Kumkuyu

Kumkuyu is a Mediterranean coastal town in the rural area of Erdemli ilçe (district) which is a part of Mersin Province. It is on the Turkish state highway D.400 which traverses south Anatolia from west to east. The distance to Erdemli is 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) and to Mersin is 50 kilometres (31 mi). The coordinates are 36°31′N 34°12′E. Its population was 2,806 as of 2012.[1]

The vicinity of the town had been inhabited in the ancient ages. There is a big aqueduct as well as cisterns, rock tanks for olive oil and the ruins of a fort against pirates constructed during Roman Empire. (Kanlıdivane, the ancient religious center is a few kilometers north of Kumkuyu.) But modern settlement began only after the 1950s. The residents of Kumkuyu are the members of a former nomadic Turkmen (Oghuz Turk) tribe named Tırtar. (The former name of the settlement was Tırtar) . In 1989 Kumkuyu was declared a township.[2]

Agriculture, especially greenhouse cultivation, has replaced the traditional animal husbandry. The main crops are citrus and bananas. The tourism potential (historic and beach) is promising. At the moment there are a few holiday hotels on the coastline, but the number is on the rise.

• Akkale