RIZE

'Rize' is the capital of 'Rize Province', in north-east Turkey, on the Black Sea coast.

Contents

Geography

Economy

Education

History

Notable natives

Population figures

References

External links

Geography

The city is built around a small bay on the the Black Sea coast, on a narrow strip of flat land between the sea and the mountains behind. The coastal strip is being expanded with landfill and the city is growing up the steep hillsides away from the coast also. Rize enjoys a mild, extremely wet climate, vulnerable to storms coming off the Black Sea and therefore the surrounding countryside is luxuriant with vegetation and is attracting more and more visitors every year.
Rize is a center for processing and shipping the tea grown in the surrounding area. Tea was introduced in the region in the 1940's and 1950's, changing the region's destiny, which was deperately poor until then. The city has a tea research institute founded in 1958 and tea gardens are the main sight in the town's panoramic view. Tea and kiwifruit plants are even planted in gardens around the town. The secondary activity is fishing. Rize is linked by road with Trabzon (41 miles [66 km] west), Hopa (55 miles [88 km] east, on the Georgian border, and Erzurum (north). The nearest airport is Trabzon.
Rize is a quiet town, a typical Turkish provincial capital with little in the way of night life or enetertainment. However the border with Georgia has been open since the early 90's, the Black Sea coast road has been widened and Rize is now wealthier than in previous decades; there are more cars in the streets, higher buildings on the sea front, and some places for young people to go are opening up now. The visitors to the surrounding countryside also contribute to the economy of the town. But there is no university here and each year a new generation has to move on when finishing high school.

Economy

The economic structure of Rize can be identified by the geographic frame. Rize is a very mountained city and this leads some problems on development. The plained area is not enough for making industrial plants or activities. There is no railway transportation and no airport in Rize, so the transportation can be only done by the rail road. Produced goods or imported goods by the seaport can not be transferred to the neighbour cities easily. So trade is being prevented naturally, tightened only on the shoreline. The strongest connection of Rize is between Trabzon; the most developed city of north-east black sea.
This natural restrictions make Rize do agrecultural activities; but also these restrictions give a chance to Rize to produce "Tea" -a symbol of Rize since 1950s. Today, tea is still important for the public of Rize and it responses most part of Turkey needs and also for foreign markets. Also the fruit; "kiwi" is becoming more popular on these days in Rize.

Education

The RIZE UNIVERSITY was founded in 2006.
It consists of these faculties;
MERKEZ MILLI PIYANGO EGITIM KAMPUSU (Milli Piyango Teacher's College Central Campus)
ILAHIYAT KAMPUSU (Theology Campus)
EGITIM FAKULTESİ (Cayeli/Rize) (Cayeli Tezcher's College Campus)
RIZE MESLEK YUKSEKOKULU (Rize Vocational High School)
FINDIKLI MESLEK YUKSEKOKULU (Findiklı/Rize) (Findikli Vocational High School)
ARDESEN MESLEK YUKSEKOKULU (Ardesen/Rize) (Ardesen Vocational High School)

★ Also the faculty of medicine school was started to construct in 2007

History

See 'Rize Province' for the history of the area.

Notable natives

★ Recep Tayyip Erdoğan The Turkish Prime Minister spent his childhood in Rize

★ Mesut Yılmaz - politician and former prime minister

★ İsmail Türüt - Singer of folk music of the Black Sea region

★ Erol Evgin singer, spent his childhood summers with his grandparents in Rize

★ The ship-owning Kalkavan family

★ Ahmet Tevfik İleri - poltician and former deputy prime minister

★ Fahri Tatan - football player

★ Kazım Ayvaz - Olympic medalist and world champion in wrestling

★ Mehmet Akif Pirim - Olympic medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling

★ Temel Kotil - aeronautical engineer and CEO of Turkish Airlines

★ Zafer Biryol - football player

★ Davut Güloglu pop singer and musician, born in Rize in 1972

★ Besim Tibuk, businessman and Liberal Democrat politician, born in Rize in 1945.

★ Sinan Özen singer,

★ Hülya Polat Black Sea folk singer

★ Köksal Toptan Politician, Speker of Parliament
Çaykur Rizespor, the local football team, play in the Turkish Super League and are local heroes, occasionally capable of defeating even the big Istanbul teams. They play in green and blue, reflecting the blue of the sea and the green of the tea growing on the hillsides.
Others who have never lived in Rize but come from Rize families include:

★ Tarkan the Turkish pop star

★ Asena television's best-known belly dancer

★ Murat Karayalçın Politician, leader of the SHP

★ Yaşar Okuyan journalist and nationalist politician

Population figures

Year	Population
1975	36.044
1980	43.407
1985	50.221
1990	52.031
1997	73.420
2000	78.144

References

★ Özhan Öztürk (2005). Karadeniz (Black Sea): Ansiklopedik Sözlük. 2 Cilt. Heyamola Yayıncılık. İstanbul. ISBN 975-6121-00-9

External links

★ Rize municipality

★ local information

★ PRIVATE BILGE PRIMARY SCHOOL RIZE-TURKEY