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. Its adjacent provinces are Çanakkale to the west, İzmir to the southwest, Manisa to the south, Kütahya to the sou ...

in northwestern

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 ...

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

İstanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_in ...

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 aggl ...

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 sa ...

. 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. 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.

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