Kepez 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 ...

Antalya Province Antalya Province () is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality of Turkey. It is located on the Mediterranean Region, Turkey, Mediterranean coast of south-west Turkey, between the Taur ...

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 area is 292 km², and its population is 608,675 (2022).

Geography

Kepez is a part of Greater Antalya proper. The name Kepez means rocky area, referring to the local landscape prior to urbanisation, which consisted of a rocky

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; : plateaus or plateaux), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. ...

Composition

There are 68

neighbourhoods 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 Kepez District: * Ahatlı * Aktoprak * Altıayak * Altınova Düden * Altınova Orta * Altınova Sinan * Atatürk * Avni Tolunay * Ayanoğlu * Aydoğmuş * Baraj * Barış * Başköy * Beşkonaklılar * Çamlıbel * Çamlıca * Çankaya * Demirel * Duacı * Düdenbaşı * Duraliler * Emek * Erenköy * Esentepe * Fabrikalar * Fatih * Fevzi Çakmak * Gazi * Gaziler * Göçerler * Göksu * Gülveren * Gündoğdu * Güneş * Habibler * Hüsnükarakaş * Kanal * Karşıyaka * Kazımkarabekir * Kepez * Kirişçiler * Kızıllı * Kültür * Kütükçü * Kuzeyyaka * Mehmet Akif Ersoy * Menderes * Odabaşı * Özgürlük * Şafak * Santral * Şelale * Sütçüler * Teomanpaşa * Ulus * Ünsal * Varsak Esentepe * Varsak Karşıyaka * Varsak Menderes * Yavuz Selim * Yenidoğan * Yeniemek * Yenimahalle * Yeşiltepe * Yeşilyurt * Yükseliş * Zafer * Zeytinlik

History

Kepez, like the rest of Greater Antalya, was wrested between the

Seljuk Turks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; , ''Saljuqian'',) alternatively spelled as Saljuqids or Seljuk Turks, was an Oghuz Turks, Oghuz Turkic, Sunni Muslim dynasty that gradually became Persianate society, Persianate and contributed to Turco-Persi ...

and the Byzantines during the 11th and 12th centuries. After 1216, Kepez was incorporated into the Seljuk realm. After the disintegration of the Seljuks, the area fell under the control of the Turkmen Beylik of Teke. In 1389, the city was captured by the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. After the defeat of the Ottomans in the Battle of Ankara in 1402, Kepez was annexed by the

Karamanid The Karamanids ( or ), also known as the Emirate of Karaman and Beylik of Karaman (), was a Turkish people, Turkish Anatolian beyliks, Anatolian beylik (principality) of Salur tribe origin, descended from Oghuz Turks, centered in South-Centra ...

s, another Turkmen principality, and stayed within their control until 1415. During this brief period a Turkmen tribe named Varsak was settled around Kepez. After 1415 Antalya became an Ottoman territory. During the Republican era the scattered population around Kepez increased. After Antalya was declared as the metropolitan center, the Kepez municipality was incorporated into Greater Antalya in 1993 and the corresponding district governorate was established in 2008.

Archaeology

The ancient city of Lyrboton Kome (), located in the Kepez district on a hill in Varsak, was discovered in 1910 by European archaeologists. The city was an important olive oil production center in the region and had close ties to Perge. The ancient city became a settlement during the

Hellenistic era In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the Roma ...

but the area grew during the era of Roman Emperor

Domitian Domitian ( ; ; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was Roman emperor from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Flavian dynasty. Described as "a r ...

in the first century.Anatolia’s oldest known olive oil press found in Antalya
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Kepez today

Antalya bus terminal and a cement factory as well as a hydroelectric plant are in Kepez. Although not a seaside district, Kepez maintains a number of tourist attractions like Düden Waterfalls and the zoo of Antalya. Scenic areas, such as Kepezüstü, are also visited.

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Antalya Province Kepez District Districts of Antalya Province Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey Metropolitan district municipalities in Turkey