Tire, Izmir
Encyclopedia
Tire is a populous district, as well as the center town of the same district, in İzmir Province
in western Turkey
. By excluding İzmir
's metropolitan area, it is one of the prominent districts of the province in terms of population and is largely urbanized at the rate of 55.8%. Tire's center is situated at a distance of 80 km (50 mi) to the south-east from the point of departure of the traditional center of İzmir (Konak Square
in Konkak) and lies at a distance of 46 km (29 mi) inland from the nearest seacoast in the Gulf of Kuşadası
to its west. Tire district area neighbors the district areas of Selçuk
(west) Torbalı
(north-west), Bayındır
(north) and Ödemiş
(east), all part of İzmir Province
, while to the south it is bordered by the districts of Aydın Province
. The district area's physical features are determined by the alluvial plain of Küçük Menderes River in its northern part and in its south by the mountains delimiting the parallel alluvial valley of Büyük Menderes River flowing between Aydın
and the Aegean Sea
. There is a Jewish community.
Advantaged by its fertile soil and suitable climate, Tire district's economy largely relies on production and processing of agricultural products, especially of figs
, cotton
, corn
and other grains, cash crops like tobacco
and sesame
, fruits like watermelons, cherries, peach
es and grenadines
and dry fruits like walnuts and chestnuts.
Tire center has an attractive old quarter with many impressive examples of Islamic architecture
, and lively Tuesday and Friday markets, where the influence of the multicultural population of the surrounding villages can be observed. These two markets on two days of the week are famous across the larger region and among visitors on excursion and tourists for the handcrafted items found on sale and they attract a large customer base. A yearly event that also draws crowds to Tire is one of the liveliest and the most rooted (since 1403) celebrations in western Turkey of Nevruz Day on the third Sunday of every March.
A famous local speciality is Tire kebab
.
, called Tyrrha (occasionally spelled Tarrha) at the time and lying in the middle of the road connection between the capital of Lydia
and the prominent portuary center of Ephesus
.
While there are various suggestions regarding its form, many sources affirm the existence of a fundamental association between the city of Tyrrha and King Gyges of Lydia
, who founded Lydia's Mermnad dynasty in the 7th century BC and laid the grounds for the Lydian expansion in the 150 years that followed. Some scholars indicate in all certainty that here was his birthplace , others claim that he first ruled here or the town was founded either by the 7th century king or a previous namesake. Etymological similarity between the name of the city and such designations as Tyrrhenia, Tyrrhenians
and tyrant
have also been pointed at or disputed.
The etymology of the name Tyrrha itself was suggested as being an indigenous Lydian language
word and explained in terms relative to the English language
word "tower
".
Tire developed strong ties with the Ottoman
capital and administration, both economically and in terms of its population make-up, especially after the 15th century, since Tire became a retreat where palace personnel, including members of the harem
, were sent for their retirement days. Timur
(Tamerlane) spent the winter of 1402/1403 based in Tire, after his defeat of the Ottoman forces at the Battle of Ankara
, a span of time he used to capture Smyrna
lower castle from the Knights of Rhodes, to acquire the city of İzmir fully for the Turks, and his stay here is also at the origin of Tire's noted Nevruz celebrations referred to above.
. The municipality of Tire center is one of the oldest in Turkey, having been established in 1864, coming the ninth across the country in terms of its anteriority, and has today 16 urban wards, while Gökçen has three. The district counts 64 villages in all, mostly isolated settlements in the surrounding mountains or amid forests. Almost a quarter of the population of Tire village chose outside immigration in the last decade, which was reflected in a slight increase in population for Tire center but contributed to a fall in population of eight per cent in the district as a whole. In connection with the same trend, the district receives scanty immigration from outside.
The total number of residences in Tire district reach 36,873. A total number of 16,446 enterprises of all sorts are located in Tire district. Seven banks provide services through seven branches across the district. The number of students per teacher is 18 and the number of patients per doctor is 506.
, was completed in 1911.
