Mersin Hakkında Bilgi-İngilizce

ABOUT MERSİN

City in south-central Turkey with 560,000 inhabitants on the Cilician Plain bordering the Mediterranean Sea It is the capital of Mersin Province Another common name for both the city and the province is Icel Icel province 17 million inhabitants
Mersin has an artificial harbour, which is an important port for importing petroleum and exporting agricultural products and minerals of the Cilician Plain and southeastern Anatolia The city has one of Turkey's largest oil refineries
Mersin is connected by road and railways to Tarsus 40 km northeast, Adana 100 km northeast and by road alone to Antalya 400 km west It also has ferry connections with Cyprus While Mersin does not represent any continuous settlement since ancient times, there are nearby Neolithic settlements dating at least back to 3600 BCE, as well as a more recent Roman port1865: The villages of Gokcel, Kalinli and Elvanli unite, forming the regional centre of Mersin
1925: Mersin Province is formed
1933: Mersin Province is extended by the counties of Silifke, Anamur and Mut

The history of Mersin goes back the years 6000 BC The excavations made at "Yumuktepe" location in the center of Mersin, show that this city had been a Hitit settlement center The Hitits haad ruled till 1450 B C One of the most ancient settlement centers in Anatolia is Yumuktepe ,which lies at 3 km north-west of Mersin
In his famous "Seyahatname" (traveling diary) Evliya Celebi, while he was passing by Silifke to Tarsus, has talked about a settlement area names "Mersinoglu" located at north- west of the present village of Useli So, it is said that the name of "Mersin" descends from the "Mersinoglu Turcoman Tribe" Some researchers say that Mersin had been founded in the year 1836
Also, in the yearbook of Adana Governorship named "Adana Vilayet Salname", it is said that Mersin had been a small village (1841)
The region named CIUCIA (KLIKYA) by the ancient Greeks and Romans, is estimated to cover Adana and içel (Mersin) In the North the West Toros Mountains, in the south this region surrounded by the Mediterranean, had been separated into two areas as Plain and Hill named Compepestris & Aspero by the Romans
We can see the first people who settled in Mersin to be the tribesmen descending from the mountainsAfter the Ottoman forces had defeated the Egyptian and Syrian forces in Akka, Ibrahim Pacha had brought from those countries people to settle in Mersin and to work on farms
Settlement in Mersin basically had started after 1860's at those years, because of the American civil war had just waged, after the British, French and German found this area to be suitable for cotton seeding and to dispatch the cotton from Mersin port, resulted in new settlements and business fields in Mersin
Again in the same years (1860) the timbers taken from Toros Mountains through Mersin - Adana then Baghdad railways to be used in construction of "SUEZ CANAL" made of Mersin an attractive city for business and settlement as well
In 1840's, we see Mersin a coastal village linked to Tarsus county - Gökçeli quarter In 1850's we seen the quarter center is joined to this coastal village In 1865 uniting Gokcel, Kalinli and Elvanli quarters, a new county center had been formed with its center being in Mersin In 1894, Mersin and Tarsus counties were joined as a subdivision joined to the Governorship of Adana In 1924 Mersin Governorship and in 1925 the Independent Province of Mersin had been formed
In 1933, ICEL Governorship had been removed from Silifke, and Icel Province including Tarsus, Silifke, Anamur, Gülnar and Mut counties joined to Mersin had become the Province of Icel In 1954 Elvanli and Yagdi quarters were united to form the county of Erdemli and then this county had been joined to ICEL

TOURISM

If we talk about Mersin with its tourism movements, we are to emphasize on the fact that the handicaps confronted by the tourism sector as a whole in our country, we can realize that these handicaps had left their effects on the tourism in Mersin
Yet, unfortunately, our city Mersin with it climate, sea and other beauties, has not taken what it deserves from the domestic and the foreign tourism Despite all these handicaps, Mersin whether from the aspects of land transportation, ocean transportation or air transportation is a city enjoining very wide possibilities
We may brief the touristic potentials of Mersin under the following headlines :

1-YACHT TOURISM 2-HEALTH TOURISM 3-SUMMER CAMPING TOURISM
4-HUNT TOURISM 5-MOUNTAIN TOURISM 6-YOUTH TOURISM
7-CONGRESS TOURISM 8-BUSINESS TOURISM 9-FAITH TOURISM

SCIENCE, CULTURE AND ART

Amp Theater Center: All musical concerts, folklore shows, historical theaters, special sportive and cultural games
and plays will be represented in this center planned for 2000 visitors Also snacks and cold beverages are provided in the center

