The Kızılırmak (Turkish pronunciation: [kɯzɯlɯrmak], Turkish for "Red River"), once known as the Halys River (Ancient Greek: Ἅλυς) and Alis River, is the longest river flowing entirely within Turkey. It is a source of hydroelectric power and is not used for navigation.
| Kızılırmak Halys | |
|---|---|
 Kızılırmak in Samsun | |
 Map of the Kızılırmak watershed | |
| Location | |
| Country | Turkey |
| Cities | Sivas, Kırşehir, Kırıkkale |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • location | İmranlı, Sivas Province |
| • coordinates | 39°48′N 38°18′E / 39.800°N 38.300°E |
| • elevation | 2,000 m (6,600 ft) |
| Mouth | Black Sea |
• location | Bafra, Samsun Province |
• coordinates | 41°44′04″N 35°57′23″E / 41.73444°N 35.95639°E |
• elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
| Length | 1,355 km (842 mi) |
| Discharge | |
| • average | 128 m3/s |
| Basin features | |
| Tributaries | |
| • left | Devrez River, Gök River |
| • right | Delice River |
| Official name | Kizilirmak Delta |
| Designated | April 15, 1998[1] |
Geography
editThe Kızılırmak flows for a total of 1,355 kilometres (842 mi),[2] rising in Eastern Anatolia around 39°48′N 38°18′E / 39.8°N 38.3°E, flowing first to the west and southwest until 38°42′N 34°48′E / 38.7°N 34.8°E, then forming a wide arch, the "Halys bend", flowing first to the west, then to the northwest, passing to the northeast of Lake Tuz (Tuz Gölü in Turkish), then to the north and northeast, where it is joined by its major tributary, the Delice River (once known in Greek as the Cappadox river) at 40°28′N 34°08′E / 40.47°N 34.14°E. After zigzagging to the northwest to the confluence with the Devrez River at 41°06′N 34°25′E / 41.10°N 34.42°E, and back to the northeast, it joins the Gökırmak (Sky River in Turkish) before finally flowing via a wide delta into the Black Sea northwest of Samsun at 41°43′N 35°57′E / 41.72°N 35.95°E.
Delta
editThe Kızılırmak River's delta in northern Turkey is the third largest in the country.[3] Formed where the river flows into the Black Sea, the delta has the biggest wetland in the region, with many coastal lagoons.[4] The wetland is a key biodiversity area[5] and the most important[6] Ramsar site in Turkey.[7]
With more than 500 kinds of plants[8] and three-quarters of Turkey's bird species[9][10] the delta's reserve lets migrating birds rest and feed after the Black Sea crossing.[11][12] Water buffalo provide milk and meat.[13] The reserve is popular with tourists, particularly on weekends.[14]
The land is some of the most fertile in Turkey: more than half is farmed.[8][15] The town of Bafra on the delta and the nearby coastal city of Samsun made money from tobacco in the 19th and 20th centuries,[16] but in the 2020s the main crop is rice.[8]
The river was channelized near its mouth in the 2010s, which reduced bird habitat.[6] The ecology of the delta is being damaged,[6] such as by eutrophication of some lakes due to fertilizer in water running off fields.[17]: 306 The coastline is receding because sediment is caught in upstream dams, and this is forecast to continue.[18] There is a management plan for the delta until 2034, but it is not widely available.[17][19][a]History
editThe Hittites called the river the Maraššantiya,[21] and it formed the western boundary of Hatti, the core land of the Hittite empire.[citation needed] Thales of Miletus is said to have used early engineering techniques to allow the Lydian army to cross the river.[22]
Until the Roman conquest of Anatolia the Halys River (later renamed the Kızılırmak by the Turks) served as a natural political boundary in central Asia Minor, first between the kingdom of Lydia and the Persian Empire, and later between the Pontic Kingdom and the Kingdom of Cappadocia. As the site of the Battle of Halys, or the Battle of the Eclipse, on May 28, 585 BC,[23] the river formed the border between Lydia to the west and Media to the east until Croesus of Lydia crossed it to attack Cyrus the Great in 547 BC. He was defeated and Persia expanded to the Aegean Sea.
In the 1st century AD Vespasian combined several provinces, including Cappadocia, to create one large province with its eastern boundary marked by the Euphrates River. This province once again splintered during Trajan's reign - the newly created province of Cappadocia, bounded by the Euphrates to the East, included Pontus and Lesser Armenia. The Halys River became an interior river and never regained its significance as a political border. In the 130s a governor of Cappadocia wrote: "long ago the Halys River was the boundary between the kingdom of Croesus and the Persian Empire; now it flows under Roman dominion."[24]
Dams and agriculture
editThe river's water is used to grow rice and in a few areas water buffalo are kept. There are dams on the river at Boyabat, Altınkaya and Derbent. Dams have reduced the flow of sediment to the delta, allowing coastal erosion.[25]
Notes
editReferences
edit- ^ "Ramsar List". Ramsar.org. Archived from the original on 9 April 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
- ^ Turkish Statistical Institute (2011). "Land and Climate". Turkey in Statistics 2011: The Summary of Turkey's Statistical Yearbook, 2011. p. 2.
- ^ Çetin, Şirin; Mertol, Hüseyin; Özel, Pınar; Ocak, Fatih (2019). The importance of wet areas and an example for the evaluation of tourism (Kızılırmak delta plain). pp. 525–534. doi:10.26650/PB/PS12.2019.002.051. ISBN 978-605-07-0714-4. Archived from the original on 10 August 2024. Retrieved 6 March 2024 – via iupress.istanbul.edu.tr.
