Susurluk is a small town and a district of

Balıkesir Province Balıkesir Province ( tr, ) is a province in northwestern Turkey with coastlines on both the Sea of Marmara and the Aegean Sea, Aegean. Its adjacent provinces are Çanakkale Province, Çanakkale to the west, İzmir Province, İzmir to the southw ...

in northwestern

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. It is famous for its production of soap and dairy products. The highway from

İstanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban agglo ...

passes through Susurluk. In Turkey Susurluk is known for its 'tost' (''susurluk tostu'') - a toasted cheese sandwich with tomato paste, and for its foamy

ayran Ayran, doogh, dhallë, daw, xynogala or tan is a cold savory yogurt-based beverage popular across Western Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, Southeastern Europe, North Asia and Eastern Europe. The principal ingredients are yogurt, water and salt. ...

. The population was 23,995 in 2010. The mayor is Nurettin Güney ( IYI).

History

Originally, the place where Susurluk is now located was an empty area of forest and swamp belonging to

Karasi Bey Karasi Bey (? –1330), ( tr, Karesi Bey or Karasi Bey), was the second Bey of the Karasids in north-west Anatolia, in modern Balıkesir Province, Turkey, succeeding Kalam Bey in 1307. He died in 1330 in Karasi. Karasi Bey generally enjoyed ...

. Under Bey's grandchildren, it was managed as a farm called Susığırlık. Later, in 1634, with raiders coming from Karaman, Hacı Hatip Oğulları, settled here. While Susığırlık was only a farm, it began to serve as a rest stop for caravans passing to Bursa and Istanbul. Later, it became crowded with Bulgarian and Caucasian immigrants who migrated to Anatolia during the 1858 and 1878 Turkish-Russian war and Turkmen tribes that were later settled by

Ahmed Vefik Pasha Ahmed Vefik Pasha ( ota, احمد وفیق پاشا ) (3 July 1823 2 April 1891) was an Ottoman statesman, diplomat, scholar, playwright, and translator during the Tanzimat and First Constitutional Era periods. He was commissioned with top-rank ...

1996 scandal

On 3 November 1996 a car crash in the town made news headlines as the dead and injured included a parliamentary deputy, a right-wing gang leader, a former beauty queen and a senior police officer. The resulting political and social turmoil has come to be known as the

Susurluk scandal The Susurluk scandal () was a scandal involving the close relationship among the deep state in Turkey, the Grey Wolves and the Turkish mafia. It took place during the peak of the Kurdish–Turkish conflict, in the mid-1990s. The relationshi ...

, and the accident was described as definite proof of a link between politics, organized crime and the bureaucracy, known in Turkish as the ''derin devlet'' (" deep state"). Several people, including three former special forces members, were convicted of illegal activities and served prison terms.

References

Towns in Turkey Populated places in Balıkesir Province Districts of Balıkesir Province Susurluk District {{Balıkesir-geo-stub