The Cilician Plains, or Çukurova in Turkish, is a region on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. It's ringed by the pine-clad Taurus Mountains dropping sharply to a pancake-flat, sticky-hot agricultural land. Here and there are rocky outcrops topped by Crusader-era castles, remote Hittite sites and early Christian landmarks, but the most part it's modern, intensively farmed and industrial.
Cities
[edit]
- 1 Adana the regional capital has an old town plus huge modern mosque.
- 2 Çamlıyayla
is a small town with summer bungalows but no visitor accommodation. - 3 Karaisalı is in mountainous scenery near a historic railway route.
- 4 Pozantı is in the mountains astride the approach to Adana.
- 5 Karataş is a beach resort with a large marina.
- 6 Mersin is a busy industrial port.
- 7 Osmaniye is a large town, a base for outlying attractions such as Karatepe-Aslantaş National Park.
- 8 Tarsus was the birthplace of St Paul and has several antiquities.
- 9 Yumurtalık is a small beach resort. Its lagoon is a wetland nature reserve.
Other destinations
[edit]- 1 Akyatan Lagoon is a major stopover for migrating birds.
- 2 Karatepe-Aslantaş National Park encloses a Neo-Hittite settlement.
Understand
[edit]- - Cabbar, gözleri yaşararak: "İşte bu iyi," dedi. "Ağasız köy! Herkesin kazandığı, herkesin olacak."
- - "This is good," said Cabbar, his eyes filled with tears. "A village without a landowner! Everyone's gain will be everyone's."
- - "Memed, My Hawk" by Yaşar Kemal
Çukurova means "hollow plains", in contrast to the mountains hemming in this region. It's the largest tract of low-lying, fertile land in Turkey so it's always been agricultural, and fairly densely populated by ancient standards. It's intensively cultivated and urbanised, so beyond the museums there are few relics of the many civilisations that have dwelt here.
While the main Taurus massif to the west is described elsewhere as the Cilician Mountains, this page includes the narrow arc to the north separating the plains from the Anatolian plateau, the "Cilician Gates". These have always been a major barrier to transport, so the plains were connected as much to the Levant and Middle East as to Byzantine or Ottoman Turkey inland. That connection can be seen today in the oil and gas industries associated with the terminus of pipelines from the Caspian, and by the large numbers of Syrian and Kurdish refugees trying to eke out a living here. NATO jets scream out of İncirlik air base near Adana to war zones barely 15 minutes flying time away.
Modern civil engineering relishes a challenge like the Cilician Gates, and the motorway O-21 now slaloms through from Ankara to Adana. A first attempt to improve their precipitous passes was in 1903 when the Berlin to Baghdad railway was built, and sites associated with that heroic project cleave to the rock faces.
This was one of the last regions of Turkey to have a sizable nomadic population, moving seasonally between mountain and lowland farming. Small numbers of Yörük remain (the name means "walker" or "wanderer") on land that no-one else has yet coveted. Most became settled in the 1860s when the US Civil War cut off cotton supplies to Europe, Çukurova was turned over to lucrative cotton-growing to meet the demand, and nomads were drafted as labour - it was conscription not a job offer.
The works of Yaşar Kemal (1923–2015) are set against the painful changes of Çukurova as it underwent the overlapping agricultural, industrial and Turkish secular revolutions. His best known work Memed, My Hawk is set in the 1920s, where the baddie is a despotic landowner straight out of the Middle Ages, and our hero flees to the mountains where manly virtue makes a last stand. That was the era when Greeks were deported as part of the peace deal after the First World War, other non-Turks saw a better life abroad, and the region ceased to be multi-cultural.
Foreign tourism has hardly touched this region as the beaches and antiquities are far better further west. Nevertheless it is well developed for visitors, and oil and gas plus the military effort means a good standard of accommodation especially in Adana. Local tourism is driven by city dwellers who take summer homes in the mountains, and consider themselves the spiritual heirs of the nomads and of Memed while raging at their poor internet connection.
