The city hosts an international arts festival during June and July, and the
İzmir International Fair, one among the city's many fair and exhibition events, is held in the beginning of September every year. It is served by national and international flights through
Adnan Menderes Airport and there is a modern
rapid transit line running Southwest to Northeast. İzmir hosted the
Mediterranean Games in 1971 and the
World University Games (
Universiade) in 2005. It currently has a running bid submitted to the
BIE to host the
Universal Expo 2015, which will be voted on in 2008. Modern İzmir also incorporates the nearby ancient cities of
Ephesus,
Pergamon,
Sardis and
Klazomenai, and centers of international tourism such as
Kuşadası,
Çeşme and
Foça.
Despite its advantageous location and its heritage, until recently İzmir has suffered, as one author puts it, from a "sketchy understanding" in the eyes of outsiders. When the
Ottomans took over İzmir in the 15th century they did not inherit compelling historical memories, unlike the two other keys of the trade network, namely
İstanbul and
Aleppo. Its emergence as a major international port as of the 17th century was largely a result of the attraction it exercised over foreigners, and the city's european orientation.
[2] Very different people found İzmir attractive over the ages and the city has always been governed by fresh inspirations, including for the very location of its center, and is quick to adopt novelties and projects. Nevertheless, its successful completion of the 2005
Universiade games gave its inhabitants a renewed confidence in themselves, which remains very present in the bid made for
Universal Expo 2015.
Names and etymology
Undisturbed wild horses roam in Mount
Yamanlar overlooking İzmir and the neighboring
Mount Sipylus (
Mount Spil)
National Park.
The name of a locality called Ti-smurna is mentioned in some of the Level II tablets from the
Assyrian colony in
Kültepe (first half of the 2nd millennium B.C.), with the prefix ti- identifying a proper name, although it is not established with certainty that this name refers to İzmir.
[3] Some would see in the city's name a reference to the name of an
Amazon called Smirna.
The region of İzmir was situated on the southern fringes of the "Yortan culture" in Anatolia's prehistory, the knowledge of which is almost entirely drawn from its cemeteries
[4], and in the second half of the 2nd millennium B.C., in the western end of the extension of the yet largely obscure
Arzawa Kingdom, an offshoot and usually a dependency of the
Hittites, who themselves spread their direct rule as far as the coast during their Great Kingdom. That the realm of the local
Luwian ruler who legated the 13th century B.C.
Kemalpaşa Karabel
rock carving at a distance of only 50 km from İzmir was called Mira may also leave ground for association with the city's name.
[5]The oldest rendering in
Greek of the city's name we know is the
Aeolic Greek Μύρρα Mýrrha, corresponding to the later
Ionian and
Attic Σμύρνα (Smýrna) or Σμύρνη (Smýrnē), both presumably descendants of a
Proto-Greek form *Smúrnā. It would be linked to the name of the Myrrha commifera shrub, a plant that produces the aromatic resin called
myrrh and is indigenous to the
Middle East and northeastern
Africa. The
Romans took this name over as Smyrna which is the name still used in
English when referring to the city in pre-Turkish periods. The name İzmir (
Ottoman Turkish: إزمير İzmir) is the modern
Turkish version of the same name.
In
Greek it is Σμύρνη (Smýrni), Իզմիր (Izmir) in
Armenian, Smirne in
Italian, and Izmir (without the
Turkish dotted İ) in
Ladino.
In English, the city was called Smyrna until the early twentieth century and has been called İzmir since. In written
Turkish it is spelled with a dotted İ at the beginning.
İzmir is nicknamed "Occidental İzmir" or "The
Pearl of the
Aegean".
