Ardeşen

Ardeşen (Laz: Artaşen) is a town and district of Rize Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey, 48km along the coast road from the city of Rize.

History

See Rize Province for the history of the area, at one time part of the Roman and Byzantine Empires and later the Empire of Trebizond until their defeat in 1461 by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II.

Geography

Ardeşen is sandwiched between sea and mountain, with 10km of Black Sea coastline, while most of the district is hill and mountain, extending 50km inland, up to the Altıparmak hills and then on to Çamlıhemşin and the Kaçkar mountains. There is plenty of rainfall but little land flat enough for planting anything except for tea, and life is hard in these wet highlands. The highland villages are remote, and reaching them with roads, cables and other infrastructure is very challenging.

This was even more the case before tea planting began, when successive generations would migrate away from the area to jobs in Turkey's larger cities or abroad. 10% of the land is used for tea growing, other than is there is little agriculture except gardening for local consumption. The first tea-processing factory was opened in 1947, other industry includes sawmills and furniture workshops.

The industrial development is in the town of Ardeşen itself, which is on the coast near the mouth of the Fırtına River. Ardeşen has too many ugly public buildings and apartment blocks. The busy coast road through Ardeşen leads up to Turkey's border with Georgia (country). The cuisine is the typical Turkish menu, based on kebab. Ardeşen has some local radio, TV and newspapers

The income from tea growing has brought better amenities to Ardeşen but the traditional rural lifestyle persists; many of the people in the countryside are ethnic Laz and the older generations in particular continue to speak the Laz language although their traditional clothing has disappeared with the ban on growing hemp. However education is quite successful with literacy rates of 97% among men and 89% among women.

The people of Ardeşen have a reputation for their love of firearms, most people carry them and home-made small arms are a thriving trade, (to such an extent that in 1991 the state established a factory here to produce them legally and try and bring the industry under control ). Even the municipality logo features a picture of a mosque and a revolver.

Places of interest

• Fırtına Deresi, a river running down from the Kaçkars, is used for rafting.

References

External links

• District governor's official website
• photos of Ardeşen
• Ardeşen municipality's official website
• and more photos
• Lazuri - information on the Laz language and culture
• Ardeşenim - General local site on the district