Hatay

Hatay is a province of southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast, with Syria to the south and east.

hatay hot chilis by yobosayo

Geography

46% of the land is mountain, 33% plain and 20% plateau and hillside. The most prominent feature is the north-south leading Nur Mountains and the highest peak is Mığırtepe (2240m), other peaks include Ziyaret dağı and Keldağ (Jebel Akra or Casius) at 1739 m. The folds of land that make up the landscape of the province were formed as the land masses of Arabian-Nubian Shield and Anatolia have pushed into each other, meeting here in Hatay, a classic example of the Horst-graben formation. The Orontes River rises in the Bekaa Valley in K Lebanon and runs through Syria and Hatay and into the Mediterranean at its delta in Samandağ. There was a lake in the plain of Amik but this was drained in the 1970s, and today Amik is now the largest of the plains that are important centres of agricultural production in Hatay. The climate of Hatay is typical of the Mediterranean, with warm wet winters and hot, dry summers. The mountain areas inland are drier than the coast. There are some mineral deposits, Iskenderun is home to Turkey's largest iron and steel plant, and the district of Yayladağı produces a colourful marble called the Rose of Hatay.

The administrative capital is Antakya (Antioch), while the largest city in the province is the port city of İskenderun (Alexandretta). There are border crossing points with Syria in the district of Yayladağı and at Cilvegözü in the district of Reyhanlı.

Hatay is warm enough to grow tropical crops such as sweet potato and sugar cane, and these are used in the local cuisine, along with other local specialities including a type of cucumber/squash called kitte. Well-known dishes of Hatay include the syrupy-pastry künefe, squash cooked in onions and tomato paste (sıhılmahsi}, the aubergine and Yoghurt paste (Baba ghanoush), and the chick-pea paste hummus as well as dishes such as kebab which are found throughout Turkey. In general the people of Hatay produce lots of spicy dishes including the walnut and spice paste muhammara), the spicy köfte called oruk, the thyme and parsley paste Za'atar and the spicy sun-dried cheese called Surke. Finally syrup of pomegranate is a popular salad dressing particular to this area.

Mustafa Kemal University is one of Turkey's newer tertiary institutions, founded in Antakya in 1992.

Places of interest

With its hilly countryside and a number of places of historical and religious interest Hatay is attractive to visitors. There are a number of music and folklore festivals held in the province each year. Particular sites of interest include:

• the world's second-largest collection of Roman mosaics in Antakya museum
• the rock-carved Church of St Peter in Antakya, a site of Christian pilgrimage.
• Gündüz cinema, once used as parliament building of the Republic of Hatay.
• The tunnel of Vespasian, in Samandağı, built as a water channel in the 2nd century.