Page 19 - Tarihi ve Kültürel Mirasıyla Kocaali E-Kitap

Abstract

Kocaali is a settlement where human beings have lived since ancient times with its mild climate, fertile and wet lands suitable for
agriculture, dense forests and streams. Kocaali, which was within the borders of the Kingdom of Bithynia and the Eastern Roman
Empire for centuries, was exposed to raids and looting from the sea by Ali Amourios from the Çobanoğlu Principality, who ruled
in Kastamonu and its surroundings, at the beginning of the 14th century. Subsequently, it was included in the lands of the Otto-
man Principality by Konur Alp, one of the commanders of Orhan Gazi, between 1305-1315.

As a sign of the conquest, a small mosque was built in the name of Orhan Gazi in Yayla. In the following years, with the settlement
of Turkmens, the city expanded in the direction of “Hızar, Ağalar and Merkez”. The main livelihood of the people is agriculture,
animal husbandry, woodcutting, carpentry, maritime and mining.

The name Koca Ali is mentioned for the first time in an Ottoman Archive Document of 1520. In the documents of the 17th and
18th centuries, the Kocaali Mosque Foundation is mentioned. In the light of this information, it is possible to say that the founder
of the city was Koca Ali Bey.

After the 1877-1878 Ottoman-Russian War, which was called the 93 War, in Kocaali, one of the places where the Eastern Roman
Empire and the Ottoman Empire supplied wood and timber, immigrants from the Caucasus and the Balkans were settled and
new villages were established.

Hazelnut, which has been planted since 1909, has developed Kocaali over time. Thus, it became an extremely modest settlement
where different cultures lived in harmony during the Republican period. Today, Kocaali, located on the main route of the Black
Sea Coastal Road, ranks first in Turkey in hazelnut production. Also it shows a remarkable tourism potential in recent years with
its sea, coast, stream and forests.

In this work that you hold in your hand, Kocaali’s historical and cultural heritage, geography and people have been written as a
result of a meticulous study. This book will enable the people of Kocaali to reconnect with their ancestors and to build a new iden-
tity between the past and the future, as in Yahya Kemal Beyatlı’s saying “We are the future with roots in the past”.

Oğuzhan KIR
Historian, Author

GE Ç M İ Ş T EN G ÜNÜ M ÜZE 17