Presently, the district's average per capita income situates Tire roughly in the middle among depending districts of İzmir Province. The investments made to date have yet fallen short of modifying the district's overall economic picture, despite easy access through Selçuk to the close İzmir-Aydın motorway and to Adnan Menderes International Airport thereof. Industrial activities in Tire are concentrated around two industrial zones, the larger one named Tire Organized Industrial Zone (TOSBİ) and the smaller and more locally focused one named Tire Small Industrial Site.
Tourism and related accommodation facilities are still underdevelopped and the accommodation facilities despite the city's potential in terms of cultural tourism
and the number of beds available in Tire does not exceed a hundred.
Izmir Province
İzmir Province is a province of Turkey in western Anatolia on the Aegean coast, whose capital is the city of İzmir. On the west it is surrounded by the Aegean sea, and it encloses the Gulf of İzmir. Its area is 11,973 km.2, population 3.948.848 . The population was 3,370,866 in 2000...
in western Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. By excluding İzmir
Izmir
Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey...
's metropolitan area, it is one of the prominent districts of the province in terms of population and is largely urbanized at the rate of 55.8%. Tire's center is situated at a distance of 80 km (50 mi) to the south-east from the point of departure of the traditional center of İzmir (Konak Square
Konak Square
Konak Square is a busy square at the southern end of Atatürk Caddesi in the Konak district of İzmir, Turkey. The square is the busiest part of the city, as Konak is the main place of İzmir.-Buildings in the Square:...
in Konkak) and lies at a distance of 46 km (29 mi) inland from the nearest seacoast in the Gulf of Kuşadası
Kusadasi
Kuşadası is a resort town on Turkey's Aegean coast and the center of the seaside district of the same name in Aydın Province. Kuşadası lies at a distance of to the south from the region's largest metropolitan center of İzmir, and from the provincial seat of Aydın situated inland. Its primary...
to its west. Tire district area neighbors the district areas of Selçuk
Selçuk
Selçuk is the central town of Selçuk district, İzmir Province in Turkey, 2 km northeast of Ephesus.Its original Greek name, Agios Theológos referred to John the Theologian. Under the Ottoman Empire, it was known as Ayasoluk...
(west) Torbalı
Torbali
Torbalı is a district of İzmir Province of Turkey.An ancient Ionian city, famous for its wines and religious sites, it has three sancuaries in marble dedicated to the Roman Emperor Augustus and his foster child Germanicus, in an ancient theatre which dominates the valley. Pieces of art found during...
(north-west), Bayındır
Bayindir
Bayındır is a district of İzmir Province of Turkey and the central town of the district which is situated in the valley of the Küçük Menderes. Its name in antiquity was Caystrus. Its present name derives from the first Turkish settlers in the region who were members of the Bayındır clan, one of the...
(north) and Ödemiş
Ödemis
Ödemiş is a district of İzmir Province of Turkey. North of Ödemiş, which is 113 km southeast of İzmir, are the ruins of Hypaiapa...
(east), all part of İzmir Province
Izmir Province
İzmir Province is a province of Turkey in western Anatolia on the Aegean coast, whose capital is the city of İzmir. On the west it is surrounded by the Aegean sea, and it encloses the Gulf of İzmir. Its area is 11,973 km.2, population 3.948.848 . The population was 3,370,866 in 2000...
, while to the south it is bordered by the districts of Aydın Province
Aydin Province
Aydın Province is a province of southwestern Turkey, located in the Aegean Region. The provincial capital is the city of Aydın which has a population of approx. 150,000 . Other towns in the province include the summer seaside resorts of Didim and Kuşadası.-History:Aydın was founded by the ancient...
. The district area's physical features are determined by the alluvial plain of Küçük Menderes River in its northern part and in its south by the mountains delimiting the parallel alluvial valley of Büyük Menderes River flowing between Aydın
Aydin
Aydın is a city in and the seat of Aydın Province in Turkey's Aegean Region. The city is located at the heart of the lower valley of Büyük Menderes River at a commanding position for the region extending from the uplands of the valley down to the seacoast...
and the Aegean Sea
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
. There is a Jewish community.
