Giresun Province ( tr, ) is a

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

on the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

coast. Its adjacent provinces are Trabzon to the east, Gümüşhane to the southeast, Erzincan to the south, Sivas to the southwest, and Ordu to the west. Its license-plate code is 28. The provincial capital is

Giresun Giresun (), formerly Cerasus (Ancient Greek: Κερασοῦς, Greek: Κερασούντα), is the provincial capital of Giresun Province in the Black Sea Region of northeastern Turkey, about west of the city of Trabzon. Etymology Giresun ...

Geography

Giresun is an agricultural region and its lower areas, near the

coast. It is Turkey's second largest producer of hazelnuts and it is famously home to the best quality hazelnuts in the world; a Giresun folk song tells "I will not eat a single hazelnut, unless you are by my side," while another tells of a lover shot dead under a hazelnut tree. Forests and pasture cover the high mountainous regions, and in places there is mining of copper, zinc, iron and other metals. The mountain villages are remote, with poor roads and little else in the way of infrastructure. The hillsides are too steep for most forms of agriculture, and as a result, cornbread is the traditional meal, as wheat cannot be grown. The climate is typical of this stretch of the

coast, i.e. very wet. Local flora includes bilberries (Turkish "taflan").

Demographics

The province is traditionally inhabited mostly by Chepni Turks as well as a minority of Cheveneburi Georgians in select rural villages and towns. Due to migration, more Giresunians live outside of Giresun than inside it.

Districts

Giresun province is divided into 16 districts (capital district in bold):

Culture

Giresun province is culturally divided into two regions from north to south. North Giresun having virtually the same culture as the neighbouring Ordu and Trabzon, while south Giresun (aka. the

Şebinkarahisar Şebinkarahisar is a town in and the administrative seat for Şebinkarahisar District, Giresun Province in the Black Sea region of northeastern Turkey. Name The 6th century Byzantine historian Procopius writes that the Roman general Pompey cap ...

region) being much closer to the neighbouring Sivas province and the Central Anatolia region. Because of the northern part dominating much of the province's economic and demographic sides, south of the province is more often than not ignored.

Handcrafts

Due to the dense forestry in Giresun,

woodwork Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinet making (cabinetry and furniture), wood carving, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning. History Along with stone, clay and animal parts, wood was one of the first mater ...

is among the common

handcrafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

in the region. Some small wooden handcrafts peculiar to the city are churns, külek (a storing pot for cheese), and spoons. One of the oldest handcrafts in the city is weaving.

Wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. ...

linen Linen () is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant. Linen is very strong, absorbent, and dries faster than cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments. It also ...

threads and similar raw materials are spun in handlooms to produce various local clothes, heybe (shoulder bags) and bags. Strong threads and knitted threads are also produced in handlooms.

Cuisine

Some of the dishes peculiar to the city are

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...

soup (Mısır çorbası), kale soup (kara lahana çorbası or pancar çorbası), cabbage leaves stuffed with a meat filling (etli lahana sarması or pancar sarması/dolması), black cabbage dish ( karalahana yemeği or pancar yemeği), pilaf with anchovy (hamsili pilav), pilaf with cabbage ( dible), kaygana, kuymak (made of cheese, cornmeal and butter)

Places of interest

* Kümbet, Karagöl and Bektaş are areas of an attractive mountain pasture in the district of

Dereli Dereli is a town in Giresun Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is the seat of Dereli District.Rahşan Ecevit (1923, Bursa - 2020), wife of former Turkish Prime Minister,

Bülent Ecevit Mustafa Bülent Ecevit (; 28 May 1925 – 5 November 2006) was a Turkish politician, statesman, poet, writer, scholar, and journalist, who served as the Prime Minister of Turkey four times between 1974 and 2002. He served as prime minister in ...

, born to a

family * Hayrettin Erkmen (b Tirebolu - ), former foreign minister * Harun Karadeniz (1942, Alucra - 1975), writer and student activist leader of the 1968 generation * İdris Küçükömer (1925, Giresun - 1987), economist and thinker * Topal Osman (1883, Giresun - 2 Nisan 1923, Ankara), soldier and commander in the

Turkish War of Independence The Turkish War of Independence "War of Liberation", also known figuratively as ''İstiklâl Harbi'' "Independence War" or ''Millî Mücadele'' "National Struggle" (19 May 1919 – 24 July 1923) was a series of military campaigns waged by th ...

* Mustafa Suphi (1883, Giresun - 1921), founder of the Communist Party of Turkey * Naim Tirali (1925, Giresun - ), journalist and politician * Hasan Âli Yücel (1897, İstanbul – 1961), poet, thinker, and politician, former minister of education, born to a Görele family

Writers and artists

* Kadir Çelik (b Görele ), TV producer and presenter * Hulki Cevizoğlu (b 1958, Giresun - ), journalist, TV presenter and producer, specialises in political debate * Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu (1913, Görele - 1975, Istanbul), painter and poet * Hamit Görele (1903, Görele - 1980, Istanbul), painter * Ergin Günçe (1938, Giresun - 1983), poet * İlyas İlbey, actor, husband of Yasemin Yalçın * Şafak Karaman (b 1967, Trabzon - ), minor celebrity and TV presenter, born to a Tirebolu family * Fatih Kırtorun (1985, Görele - ), writer and poet * Salih Memecan (1952, Giresun - ), cartoonist of ''

Sabah Sabah () is a state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indonesia to the south. The Federal Territory ...

