Islahiye, Turkey Tourism

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other goods) smuggled over the nearby Syrian border.

Lying on the Baghdad railway, Islahiye today makes a good base from which to explore the region's few but very interesting historic sites. In the middle of the last century the Maras trench, then a marshy area dotted with large lakes, provided winter pasturage for the nomadic tribes. Now intensive agriculture (cotton and cereals) has taken over the vast basin. The Amanus range, running north-south, acts as a climatic divide between the considerably damper Mediterranean regime to the west and the more continental conditions experienced to the east. Due to powerful tectonic forces, earthquakes and volcanic phenomena occur along the edges of the range. The extensive, still fairly fresh, volcanic eruptions at Hassa, south of Islahiye, are a most impressive sight.

History

From the time of Mahmud II (1808-39), many of the nomadic tribes who had enjoyed considerable autonomy under local derebeys were forcibly resettled. The task of subjugating these fiercely independent beyliks, frequently involved in marauding raids, was entrusted to General Dervis Pasa commanding an elite force known as the "Firka-i Islahiye". In 1866, from a base in Iskenderun, they assisted the local police and military to enforce order throughout the region, often only after considerable bloodshed. Kirikhan, Hassa and Islahiye (named after the Firka-i Islahiye) were all built in the course of this operation, becoming the chief towns of their districts. In about 1880 Islahiye also took the name Niboli, from the fortress, Nibol Kalesi, where in 1864 Hausmann had discovered the remains of Nikopolis.

In several surveys of the plain around Islahiye archeologists have identified more than 40 ancient settlement mounds which, in conjuction with the ceramic finds, implies dense occupation of the area up to the Early Bronze Age. One theory is that this was the flourishing kingdom ruled by Isqippu, "King of the Cedar Mountains" (Amanus = Cedar Mountains), the existence of which is known from cuneiform texts (Gilgamesh Epic).