Advantaged by its fertile soil and suitable climate, Tire district's economy largely relies on production and processing of agricultural products, especially of figs
FIGS
FIGS is an acronym for French, Italian, German, Spanish. These are usually the first four languages chosen to localize products into when a company enters the European market....
, cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
, corn
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
and other grains, cash crops like tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
and sesame
Sesame
Sesame is a flowering plant in the genus Sesamum. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is cultivated for its edible seeds, which grow in pods....
, fruits like watermelons, cherries, peach
Peach
The peach tree is a deciduous tree growing to tall and 6 in. in diameter, belonging to the subfamily Prunoideae of the family Rosaceae. It bears an edible juicy fruit called a peach...
es and grenadines
Grenadines
The Grenadines is a Caribbean island chain of over 600 islands in the Windward Islands.-Geographic boundaries:They are divided between the island nations of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada. They lie between the islands of Saint Vincent in the north and Grenada in the south. Neither...
and dry fruits like walnuts and chestnuts.
Tire center has an attractive old quarter with many impressive examples of Islamic architecture
Islamic architecture
Islamic architecture encompasses a wide range of both secular and religious styles from the foundation of Islam to the present day, influencing the design and construction of buildings and structures in Islamic culture....
, and lively Tuesday and Friday markets, where the influence of the multicultural population of the surrounding villages can be observed. These two markets on two days of the week are famous across the larger region and among visitors on excursion and tourists for the handcrafted items found on sale and they attract a large customer base. A yearly event that also draws crowds to Tire is one of the liveliest and the most rooted (since 1403) celebrations in western Turkey of Nevruz Day on the third Sunday of every March.
A famous local speciality is Tire kebab
Kebab
Kebab is a wide variety of meat dishes originating in Middle East and later on adopted by the Middle East, and Asia Minor, and now found worldwide. In English, kebab with no qualification generally refers more specifically to shish kebab served on the skewer...
.
Etymology and history
Tire center is an ancient town and it had already acquired considerable importance under the rule of the LydiansLydians
The Lydians were the inhabitants of Lydia, a region in western Anatolia, who spoke the distinctive Lydian language, an Indo-European language of the Anatolian group....
, called Tyrrha (occasionally spelled Tarrha) at the time and lying in the middle of the road connection between the capital of Lydia
Lydia
Lydia was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern Turkish provinces of Manisa and inland İzmir. Its population spoke an Anatolian language known as Lydian....
and the prominent portuary center of Ephesus
Ephesus
Ephesus was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city, on the west coast of Asia Minor, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek era...
.
While there are various suggestions regarding its form, many sources affirm the existence of a fundamental association between the city of Tyrrha and King Gyges of Lydia
Gyges of Lydia
Gyges was the founder of the third or Mermnad dynasty of Lydian kings and reigned from 716 BC to 678 BC . He was succeeded by his son Ardys II.-Allegorical accounts of Gyges' rise to power:...
, who founded Lydia's Mermnad dynasty in the 7th century BC and laid the grounds for the Lydian expansion in the 150 years that followed. Some scholars indicate in all certainty that here was his birthplace , others claim that he first ruled here or the town was founded either by the 7th century king or a previous namesake. Etymological similarity between the name of the city and such designations as Tyrrhenia, Tyrrhenians
Tyrrhenians
The Tyrrhenians or Tyrsenians is an exonym used by Greek authors to refer to a non-Greek people.- Earliest references :...
and tyrant
Tyrant
A tyrant was originally one who illegally seized and controlled a governmental power in a polis. Tyrants were a group of individuals who took over many Greek poleis during the uprising of the middle classes in the sixth and seventh centuries BC, ousting the aristocratic governments.Plato and...
have also been pointed at or disputed.
The etymology of the name Tyrrha itself was suggested as being an indigenous Lydian language
Lydian language
Lydian was an Indo-European language spoken in the region of Lydia in western Anatolia . It belongs to the Anatolian group of the Indo-European language family....
word and explained in terms relative to the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
word "tower
Tower
A tower is a tall structure, usually taller than it is wide, often by a significant margin. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires....
