Kahraman Maraş Our City

KAHRAMANMARAŞ

OUR CITY

The City with Medal

• Our city is the 11th big province of Turkey, which has 14346 km² area. It is between the 37-38 north parallels and 36-37 east meridians. The city’s north regions are quite mountainous, and there are wide lowlands in the remaining parts.

• The famous historian Herodotus states that, during the Hittite Empire (B.C. 2000-1200), a Hittite commander called ‘Maraj’ established the city so its name comes from this. In history, Hittites, Assyrians, Persians, Seljuqs and Ottomans reigned in Kahramanmaraş. It was on an important trade way so it was an advanced city.

• The castle was built by the Hittitians on an artificial hill and still remains today. There are lots of historical artifacts in the city museum.

The castle at night

The castle in winter

The castle

• During the War of Independence, enemy soldiers were in Kahramanmaraş. But they didn’t know Maraş’s people who depend on their liberty and addicted to their honour. One day, the enemy soldiers annoyed the women who were in the bazaar and tried to open their veils. Meanwhile, Sütçü Hacı İmam Karadağ who was selling milk, took his gun and shoot one of the soldiers.

• Sütçü İmam becomes the symbol of the independence in Maraş. The people rescue the city themselves in the war.

Sütçü İmam’s Mausoleum

The statue symbolizing that event

Historic Kahramanmaraş Houses

Historic Kahramanmaraş Houses

After the War of

Independence, as far as all the town people fought against the enemy, The Turkish Grand National Assembly gives the city the War of Independence Medal in 5th April 1925. In 7th February 1973, The Turkish Grand National Assembly gives city the honor ‘Kahraman’ which means ‘Hero’, so the city is called as ‘Kahramanmaraş’ afterwards.

Kahramanmaraş has a mild climate.

Namely ‘the Mediterranean’

climate.

It is always sunny and green in spring,

summer and fall.

There are lots of green parks in which

people can relax.

The castle has been organized as

a park recently.

It snows a few days in winter and is a lovely scenery for people.

Kahramanmaraş in winter

• According to the census in 2000, Kahramanmaraş is a city of 1,321,183 people. It is the 17th city of Turkey in proportion to population. Kahramanmaraş has 9 counties called Afşin, Elbistan, Göksun, Ekinözü, Nurhak, Çağlayancerit, Andırın, Türkoğlu and Pazarcık.

Scenes from Kahramanmaraş

City Centre

City Centre

City Centre

There are very big denim factories in Kahramanmaraş.

Yarn spinning, knitting and weaving mills, and at last knitting and weaving dyeing mills are activated as full integration

Yarn spinning facility supplies all yarn requirements of knitting and weaving mills.

100% Cotton, Mélange, Viscose, Polyester/Viscose, Cotton/Polyester, Acrylic/Cotton mixture yarns can be

produced in yarn spinning facility.

The companies increase the standards of quality at the every stage of production and provides the customers the

possibility of receiving the same quality for each order.

Many respected customers within either domestic market or foreign markets prefer this quality. A significant part of the production within

Kahramanmaraş is exported to European and Middle East countries.

Kahramanmaraş is famous for its wooden handicrafts. There are big, carved

wooden boxes for dowry and little cryptic boxes as

souvenirs.

Dowry boxes, jewelry boxes, newspaper racks, coffee tables, trays, backgammons, stern-boards

and wall panels are made by the carvers.

Coppersmith is an old profession in Kahramanmaraş. Traditional pots,

cauldrons, washbasins, bath materials, drainers, cookers and buckets are sold almost every city in Turkey. And also

ausforming materials are used in houses and sold in Turkey and exported to foreign

countries.

A coppersmith working on a material

Coppersmith shops

Copper covered decoration in the inner part of a dome.

Leather trade is also advanced in Kahramanmaraş. It is so famous that, in Harry Potter series the slippers are taken from Kahramanmaraş and in the movie

‘Troy’ the sandals are from the city as well. And they are all handmade.

Handmade shoes and sandals

• The city is mostly famous for its ice cream. It is made of goat milk, the goats are fed on the mountains with thymus, hyacinth and colchicum, and salep which is obtained from the wild orchid roots. So the Maraş ice cream has an inimitable flavour, aroma and consistence. You have to use a knife and fork to eat it.

• KAHRAMANMARAŞ ICE CREAM =GOAT MILK + SALEP + EXTRA SUGAR + MASTERY

There are also big ice cream companies in Kahramanmaraş like Mado and Edo. They

are producing ice cream in big factories and selling both in the country and to foreign

countries like the U.S.A., Australia,

Germany, The United arab Emirates,

Bulgaria,  China, England,

south Korea, Saudi Arabia, Tunusia,

Jugoslavia, Cyprus and Egypt.

Another famous

product is chili pepper. There

are pepper factories

producing and selling chili

pepper to the whole country.

%45 of Turkey’s pepper is

made in the city.

The famous snack in Kahramanmaraş “Tarhana”

Some famous snacks of the city

Dried food is very popular in

Kahramanmaraş.

There are lots of spice stores in

the city.

The city centre is beautiful with green parks, fountains,

mosques, wide and clean boulevards and well-kept

buildings.

Multipurpose city building

The big mosque under construction which will be the 7th biggest mosque in Turkey

The statue of Atatürk

Turkey’s National Day celebrations

Multipurpose city building

A fountain in the city centre

A park in the city

A park with a restaurant

The park for disabled people

Kahramanmaraş at night

• Mountains create %60, tablelands %24 and lowlands %16 of the city. Inside of the city frontiers, main mountainous regions are the south-east Taurus’ extensions.

• There are a lot of rivers and natural springs around the city centre. There are 6 dams on these rivers and their tributaries. They were built by the government for the purpose of energy and watering. Their names are: Sır, Menzelet, Kartalkaya, Ayvalı, Kılavuzlu and Berke. Kartalkaya Dam waters 22,810 hectares place and neighbour cities are given water to use for industry and drink from this dam.

• Kahramanmaraş is in the Mediterranean region, so there are three types of plants covering the city. There are bushes, lemur, alpine and forests over 1200 metres.

• As far as the city is covered with green forests and rivers, there are nice picnic places with clean air and beautiful scenery.

Döngel Caves with the fountain

The man is fishing on the river

• Mountaineering, camping, trekking, speleological tourism, winter sports and skiing are possible in Kahramanmaraş.

Especially the university clubs have tours at the mountains and the rural area.

The signboard at the city entrance

KAHRAMANMARAS AIRPORT

• Bus companies and travel agents head for to all destinations such as Ankara, İstanbul and İzmir which are big cities.

• Main Travel Agents are: AKSU TURİZM +90344 235 11 11-6 lines (444 44 46)

AK TURİZM +90344 235 00 00-5 lines (444 00 46)

METRO TURİZM +90344 235 27 10-11

+90344 235 22 51-52

HİDAYET TURİZM +90344 235 29 37-38

(444 00 02) (444 00 53)

• It is possible to travel by airline to Kahramanmaraş from Ankara and İstanbul. Turkish Airlines and Atlasjet Airlines travel to the city almost everyday.

• Turkish Airlines Travel Agent:

GSA Döngel Turizm

Address: Trabzon Cad. No:54/N KahramanmaraşTelephones: +90344 2312600 - +90344 2318800 Fax: +90344 225 34 03

We would like to welcome and host you all here in our city