History
Ancient age
The city is one of the oldest settlements of the
Mediterranean basin. The
2004 discovery of
Yeşilova Höyük and the neighboring
höyük of Yassıtepe, situated in the plain of
Bornova, reset the starting date of the city's past further back than was previously thought. The findings of the two seasons of excavations carried out in
Yeşilova Höyük by a team of archaeologists from İzmir's
Ege University under the direction of Associate Professor
Zafer Derin indicate three levels, two of which are prehistoric. Level 2 bears traces of early to mid-
Chalcolithic, and the Level 3 of
Neolithic settlements. These two levels would have been inhabited by the
indigenous peoples of İzmir, very roughly, between
6500 to
4000 BC. With the seashore drawing away in time, the site was later used as a cemetery (several graves containing artifacts dating, roughly, from
3000 BC were found).
By
1500 BC the region fell under the influence of the
Central Anatolian Hittite Empire. The Hittites possessed a script and several localities near İzmir were mentioned in their records. They are associated with the vestiges on top of the Mount
Yamanlar overlooking the gulf from the northeast.
In connection with the silt brought by the streams that join the sea along the coastline of the
gulf's end, the settlement that later formed the core of Old Smyrna was founded more to the north-west of the prehistoric settlement and on the slopes of the Mount
Yamanlar, on a hill in the present-day quarter of
Bayraklı where settlement is thought to stretch back as far as the
3rd millennium BC. The hill was possibly an island at the time or perhaps connected to the mainland by a very narrow
isthmus. This İzmir preceding Old Smyrna was one of the most advanced cultures in
Anatolia of its time and on a par with
Troy. This phase of the city's history is also when it was associated with the
Amazon Smirna. The presence of a vineyard of İzmir's Wine and Beer Factory on this hill, also called Tepekule, prevented the urbanization of the site and facilitated the excavations that started in the 1960s by
Ekrem Akurgal.
However, in the
1200s BC, invasions from the
Balkans destroyed
Troy VII and
Hattusas, the capital of the
Hittite capital. Central and Western
Anatolia fell back into a
Dark Age that lasted until the emergence of the
Phrygian civilization in the
8th century BC.
Iron Age houses were small, one-room buildings. The oldest house unearthed in
Bayraklı is dated to 925 and 900 BC. The walls of this well-preserved one-roomed house (2.45 x 4 m) were made of sun-dried
bricks and the roof of the house was made of
reeds. Around that time, people started to protect the city with thick
ramparts made of sun-dried bricks. From then on Smyrna achieved an identity of
city-state. About 1,000 lived inside the
city walls, with others living in near-by villages, where fields,
olive trees,
vineyards, and the workshops of potters and stonecutters were located. People generally made their living through
agriculture and
fishing.
Homer
Homer, referred to as Melesigenes which means "Child of Meles Brook" is said to have been born in Smyrna. Meles Brook is located within the city of İzmir and still carries the same name.
Aristotle recounts: "Kriteis... gives birth to Homer near Meles Brook and dies after. Maion brings this child up and names him as Melesigenes ("Child of Meles") to emphasize the place where he was born." Six other cities claimed Homer as their countryman
[8], but the main belief is that Homer was born in
Ionia and combined with written evidence, it is generally admitted that
Smyrna and
Chios put forth the strongest arguments in claiming Homer.
From the 8th century BC
Greek settlement in Old Smyrna is attested by the presence of pottery dating from about 1000 BC onwards. The city was settled at first by the
Aeolians, but shortly thereafter seized by the
Ionians and Smyrna was added to the twelve Ionian cities. As such, the city set out on its way to become one of the most prominent cultural and commercial centers of that period in the Mediterranean basin.
[9]The period in which Old Smyrna reached its peak was between 650-545 BC. This period was considered to be the most powerful period of the whole Ionian civilization. Under the leadership of the city of
Miletus, Ionian colonies were established in
Egypt,
Syria, the west coasts of
Lebanon, the
Marmara region, around the
Black Sea and in eastern
Greece. The colonies competed amongst themselves, and were a match for Greece proper in many areas. Smyrna by this point was no longer a small town, but an urban center that took part in the
Mediterranean trade.
One of the most important signs of that period is the widespread use of writing beginning with 650 BC. There are many inscriptions on presentations of the gifts dedicated to the goddess
Athena, whose temple dates to 640-580 BC.
