Fatsa

The oldest recorded name of the town is Polemonion (Ancient Greek: Πολεμώνιον, Latinized as Polemonium), after Polemon I of Pontus. A derivative of Polemonion, i.e. Bolaman, is the modern name of the river passing through Fatsa (the river is the ancient Sidenus).[3] The present name, Fatsa, has been influenced by modern Greek Φάτσα or Φάτσα Πόντου (φἀτσα is derived from Italian faccia), which translates as "face or housefront on the sea", but has in fact mutated from Fanizan, the name of the daughter of King Pharnaces II of Pontus, through Fanise, Phadisana (Greek: Φαδισανή),[4] Phadsane[5] Phatisanê[6] Vadisani (Greek: Βαδισανή), Phabda,[7] Pytane, Facha, Fatsah[6][8] into today's Fatsa. Apart from Polemonion, another Greek name of the town was Side.[9]

Ali Pasha of Çürüksu (front row, middle) and Ottoman Georgians during the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78). At the end of the war, the re-settlement of Ottoman Georgians in Fatsa was supervised by Ali Pasha.[12]

Literary Publications, Testimonials and Narratives in Pieria, which includes chronicles of Fatsa's Pontic Greeks on their exodus from Fatsa to Katerini in 1923.[13]

Following the Turkish conquest of Anatolia by the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum and later by the Ottomans, Muslims settler arrived at Fatsa in the middle of the 14th Century.[14] The early Muslim Turkish settlers included Turkomens, whose descendants make up the majority of Fatsa's current Alevi Muslim community.[15] In 1999, a religious worship complex that serves to both Alevis and Sunni Muslims was opened in Fatsa, which was unprecedented in Turkey.[16]

In the second half of the 19th century, Fatsa's Sunni population increased significantly, as some of Chveneburi (Sunni Muslim Georgians) from Batumi and Kobuleti (Turkish: Çürüksu), who fought in the Ottoman army against the Russian forces in Russo-Turkish War (1877–78) under Ali Pasha of Çürüksu[12] and some of the Abazins and Circassians,[17] who were forced to leave their ancestral land in North Caucasus after the end of the Caucasian War in 1864, were settled in Fatsa and in the surrounding villages. The Circassian immigrants had an immediate impact on the local economy by introducing silk production to the area. In 1868, 3 million piastres worth of silk was sold in Fatsa.[17]

During the Byzantine period, as early as the 9th century, an Orthodox diocese was located in Fatsa (Diocese of Polemonion).[10] Fatsa's Christian population during the Ottoman era was made up by Pontic Greeks and Armenians,[18] who thrived as craftsmen and bureaucrats. According to the last Ottoman census carried out in 1914, the Christians made up 12% of Fatsa's total population of 40,339.[19][20] After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Fatsa's Christian population diminished. The last Pontic Greek community left Fatsa in 1923 as a part of the Population exchange between Greece and Turkey, when 770 Muslim families from Thessaloniki, Greece were settled in Fatsa and the indigenous Pontic Greek population of Fatsa were settled in Katerini and in the village of Trilofos Himachal, both in the Pieria, region of Greece. Two members of Fatsa's Pontic Greek community, after the population exchange in 1923, became politicians in Greece; Alexander Deligiannidis, born in Fatsa in 1914 served in the Greek Parliament as a member of National Radical Union Party (1956 - 1964) and Takis Terzopoulos, born in Fatsa in 1920 served as the mayor of Katerini (1964 - 1967).

The book titled Literary Publications, Testimonials and Narratives in Pieria (1918 - 2010) (Greek: Λογοτεχνικές εκδόσεις, μαρτυρίες και αφηγήσεις στην Πιερία) includes chronicles of some of Fatsa's Pontic Greeks on their exodus from Fatsa to Katerini, including an anecdotal account by Chalkidis Ef. Theophilus (Greek: Χαλκίδης Ευθ. Θεόφιλος) (b. Fatsa in 1900 - d. Katerini 1985).[13]

In 1919, in Fatsa, there were 8 churches (Greek Orthodox, Greek Evangelical and Armenian Apostolic) served by 9 priests.[21] After the departure of the last Christian community in 1923, the churches were closed and later demolished.[14] The last remaining church in Fatsa was in town's Kurtuluş District and was demolished in the late 1980s.

