Görele is a town and a district of Giresun Province on the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean 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 bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

coast of eastern

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 in ...

. The population was 16,033 in 2010.

Geography

The district is mainly mountainous and watered by streams and rivers running into the Black Sea, the highest peaks are Mount Sis and ''Haç'' (Haş). Up to 600m the hillsides are covered with

hazelnuts The hazelnut is the fruit of the hazel tree and therefore includes any of the nuts deriving from species of the genus ''Corylus'', especially the nuts of the species ''Corylus avellana''. They are also known as cobnuts or filberts according ...

, along with

alder Alders are trees comprising the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus comprises about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few sp ...

, poplars and other deciduous trees. The agriculture of the district is mainly hazelnuts along with some tea planting, beekeeping, and gardening for domestic consumption, while the higher elevations are forest and pasture. Recently

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salm ...

farming has begun in the mountain waterways and more importantly the attractive high pasture lands have begun to attract visitors on trekking holidays. Traditionally in this part of the world people would move their sheep and cattle to the high pastures ('' yayla'') for summer grazing and today this has become something of an event with summer folklore festivals in places like Sis Dağı attracting visitors from all over Turkey, who come to hear the Kemençe and watch people dance the

Horon Horon ( pnt, χορόν, khorón) is a traditional folk dance from Pontus or Eastern Black Sea Region in Turkey. Name Etymology The term ''horon'' derives from Greek '' choros'' ( el, χορός, khorós), which means "dance." The earliest in ...

. The sale of local costumes and craftwork such as wooden toys and woven goods bring extra income to the district. The climate is typical of the

region; it rains in every season and in the high mountains it snows in winter. The mountain hinterland is hard to access, with many dirt roads and the villages are continuously shrinking as the villagers migrate to Turkey's larger cities in search of work.
Görele
itself is a large town of 27,000 people on the Black Sea coast. The Black Sea coast highway from Giresun to

Trabzon Trabzon (; Ancient Greek: Tραπεζοῦς (''Trapezous''), Ophitic Pontic Greek: Τραπεζούντα (''Trapezounta''); Georgian: ტრაპიზონი (''Trapizoni'')), historically known as Trebizond in English, is a city on the B ...

runs through here and Görele is about halfway between the two cities, 70 km from each. There is no real port at Görele so goods and people all come though this coast road, but there is a small fishing fleet. The main industry is hazelnut processing, and in August the whole area is busy with people harvesting hazelnuts and bringing them into town. Görele has its own kemençe style and tradition. Famous Görelean kemençe players include Halil Ağa and Picoğlu Osman.

History

The name is derived from the ancient city of Coralla, though that Pontic settlement was probably sited nearer to today's

Eynesil Eynesil is a town and a district of Giresun Province on the Black Sea coast of Turkey, east of the city of Giresun, towards Trabzon. The population was 7,505 in 2010. Geography This is a low-lying coastal strip with steep hills behind. The view ...

. Much later there was a Genoese trading post here and the ruins of their castle is 20 km east of the town of Görele today.

Chepni Chepni ( az, Çəpni; tr, Çepni; tk, Çepni) is one of the 24 Oghuz Turkic tribes. History In the legend of Oghuz Qaghan, the Chepni was stated as one of the clans of the tribe of ''Gök Han'' that consists of Pecheneg (''Beçenek''), Bayand ...

Turks arrived in Görele from Khorasan in the early years of the 13/14th century. As the castle of Kordyle, this was one of the last Christian outposts to fall to Sultan

Mehmet II Mehmed II ( ota, محمد ثانى, translit=Meḥmed-i s̱ānī; tr, II. Mehmed, ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror ( ota, ابو الفتح, Ebū'l-fetḥ, lit=the Father of Conquest, links=no; tr, Fâtih Su ...

after he conquered the Empire of Trebizond in 1461. According to Pontic ballads, it was defended against the Sultan's soldier by a peasant girl until she took her life by throwing herself from a window. According to William Miller, the window could still be seen up until the Crimean War. From 1878 to 1922, it was a part of Ottoman Trebizond Vilayet. During the republican era, it became a part of newly founded Giresun province. Görele, like the rest of this coast was occupied by

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

n troops for two years during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Prominent natives/residents

* Tuzcuoğlu Mehmet Ali,

kemenche Kemenche ( tr, kemençe) or Lyra is a name used for various types of stringed bowed musical instruments originating in the Eastern Mediterranean, particularly in Armenia, Greece, Iran, Turkey, and Azerbaijan. and regions adjacent to the Black S ...

player * Picoğlu Osman (1901-1946) famous kemençe player * Hasan Ali Yücel poet and politician, former minister of education, and his son the poet

Can Yücel Can Yücel (; August 21, 1926 – August 12, 1999) was a Turkish poet noted for his use of colloquial language. Biography Can Yücel was the son of a former Minister of National Education, Hasan Âli Yücel, who left his mark on the history of e ...

* Hamit Görele, artist and thinker *

Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu (1911 – 21 September 1975) was a Turkish painter, mosaic-maker, muralist, writer and poet. His art work was inspired by Anatolian village scenes and folk literature, and included traditional handicraft folk patterns. E ...

artist and poet *

Fatih Kırtorun Fatih Kırtorun (born 1985, Görele, Giresun) is a Turkish poet and translator. Personal life Born in Giresun, Görele, he moved to Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , a ...

, poet * Salim PATAN, poet, writer and teacher * Kemal Yayla, Police Commissioner * Kemal Gürses, conductor and composerKemal Gürses profile
, gorele.gen.tr; accessed 20 May 2012).

Geography

History

Prominent natives/residents

See also

References

External links