'' newspaper * Fethi Naci (1927, Giresun - ), writer and critic *

Aziz Nesin Aziz Nesin (; born Mehmet Nusret, 20 December 1915 – 6 July 1995) was a Turkish writer, humorist and the author of more than 100 books. Born in a time when Turks did not have official surnames, he had to adopt one after the Surname Law of ...

(1915, Şebinkarahisar - 1995), writer and journalist *

Yaman Okay Yaman Okay (1951 – 19 February 1993) was a Turkish actor. He won the 1981 Golden Orange Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in '' On Fertile Lands''. Okay was married since 1984 to actress and screenwriter Meral Okay. He died ...

(b 1951, Giresun -), actor and film director *

Öztürk Serengil Öztürk Serengil (2 May 1933 – 11 January 1999) was a Turkish actor and comedian. He is mostly known as one of the famous comedians in Turkish films. Biography He was born in Artvin, Turkey on 2 May 1933 as the son of a teacher. He star ...

, well-known film actor, father of

Seren Serengil Seren Serengil (born 6 April 1971) is a Turkish TV presenter, singer and actress. She was born in Istanbul, Turkey, and has acted in films and TV series. Her father Öztürk Serengil was an actor, theatre performer and showman. Personal life ...

, grew up in Giresun * Ahmet Yalçınkaya (b 1963, Giresun ), poet * İlker Yasin, Kanal Ds football commentator

Musicians

Giresun province shares the folk music of the Black Sea region and is the birthplace of: * Picoğlu Osman (b. 1901, Görele - d. 1946 Amasra), folk musician, considered to be one of the best kemençe players * Katip Şadi (b 1932, Görele -), folk musician, kemençe player Other musicians include: *

Ozan Arif Ozan may refer to: Companies * Ozan Lumber Company, a former company based in Arkansas People *, an itinerant poet, poet-singer (similar to "bard", "balladeer", or "troubadour") in Turkic traditions, predating the term ''ashik'' Given name "Oza ...

(1949, Alucra - ), poet, lyricist, balladeer of the extreme right MHP * Bahadır Aydoğan, Arabesk style singer * Mustafa Küçük, folk-arabesk musician * Gökhan Semiz (1968, Istanbul - 1998 İstanbul), member of the pop music group Group Vitamin; family from Giresun * Teoman (1967, Alucra - ), rock singer

Sports people

Şenes Erzik Şenes Erzik (born 18 September 1942, in Giresun, Turkey) is a retired football administrator. During his career he served as first vice-president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). He was also a member of the FIFA Council. ...

(1942, Giresun -), businessman and vice president of

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs fo ...

* Hasan Gemici, 1952 Olympic gold medalist in freestyle wrestling *

Giresunspor Giresunspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club based in Giresun. It was founded in 1925 and re-formed in 1967 after the merger of Yeşiltepespor, Akıngençlikspor, and Beşiktaşspor. The football club is playing in the Turkish Sup ...

, a 1st (Süper Lig) league football team * Tolga Seyhan (b 1977 -) and

Gökdeniz Karadeniz Gökdeniz Karadeniz (born 11 January 1980) is a Turkish former professional footballer who played as a winger or as an attacking midfielder. Club career Trabzonspor Karadeniz played his first professional match for Trabzonspor in the 1999–0 ...

(b 1980 Giresun, currently with Rubin Kazan), footballers

Giresun in popular culture

* The TV series '' Uy Başuma Gelenler'' was filmed in the village of Düzköy. It is the story of a young man from Istanbul who inherits a hazelnut grove in Giresun (a Turkish twist on '' Monarch of the Glen''). * The folk song "Giresun üstünde vapur bağrıyor" ("Eşref Bey Ağıtı") has been recorded by a number of artists including Ismail Hakkı Demircioğlu, and tells of a wounded soldier dying in Giresun. * "Giresun'un içinde" has been sung by Musa Eroğlu,

Selda Bağcan Selda Bağcan (; born December 14, 1948) is a Turkish folk singer-songwriter, guitarist, and music producer. Early life Selda Bağcan was born in 1948 in the western Turkish town of Muğla. Her father was a veterinarian medician of Macedonian ...

and Fuat Saka, who also sang "Lazutlar," which means ''corn'' in the local dialect and is a kind of ''

Cider with Rosie ''Cider with Rosie'' is a 1959 book by Laurie Lee (published in the US as ''Edge of Day: Boyhood in the West of England'', 1960). It is the first book of a trilogy that continues with ''As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning'' (1969) and '' A ...

'' rural idyll in verse. * Ahmet Kaya sang "Mican," a ballad about a local bandit in the mountains.