Antakya

Antakya  Antiócheia) is the seat of the Hatay Province in southern Turkey, near the border with Syria. The mayor is Lütfü Savaş.

Known as Antioch in ancient times, the city has historical significance for Christianity, as it was the place where the followers of Jesus Christwere called Christians for the first time. The city and its massive walls also played an important role during the Crusades.

Antioch has been occupied by humans since the Calcolithic era (6th millennium BC), as revealed by archeological excavations of the mound ofTell-Açana, among others.

Subsequent rulers of the area include King of Macedonia Alexander the Great who, after defeating the Persians in 333 BC, followed the Orontessouth into Syria. The city of Antioch was founded in 300 BC, after the death of Alexander, by the Seleucid King Seleucus I Nicator. It had an important role as one of the largest cities in theRoman Empire and Byzantium, and was a key location of the early years of Christianity, the Antiochian Orthodox Church, the rise of Islam, and the Crusades.

The Crusaders' Siege of Antioch conquered the city and caused significant damage during the First Crusade. Although the city had a large Christian population, it was betrayed by Islamic allies of Bohemund, prince of Taranto. Following the defeat of the Turkish garrison, he became its overlord. It remained the capital of the Latin Principality of Antioch for nearly two centuries.

In 1268 it fell to the Egyptian Mamluk Sultan Baibars after another siege. Baibars proceeded to massacre the Christian population. In addition to suffering the ravages of war, the city lost its commercial importance because trade routes to the Far East moved north following the thirteenth-century Mongol conquests. Antioch never recovered as a major city, with much of its former role falling to the port city of Alexandretta (Iskenderun). An account of both cities as they were in 1675 appears in the diary of the English naval chaplain Henry Teonge.

n 1822 (and again in 1872), Antakya was hit by an earthquake and damaged. When Egyptian general Ibrahim Pasha established his headquarters in the city in 1835, it had only some 5,000 inhabitants. Supporters hoped the city might develop thanks to the Euphrates Valley Railway, which was supposed to link it to the port of Sueida (now Samandağı). However, such plans were doomed to come to naught. The city suffered repeated outbreaks of cholera due to inadequate infrastructure for sanitation. Later the city developed and rapidly resumed much of its old importance when a railway was built along the lower Orontes Valley.

See Hatay Province for the history of the region during the demise of the Ottoman Empire, the short-livedRepublic of Hatay (in 1938), and the area's incorporation into the Republic of Turkey in 1939.

Cities	Ethnic group
Sunni Turks	19,720 (58%)
Alawis	8,670 (25,5%)
Christian Arabs	4,930 (14,5%)
Others	680 (2%)
Total¹	34,000 (100%)

¹most Alawis and Armenians spoke Turkish as a second language 

Mount Habib Neccar and the city walls which climb the hillsides symbolise Antakya, making the city a formidable fortress built on a series of hills running north-east to south-west. Antakya was originally centred on the east bank of the river. Since the 19th century, the city has expanded with new neighbourhoods built on the plains across the river to the south-west, and four bridges connect the old and new cities. Many of the buildings of the last two decades are styled as concrete blocks, and Antakya has lost much of its classic beauty.  The narrow streets of the old city can become clogged with traffic.

Although the port of Iskenderun has become the largest city in Hatay, Antakya is a provincial capital still of considerable importance as the centre of a large district. The draining of Lake Amikand development of land has caused the region's economy to grow in wealth and productivity. The town is a lively shopping and business centre with many restaurants, cinemas and other amenities. This district is centred on a large park opposite the governor's building and the central avenue Kurtuluş Caddesı. The tea gardens, cafes and restaurants in the neighbourhood ofHarbiye are popular destinations, particularly for the variety of meze in the restaurants. The Orontes River can be malodorous when water is low in summer. Rather than formal nightlife, in the summer heat, people will stay outside until late in the night to walk with their families and friends, and munch on snacks.

Its location near the Syrian border makes Antakya more cosmopolitan than many cities in Turkey. It did not attract the mass immigration of people from eastern Anatolia in the 1980s and 1990s that radically swelled the populations of Mediterranean cities such as Adana and Mersin. Both Turkish and Arabic are still widely spoken in Antakya, although written Arabic is rarely used. A mixed community of faiths and denominations co-exist peacefully here. Although almost all the inhabitants are Muslim, a substantial proportion adhere to the Alevi and the Arab Nusayritraditions, in 'Harbiye' there is a place to honour the Nusayri saint Hızır. Numerous tombs of Muslim saints, both Sunni and Alevi, are located throughout the city. Several small Christian communities are active in the city, with the largest church being St. Peter and St. Paul on Hurriyet Caddesi. With its long history of spiritual and religious movements, Antakya is a place of pilgrimage for Christians. It has a reputation in Turkey as a place for spells, fortune telling, miracles and spirits.

Local crafts include a soap scented with the oil of bay tree.

Antakya is located on the banks of the Orontes River (Turkish: Asi Nehri), approximately 22 km (14 mi) inland from the Mediterranean coast. The city is in a valley surrounded by mountains, theNur Mountains (ancient Amanos) to the north and Mount Keldağ (Jebel Akra to the south, with the 440 m high Mount Habib Neccar (ancient Silpius) forming its eastern limits. The mountains are a source of a green marble. Antakya is at the northern edge of the Dead Sea Rift and vulnerable to earthquakes.

