Edirne

Edirne, formerly Adrianople (Bulgarian Одрин Odrin, Modern Greek Αδριανούπολις Adrianoúpolis), is the westernmost major city in Turkey, with a population of just under 170,000. It is located in the Bulgarian-Greek-Turkish border triangle, in Eastern Thrace, the European part of Turkey. At the same time, it is also the center of the central county (Merkez). The former capital of the Ottoman Empire is now the administrative center of the province of the same name. In its history it bore the names Odrysai (Thracian), Orestia (ancient Greek) and Hadrianopolis (Latin, city of Hadrian).

In Edirne, the Sultans of the Ottoman Empire made peace three times, in 1568 with the Holy Roman Empire and in 1713 and 1829 with the Russian Empire.

Geography

Location

Edirne is located about 220 km west of Istanbul near the border triangle of Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey on the north bank of the Turkish-Bulgarian-Greek border river Meriç (Greek Evros, Bulgarian Mariza). The tributary Tunca (Greek Tonzos, Bulgarian Tundscha) reaches Edirne from the north, encompasses the western half of the city centre in a large arc with its wide flood bed, and flows into the Meriç Nehri south of the centre. The city has therefore hardly expanded to the west, but mainly to the southeast. The city lies in the fertile Thracian lowlands.

County

The central county (Merkez) of Edirne borders Lalapaşa County to the northeast, Süloğlu and Havsa Counties to the east, and Uzunköprü County to the south. The county shares a border with Bulgaria to the north and Greece to the west.

With an area of 844 km² it ranks third in the province, it is the most populous county with 180,901 inhabitants and with 214 inhabitants per square kilometre it also has the highest population density (provincial average: 66 inhabitants per km²). In addition to the county seat, the county consists of 37 villages (Köy) with an average of 330 inhabitants. Tayakadın, with 1537 inhabitants, is both the most populous and the only village with more than 1000 inhabitants.

Climate

Population

Population development

As a result of the constant changes of rulers, the population of the city is composed of Turks, Greeks, Armenians, Israelites, Jews and smaller nationalities. - The following table shows the comparative year-end population figures for the province, the central county and the city of Edirne, as well as their respective shares in the higher administrative level. The figures refer to the address-based population register (ADNKS) introduced in 2007.