Gaziantep

Handicrafts
Gaziantep has a wide range of handicrafts. In the past the most common were leatherwork, copperwork, making yemeni (flat leather shoes), kilim weaving, embroidery and jewellery. Embroidery, copperwork and kilim weaving are still important, and Gaziantep's kilims with their own motifs and its copperware are very famous. Kilim patterns unique to Gaziantep include the baklava patterns, Habbap Ayağı, Kuş Kanadı (bird's wing), Zincir Göbek, Dirsek Göbek, Pençe Göbek, Çarkıfelek, Parmak Göbek and Atom Göbek. Women in almost every home also make other crafts such as Antep işi (Antep openwork embroidery), lace and knitting.

Gaziantep cuisine
Gaziantep has a very rich cuisine with some 512 dishes in all, more than any other city in Türkiye. Its kitchen has grown richer over the years by blending many traditions, and it is especially famous for kebabs and meat dishes. Alaca soup, altı ezmeli kebap, Arab köfte, baklava, beyti, börk aşı, çağla aşı, cağırtlak kebap, doğrama, ekşili taraklı kebap, erik tavası, firik pilavı, kavurma, kuşbaşı kebap, küşneme, lahmacun, aubergine kebab, garlic kebab, simit kebab, şiveydiz, yuvarlama and loquat kebab are just a few of the dishes and desserts unique to Gaziantep.

The Antep dialect
Like many provinces in the southeast, Gaziantep has its own dialect, known as “Antep ağzı” or “Antepçe” and heard especially among older people and in rural areas. Its most distinctive features are the dropping of the letters “r” and “y”, changes to “h” and “k”, and the loss of the “-iyor” suffix and some personal endings. Similarities with Uyghur are easy to notice.

Folk songs and dances
Gaziantep has many folk songs of its own, which fall into five groups: songs of heroism, love, migration and dance, and laments. Karayılan, Şirinnar, Allı Yemeni, Ezo Gelin, Bahçalarda Mor Meni, Evlerinde Bir İpekten Halı Var, Bahçalarda Zerdali, Emmoğlu and Deriko are just a few. Gaziantep is also very rich in folk dances, which fall into three groups: slow halays, lively halays and staged dances.

Türkiye's sixth largest city and the largest in Southeastern Anatolia, Gaziantep is a true metropolis in its population, economic potential, cultural riches, historic fabric and status as a metropolitan municipality.

One of the earliest centres of settlement in Anatolia, at the crossroads of Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean, the city has been home to many civilisations and has kept its importance in every period. With a mysterious history in which different civilisations, cultures and religions met and blended, Gaziantep still carries traces and works of the Palaeolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages, the Hittites, Hurri-Mitanni, Assyrians, Persians, Alexander the Great, the Seleucid kingdom, Rome, Byzantium, the Seljuks, the Mamluks, the Dulkadirids and the Ottomans. Because the historic Silk Road passed through here, it was a meeting point of civilisations and has remained a centre of culture and trade throughout history. The variety of its historic monuments shows the richness of its culture.

Today's Gaziantep is historically linked with ancient Dülük and the castle. Dülük appears as “Doliche” in ancient sources, “Teluck” in Byzantine sources and “Duluk” in Arabic sources. It lay at the junction of a road network used since the earliest times; after Dülük, settlement in the area grew around Gaziantep Castle, and the city developed there.

Gaziantep Castle was founded in the Roman period as a watchtower on a hill with natural rock to the north and a mound to the south. It took its present form under the Byzantine emperor Justinian. Repaired under the Mamluks, the Dulkadirids and the Ottomans, it survives with its monumental architecture.

Antep first appears in Byzantine sources in the 12th century, and during the Crusades it was referred to as “Hantap”. In 1151 it passed to the Anatolian Seljuks under Sultan Mesud I; after his death it was taken by Nur ad-Din Zengi, atabeg of Mosul and Aleppo. Kılıç Arslan II, who then took the Seljuk throne, besieged Antep in 1157. In 1183 Saladin crossed the Euphrates and entered Antep. In 1218 the army of the Seljuk sultan İzzeddin Keykavus I took it again. In 1271 Antep was occupied during the Mongols' campaigns in northern Syria, and in 1277, during the Mamluk sultan Baybars' Anatolian campaign against the Mongols, it came under Mamluk rule. In 1390 a Dulkadirid army reached Antep and plundered it but could not take the citadel. In 1400 Timur took Antep together with Besni, and the city was largely destroyed. Antep then came under Kara Yusuf of the Kara Koyunlu dynasty and under the Dulkadirids, who held power in the region until 1522. After Alaüddevle Bozkurt Bey came to power in 1480, relations between the Ottomans and the Dulkadirid principality improved and Antep enjoyed a stable period. Because Alaüddevle sent no help during Selim I's campaign against Iran, Selim turned on him after Chaldiran and Alaüddevle was killed. Taking advantage of the turmoil, the Mamluks seized Antep, and after Selim's victories at Marj Dabiq and Ridaniya, Antep came under Ottoman rule in 1516.

Under the Ottomans the city was rebuilt rapidly, new buildings went up, and its people lived in prosperity until the empire's decline. In 1818–1819 the city was briefly a kaza (district) of Aleppo, which helped Antep develop socially, economically and commercially. This lasted until the First World War and was ended by the British occupation of 1919, followed by the French. In the battle of Antep the city resisted the enemy for 10 months and 9 days, women and men, young and old, and on 8 February 1921 it received the title “Gazi”. Freed from occupation on 25 December 1921, Gaziantep continued to grow rapidly after the founding of the Republic. Today, with its history, culture, delicious cuisine, five organised industrial zones and its intercity and international road links, Gaziantep is one of the most important cities in the region and welcomes thousands of visitors every year.

Source (in Turkish): https://gantep.bel.tr/sayfa/gaziantep-tarihi-21

Gaziantep Oğuzeli Airport is about 20 kilometres from the city. There are direct and connecting flights every day from Istanbul, Ankara, İzmir and Antalya, as well as direct flights to Germany.

The railway station, opened in 1954, still plays an important role. Trains run every day to Adana, Ankara, Bilecik, Elazığ, Istanbul, Kahramanmaraş, Karkamış, Malatya, Nizip, Nusaybin and Osmaniye.

Gaziantep is one of Türkiye's leading cities for industry and trade, helped greatly by its transport links and proximity to port cities. Its main sources of income are farming, industry and trade.

The star of its farming is the pistachio: in 2007 Gaziantep alone produced 60,000 tonnes. Olives and grapes are also important crops, although summer drought limits further growth in farming.

Industry is led by cotton and acrylic yarn, carpets, flour, semolina, pasta, vegetable oil, plastics, detergents and leather. Türkiye's largest industrial estate is also here. Old crafts such as copperwork, kilim weaving and embroidery are still kept alive.

As of 2024, with 106 products, Gaziantep has more registered geographical indications than any other province in Türkiye. In 2015 it became the first Turkish city to join the UNESCO Creative Cities Network for gastronomy.