Karamürsel

Karamürsel is a town located in northwestern Turkey, in the province of Kocaeli. It is on the coast of Izmit Bay and has beautiful shores. It has a famous basket Karamürsel basket, which is mainly used in collecting fruit like cherries, etc.. The characteristic of this handwocen basket is that it looks small to the eye but has a much bigger capacity than one would think. Everybody knows Karamürsel's name in Turkey, especially through the commonly used saying: "Ufacık tefecik gördün de Karamürsel sepeti mi sandın?"

It is historically known as The Town of The Wrestlers. It has also been well-known with its fish restaurants that also attract customers from nearby area. Handmade silk carpet production (the famous Hereke rugs are produced here too), fruit production (cherry, peach, plums, figs, pears, apples), and olive production are sources of income for the locals. It is not as heavily industrialized as Izmit, and therefore Karamürsel's natural beauties are more intact compared to the rest of the province of Kocaeli.

The people living in Karamursel and its villages are mainly muslim immigrants known as Muhacir in Turkish. They came from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, and Crimea, and arrived in the country during/after the fall of Ottoman Empire. Due to its rich ethnic structure it displays a wide array of cultures, heavily influenced by that of Balkan and Caucasus. Recently the town has also started attracting immigration from other parts of Turkey, especially from the Black Sea region.

Karamürsel was heavily damaged during the devastating 1999 İzmit earthquake (August 17, 1999) which rocked the eastern part of Marmara Region. 164 people lost their lives in Karamürsel in the earthquake, and many were left homeless. After the earthquake many people left this town for other parts of Turkey, and the place had a resemblence of a ghost-town for the winter of 1999. It is now returning to its old days, with the houses being repaired and the busineess being reopened. During the earthquake, a considerably damaging tsunami hit both the northern and southern sides of the İzmit bay in about one minute. Even the tsunami was not very large, subsidence and coastal landslides, have left a substantial portion of the towns of Gölcük, Degirmendere and Karamürsel inundated by the sea (Altinok et al., 1999). The coast of Karamürsel is now repaired and reconstructed.

A U.S. military base was located in Karamürsel for many years during the Cold War for the purpose of intercepting Russian radio transmissions. The station, containing a huge array of antenna called Elephant Cage, was there from 1957 until 1979. This huge landmark was visible from everywhere in Karamursel, from villages on the hills surrounding the town, and also from the shores across the Izmit Bay. After the US military left the base was transferred to Turkish Navy, and is still in operation today. The US military however took an important chip from the antenna, so that it would not be used after they left. The Turkish military eventually took out the antenna in mid 1990s, however everyone still remembers this immense structure.