Babaeski (

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 ...

: Αρτεσκός) is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

Kırklareli Province Kırklareli Province () is a Provinces of Turkey, province in northwestern Turkey on the west coast of the Black Sea. The province neighbours Bulgaria to the north along a long border. It borders the province of Edirne to the west and the provinc ...

in the Marmara region of

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 ...

. It is the seat of

Babaeski District Babaeski District is a district of the Kırklareli Province of Turkey. Its seat is the town of Babaeski.İlçe Belediyesi
Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 1 March 2023. Its population is 29,215 (2022).

Name

The name Babaeski is believed to have originated according to the following legend: the Ottoman Sultan,

Mehmet the Conqueror Mehmed II (; , ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror (; ), was twice the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from August 1444 to September 1446 and then later from February 1451 to May 1481. In Mehmed II's first reign, ...

, stopped in town on his way to Constantinople before the final siege of the city. He happened to meet an old man in front of the old mosque which is nowadays called Small Mosque (Küçük Cami) and asked him when the town was established. The man replied "Eskidir, eski," meaning "It is old, old." When the Sultan asked the man's age, he replied again, "Baba... eski," which means "The father is old." From then on, the name Babaeski has been used for the town.

History

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

times, the area was known as Boulgarophygon ( in

Byzantine Greek Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic; Greek: ) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the F ...

), and was the site of a major Byzantine defeat by the Bulgarians in 896. In

is known as Arteskos (Αρτεσκός). In Ancient times, the city was also called

Burtudizon Burtudizon was a town of ancient Thrace, inhabited during Roman and Byzantine times. Its site is located near Babaeski in European Turkey East Thrace or Eastern Thrace, also known as Turkish Thrace or European Turkey, is the part of Turkey ...

, latinized as Burdidizum.

Facts

Babaeski lies on a relatively flat landscape where the highest point does not exceed 150 m. The Devil Stream (Şeytan Deresi) flows through the land of the district. Agriculture is the main industry. Sunflowers, wheat are the main crops grown along with some vegetables. Industrial development has sped up in the last decade mainly in the form of textile factories. Babaeski hosts the annual Babaeski Agricultural Festival in late July to early August where national singers perform.

Population

The population in Babaeski and villages who belong to Babaeski District, are of different background, like

Anatolian Turks Turks (), or Turkish people, are the largest Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group, comprising the majority of the population of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. They generally speak the various Turkish dialects. In addition, centuries-old Turkish co ...

Balkan Turks The Balkan Turks or Rumelian Turks () are the Turkish people who have been living in the Balkans since Ottoman Empire, Ottoman rule, as well as their descendants who still live in the region today. The Turks are officially recognized as a minority ...

Muhacir The Muhacirs are estimated to be millions of Ottoman Muslim citizens and their descendants born after the onset of the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. Muhacirs are primarily consist of Turks but also Albanian, Bosniaks, Circassians, Cri ...

Yörüks The Yörüks, also Yuruks or Yorouks (; , ''Youroúkoi''; ; , ''Juruci''), are a Turkish ethnic subgroup of Oghuz descent, some of whom are nomadic, primarily inhabiting the mountains of Anatolia, and partly in the Balkan peninsula. On the Bal ...

Amuca tribe The Amuca tribe () is one of the nomadic Yörüks who belong to the Oghuz Turks tribesKlyashtorny, S.G. (1997"The Oguzs of the Central Asia and The Guzs of the Aral Region" in ''International Journal of Eurasian Studies'' 2 of the Ottoman Empire ...

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

Megleno-Romanians The Megleno-Romanians, also known as Meglenites (), Moglenite Vlachs or simply Vlachs (), are an Eastern Romance ethnic group, originally inhabiting seven villages in the Moglena region spanning the Pella and Kilkis regional units of Central ...

Pomaks Pomaks (; Macedonian: Помаци ; ) are Bulgarian-speaking Muslims inhabiting Bulgaria, northwestern Turkey, and northeastern Greece. The strong ethno-confessional minority in Bulgaria is recognized officially as Bulgarian Muslims by th ...