- ^ Öztürk, Derya; Sesli, Faik (2015). "Shoreline change analysis of the Kizilirmak Lagoon Series". Ocean & Coastal Management. 118: 290–308. Bibcode:2015OCM...118..290O. doi:10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2015.03.009. ISSN 0964-5691.
- ^ "Kızılırmak Delta - keybiodiversityareas.org". keybiodiversityareas.org. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
- ^ a b c Uzun, Ali; Erciyas-Yavuz, Kiraz; Karaer, Fergan; Polat, Nazmi; Bakan, Gülfem; Gürgöze, Serkan (14 August 2024). "Ecogeomorphological Investigation of Anthropogenic Changes in the Kızılırmak River Mouth, Türkiye". Wetlands. 44 (7): 83. Bibcode:2024Wetl...44...83U. doi:10.1007/s13157-024-01843-2. ISSN 1943-6246. Archived from the original on 18 March 2025. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
- ^ "Türkiye | The Convention on Wetlands, The Convention on Wetlands". ramsar.org.
- ^ a b c "Kızılırmak Delta Wetland and Bird Sanctuary". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Archived from the original on 29 August 2023. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
- ^ "KIZILIRMAK DELTASI SULAK ALAN VE KUŞ CENNETİ DOĞAL SİT ALANI KORUMA VE İZLEME PROJE ÇALIŞMALARI BAŞLATILMIŞTIR". samsun.csb.gov.tr (in Turkish). Retrieved 29 September 2025.
- ^ "Kızılırmak delta bird paradise" (PDF). p. 24.
- ^ "OMÜ Ornitoloji Araştırmalar Merkezi'nden Kızılırmak Deltası'nda 165 Bin Kuş Halkalandı" [165 Thousand Birds Ringed in the Kızılırmak Delta from OMÜ Ornithology Research Center]. Son Dakika (in Turkish). 10 May 2023. Archived from the original on 17 May 2023. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
- ^ "Kızılırmak Delta". Doğa. 18 October 2015. Archived from the original on 31 March 2023. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
- ^ "Wet Grassland restoration in the Kızılırmak Delta, Turkey". Mediterranean Alliance for Wetlands. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
- ^ "Kızılırmak Deltası'nda Bahar Güzelliği".
2023 yılında yaklaşık 100 bin kişinin ziyaret ettiği delta Ramazan Bayramı tatilinde ise yaklaşık 7 bin 500 ziyaretçiyi ağırladı.
- ^ "Kuraklık eylemi planı" [Drought action plan] (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 May 2023. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
- ^ Scaramelli, Caterina (August 2018). ""The Wetland is Disappearing": Conservation and Care on Turkey's Kizilirmak Delta". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 50 (3): 405–425. doi:10.1017/S0020743818000788. ISSN 0020-7438. S2CID 165584948. Archived from the original on 9 December 2023. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
- ^ a b Kızılırmak Deltası Revize Sulak Alan Yönetim Planı (2025-2034) [Kızılırmak Delta Revised Wetland Management Plan (2025-2034)] (Report) (in Turkish). Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (Turkey), 11th Region, 19 Mayıs Mah. Ağabali Cad. No: 13/A İlkadım/SAMSUN.
- ^ Jiang, Dalin; Marino, Armando; Ionescu, Maria; Gvilava, Mamuka; Savaneli, Zura; Loureiro, Carlos; Spyrakos, Evangelos; Tyler, Andrew; Stanica, Adrian (1 August 2025). "Combining optical and SAR satellite data to monitor coastline changes in the Black Sea". ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. 226: 102–115. Bibcode:2025JPRS..226..102J. doi:10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2025.05.003. ISSN 0924-2716.
- ^ "Ulusal Sulak Alan Komi̇syonu 2024 yili Olağan Toplantisi yapildi" [The 2024 regular meeting of the National Wetland Commission was held]. tarimorman.gov.tr. Archived from the original on 12 March 2025. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
USAK'ın …. 2024 yılı Olağan Toplantısı'nda …. Kızılırmak Deltası Revize Sulak Alan Yönetim Planı (2025-2034) …. onaylanarak yürürlüğe girdi.
[At the 2024 ordinary meeting …. of the national wetland commission …. the Kızılırmak Delta Revised Wetland Management Plan (2025-2034) …. was approved and entered into force.] - ^ "Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat".
"shall formulate and implement their planning" "encourage research and the exchange of data and publications"
- ^ Matthews, Roger; Glatz, Claudia (2009). "The historical geography of north-central Anatolia in the Hittite period: texts and archaeology in concert". Anatolian Studies. 59: 51–72.
Identification of the modern Kızılırmak, Classical Halys, with the Hittite Marassanta is well-established and need not be here reviewed.
- ^ Evans, C. Stephen (2018-10-09). A History of Western Philosophy: From the Pre-Socratics to Postmodernism. InterVarsity Press. ISBN 978-0-8308-7369-2.
- ^ Historically it was known as the Battle of Halys; it has since been renamed by some as the Battle of the Eclipse, as the first premodern battle which can be dated with certainty due to the eclipse which brought about its sudden end.
- ^ Dam, Raymond Van (2002-08-30). Kingdom of Snow: Roman Rule and Greek Culture in Cappadocia. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-3681-1.
- ^ Scaramelli, Caterina (August 2018). ""THE WETLAND IS DISAPPEARING": CONSERVATION AND CARE ON TURKEY'S KIZILIRMAK DELTA". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 50 (3): 405–425. doi:10.1017/S0020743818000788. ISSN 0020-7438.
External links
edit- Livius.org: Halys - Photos
- sdu.dk/halys