Get in
[edit]- 1 Çukurova airport (COV IATA) has frequent flights from Istanbul (both IST and SAW), and daily from other Turkish cities plus Ercan in Northern Cyprus; occasionally from Germany or Russia. It's near Tarsus, and in 2024 replaced Adana airport.
- Toll motorways are O-21 north, O-51 west, O-52 east and O-53 south. Toll-free highways are in good condition, for instance D-400 which hugs the Mediterranean coast then strikes inland towards the Iraq and Iran borders.
- One train runs daily from Kayseri to Adana, but mainline trains from Ankara and regional trains between Adana and Mersin are suspended while the railway is upgraded and a spur built to COV airport. Partial re-opening is promised for 2026 but the long-term plan for a high speed line to Gaziantep is years away.
- Varda Viaduct (pictured) is the one that James Bond is continually falling off, whenever Skyfall is repeated on TV. This is after he's let rip on a moving train with a mechanical digger, and they wonder why the Turkish travelling public prefers to go by road.
Get around
[edit]
Cities such as Adana sprawl but their sights are usually in a walkable historic area.
Sights in the mountains are a long way from amenities and public transport, so you need a vehicle. The distances are too great and the gradients too severe for cycling.
Buses ply the coastal D400 and other highways. If you're going part-route, check whether the bus visits your destination or flies past on the motorway.
Trains connecting Mersin, Tarsus, Adana and Osmaniye might resume in 2026, insha'allah.
See
[edit]- Tepebağ is the old quarter of Adana, with a surprising wealth of heritage for such a modern city. Its Grand Mosque is dwarfed by the humonguous Sabancı Mosque, built in 1998 in retro Ottoman style.
- Mersin Grand Mosque is a bleak modernist structure of the 1970s. Gaze upon it to understand why religious conservatives nowadays insist on retro architecture.
- Atatürk House pops up everywhere the great man stayed during the early Republican days. They're typically a wealthy merchant's mansion with period furniture, stiff waxworks, old photos and little signage in English - Mersin has a good example.
- Tomb of the Prophet Daniel is similarly here there and everywhere, with one of them in Tarsus. That town is best known as the birthplace of St Paul: as elsewhere, its early Christian churches have been re-purposed as mosques.
- Kapıkaya Canyon is the most dramatic scene of the construction of the Berlin-to-Baghdad railway from 1903. Belemedik is the remains of a workers' shanty town, and Varda Viaduct is one product of their labours.
- Karatepe-Aslantaş and Castabala are the best of the ancient ruins in the hills above Osmaniye.
Do
[edit]
- Hamams - traditional Turkish baths - are found in most towns, and are not at all touristy. This region doesn't have geothermal spas.
- Beaches are some way out from the towns. Karataş south of Adana is the most developed.
Eat
[edit]Trad Turkish everywhere. Each locality has its own version of kebabs: best known to visitors is Adana kebab.
Drink
[edit]- Alcohol is often served in cafes in large towns, but this is a conservative region.
- Şalgam suyu will re-define your concept of carrot juice. Originating in this region, it's a hot salty ferment with a garlic aftertaste. Find it fresh in late September, during the black carrot harvest.
- Meyan kökü şerbeti or liquorice root juice is likewise an acquired taste. It looks like a cola drink, but is acrid, somewhat like burnt coffee. Find it at street vendors.
Stay safe
[edit]Beware traffic and safeguard valuables, same as anywhere else.
Protect against bug bites, for all the usual reasons. As of 2025, malaria persists at low levels in this region from Plasmodium vivax. Do not take prophylactic anti-malarials, the potential harm outweighs the very low risk. But if you develop a high fever within two weeks of your visit, seek medical help right away.
Go next
[edit]- Cilician Mountains rise abruptly from the coast to the west, with a series of small ports with historic castles. Taşucu is the ferry port to reach Cyprus.
- Hatay to the east is where you feel the transition to the Middle East, in culture, cuisine and architecture.
- Cappadocia is the strange landscape north of the mountains, with the best of it around Göreme.
- Southeastern Anatolia northeast is rugged mountain scenery: the must-see is Mount Nimrod (Nemrut Dağı) with its surreal summit statues.