Conference Center: All facilities and activities of this center will provide fair grounds and conference areas to serve national and international fair shows and conferences The conference center with a capacity of 2000 can be divided into two separate 1000 people capacity saloon at will Display booths and worldwide business and technology exchange, conference rooms, open and enclosed fair grounds, several cafeterias which will serve light food hot and cold beverages, computerized national and international information office, e-mail, fax, parcel delivery, postal and telephone services will be provided by the Center Enclosed fair center also includes every kind of stands for fair activity, cafeterias, meeting rooms, delivery spots, postal and parcel services, Outdoors fair grounds located around the closed fair center , each being a huge outdoor area numbering up to 20, will be used for displaying oversized industrial and agricultural machinery and equipments to big to be shown in closed fair center

International Fair Center: All facilities and activities of this center will provide fair grounds and conference areas to serve national and international fair shows and conferences The conference center with a capacity of 2000 can be divided into two separate 1000 people capacity saloon at will Display booths and worldwide business and technology exchange, conference rooms, open and enclosed fair grounds, several cafeterias which will serve light food hot and cold beverages, computerized national and international information office, e-mail, fax, parcel delivery, postal and telephone services will be provided by the Center

Technology Display Museum Center: People on the world invented numerous things to improve their lives for better living and defense This center will display those interesting inventions from the old age to present They will be chosen from Turkish and other Countries cultures and histories

HISTORICAL PLACES

Atatürk’s Museum: Mainly Turkish History will be presented in this center Besides the museum buildings, a tall hill will be constructed to represent Koca Tepe Big size statue of His Excellency Mustafa Kemal Atatürk will be installed top of the hill Also Independent war figures will be displayed near down hill vicinity

Preveze Sea War Center: Preveze Sea War between Barbaros and Andrea Doria is one of them This idea is taken from early Turkish History This center will present live action of Preveze Sea War with their life size warships and galleons Within the center there will also be a club building for maritime and naval enthusiasts including a cafeteria

Western History Center: USA old western culture and life style is presented in this center Originally designed old western town will includes horseman, hotel, bar, barber shop, sheriff's office, grocery store, telegraph office, gun shop and gunsmith, wagon, horse shoe repair and iron work shop, doctor's office, town general store with special western cloths and other items, town school, residential area, mortuary, church and other facilities with American Western History Museum Center also provides life shows like gunmen fights, American Indian, cowboy fights and rodeos As an optional idea original American Indian village and their life style may be added to the center As we mentioned earlier during the designing period of Torosland 2000, our imagination and creation had a lots of consideration with different cultural and historical subject Combination of those subjects gives us the ideas to complete this project

EDUCATION

Mersin is a province,which has caught a specific level of education and educational establishments In the city there are primary schools, high schools, super lycees, private colleges and rapidly growing, and the University of Mersin, which is developing day after day providing Mersin with education and training that it deserves
In addition to this, because of its nearness to the city, the University of Çukurova and besides that all the universities in Cyprus with the mutual exchange of students and educational staff is an undeniable reality

HEALTH

The number of the health staff in Mersin Health Directorate has recorded increase in 1999 at 208 % against 1995, 100% against 1996, 54% against 1997, 07% against 1998 According to 1998 the increase rate in specialized doctor at +102%, practicing doctor at -3%, nurses +11% and in midwife at - 03% It is established that an increase at 55% in the year 1999 in the number of patients entering bedded hospitals and at 98% in the number of outdoor treated patients in the hospitals in Mersin In Mersin SSO Hospital there is 105% increase and 53% in Tarsus SSO Hospital and 536% in the private hospitals

COMMUNICATION

According to the general census of 1997, one hundred people are using 822 phones in Mersin This sale was 754 in 1996 To meet phone needs in Mersin, the people of Mersin appreciate the efforts exerted by the Turkish Telecommunication Head Directorate In 1999 all applicants had been given fax and telex and nobody's application was delayed While telex subscribers number has witnessed a decrease at 95%, fax subscribers number has increased at a little amount In Mersin Telecom Head Directorate, requests for phone, vehicle-phone, pager machines, telex, fax, Internet-tunet, turpak and Frame were fulfilled on daily basis In Large Business places in Mersin, there installed public phones upon credit card payment, citizen's pay for their phone calls by their credit cards

Mersin is one of the most modern provinces of the palmlined avenues, city park and modern hotels region and a good base for visiting the nearby historical sites and beaches Mersin which is the largest port on the Turkish Mediterranean There is also free zone here It is a business centre In Mersin you may find all the comforts of a modern city and all the characteristics of the Mediterranean cities Fish is as well as most delicious in this region and in the Mersin fish market you will find inexpensive fish restaurants which are really enjoyable for those who love fish and "Raki" or wine Although Mersin dates only from the 19th century, it occupies an extremly ancient site At Mount Yumuktepe the excavations proved that there had been twelve successive settlements beginning from the Neolithic Period
Mersin also has hunting, fishing, picnicking, mountaineering and caving attractions