourt or yoghourt) is a food produced by bacterial Fermentation (food), fermentation of milk. Fermentation of sugars in the milk by these bacteria produces lactic acid, which acts on milk protein to ...

of Silivri was renowned. Now the reputation of the yogurt has declined due to poor quality control and mismanagement of the brand. The Silivri Yoğurt Festivali used to be a major event but nowadays there is less interest and in some years it is not even held.

Wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

(246 km²),

sunflower The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a species of large annual forb of the daisy family Asteraceae. The common sunflower is harvested for its edible oily seeds, which are often eaten as a snack food. They are also used in the pr ...

(105 km²) and

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

(50 km²) are cultivated here. Vineyards were once important but have declined since the 1970s.

Livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

is still important.

Sports

Silivri has two sports clubs Silivrispor and Alibeyspor. Established in 1957, Silivrispor has two active branches, football and basketball. Silivrispor's professional football team play in the Apor Toto 3rd Şeague. The basketball section eas founded in 2014. Alibeyspor, named after a neighborhood of Silivri, was established in 1989. The club's main activity is in football. Their amateur football team play in the Istanbul Super Amateuar League, and the women's team in the Turkish Women's Third League. Sport venues in Silivri are the 2,700-seating capacity Müjdat Gürsu Stadium, named after Müjdat Gürsu (1971–1994) a local footballer, and Alibey Sport Hall.

High schools

* Silivri Lisesi (Silivri High School
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* Silivri Atatürk Anadolu Lisesi (Anatolian High School
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* Hasan – Sabriye Gümüş Anadolu Lisesi (Hasan-Sabriye Gumus Anatolian High School
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* Özel Balkan Lisesi (Private Balkan High School
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* Necip Sarıbekir Lisesi * Teknik Lise ve Endüstri Meslek Lisesi (Technical High School and Industry – Vocational High School
Visit web site
* Şerife Baldöktü Meslek Lisesi (Şerife Baldöktü Vocational High School)
Visit web site

Health

There are a number of hospitals and special health institutions in Silivri, state owned and private run: ;State owned health institutions (Ministry of Health): * Silivri Devlet Hastanesi (Silivri State Hospital) * Ana Çocuk Sağlığı Ve Aile Planlama Merkezi (Mother and Child Healthcare and Family Planning Center) * Halk Sağlığı Laboratuvarı (Public Health Laboratory) ;Private health institutions: * Serene Tıp Merke(zi (Medical center) * Anadolu Hospital (formerly Medical Park Hospital) * Hayat Hastanesi (closed) * Hayat Diyaliz Merkezi (Dialysis center) * Kolan Hastanesi

Main sights

* The

Anastasian Wall The Anastasian Wall (Greek: , ; ) or the Long Walls of Thrace (Greek: , ; Turkish: ''Uzun Duvar'') or simply Long Wall / Macron Teichos () is an ancient stone and turf fortification located west of Istanbul, Turkey, built by the Eastern Roman Em ...

, also known as the Long Walls of Thrace, was constructed by Byzantine emperor Anastasius I (491–518) as part of an additional outer defense system for

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

during the 5th century and probably was in use until the 7th century. Comparable only with

Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall (, also known as the ''Roman Wall'', Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Aelium'' in Latin) is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Roman Britain, Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Ru ...

in England in its complexity and preservation, the

fortification A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lati ...

stretches some 56 km from

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea 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 bound ...

coast across the Thracian peninsula to the Sea of Marmara at west of Silivri. * Cistern * Piri Mehmed Pasha Mosque * The Long Bridge of 32 arches (''Uzunköprü'') dating from the 1560s * Silivri Kalepark, an urban public park inside the Silivri Castle, * The Byzantine church of Saint Spyridon occupied the highest point in the city before its demolition in the 1920s. It was described in the '' Turkish Embassy Letters''.

People

* Ozge Torer (born 1998) Turkish actress * Herodicus (5th century BC), Greek physician * Nectarios of Aegina (1846–1920),

Saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

of the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

Oğuz Aral Oğuz Aral (1936 – 26 July 2004) was a Turkish political cartoonist and comics artist, known for his satirical style. He was also active as a theatre designer, playwright, ceramist and animator, establishing the first Turkish animation stud ...

(1936–2004), renowned political

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

* Yorgo Bacanos (1900–1977), master oud player of Ottoman classical music *

Mihri Belli Mihri Belli (December 1915 – 16 August 2011) was a prominent leader of the socialist movement in Turkey. He fought for the communist side in the Greek Civil War. Belli was repeatedly prosecuted and sentenced to prison for his political views, ...

(1916–2011), communist leader *

Uğur Dündar Uğur Dündar (born 28 August 1943) is a Turkish journalist, anchorman, political commentator, and writer. He was born in Akören village of Silivri district in Istanbul Province. He graduated from Istanbul University's Institute of Journalism. ...

(born 1943), journalist, political commentator and writer * Müjdat Gürsu (1971–1994), professional footballer * Ruben Sevak (1885-1915), Armenian poet * Eleftherios Stavridis (1893–1966), ex General Secretary of the

Communist Party of Greece The Communist Party of Greece (, ΚΚΕ; ''Kommounistikó Kómma Elládas'', KKE) is a Marxist–Leninist political party in Greece. It was founded in 1918 as the Socialist Workers' Party of Greece (SEKE) and adopted its current name in Novem ...

who turned into an anti-communist figure. * Abdullah Turhan (1933-2020), cartoonist

International relations

Twin towns — sister cities

Silivri is twinned with: * Aytos, Bulgaria * Câmpina, Romania *

Constanța Constanța (, , ) is a city in the Dobruja Historical regions of Romania, historical region of Romania. A port city, it is the capital of Constanța County and the country's Cities in Romania, fourth largest city and principal port on the Black ...

, Romania *

Kardzhali Kardzhali ( , ''Kărdžali''; ), sometimes spelt Kardžali or Kurdzhali, is List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, a town in the Eastern Rhodopes in Bulgaria, centre of Kardzhali Municipality and Kardzhali Province. The noted Kardzhali Reservoir is ...

, Bulgaria * Nyasvizh, Belarus * Stari Grad (Sarajevo), Bosnia and Herzegovina * Velingrad, Bulgaria

References

External links

District governor's office
{{Authority control Cities in Turkey History of Turkey by location Populated places in Istanbul Province Port cities of the Sea of Marmara Seaside resorts in Turkey Fishing communities in Turkey Megarian colonies in Thrace Metropolitan district municipalities in Turkey Districts of Istanbul Province