The oldest model of a many-roomed-type house of this period was found in ancient Smyrna. Known to be the oldest house having so many rooms under its roof, this house was built in the second half of 7th century BC. The house has two floors and has five rooms with a courtyard. The houses before this type were composed of
megarons standing adjacent to each other. Smyrna was built on the
Hippodamian system in which streets run north-south and east-west and intersect at right angles. The houses all faced to the south.
This city plan, which took the name Hippodamus later in the 5th century BC, followed a pattern familiar in the
Near East. The city plan in the
Bayraklı Höyük (mound) is the earliest example of this type in the
Western Hemisphere. The most ancient paved streets of the Ionian civilization have been discovered in ancient Smyrna.
The riches of the city impressed the
Lydians and attracted them to Smyrna. The Lydian army conquered the city in about 610-600 BC and burned and destroyed parts of the city. Soon afterwards, another invasion, this time
Persian, effectively ended Old Smyrna's history as an urban center of note. The Persian Emperor, determined to punish the cities that refused to give him support in his campaign against the Lydians, attacked the coastal cities of the
Aegean after having conquered
Sardis, the capital of Lydia. As a result, old Smyrna was destroyed in 545 BC.
Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great re-founded the city in about 300 BC. Alexander had defeated the Persians in several battles and finally the emperor
Darius himself at
Issus in 333 BC. The cities of the region witnessed a great resurgence in their population. During this period,
Rhodes and
Pergamon reached populations of over 100,000.
Ephesus,
Antioch and
Alexandria reached a population of over 400,000. Old Smyrna, which had been founded on a small hill, was only sufficient for a few thousand people, so the new and larger city had been founded on the slopes of
Mount Pagos (
Kadifekale) in 300 BC. The flat-topped hill seemed destined by nature to be the
acropolis of an ancient city.
RomansHaving become a
Roman territory in 133 BC, Smyrna enjoyed a golden period for the second time. Due to the importance that the city achieved, the
Roman emperors who came to
Anatolia also visited Smyrna. Emperor
Hadrian also visited Smyrna in his journey from 121 to 125. He ordered the construction of a
silo near the docks.
In 178 AD the city was devastated by an
earthquake. Considered to be one of the most severe disasters that the city has faced in its history, the earthquake razed the town to the ground. The destruction was so great that the support of the Empire for rebuilding was necessary. Emperor
Marcus Aurelius contributed greatly to the rebuilding activities and the city was re-founded again. The state
agora as restored during this period.
Various works of architecture are thought to have been built in the city during the
Roman Empire period. The streets were completely paved with stones, and paved streets became preponderant in the city.
After the
Roman Empire's division into two distinct entities, Smyrna became a territory of the
Eastern Roman Empire. It preserved its status as a notable religious center in the early times of the
Byzantine Empire. However, the city did decrease in size greatly during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Age, never returning to the Roman levels of prosperity.
Smyrna becomes İzmir
Çaka Bey and the Seljuk Turks
Turks first captured Smyrna under the
Seljuk commander
Çaka Bey in 1076, along with
Klazomenai,
Foça and a number of
Aegean Islands.
Çaka Bey used İzmir as a base for naval raids. After his death in 1102, the city and the neighboring region was recaptured by the
Byzantine Empire. Smyrna was then captured by the
Knights of Rhodes when
Constantinople was conquered by the
Crusaders in 1204, but the
Nicaean Empire could reclaim possession of the city soon afterwards, albeit by according vast concessions to
Genoese allies who kept one of the city's castles.
The sons of AydınSmyrna was recaptured by the Turks in early 14th century when, Umur Bey, the son of the founder of the
Beylik of
Aydın captured first the upper fort of
Kadifekale, and then the lower port castle of Ok Kalesi. As
Çaka Bey had done two centuries before, Umur Bey used the city as a base for naval raids. In 1344, taking advantage of a distracted
Aydınoğlu, the
Genoese took back the lower castle. A sixty-year period of uneasy cohabitation between the two powers followed Umur Bey's death.