".
Tire developed strong ties with the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
capital and administration, both economically and in terms of its population make-up, especially after the 15th century, since Tire became a retreat where palace personnel, including members of the harem
Harem
Harem refers to the sphere of women in what is usually a polygynous household and their enclosed quarters which are forbidden to men...
, were sent for their retirement days. Timur
Timur
Timur , historically known as Tamerlane in English , was a 14th-century conqueror of West, South and Central Asia, and the founder of the Timurid dynasty in Central Asia, and great-great-grandfather of Babur, the founder of the Mughal Dynasty, which survived as the Mughal Empire in India until...
(Tamerlane) spent the winter of 1402/1403 based in Tire, after his defeat of the Ottoman forces at the Battle of Ankara
Battle of Ankara
The Battle of Ankara or Battle of Angora, fought on July 20, 1402, took place at the field of Çubuk between the forces of the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I and the Turko-Mongol forces of Timur, ruler of the Timurid Empire. The battle was a major victory for Timur, and it led to a period of crisis for...
, a span of time he used to capture Smyrna
Smyrna
Smyrna was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Thanks to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is located at two sites within modern İzmir, Turkey...
lower castle from the Knights of Rhodes, to acquire the city of İzmir fully for the Turks, and his stay here is also at the origin of Tire's noted Nevruz celebrations referred to above.
Population and administration
The district of Tire has two larger towns which have their own municipality. These are; Tire center and the depending township of GökçenGökçen
Gökçen is a common feminine Turkish given name. In Turkish, "Gökçen" means "Beautiful Woman", and/or "Blue Eyed Woman"....
. The municipality of Tire center is one of the oldest in Turkey, having been established in 1864, coming the ninth across the country in terms of its anteriority, and has today 16 urban wards, while Gökçen has three. The district counts 64 villages in all, mostly isolated settlements in the surrounding mountains or amid forests. Almost a quarter of the population of Tire village chose outside immigration in the last decade, which was reflected in a slight increase in population for Tire center but contributed to a fall in population of eight per cent in the district as a whole. In connection with the same trend, the district receives scanty immigration from outside.
The total number of residences in Tire district reach 36,873. A total number of 16,446 enterprises of all sorts are located in Tire district. Seven banks provide services through seven branches across the district. The number of students per teacher is 18 and the number of patients per doctor is 506.
Economy
Tire municipality's anteriority in terms of its date of constitution was reflected in a number of other fields, which indicates an interest in the region by investors of the late-19th century. A railway line built as a connection joining İzmir-Aydın railway started to be laid in 1893 and a 137 km line connecting Tire and its eastern neighbor Ödemiş to that main axis to the west, itself the very first line placed in the History of rail transport in TurkeyHistory of rail transport in Turkey
The history of rail transport in Turkey began with the start of the placement in 1856 of a railway line between Izmir and Aydın. The first finished Ottoman railway line was a line between Köstence and Boğazköy built in 1859-1860.The state corporation that manages the Turkish railway system,...
, was completed in 1911.
Presently, the district's average per capita income situates Tire roughly in the middle among depending districts of İzmir Province. The investments made to date have yet fallen short of modifying the district's overall economic picture, despite easy access through Selçuk to the close İzmir-Aydın motorway and to Adnan Menderes International Airport thereof. Industrial activities in Tire are concentrated around two industrial zones, the larger one named Tire Organized Industrial Zone (TOSBİ) and the smaller and more locally focused one named Tire Small Industrial Site.
Tourism and related accommodation facilities are still underdevelopped and the accommodation facilities despite the city's potential in terms of cultural tourism
Cultural tourism
Cultural tourism is the subset of tourism concerned with a country or region's culture, specifically the lifestyle of the people in those geographical areas, the history of those peoples, their art, architecture, religion, and other elements that helped shape their way of life...
and the number of beds available in Tire does not exceed a hundred.