Every 19 May in Fethiye Oludeniz
Every 19 May in Fethiye Oludeniz, Turkey celebrates the historic arrival of Ataturk at Samsun, marking the beginning of the 1919 War of Independence. Athletes carry the Turkish flag ashore at the Samsun harbour, while memorial wreaths are laid in Anitkabir. This gets celebrated in Ankara Istanbul and Izmir Adana Turkey. Rousing ceremonies are held in Ankara, Samsun, Istanbul and other major cities throughout the country. Elsewhere, the Turkish national anthem is sung and speeches are made urging Turkish youth – “the children of Turkish Independence” – to respect democracy and peace.
Samsun is situated between two river deltas jutting out into the Back Sea, north of Turkey. West of the town the Kizilirmark (the Red River), one of the longest rivers of Anatolia, produced its fertile delta, East of the town the Yesilirmak (the Green River), a river that passes some remarkable towns on its way to the sea, did the same. People always were attracted by the combination of fertile ground and shallow waters for a harbor, due to this Samsun has a long history and its myths go back even longer. According to ancient myths the delta east of Samsun was the land of the Amazons.
The geographer Strabo (64 BC-23 AD) describes the Amazons as a people of female warriors. In order to shoot easily with bow and arrow they had one of their breast removed. Amazon is derived from the old Greek and means ‘without breasts’. The Amazons used men from neighboring peoples to reproduce themselves and male children were sent to neighboring peoples. The myths situate the period of the Amazons about 1200 BC.
Fiction or non fiction, fact is that the Amazons’ myth spread again under the conquerors in South America. Along world’s biggest river a people of female warriors should live. The female warriors were never found but the river was named the Amazon. What we know for sure is that Greek colonists settled in the 6th century BC and established a flourishing trade with the people of the interior of Asia Minor.
In the 3rd century BC Samsun came under the rule of the expanding Kingdom of Pontus. Initially the Kingdom of Pontus had been a part of the empire of Alexander the Great that broke up soon after his death in the 4th century BC. At its zenith the Kingdom of Pontus controlled the north as well as parts of central Anatolia and merchant towns on the northern Black Sea shores. The Romans took over in 47 BC and were replaced by the Byzantines. The town was captured by the Seljuks (around 1200 AD), taken over by the Ilhanid Mongols and later became part of a Turkish principality.
Samsun was incorporated in the network of Genoese trading posts and was taken by the Ottomans in the first part of the 15th century. Before leaving, the Genoese burnt the town to the ground. Under Ottoman rule the land around the town later mainly produced tobacco. The town was connected to the railway system in the second half of the 19th century and the tobacco trade flourished. Its port had fallen prey to a slow decay and despite the tobacco Samsun became a rather dormant place.
Whatever their size, ports remain important gates for in or exporting new ideas and renovations. Here, on 19 May 1919, a man stepped ashore who would create a Turkish state, change a society and even alter a language; this great man was Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
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Ölüdeniz is a small resort village in the Muğla Province on the South West coast of Turkey on the Aegean Sea to the south and the high, steep sided Babadağ Mountain, 14 km (9 mi) south of Fethiye. The town is a beach resort. Ölüdeniz remains one of the most photographed beaches on the Mediterranean. It has a secluded sandy bay at the mouth of Ölüdeniz, on a blue lagoon.Subscribe
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