TamerlaneSmyrna was captured by the
Ottomans for the first time in 1389 by
Bayezid I, who led his armies toward the five Western Anatolian Turkish Beyliks in the winter of the same year he had ascended the throne. The Ottoman take-over took place virtually without conflict. However, in 1402,
Tamerlane won the
Battle of Ankara against the
Ottomans and put a serious check on the fortunes of the Ottoman state for the two following decades. Tamerlane gave back the territories of most of the Anatolian Turkish Beyliks to their former ruling dynasties, and he came in person to İzmir to lodge the only battle of his career against a non-
Muslim power, finally taking back the port castle from the Genoese.
The Ottomans
In
1425,
Murad II re-captured İzmir for the Ottomans for the second time and from the last bey of Aydın, İzmiroğlu Cüneyd Bey. During the campaign, the Ottomans were assisted by the forces of the
Knights Hospitaller who pressed the Sultan for possession of the port castle. The sultan refused despite the resulting tensions between the two camps, and he gave the Templars the permission to build a castle in
Petronium (
Bodrum Castle) instead.
The city became a typical Ottoman
sanjak (sub-province) inside the larger Ottoman
eyalet (province) of
Aydın. Two notable events for the city during the rest of the
15th century were a
Venetian raid in 1475 and the arrival of
Jews from
Spain after 1492, who later made İzmir one of their principal centers in Ottoman lands.
The Ottomans also allowed İzmir's inner bay dominated by the port castle to silt up progressively (the location of present-day
Kemeraltı bazaar zone) and the port castle ceased to be of use.
International port city
With the privileged trading conditions accorded to foreigners in 1620 (the infamous
capitulations that were later to cause a serious threat and setback for the Ottoman state in its decline), İzmir set out on its way to become one of the foremost trade centers of the Empire. Foreign consulates moved in from
Sakız (
Chios) and were in the city (1619 for the
French Consulate, 1621 for the
British), serving as trade centers for their nations. Each consulate had its own quay and the ships under their flag would anchor there. The long campaign for the conquest of
Crete (22 years between 1648-1669) also considerably enhanced İzmir's position within the Ottoman realm since the city served as port of dispatch and supply for the troops.
The city faced a 1676 plague, an earthquake in 1688 and a
great fire in 1743, but continued to grow. In 1866 the
British-built 130 km (81 mi) railway line to
Aydın was opened (the first
Ottoman Empire line). By that time, İzmir had a considerable segment of its population composed of
French,
English,
Dutch and
Italian merchants, adding to numerous immigrants coming from other parts of the Ottoman Empire. In fact, a class of intermediaries, composed of Greeks and, some time later and to a lesser extent, by
Armenians, as well as some among the generally poorer Jews, started to take hold. The attraction the city exercised for merchants and middlemen gradually changed the demographic structure of the city, its culture and its Ottoman character.
In the late 19th century, the port was threatened by a build-up of silt in the gulf and an initiative was undertaken to move the
Gediz River bed to its present-day northern course, instead of letting it flow into the gulf, in order to redirect the silt.
Following the defeat of the
Ottoman Empire in
World War I, the victors had, for a time, intended to carve up large parts of
Anatolia under respective zones of influence and offered the western regions of
Turkey to
Greece with the
Treaty of Sèvres. On
15 May 1919 the
Greek Army occupied İzmir, but the Greek expedition towards central
Anatolia turned into a disaster for both that country and for the local
Greeks of
Turkey.
The
Turkish Army retook possession of İzmir on
9 September 1922, effectively ending the
Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922) in the field. Part of the Greek population of the city was forced to seek refuge in the nearby Greek islands together with the departing Greek troops, while the rest left in the frame of the ensuing 1923 agreement for the
Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations, which was a part of the
Lausanne Treaty.
