Espiye Espiye is a town in Giresun Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is the seat of Espiye District.Giresun province Giresun Province (Greek language, Greek : Κερασούντα, ; ) is a Provinces of Turkey, province of Turkey on the Black Sea coast. Its adjacent provinces are Trabzon Province, Trabzon to the east, Gümüşhane Province, Gümüşhane to the ...

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 ...

Espiye Espiye is a town in Giresun Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is the seat of Espiye District.Giresun Giresun () is a city in the Black Sea Region of northeastern Turkey, about west of the city of Trabzon. It is the seat of Giresun Province and Giresun District.Torul Torul is a town in Gümüşhane Province in the Black Sea 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 Eur ...

Gümüşhane Gümüşhane () is a city in the Black Sea Region of Turkey. It is the seat of Gümüşhane Province and Gümüşhane District.Çekümbeli highland near Tohumluk village. Its longer arm starts in Tekçam-Kürünbeli spring in Hanzara Obası and Ayıbeli Deresi in Ayıbeli Obası. The springs of its arms are close enough to each other to be reached in less than an hour by foot. The source of the longer arm looks like a triangular area which is used as the borders of three districts:

Espiye Espiye is a town in Giresun Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is the seat of Espiye District.Alucra Alucra is a town in Giresun Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey, from the city of Giresun. It is the seat of Alucra District. Its population is 3,945 (2022). It was a district of Şebinkarahisar province between 1924 and 1933. Etymology Al ...

and

Torul Torul is a town in Gümüşhane Province in the Black Sea 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 Eur ...

. Firstly it goes to northeast direction passing through Beytarla and Sapmaz villages of

Kürtün Kürtün is a town in Gümüşhane Province in the Black Sea 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 E ...

district of

Gümüşhane Gümüşhane () is a city in the Black Sea Region of Turkey. It is the seat of Gümüşhane Province and Gümüşhane District.Arpacık village in Güce district adjacent to

Espiye Espiye is a town in Giresun Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is the seat of Espiye District.Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea 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 bound ...

in the east end of Espiye town like

Yağlıdere stream Yağlıdere () is a stream that flows to the Black Sea in the west end of Espiye, the capital town of Espiye district in Giresun Province in Turkey. Description The stream has two major and many small tributaries. Tohumluk Creek, one of its mai ...

, its sister. On its mouth to

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea 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 bound ...

there is a ferroconcrete bridge on D010 Highway connecting

Giresun Giresun () is a city in the Black Sea Region of northeastern Turkey, about west of the city of Trabzon. It is the seat of Giresun Province and Giresun District.Trabzon Trabzon, historically known as Trebizond, is a city on the Black Sea coast of northeastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. The city was founded in 756 BC as "Trapezous" by colonists from Miletus. It was added into the Achaemenid E ...

provinces. Gelevara stream has a high voluminous flow because the mountainous and forestry area of its headwaters and because it receives much rain during almost all seasons. The stream is mainly utilized as a sands deposit in building concrete constructions locally. In its valley along the

Espiye Espiye is a town in Giresun Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is the seat of Espiye District.Ericek- Çakıl route, there are hills covered by rich forests consisting of thousands of species of wild trees, flowers and animals.

Etymology

"Gelevara" (pronounced as ghe-lee-va-ra) is a Turkish derivative word consists of two verbs, "gelmek (to come in English)" and "varmak (to arrive in English"). It is officially and mostly called as Gelevera Deresi in Turkish maps and documentaries there are some other local forms of its name like Özlüce, and some forms of folk dialects such as Gelivera, Gelivar, Gelevera, Gelevar, Gelava, and Gelenvar. Although Dr. Z. Cebeci interprets that it carries a meaning like "come and arrive in the sea" that was used by local people living in mountainous area in order to express their deep wishes to see beauties of the sea there are two other logical hypothesis about the origin of Gelevera. In the article titled " Gelivera, Kürtün" in

Turkish Wikipedia The Turkish Wikipedia () is the Turkish language edition of Wikipedia, spelled ''Vikipedi''. Started on 5 December 2002, as of , this edition has articles and is the largest Wikipedia edition, and ranks 16th in terms of depth among Wikipedias ...

, it is supposed that its name originates from "Gelivera", an old Greek village settlement ( Sapmaz in present time) in

Kürtün Kürtün is a town in Gümüşhane Province in the Black Sea 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 E ...

district of

Gümüşhane Gümüşhane () is a city in the Black Sea Region of Turkey. It is the seat of Gümüşhane Province and Gümüşhane District.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 ...

, respectively. According to the second hypothesis its name originates from daily movements of villagers on it. Since the longer arm of the stream passes through "Gelivera" village the inhabitants had frequently to go and come back between two parts of the village over it. Every day they were going and coming back between the sides of the stream. And then they defined the stream as the waterflow that must be stepped to go and come back. So in order to define their routinely go-come movement they used "gel" and "var" verbs of Turkish, and its name became "Gelevara" in the time.

Issues with Gelevara

The stream is being polluted with solid wastes of Espiye town. This serious environmental problem should be immediately solved with aid of some protection projects which will be operated by the Espiye Municipality. But any project needs the aid from international environmental organizations because the cost of recycling daily wastes of the town exceeds the income of the town municipality. At the same time the sand processing and excavations from the bed of the stream create sound pollution that fears the waterbirds and causes many other ecological problems. The existing freshwater flora and fauna is danger of extinction in the bed of the stream near

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea 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 bound ...

day to day. Also the sand excavation must be stopped to prevent the changes of natural scene and structure of the stream.

Gelevara Song

Gelevara Deresi is also the title of a famous Turkish folk song. This song carrying the typical characteristics of

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea 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 bound ...

variety of Turkic regional folks is about melancholic love story that has been lived somewhere along Gelevara stream valley. Originally it is performed with

kemençe Kemenche (, Persian : کمانچه) or Lyra is a name used for various types of stringed bowed musical instruments originating in the Eastern Mediterranean, particularly in Greece, Armenia, Iran, Turkey, and Azerbaijan. and regions adjacent to ...

(

kemenche Kemenche (, Persian language, Persian : کمانچه) or Lyra is a name used for various types of Bowed string instrument, stringed bowed musical instruments originating in the Eastern Mediterranean, particularly in Greece, Armenia, Iran, Turke ...

in English, pronounced as kae-man-che), a local music instrument of Black Sea 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 ...

. This song with romantic notes about a dramatic love is recently remixed and performed by Kazım Koyuncu, and became more popular due to his duet with

Şevval Sam Türkdeniz Şevval Sam (; born 11 November 1973) is a Turkish singer and actress. She is the daughter of Leman Sam, who is also a singer. She is known for her performance on ''Yasak Elma'' as Ender, and other TV series, including ''Süper Baba'' ...

. He performs the song on his album ''Hayde!''. {{Rivers of Turkey Rivers of Turkey Rivers of Giresun Province