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 ...
of
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 area is 2,718 km2, and its population is 62,874 (2022).
Mut is a rural district at the foot of the Sertavul Pass on the road over the
Taurus Mountains
The Taurus Mountains (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Toros Dağları'' or ''Toroslar,'' Greek language, Greek'':'' Ταύρος) are a mountain range, mountain complex in southern Turkey, separating the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coastal reg ...
from
Ankara
Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...
and
Konya
Konya is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium. In 19th-century accounts of the city in En ...
to the
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 ...
coast at
Anamur
Anamur is a municipality and district of Mersin Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,430 km2, and its population is 66,846 (2022). It is the westernmost district of that province, bordering on Antalya Province. Anamur contains Anatolia's southernm ...
or
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.
...
. Mut is known for its special apricot variety, ''Mut şekerparesi'', and a statue of a girl carrying a basket of them stands at the entrance to the town. The summer is hot and the people of Mut retreat to high meadows (so called yayla) even further up the mountainside. The forests up here are home to wild boar, and the Gezende reservoir on the Ermenek River is a welcome patch of blue in this dry district. The dam has a hydro-electric power station built in
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
.
History
The area has probably been inhabited since the time of the
Hittites
The Hittites () were an Anatolian peoples, Anatolian Proto-Indo-Europeans, Indo-European people who formed one of the first major civilizations of the Bronze Age in West Asia. Possibly originating from beyond the Black Sea, they settled in mo ...
(2000 BC), and was later part of ancient
Cilicia
Cilicia () is a geographical region in southern Anatolia, extending inland from the northeastern coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. Cilicia has a population ranging over six million, concentrated mostly at the Cilician plain (). The region inclu ...
.
Roman period
Under the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...
, the town was called Claudiopolis.''Alahan Monastery: A Masterpiece of Early Christian Architecture'', Michael Gough, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New Series, Vol. 26, No. 10 (Jun., 1968), 457.JSTOR
Alahan Monastery
Alahan Monastery ()''Some Recent Finds at Alahan (Koja Kalessi)'', Michael Gough, Anatolian Studies, Vol. 5, (1955), 115. JSTOR is a complex of fifth-century buildings located in the mountains of Isauria in southern Anatolia, Asia Minor (Mersin Pr ...
, north of Claudiopolis, was started in the second half of the fifth century by the Emperor Leo I and later finish by
Emperor Zeno
Zeno (; ; – 9 April 491) was Eastern Roman emperor from 474 to 475 and again from 476 to 491. His reign was plagued by domestic revolts and religious dissension, but was more successful on the foreign front. He is credited with further stabil ...
.
Middle ages
The Romans were succeeded by the Kingdom of Armenia. In the 13th century the Armenians were replaced 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 ...
clan who founded the state of the same name. The mosque of Lal Pasha, and the Red Minaret (''Kızılminare'') are among the buildings from the Karamanids that still stand in Mut today.
Economy
Small cattle breeding is one of the important livelihoods of the region.
Composition
There are 102
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 Mut District:
*
Alaçam
Alaçam is a municipality and district of Samsun Province, Turkey. Its area is 598 km2, and its population is 24,647 (2022). Scholars believe that Alaçam is the site of the ancient city of Zaliche or Zaliches.
History
Alaçam has a long h ...
*
Aşağıköselerli
Aşağıköselerli is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Mut, Mersin Province, Turkey. Its population is 814 (2022). It is close to the south bank of Göksu River. Distance to Mut is and to Mersin is .
The former name of the vill ...
*
Aydınoğlu
The Aydinids or Aydinid dynasty (Modern Turkish: ''Aydınoğulları'', ''Aydınoğulları Beyliği'', Old Anatolian Turkish: آیدین اوغوللاری بیلیغی, also known as the Principality of Aydin and Beylik of Aydin (), was one o ...
*
Bağcağız
Bağcağız is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Mut, Mersin Province, Turkey. Its population is 162 (2022). It is to the east of Mut. The distance to Mut is and to Mersin
Mersin () is a large city and port on the Mediterran ...
Barabanlı
Barabanlı is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Mut, Mersin Province, Turkey. Its population is 860 (2022). It is on the road connecting Mut to Ermenek. The distance to Mut is and to Mersin
Mersin () is a large city and port ...
*
Bozdoğan
Bozdoğan is a municipality and district of Aydın Province, Turkey. Its area is 859 km2, and its population is 32,607 (2022). It is from the city of Aydın.
Bozdoğan is high on the side of Mount Madran, the source of the highly valued P ...
