Kütahya Province
Kütahya Province () is a Provinces of Turkey, province in the Aegean Region, Aegean region of Turkey. Its area is 11,634 km2, and its population is 580,701 (2022). In 1990, Kütahya had a population of 578,000.
The neighboring provinces 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 ...
. It is the seat of
Tavşanlı District
Tavşanlı District is a district of the Kütahya Province of Turkey. Its seat is the city of Tavşanlı.İlçe Belediyesi Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 22 May 2023. Its population is 73,306 (2022).
Tavşanlı is a typical Aegean town where a government-owned coal mine company attracted thousands of settlers from surrounding cities and villages.
The town is also famous for its notable number of jewellery shops and is also famous for popular snack called "
leblebi
Leblebi (; ; ; ; ; ; ) is a snack made from roasted chickpeas, common and popular in Iran, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria and sometimes seasoned with salt, hot spices, dried clove
Cloves are the aromat ...
" (roasted chick peas).
Name
Tavşanlı was told to be named after a hunting party held by the Ottoman prince
Bayezid I
Bayezid I (; ), also known as Bayezid the Thunderbolt (; ; – 8 March 1403), was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1389 to 1402. He adopted the title of ''Sultan-i Rûm'', ''Rûm'' being the Arabic name for the Eastern Roman Empire. In 139 ...
, in which he is said to have hunted 7 rabbits. Thus the name Tavşanlı meaning "the place with rabbits" was given to the area.
Places of interest
west of Kütahya lies the ancient town of Tavşanlı with a notable 12th-century
Seljuq Seljuk (, ''Selcuk'') or Saljuq (, ''Saljūq'') may refer to:
* Seljuk Empire (1051–1153), a medieval empire in the Middle East and central Asia
* Seljuk dynasty (c. 950–1307), the ruling dynasty of the Seljuk Empire and subsequent polities
* S ...
mosque called Ulucami. to the north in a side valley of the Adronos stream stands a
Phrygia
In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; , ''Phrygía'') was a kingdom in the west-central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River.
Stories of the heroic age of Greek mythology tell of several legendary Ph ...
n rock monument Dikilitaş, a huge volcanic partly smoothed rock with geometric designs.
Archaeology
Tavşanlı Höyük is a massive mound of more than 40 hectares, located in the centre of the Tavşanlı Plain. It is the largest mound in this region, located near the Orhaneli river ( :de:Orhaneli Çayı). The settlement started during the Neolithic Period, but most of the remains belong to the Bronze Age.
The excavations here started in 2017, as part of the “Prehistoric Periods Survey of Eskişehir and Kütahya Provinces (EKAR)” project. They revealed that most of the mound occupation belongs to the Early Bronze Age II (2700-2400 BC), after which there was a great fire outbreak during the Early Bronze Age III period.
The mound contains remains from the Middle Bronze Age, Late Bronze Age, and Early Iron Age. Early Bronze Age pottery is mostly concentrated on the eastern and north-eastern parts of the mound.
Tavşanlı Höyük city building layout is somewhere in between the “Anatolian Settlement Plan”, as defined by M. Korfmann, and the layout that was common in the coastal zone of Western Anatolia and in the Aegean Islands. But Tavsanli is actually somewhat closer to Inland Western Anatolia in this regard.
The “Anatolian Settlement Plan” also known as the “Inland Western Anatolian Settlement Model” represents "an enclosed system where the houses open to a common courtyard facing each other, or where the backsides of the houses function as an enclosure wall." On the other hand, the Aegean-coastal settlements were in the form of "clusters of houses (''insulae'') around the streets and alleys".
4,200-year-old hazelnuts, as well as the marble figurines were found by the excavators in 2022.
Mycenaean type seal and a dagger were also discovered here in 2022.
Climate
Tavşanlı has a
hot-summer Mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...
(
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 ...
: ''Csa''), with hot, dry summers, and cold winters.
Notable people
*
Mustafa Kalemli
Mustafa Kalemli (born March 26, 1943) is a Turkish physician and politician, who served as government minister and Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly.
Early life and career
Mustafa Kalemli was born in Tavşanlı, Kütahya Province, ...
, physician and politician
*
Kemal Zeytinoğlu
Kemal Zeytinoğlu (1911–1959) was a Turkish engineer and politician being a member of the Democrat Party (DP). He assumed various cabinet posts in the 1950s under Prime Minister Adnan Menderes. He died in a plane crash in the United Kingdom.
...