| Settlement Type: | City |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Timezone: | TRT |
| Utc Offset: | +3 |
| Official Name: | Denizli |
| Image Blank Emblem: | Denizli city emblem.png |
| Blank Emblem Type: | Emblem of Denizli Metropolitan Municipality |
| Subdivision Type1: | Region |
| Subdivision Name1: | Aegean Region |
| Subdivision Type2: | Province |
| Subdivision Name2: | Denizli Province |
| Elevation M: | 324 |
| Population Footnotes: | [1] |
| Population Urban: | 651200 |
| Population As Of: | 2022 |
| Pushpin Map: | Turkey #Europe #Asia |
| Pushpin Relief: | 1 |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of Denizli |
| Coordinates: | 37.7833°N 29.0964°W |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code |
| Postal Code: | 20x xx |
| Area Code: | (0090) 258 |
| Blank Name: | Licence plate |
| Blank Info: | 20 |
| Leader Title: | Mayor |
| Leader Name: | Bülent Nuri Çavuşoğlu[2] (CHP) |
| Website: | www.denizli.bel.tr |
Denizli is a city in Aegean Turkey, and seat of the province of Denizli. The city forms the urban part of the districts Merkezefendi and Pamukkale, with a population of 651,200 in 2022.[1]
Denizli has seen economic development in the last few decades, mostly due to textile production and exports.[3] [4]
Denizli also attracts visitors to the nearby mineral-coated hillside hot spring of Pamukkale, and with red color thermal water spa hotels Karahayıt, just 5km (03miles) north of Pamukkale. Recently, Denizli became a major domestic tourism destination due to the various types of thermal waters in Sarayköy, Central/Denizli (where Karahayıt and Pamukkale towns are located), Akköy (Gölemezli), Buldan (Yenicekent), and Çardak districts.
The ancient ruined city of Hierapolis, as well as ruins of the city of Laodicea on the Lycus, the ancient metropolis of Phrygia, are nearby. Also in the vicinity of Honaz, about west of Denizli is, what was, in the 1st century AD, the city of Colossae.
The weather is hot in Denizli in summers, whereas in winters, it may occasionally be very cold with snow on the mountains that surround the city. Some years, snow can be observed in the urban areas. Springs and autumns are rainy, with a mild warm climate.
The word deniz means 'sea, large lake'. No sea or lake can be found near Denizli. However, the original Turkish name for the place was Tonguzlu, pronounced as toŋuzlu or doŋuzlu, later donuzlu (from toŋuz 'wild boar'). Thus Tonguzlu means a 'place where boars dwell'. Because of the phonetical process (t->d, ŋ->n), the name was changed into denizlü or denizli, similar in pronunciation but different in meaning, in order to avoid the connotation 'boar, pig', which is considered offensive in Islam.[5] Ibn Battuta recorded that the city was called Dun Ghuzluh. The latter is said to mean 'the town of the swine'.[6]
In antiquity, it was an important Greek town, called Attouda (Αττούδα), that existed through the ancient Greek and Roman eras; it was near the cities (Hierapolis and Laodicea on the Lycus) and flourished through the Byzantine period.
The city was conquered by the Seljuk Turks. Inhabitants of Laodicea were also resettled here in the Seljuk period.[7]
Ibn Battuta visited the city, noting that "In it there are seven mosques for the observance of Friday prayers, and it has splendid gardens, perennial streams, and gushing springs. Most of the artisans there are Greek women, for in it are many Greeks who are subject to the Turks and who pay dues to the sultan, including the jizya, and other taxes."[8]
In the 17th century, the Ottoman traveller Evliya Çelebi visited Denizli and recorded the town as follows: "The city is called by Turks as (Denizli) (which means has abundant of water sources like sea in Turkish) as there are several rivers and lakes around it. In fact it is a four-day trip from the sea. Its fortress is of square shape built on flat ground. It has no ditches. Its periphery is 470 steps long. It has four gates. These are: painters gate in North, saddle-makers gate in the East, new Mosque gate in the South, and vineyard gate in the West. There are some fifty armed watchmen in the fortress, and they attend the shop. The main city is outside the fortress with 44 districts and 3600 houses. There are 57 small and large mosques and district mosques, 7 madrasahs, 7 children's schools, 6 baths and 17 dervish lodges. As everybody lives in vineyards the upper classes and ordinary people do not flee from each other."
The city lived in peace for centuries without being involved in wars in a direct manner. Following World War I, during the Turkish War of Independence, the Greek Army managed to capture and come as close as Sarayköy, a small town 200NaN0 northwest of Denizli, but did not venture into Denizli. They were then ousted from the region by Mustafa Kemal Pasha. The most widespread symbols of Denizli province are of textile industry.
Denizli has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa or Trewartha: Cs), with hot, dry summers and mild to cool, rainy winters. The inland areas, like Çardak, Bozkurt, Çivril, and Çal districts/counties of the province are cooler and have a higher elevation than the seaside, western part of the Province. Therefore, there are climatic differences within the province and even in the Denizli urbanized area. The land is open to winds coming from the Aegean Sea as the mountains are perpendicular to the coastline.
Highest recorded temperature:44.4C on 15 August 2007
Lowest recorded temperature:-11.4C on 9 February 1965[9]
During World War I, Denizli mined chromium.[10]
Denizli Çardak Airport is about 45 minutes drive from the city center.
The extension of İzmir-Aydın highway to Denizli has been announced for several years. Initial infrastructure was laid in Aydın, but the rest is still forthcoming. The present Aydın-Denizli road, has a very high level of traffic, especially trucks, with each town along the road possessing its own industrial zone.
See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Turkey. Denizli is twinned with:[11]
Brăila, Romania, since 2005
Isani (Tbilisi), Georgia, since 1993
Jiaozhou, China, since 2004
Muan, South Korea, since 2009
Pavlodar, Kazakhstan, since 1995Denizli also cooperates with Bursa and Tokat in Turkey.[11]