Romani people in Turkey The Romani people in Turkey () are a Romani subgroup in the Republic of Türkiye. They are Sunni Muslims mostly of Sufi orientation. The majority speak Turkish as their first language and have adopted Turkish culture. Many have denied their ...

and

Crimean Tatars Crimean Tatars (), or simply Crimeans (), are an Eastern European Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group and nation indigenous to Crimea. Their ethnogenesis lasted thousands of years in Crimea and the northern regions along the coast of the Blac ...

, are

Cultural Muslims Cultural Muslims, also known as nominal Muslims, non-practicing Muslims or non-observing Muslims, are people who identify as Muslim but are not religious and do not practice the faith. They may be a non-observing, secular, or irreligious individu ...

, who belong to the

Hanafi school The Hanafi school or Hanafism is the oldest and largest Madhhab, school of Islamic jurisprudence out of the four schools within Sunni Islam. It developed from the teachings of the Faqīh, jurist and theologian Abu Hanifa (), who systemised the ...

Sunni Islam Sunni Islam is the largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any Succession to Muhammad, successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr ...

Sights

Some historical sites in Babaeski are: *Eski Cami (The Old Mosque), built during the Mehmet the Conqueror period in 1467. It is still in use. *Cedid Ali Paşa Camii, built by the great architect, Sinan, during the period of

Süleyman the Magnificent Suleiman I (; , ; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the Western world and as Suleiman the Lawgiver () in his own realm, was the Ottoman sultan between 1520 and his death in 1566. Under his adminis ...

in 1555. It is built in the style of the great Selimiye Mosque in

Edirne Edirne (; ), historically known as Orestias, Adrianople, is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the Edirne Province, province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, Edirne was the second c ...

which is also designed by

Sinan Sinan (Arabic: سنان ''sinān'') is a name found in Arabic and Early Arabic, meaning ''spearhead''. The name may also be related to the Ancient Greek name Sinon. It was used as a male given name. Etymology The word is possibly stems from th ...

. It was destroyed by the

Bulgarian army The Bulgarian Army (), also called Bulgarian Armed Forces, is the military of Bulgaria. The commander-in-chief is the president of Bulgaria. The Ministry of Defense is responsible for political leadership, while overall military command is in ...

during the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans, Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg), Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro, M ...

and was later reconstructed. It is also still open for worship. *Dördüzlü Çeşme (The Tetrahedral Fountain), built in the 17th century. It has four sides and a dome centered in a square. Babaeski9

*Babaeski Bridge, built in 1633 during the period of

Murad IV Murad IV (, ''Murād-ı Rābiʿ''; , 27 July 1612 – 8 February 1640) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1623 to 1640, known both for restoring the authority of the state and for the brutality of his methods. Murad I ...

. It is part of D-100 international highway and is still in use. *The Bath, built in the classical single dome style. It is also still in use. *Atatürk Elementary School, built by the then sub-governor (kaymakam) Tevfik Gür in 1914. It is a one-story building with wooden roof and Ottoman Turkish style

eave The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural sty ...

s. It now serves as the vocational school of the University of Thrace.

Gallery

File:Babaeski1.jpg, File:Babaeski2.JPG, File:Babaeski3.JPG, File:Babaeski4.JPG, File:Babaeski5.JPG, File:Babaeski6.JPG, File:Babaeski7.JPG, File:Babaeski8.JPG, File:Babaeski10.JPG, File:Babaeski11.JPG, File:Babaeski12.JPG, File:Babaeski13.JPG, File:Babaeski14.JPG, File:Babaeski15.JPG, File:Babaeski16.JPG, File:Babaeski17.JPG, File:Babaeski18.JPG, File:Babaeski19.JPG, File:Babaeski20.JPG,

References

External links

Municipality's official website
{{Authority control District municipalities in Turkey Populated places in Babaeski District