Hi, join me for sightseeing in Kahramanmaraş!

Third biggest mosque in Turkey.

Kahramanmaraş is an ancient town in the South East of Turkey near the Syrian border. 80 percent of the population are supporters of the party of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan AKP. In the 1980s the city started to become a Boom Town, specialized in textile industry, which is leading not only in the country but even becomes a worldwide global player. Kahramanmaraş has the third largest mosque of Turkey with space for 10.000 prayers.

Today the town itself has a population of 500.000 people. Actually there are over 55.000 refugees from Syria in the city, 17.500 officially in the refugee camp and the rest around town, most of them illegally.

Syrian refugees are queuing up in front of the camp entrance.

Once the place was called Germanicia Caesarea. The region is best known for its production of Salep, a flour made from dried orchid tubers, and its distinctive ice cream, called Maraş ice cream. It is commonly sold from both street vendor’s carts and store fronts where the mixture is churned regularly with long-handled paddles to keep it workable. Vendors often tease the customer by serving the ice cream cone on a stick, and then taking away the ice cream with the stick and rotating it around, before finally giving it to the customer. The speciality is tough and sticky, and it is sometimes eaten with a knife and fork.

Yummy! Maraş Ice Cream!

In 1918, Maraş had its name changed to Kahranmanmaraş when the Turkish government added „Kahraman“ to the name, in reference to the bravery of the people of the city in resisting against the French occupation after the First World War. „Kahraman“ means „hero“ in Turkish.

Monument, dedicated to the heroes of Kahramanmaraş.

In December 1978, Kahramanmaraş was the site of a massacre of leftist Alevis. A Turkish nationalist group, the Grey Wolves, incited the violence that left 800 to 1.000 dead. The incident was important in the Turkish government’s decision to declare martial law, and the eventual military coup in 1980.

Whenever I had time to stroll around between work I enjoyed the great hospitality of the people. Everybody tried to help me, indicated me the way or invited me to a cup of Çay, Turkish tea.

Photos: Enric Boixadós