The war, and especially its events specific to İzmir, like the
fire that broke out on 13 September 1922, one of the greatest disasters İzmir ever experienced, influence the psyches of the two nations to this day. For the Turks, the occupation was marked from its very first day by the "first bullet" fired on Greek detachments by the journalist
Hasan Tahsin and the killing by bayonet coups of
Colonel Fethi Bey and his unarmed soldiers in the historic casern of the city (Sarı Kışla — the Yellow Casern), for refusing to shout "Zito o
Venizelos" (Long Live Venizelos). The Turkish side, on the other hand, was accused of a number of atrocities against the Greek and Armenian communities in İzmir, including the lynching of the Orthodox Metropolitan
Chrysostomos following their recapture of the city on 9 September 1922. A Turkish source on İzmir's oral history also confirms that in 1922, "hat-wearers were thrown into the sea, just like, back in 1919,
fez-wearers were thrown"
[10]. The lack of comprehensive and reliable sources from the period, combined with nationalist feelings running high on both sides, and mutual distrust between the conflicting parties, has led to each side accusing each other for decades of committing atrocities during the period.
The city was, once again, gradually rebuilt after the proclamation of the
Turkish Republic in 1923.
Population
The period after the 1960's and the 1970's saw another blow to İzmir's tissue - as serious as the
1922 fire for many inhabitants - when local administrations tended to neglect İzmir's traditional values and landmarks. Some administrators were not always in tune with the central government in
Ankara and regularly fell short of subsidies, and the city absorbed huge immigration waves from
Anatolian inland causing a
population explosion. Today it is not surprising to see many inhabitants of İzmir (in line with natives of such other prominent Turkish cities as Istanbul,
Bursa,
Adana and
Mersin) look back to a cozier and more manageable city, which came to an end in the last few decades, with nostalgia. The Floor Ownership Law of 1965 (Kat Mülkiyeti Kanunu), allowing and encouraging arrangements between house or land proprietors and building contractors in which each would share the benefits in rent of 8-floor apartment blocks built in the place of the former single house, proved especially disastrous for the urban landscape.
İzmir is also home to Turkey's second largest
Jewish community after Istanbul, still 2,500 strong.
[11] The community is still concentrated in their traditional quarter of
Karataş. The most famous figures the
Jewish community of İzmir has produced are
Sabbatai Zevi and
Darío Moreno.
The
Levantines of İzmir, who are mostly of
Genoese and to a lesser degree of
French and
Venetian descent, live mainly in the districts of
Bornova and
Buca. One of the most prominent present-day figures of the community is
Caroline Giraud Koç, wife of industrialist
Mustafa Koç.
Koç Holding is one of the largest family-owned industrial conglomerates in the world.
Main sights
Standing on Mount
Yamanlar (Dağı), the tomb of
Tantalus is an example of the
tholos type monumental tombs. The grave room of Tantalus'
tumulus was in the plan of the fountain, displaying a style called
isopata, meaning the construction has a
rectangle plan, covered by
vaults made with a
corbel technique. This monumental work is thought to be the tomb of the
Basileus or
Tyrant who ruled ancient Smyrna in 580-520 BC.
One of the more pronounced elements of Izmir harbor is the Clock Tower, a beautiful marble tower that rests in the middle of the
Konak district, standing 25 meters in height. It was designed by the
Levantine French architect Raymond Charles Père in 1901 for the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the ascension of
Abdülhamid II. The clock workings themselves were given as a gift to the then
Ottoman Empire by
Kaiser Wilhelm II. The tower features four fountains which are placed around the base in a circular pattern, and the columns are inspired by North African themes.
The
Agora of
Smyrna is well preserved, and is arranged into the
Agora Open Air Museum of İzmir, although important parts buried under modern buildings, waiting to be brought to daylight. Serious consideration is also being given to uncovering the ancient theatre of Smyrna where
St. Polycarp was martyred, buried under an urban zone on the slopes of
Kadifekale. It was distinguishable until the 19th century, as evident by the sketchings done at the time. On top of the same hill soars an ancient castle which is one of the landmarks of İzmir.