The plain of Amik to the north-east of the city is fertile soil watered by the Orontes, the Karasu and the Afrin rivers; the lake in the plain was drained in 1980 by a French company. At the same time channels were built to widen the Orontes and let it pass neatly through the city centre. The Orontes is joined in Antakya by the Hacı Kürüş stream to the north-east of the city near the church of St Peter, and the Hamşen which runs down from Habib-i Neccar to the south-west, under Memekli Bridge near the army barracks. Flora includes the bay trees and myrtle. There is a Jewish community. 

Main sights

The long and varied history has created many architectural sites of interest. There is much for visitors to see in Antakya, although many buildings have been lost in the rapid growth and redevelopment of the city in recent decades.

• Hatay Archaeology Museum has the second largest collection of Roman mosaics in the world.
• The rock-carved Church of St Peter, with its network of refuges and tunnels carved out of the rock, a site of Christian pilgrimage. There are also tombs cut into the rock face at various places along the Orontes valley.
• Old market district. It offers plenty of traditional shops, where you can explore what you have not seen before. It is exactly in the city centre, you are in when you see the sign Uzun Çarşı Caddesi.
• The seedy Gündüz cinema in the city centre was once used as parliament building of the Republic of Hatay.
• The waterfalls at the Harbiye / Daphne promenade.
• The Ottoman Habib-i Neccar Camii, the oldest mosque in Antakya and one of the oldest in Anatolia.
• The labyrinth of narrow streets and old Antakya houses. This disrict is the oldtown in fact.
• Titus/Vespasianus Tunnel-Samandagı. It is approximately 35 km. far from the centre.
• Beşikli Cave and Graves (the antique city of Seleukeia Pierria)
• St. Simon Monastery
• Bakras Castle
• The panoramic view of the city from the heights of the Habib-i Neccar Mountain

With its rich architectural heritage, Antakya is a member of the Norwich-based European Association of Historic Towns and Regions  . The Roman bridge (thought to date from the era ofDiocletian) was destroyed in 1972 during the widening and channelling of the Orontes. 

Antakya panaroma from Saint Pierre Church

Cuisine

The cuisine of Antakya is renowned. Its cuisine is considered levantine rather than Turkish. The cuisine offers plenty of meals, where beef and lambs are mainly used. Popular dishes include the typical Turkish kebab, served with spices and onions in flat unleavened bread, with yoghurt as ali nazik kebab, oruk, kaytaz böreği and katıklı ekmek . Hot spicy food is a feature of this part of Turkey, along with Turkish coffee and local specialities. Here are some savour:

• İçli köfte and other oruk varieties: varieties of the Arabic kibbeh, deep-fried balls of bulgur wheat stuffed with minced meat; or baked in ovens in cylinder-cone shape. Saç oruğu is made of the same ingredients, however in circular shape.
• Kaytaz Böreği: It is patty that is made of wheat, beef, tomato and onion.
• Katıklı Ekmek: Ingredients in Katıklı Ekmek usually consist of wheat, traditional pepper (paste), spices such as sesame and theme, çökelek or cheese. It looks like an ancestor of pizza. Not a lot of restaurants serve it, however it can be found in old-market that is located in the centre and Harbiye.
• Pomegranate syrup, used as a salad dressing, called debes ramman, a traditional Levantine Arabic dressing.
• Semirsek, a thin bread with hot pepper, minced meat or spinach filling
• Spicy chicken, a specialty of Harbiye
• Za'atar (Zahter) a traditional Levantine Arabic paste of spiced thyme, oregano, and sesame seeds, mixed with olive oil, spread on flat (called pide or in English pita) bread.
• Fresh chick peas, munched as a snack.
• Hirise, boiled and pounded wheat meal.
• Aşur, meat mixed with crushed wheat, chickpea, cumin, onion, pepper and walnut

Meze

• Hummus - the chick-pea dip
• pureed fava beans
• Patlıcan Salatası: Patlıcan salatası or babaganoush, made of baked and sliced aubergines that mixed

with pepper and tomato. It is usually served with pomegranate syrup.

• Taratur: Known also as Tarator, made of walnuts, 'tahin', yogurt and garlic.
• Süzme Yoğurt: A type of yogurt that its water content is removed with traditional methods.
• Ezme Biber: It is made of pepper and walnuts.
• Surke - the spicy sun-dried cheese
• Çökelek - dried curds served in spicy olive oil
• Eels from the Orontes, spiced and fried in olive oil

Sweets/Desserts

• Künefe - a hot cheese, kadaif-based sweet. Antakya is Turkey's künefe' capital; the pastry shops in the centre compete to claim being kings Turkish: kral of the pastry. The secret is in the light yellow cheese which they use.
• Müşebbek - rings of deep fried pastry.
• Peynirli İrmik Helvası - Peynirli İrmik Helvası is a dessert that is made of semolina, sugar and traditional cheese that is the same as used in künefe. It is served warm, especially in restaurants in the region Harbiye, rather than künefe shops that are located in the centre.