Fatsa is one of World's leading hazelnut cultivation regions.

Fatsa is located on a strip of coastline between the Black Sea and the Janik Mountains (Turkish: Canik) and watered by the rivers of Elekçi, Bolaman, Yapraklı and Belice. The current population of the town is 74602.

Fatsa has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cfa); hot and humid in summer, mild and damp in winter, with occasional - but heavy - snowfalls.

The local economy depends on agriculture and fishing. In the early 20th century, the town thrived as a port and trading post, as there was no coastal road to in the region. There are fishing fleets harboured at the port in Fatsa and in the small districts of Yalıköy and Bolaman (Polemonium) and in the hamlet of Belice, which forms a natural harbour. The Black Sea Coastal Highway runs through Fatsa bringing passing trade.

Before the 20th century, maize and rice were the main grains grown in the hinterland. From the 1920s onwards, the coastal swamps were dried up by irrigation works, rice growing ceased and the town grew. During this time, hazelnuts were introduced to the area. About 80% of arable land is planted with hazelnuts. The higher mountain areas of the district are covered in forest.

Lake Gaga, Fatsa.

The countryside and coast of Fatsa are lush in spring and summer time. A number of places in and around the town attract visitors, including;

• The Belice rock on sea
• The ruins of the Pontic Greek Göreği Monastery, 5 km west of Fatsa
• Mount Çıngırt ancient rock tombs and vaults
• Lake Gaga - 10 km south-east of Fatsa
• The ruins of Bolaman Castle and the Haznedaroğlu mansion
• Town's promenade.
• The mineral water springs of Ilıca.

The annual Fatsa Çınar Festival was used to be held in July which included concerts, sports competitions, a beauty contest and various other activities. The last festival was held in 2008.

• Hekimoğlu İbrahim - Folk hero and outlaw who was involved in the skirmishes between the local Chveneburi (Muslim Georgian) and Turks in the early 20th century[31] (b. Fatsa ? - d. Fatsa 1918)
• Soytaroğlu İsmail - Folk hero and outlaw who was involved in the skirmishes between the local Chveneburi and Turks in the early 20th century (b. Vona ? - d. Ordu 1923)[32]
• Alexander Deligiannidis (Αλέξανδρος Δεληγιαννίδης) (b. Fatsa 1914 - Thessaloniki, Greece 1969) - Ethnic Pontic Greek from Fatsa. Served in the Greek Parliament as a member of the National Radical Union Party.
• Takis Terzopoulos (Τάκης Τερζόπουλος) (b. Fatsa 1920 - d. Katerini, Greece 1989) - Ethnic Pontic Greek from Fatsa. Served as a mayor of Katerini in Greece.
• Fikri Sönmez ("Fikri The Tailor") - Revolutionary, mayor of Fatsa. Ethnic Chveneburi (b. Fatsa 1938 - d. Amasya 1985)
• Ali Poyrazoğlu - Actor and director, who spent his childhood in Fatsa[33] (b. 1943, Istanbul - )
• Dursun Ali Akınet - Folk poet, ethnic Chveneburi[34] (b. Fatsa 1945 - )
• Kadir İnanır - Actor and director (b. Fatsa 1949 - )
• Erdoğan Arıca - Football player and coach (b. Fatsa 1954 - d. Istanbul 2012)
• Mehmet Gümüş - Singer[35] (b. Fatsa ? -)
• Eyüp Fatsa - Politician, member of the Turkish Parliament[36] (b. Fatsa 1961 - )
• Levent İnanır - Actor (b. Fatsa 1962 - )[37]
• İlhan Saygılı - Diplomat, served as the Consul General of Turkey in Frankfurt, Germany until 2011.[38] (b. Fatsa ? - )
• Soner Arıca - Model and singer (b. Fatsa 1966 - )
• Moody E. Prior - (1901-1996) - Ethnic Pontic Greek- Birth name Papadapolous- Northwestern University professor of the Humanities and English and an authority on Shakespeare - Dean of the Graduate School

• District governor's official website (in Turkish)