Darıca (, from the

Byzantine 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 the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

τὰ Ῥίτζιον) 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 ...

Kocaeli Province Kocaeli Province (, ) is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality of Turkey and one of only three not to have the same official name as its capital, İzmit, which is thus also sometim ...

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 ...

. The town was previously known as Aretsou (Αρετσού) in by its native Greek population. Its area is 23 km², and its population is 225,602 (2022). The current mayor is Muzaffer Bıyık.

History

Though Greek settlement around the Sea of Marmara dates to the first millennium BCE, the earliest reference to the Byzantine fortress of Ritzion (τὰ Ῥίτζιον) is in the works of the 12th-century historian

John Kinnamos John Kinnamos or ''Joannes Kinnamos'' or ''John Cinnamus'' ( or Κίναμος; born shortly after 1143, died after 1185), was a Byzantine historian. He was imperial secretary (Greek "grammatikos", most likely a post connected with the military ad ...

. The ruins of the fortress, which gives the town its modern name, are still located in present-day Darıca. Prior to the expulsion of Ottoman Greeks and the

population exchange between Greece and Turkey The 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey stemmed from the "Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations" signed at Lausanne, Switzerland, on 30 January 1923, by the governments of Greece and Turkey. It involv ...

, a vast majority of the residents were ethnic

Greeks Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...

who practiced

Orthodox Christianity Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

. Refugees from Aretsou/Darıca founded the

Nea Aretsou Nea Aretsou () is a district of Kalamaria, Thessaloniki, Greece. It was created in the 1920s and populated by Greek refugees from the town of Aretsou (modern Darıca Darıca (, from the Byzantine Greek, Byzantine τὰ Ῥίτζιον) is a muni ...

neighborhood in Thessaloniki, Greece. The Darıca district was created in 2008 from part of the district of

Gebze Gebze (), formerly known as Libyssa, is a municipality and district of Kocaeli Province, Turkey. Its area is 418 km2, and its population is 407,019 (2022). It is situated 65 km (30 mi) southeast of Istanbul, on the Gulf of Izmit, ...

, along with the districts Çayırova and

Dilovası Dilovası is a municipality and district of Kocaeli Province, Turkey. Its area is 125 km2, and its population is 53,416 (2022). The district Dilovası was created in 2008 from part of the district of Gebze, along with the districts Darıca and ...

Modern town

There are 14

neighborhoods 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 Darıca District: * Abdi Ipekçi * Bağlarbaşı * Bayramoğlu * Cami * Emek * Fevzi Çakmak * Kazım Karabekir * Nenehatun * Osman Gazi * Pirireis * Sırasöğütler * Yalı * Yeni * Zincirlikuyu Darıca is located 3 km (1.8 mi) south of Gebze, southeast from

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 ...

and sits from

Sabiha Gokcen Airport Sabiha is an Arabic word () meaning "Morning" and a female given name. People with the name include: * Sabiha Sultan (1894–1971), Ottoman princess, daughter of Mehmed VI * Sabiha Bengütaş (1904–1992), Turkish sculptor * Sabiha Gökçen (1913� ...

, away from the Atatürk International Airport and from

Istanbul Airport Istanbul Airport is the larger of two international airports serving Istanbul, Turkey. It is located in the Arnavutköy district on the European side of the city. It is the largest airport in Turkey, the largest privately-owned airport in the ...

Arnavutköy Arnavutköy ( ' Albanian village'; ) is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Beşiktaş, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its population is 3,574 (2022). It is renowned for its wooden Ottoman mansions and seafood restaurants, as well a ...

. Darıca is in close proximity to large-scale transit infrastructure including the D-100 highway and the Turkish State Railway station for Kocaeli. The district contains numerous social areas and hosts a number of festivals. It is also home to the Faruk Yalçın Zoo. In 2021, Darıca attracted controversy for naming a park after

Dzhokhar Dudayev Dzhokhar Musayevich Dudayev (born Dudin Musa-Khant Dzhokhar; 15 February 1944 – 21 April 1996) was a Chechen politician, statesman and military leader of the 1990s Chechen independence movement from Russia. He served as the first president o ...

, a Chechen separatist leader who was the first president of the

Chechen Republic of Ichkeria The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria ( ; ; ; abbreviated as "ChRI" or "CRI"), known simply as Ichkeria, was a ''de facto'' State (polity), state that controlled most of the former Checheno-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Checheno-Ingus ...

. The name was criticized by Russian-backed Chechen leader

Ramzan Kadyrov Ramzan Akhmatovich Kadyrov (born 5 October 1976) is a Russian politician and current head of the Chechen Republic. He was formerly affiliated with the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, Chechen independence movement, through his father who was the ...

and the

Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (MFA Russia; , МИД РФ) is the central government institution charged with leading the foreign policy and foreign relations of Russia. It is a continuation of the Ministry of Foreig ...

, who called Dudayev a terrorist.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Darica Districts of Kocaeli Province Former Greek towns in Turkey Metropolitan district municipalities in Turkey