The
Kemeraltı bazaar zone set up by the
Ottomans, combined with the Agora, rests near the slopes of
Kadifekale. İzmir has had three castles historically-
Kadifekale (
Pagos), the portuary Ok Kalesi (Neon Kastron, St. Peter), and Sancakkale, which remained vital to İzmir's security for centuries. Sancakkale is situated in the present-day
İnciraltı quarter between
Balçova and
Narlıdere districts, on the southern shore of the Gulf of İzmir. It is at a key point where the strait allows entry into the innermost tip of the Gulf at its narrowest, and due to shallow waters through a large part of this strait, ships have sailed close to the castle.
[12]There are nine
synagogues in İzmir, concentrated either in the traditional Jewish quarter of
Karataş or in Havra Sokak (Synagogue street) in
Kemeraltı, and they all bear the signature of the 19th century when they were built or re-constructed in depth on the basis of former buildings.
The İzmir Birds Paradise in
Çiğli, a bird sanctuary near
Karşıyaka, contains 205 species of birds. There are 63 species of domestic birds, 54 species of summer migratory birds, 43 species of winter migratory birds, 30 species of transit birds. 56 species of birds have been breeding in the Park. İzmir Bird's Paradise which covers 80 square kilometres was registered as "The
protected area for water birds and for their breeding" by Ministry of Forestry in 1982.
Cuisine of İzmir
İzmir's cuisine has largely been affected by its multicultural history, hence the large variety of food originating from the
Aegean,
Mediterranean and
Anatolian regions. Another factor is the large area of land surrounding the region which grows a rich selection of vegetables. Some of the common dishes found here are
tarhana soup (made from dried yoghurt and tomatoes), İzmir
köfte,
keşkek (boiled wheat with meat), zerde (sweetened rice with
saffron) and
mücver (made from zucchini and eggs).
Historically, as a result of the influx of Greek refugees from İzmir (as well as from other parts of Asia Minor and
Istanbul) to mainland Greece after 1922, the cuisine of İzmir has had an enormous impact on
Greek cuisine, exporting many sophisticated spices and foods.
Festivals
The
İzmir International Festival beginning in mid-June and continuing to mid-July, has been organized since 1987. During the annual festival, many world-class performers such as
soloists and
virtuosi,
orchestras, dance companies,
rock and
jazz groups including
Ray Charles,
Paco de Lucia,
Joan Baez,
Martha Graham Dance Company,
Tanita Tikaram,
Jethro Tull,
Leningrad Philarmonic Orchestra,
Chris De Burgh,
Sting, Moscow State Philarmony Orchestra,
Jan Garbarek,
Red Army Chorus, Academy of
St. Martin in the Field,
Kodo,
Chick Corea and Origin,
New York City Ballet,
Nigel Kennedy,
Bryan Adams,
James Brown,
Elton John,
Kiri Te Kanawa,
Mikhail Barishnikov and
Josep Carreras have given recitals and performances at various venues in the city and surrounding areas, including the ancient theatres at
Ephesus and Metropolis (an antique
Ionian city situated near the town of
Torbalı). This festival is the member of "
European Festivals Association" since 2003.
The
İzmir European Jazz Festival is among the numerous events organized every year by
İKSEV (The İzmir Foundation for Culture, Arts and Education) since 1994. The festival aims to bring together masters and lovers of
jazz in the attempt to generate feelings of love, friendship and peace.
International İzmir Short Film Festival is organized since 1999 and the member of
European Coordination of Film Festivals.İzmir Metropolitan Municipality is building
Ahmet Adnan Saygun Culture and Art Center in Güzelyalı over an area of 21.000 m2 in order to contribute to the city's culture and art life. The acoustics of the center has been prepared by
ARUP which is a world famous company in its own field . The center will serve from summer of 2008.
