Atakent is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of

Silifke Silifke is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Mersin Province, Mersin Province, Turkey. Its area is 2,692 km2, and its population is 132,665 (2022). It is west of the city of Mersin, on the west end of the Çukurova plain. ...

Mersin Province Mersin Province (), formerly İçel Province (), is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality in southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast between Antalya Province, A ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. Its population is 8,195 (2022). Before the 2013 reorganisation, it was a town (''

belde Belde (literally "town", also known as ''kasaba'') means "large village with a municipality" in Turkish language, Turkish. All Turkish province centers and district centers have municipalities, but the Villages of Turkey, villages are usually too ...

'').

Geography

Atakent is a

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

coastal town. Alluvial plains of Silifke lie in the west of the town and hilly coastline is in the east of the town. The town is on the

D 400 highway D.400 is an east–west state road in southern Turkey. The road starts at Datça in the southwest corner of the Anatolian peninsula and ends at the Iranian border at Esendere. D.400 runs through the cities of Marmaris, Fethiye, Antalya, ...

. The distance to

Mersin Mersin () is a large city and port on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of Mediterranean Region, Turkey, southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of the Mersin Province (formerly İçel). It is made up of four district governorates ...

is and to Silifke is .

History

The ruins of the historical town of Korasion which had been founded by Flavius Uranius, the governor of

Roman Province The Roman provinces (, pl. ) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...

Isauria Isauria ( or ; ), in ancient geography, is a rugged, isolated district in the interior of Asia Minor, of very different extent at different periods, but generally covering what is now the district of Bozkır and its surroundings in the Konya P ...

between 367−375, is on the north east of the town. The ruins of Hellenistic and Roman settlement

Karakabaklı Karakabaklı is an archaeological site in Mersin Province, Turkey. Geography Karakabaklı is situated next to Karadedeli village (now a remote neighborhood of Atakent) in the rural area of Silifke district. In the antiquity this region was cal ...

are to the north. The new town is actually formed by a

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

of four Turkmen villages in 1987. Now the former villages are quarters of the town. Susanoğlu quarter is at the east and Kapızlı quarter is at the west.

Economy

The main activity in Atakent with wide sandy beaches is tourism. Boarding houses and campings as well as newer hotels and clubs attract domestic tourists. Agriculture, especially forced crop agriculture is also an important activity. Fruits, like strawberries are well known products of Atakent.

References

Populated coastal places in Turkey Tourist attractions in Mersin Province Neighbourhoods in Silifke District {{Mersin-geo-stub