Kahramanmaras

Kahramanmaras is the capital city of Kahramanmaras Province in southeastern Turkey. The city lies on a plain at the foot of the Taurus Mountains and has a population of 326,198 as of 2000.

 The region is best known for its production of salep, a flour made from dried orchid tubers, and its distinctive ice cream.

History

Kahramanmaras was founded as a Hittite city-state ca. 1000 BC. Later, the city was called Germanicia Caesarea in the time of the Roman and Byzantine empires. It was at the time of the First Crusade the capital of a minor Armenian principality.

Prior to 1973, Kahranmanmaras was known as Maraş or Marash. It gained its modern name on October 7, 1973 when the Grand National Assembly of Turkey added "Kahraman" to the name. The addition of "Kahraman" ("hero" in Turkish) was in commemoration of the victory against the French Armenian Legion during the Battle of Maraş in the Turkish War of Independence. After the war, Maraş also received the Turkish Medal of Independence, given to the city as a whole for such actions as the Sütçü İmam Incident.

Industry

Kahramanmaras's industry is mainly based on textile and ice cream. Kahramanmaras is one of the biggest textile industry cities of Turkey. Companies like Kipas, İskur, Arsan and Bozkurt are one of the richest companies in the city. Also, many of the American clothing companies like Aéropostale and American Eagle are supplying their yarns from Kahramanmaras.

Some of the internationally-known ice-cream companies like Mado, Yaşar Pastanesi, EDO and Ferah Pastanesi started their business in this ice-cream city and thousands of people visit Kahramanmaras, just because of its ice-cream (Dondurma in Turkish).