Transportation
Connection with other cities and countries
Air: The city has an airport (
Adnan Menderes Airport) well served with connections to Turkish and international destinations. Its new international terminal was opened in September 2006 and the airport is set on its way for becoming one of the busiest in Turkey. The city-airport shuttles are assured by buses operated by a private company (
web page for İzmir) and along stops that follow two lines only, the first connecting
Karşıyaka in the city's northern part to the airport and the second between
Alsancak in the south and the airport. Trains remain a comparatively slow alternative, the subway that will reach the airport is under construction, while the
taxis are not cheap and can cost up to fifty
U.S. dollars depending on the distance.
Bus: A recently-built large bus terminal (Otogar) in
Altındağ suburb on the outkirts of the city has intercity buses to points all over Turkey. It is quite easy to reach the bus terminal since bus companies' shuttle services to the terminal pick up customers from each of their branch offices scattered across the city at regular intervals. These shuttles are a free service encountered everywhere in Turkey.
Rail: The city has rail service from historic terminals in downtown (such as the famous Alsancak Terminal (1858) which is the oldest train station in Turkey) to
Ankara in the east and
Aydın in the south. An
express train to
Bandırma, to reach the
Sea of Marmara port city in four hours and to combine the journey with
İDO's
HSC services from Bandırma to
İstanbul is in service since February 2007.
Transportation within the city
Urban ferries: Taken over by İzmir
Metropolitan Municipality since 2000 and operated within the structure of a private company (
İzdeniz), İzmir's urban ferry services for passengers and vehicles are very much a part of the life of the inhabitants of this city located along the deep end of a large gulf. 24 ferries shuttle between 8 quays (clockwise
Bostanlı,
Karşıyaka,
Bayraklı,
Alsancak, İzmir,
Pasaport, İzmir,
Konak,
Göztepe and
Üçkuyular). Special lines to points further out in the gulf are also put in service during summer, transporting excursion or holiday makers. These services are surprisingly cheap and it is not unusual to see natives or visitors taking a ferry ride simply as a pastime.
Metro: İzmir has a
subway network (
rapid transit over the surface in parts) that is constantly being extended with new stations being put in service. The network "
İzmir Metrosu", consisting of one line, starts from Üçyol station in
Hatay in the southern portion of the metropolitan area and runs towards northeast to end in
Bornova. The line is 11.6 km (7.2 mi) long.
The stations are: 1) Üçyol, 2)
Konak, 3) Çankaya, 4) Basmane, 5) Hilal, 6) Halkapınar, 7) Stadyum, 8) Sanayi, 9) Bölge, 10)
Bornova. An extension of the line between Üçyol and Üçkuyular, which aims to serve the southern portion of the city more efficiently, is currently under construction.
Basic fare on the Metro is TRL 1.25 but only TRL 0.95 if the Kentkart is used. About 12% of passengers pay cash and the rest use Kentkart, 35% at reduced rate and 53% at standard rate. The Metro carries about 30 million passengers/year and to the end of September 2005 160 million passengers had travelled since the opening in May 2000.
A more ambitious venture that begun involves the construction of a new 80 km (50 mi) line between
Aliağa district in the north, where a
oil refinery and its port are located, to
Menderes district in the south, to reach and serve
Adnan Menderes Airport. This new line will have a connection to the existing line and it is planned to be finished in 2008 autumn. It will comprise 32 stations and the full ride between the two ends of the line will only take 86 minutes.
Bus: All major districts are covered by a dense municipal bus network under the name ESHOT. The name is derived from the E elektrik; S su (water); H havgazi (gas); O otobus (bus) and T trolybus. Electricity, water and gas are now supplied by separate undertakings and the trolleybuses ceased in 1992. The bus company has inherited the original name. ESHOT operates about 1,500 buses with a staff of 2,700. It has five garages at Karatas, Gumruk, Basmahane, Yesilyurt and Konak. A privately owned company, Izulas, operates 400 buses from two garages, running services under contract for ESHOT. These scheduled services are supplemented by privately-owned
minibus or
dolmuş services.
See also
