Yaka is a village in

Gelendost District Gelendost District is a Districts of Turkey, district of the Isparta Province of Turkey. Its seat is the town of Gelendost.Isparta Province Isparta Province () is a province in southwestern Turkey. Its adjacent provinces are Afyon to the northwest, Burdur to the southwest, Antalya to the south, and Konya to the east. Its area is 8,946 km2, and its population is 445,325 (2022). The p ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. Its population is 1,552 (2022). Before the 2013 reorganisation, it was a town (''

belde Belde (literally "town", also known as ''kasaba'') means "large village with a municipality" in Turkish language, Turkish. All Turkish province centers and district centers have municipalities, but the Villages of Turkey, villages are usually too ...

'').Law No. 6360
''

Official Gazette A government gazette (also known as an official gazette, official journal, official newspaper, official monitor or official bulletin) is a periodical publication that has been authorised to publish public or legal notices. It is usually establish ...

'', 6 December 2012 .

Geography

Yaka is situated to the east of

Lake Eğirdir Eğirdir (, formerly ''Eğridir'') is a lake in the Lakes Region of Turkey. The town of Eğirdir lies near its southern end, north of Antalya. With an area of it is the fourth largest lake in Turkey, and the second largest freshwater lake. ...

and to the south of Gelendost. Distance to Gelendost is and to

Isparta Isparta is a city in western Turkey. It is the seat of Isparta Province and Isparta District.İl ...

is .

History

The area around Yaka was probably populated during the

Neolithic Age The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wid ...

and there is a rock carved figure of a female to the east of the town which is thought to be of

Cybele Cybele ( ; Phrygian: ''Matar Kubileya, Kubeleya'' "Kubeleya Mother", perhaps "Mountain Mother"; Lydian: ''Kuvava''; ''Kybélē'', ''Kybēbē'', ''Kybelis'') is an Anatolian mother goddess; she may have a possible forerunner in the earliest ...

, the mother goddess of ancient

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

. The present town was founded by

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic of Turkey * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic lang ...

around the 15th century. The name of the town suggests that these people may be of Yaka tribe from

Mangyshlak Peninsula Mangyshlak or Mangghyshlaq Peninsula (; ) is a large peninsula located in western Kazakhstan. It borders on the Caspian Sea in the west and with the Buzachi Peninsula, a marshy sub-feature of the main peninsula, in the northeast. The Tyuleniy Ar ...

at the east coast of

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...

, now in

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

. (There are many other settlements in Turkey with the same name) But the population of the settlement also included

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

s up to 20th century before population exchange agreement between Greece and Turkey. In 1975 the settlement was declared a seat of township.Mayor's page
/ref>

Economy

Cattle rising and apple production constitute the main revenues of the town. There are also some small scale workshops. Another source of revenue is the former town residents who now are working in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

as ''gastarbeiter''.

References

{{Authority control Villages in Gelendost District