Fındıklı

Fındıklı is a town and district of Rize Province on the Black Sea coast of Turkey, east of the city of Rize.

Etymology

The town was formerly known as Vitze which means twig or branch in the Laz language and was renamed Fındıklı after the hazelnuts that were grown here, (although these have now mostly been replaced with tea).

Geography

Like most Black Sea districts Fındıklı consists of a small strip of coast and a larger area of hills and mountains behind (which lead up into the Kaçkar Mountains. The recent widening of the Black Sea coast road has spoilt the quiet beauty of the seaside here, but the mountain countryside inland is still breathtakingly beautiful.

There is little flat land in Fındıklı and most of the population lives in two large valleys, the Çağlayan ((Laz: Abu) and the Arılı (Pishala). The climate is typical of the Black Sea coast, 6 months of dark cloud, 4 months overcast, six weeks of light cloud and 19 days of sunshine, with light rain at some point during every one of the 365 days of the year. These conditions are ideal for the crops that drive the local economy; tea, hazelnuts and some other fruits, 32,000 tons of tea each year and 750 tons of hazelnuts. Other produce includes milk, meat, eggs, honey and fish, and the new development is the planting of kiwi fruit.

Fındıklı itself is a small market town of 7,000 people. There is no industry and the young generations regularly migrate away to jobs in larger cities.

The people are mostly ethnic Laz.

History

See Rize Province for the history the area, once part of the Roman Empire, and the Empire of Trebizond, brought into the Ottoman Empire in 1509 and briefly occupied by Russia at the end of the First World War.

External links

• District governor's official website