Dağpazarı
Dağpazarı is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Mut, Mersin Province, Turkey. Its population is 245 (2022). Situated in the Taurus Mountains, northeast of Mut, the road distance to Mut is about and to Mersin is . Dağpazarı is ...
Elbeyli
Elbeyli, formerly Alimantar, is a town and the administrative seat of Elbeyli District in the Kilis Province in Turkey. Its population is 1,974 (2022). The town is inhabited by Turkomans of the Barak
Barak ( or ; ; Tiberian Hebrew: '' Bār ...
Göksu
The Göksu River (), known in antiquity as the Calycadnus and in the Middle Ages as the Saleph, is a river on the Taşeli Plateau in southern Turkey. Its two sources arise in the Taurus Mountains—the northern in the Geyik Mountains and the s ...
Güzelyurt
Güzelyurt, meaning 'beautiful homeland', formerly Gelveri (Cappadocian Greek: Καρβάλη), is a town in Aksaray Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey, at a distance of from the city of Aksaray. It is the seat of Güzelyurt Dist ...
İbrahimli
İbrahimli is a surname. The surname is derived from the male given name İbrahim (name), İbrahim (related to Abraham (given name), Abraham).
People with the surname
* Ismayil Ibrahimli, Azerbaijani footballer, attacking midfielder of Qarabağ ...
Kadıköy
Kadıköy () is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district on the Asian side of Istanbul Province, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 25 km2, and its population is 467,919 (2023). It is a large and populous area in the Asian si ...
* Kale
*
Karacaoğlan
Karacaoğlan was a 17th-century Anatolian Turkish folk poet and ashik. His exact dates of birth and death are unknown but it is widely accepted that he was born around 1606 and died around 1679. He lived around the city of Osmaniye. His tomb, wh ...
Kurtuluş
Kurtuluş is a neighbourhood of the Şişli district of Istanbul that was originally called ''Tatavla,'' meaning 'stables' in Greek (). The modern Turkish name means "liberation", "salvation", "independence" or "deliverance". On 13 April 1929, si ...
Narlıdere
Narlıdere is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of İzmir Province, Turkey. Its area is 50 km2, and its population is 62,923 (2022). It is fully (100%) urbanized. Narlıdere district area follows the southern coastline of the ...
*
Ortaköy
Ortaköy (, ''Middle Village)'' is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Beşiktaş, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its population is 9,121 (2024). It is on the European shore of the Bosphorus. it was originally a small fishing villag ...
Sakız
Chios (; , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greek island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea, and the tenth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. Chios i ...
Yeşilköy
(; meaning "Green Village"; prior to 1926, San Stefano or Santo Stefano , ) is an affluent neighbourhood () in the municipality and district of Bakırköy, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its population is 25,039 (2022). on the Marmara Sea about ...
Yukarıköselerli
Yukarıköselerli is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Mut, Mersin Province, Turkey. Its population is 633 (2022). It is in the wide valley of Göksu River in the Taurus Mountains. Its distance to Mut is and to Mersin
Mersin ...
hot semi-arid climate
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of sem ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...
: ''BSh''), with very hot, dry summers, and cool, somewhat rainy winters.
Notable natives
* Durmuş Yalçın (politician)
* Mut is one of the places in the area that claims to be the burial place of the folk poet
Karacaoğlan
Karacaoğlan was a 17th-century Anatolian Turkish folk poet and ashik. His exact dates of birth and death are unknown but it is widely accepted that he was born around 1606 and died around 1679. He lived around the city of Osmaniye. His tomb, wh ...
.
*
Musa Eroğlu
Musa Eroğlu (born 1946) is a Turkish folk musician and bağlama virtuoso.
He was born in the Mut county district of Mersin. He is a Tahtacı. He completed his secondary education in Mut. He then started to perform Turkish folk dance and music. ...
(musician,
bağlama
The bağlama or saz is a family of plucked string instruments and long-necked lutes used in Europe, Balkans, Caucasus, Middle East, Khazar, Central Asia including Germany, France, Belgium, TRNC, Netherlands, Albania, Greece,Bosnia, Serbia, Croat ...
Fikri Sağlar
Fikri Sağlar (born 1953) is a Turkish social democrat politician. He was Minister of Culture in the early 1990s, and a member of the parliamentary commission which investigated the Susurluk scandal. He has been a columnist for ''Birgün''.
In ...
(politician)
One of the last sightings of the
Anatolian leopard
''Panthera pardus tulliana'', also called Persian leopard, Anatolian leopard, and Caucasian leopard in different parts of its range, is a leopard subspecies that was first described in 1856 based on a zoological specimen found in western Anato ...
was near Mut, in the locality called "Dandi" in 2001.