Elmali is a town and district in Antalya Province, the Mediterranean
region of Turkey. It lies about 35 km (22 mi) inland, near the town of
Korkuteli and 110 km (68 mi) west of the city of Antalya. In 2007, the
population for the whole district was 36.213, of which 14,038 live in
the town of Elmali. Formerly known as Kabali and Emelas.
Elmali is a small plateau at the head of a long upland valley in the
Beydaglari range of the western Taurus Mountains, surrounded by high
peaks including the 2500m Elmali Mountain. Aside from the town of
Elmali, the district includes two other small towns (Akcay and Yuva) as
well as villages. The area is watered by streams running off the
mountains. Although close to the Mediterranean, Elmali is high in the
mountains and has an inland climate of cold winters and hot summers,
(although still much cooler than the coast). Near to Lake Avlan there is
an area of cedar forest, rare in Turkey.
Excavations, by Machteld Mellink from Bryn Mawr College, of the
burial mounds of Semahöyük and Müren have shown signs of copper
production dating back to 2500 BC. The area was later a key town in the
north of the antique province of Lycia,
and the Lycian Way trade route came through here. It was a small town
of Asia Minor in the province of Konya in the Ottoman era, then the
administrative centre of the ancient Lycia, but not itself corresponding
to any known ancient city. According to Britannica, the town was
inhabited by direct descendants of the ancient Lycians, who had
preserved a distinctive facial type, noticeable at once in the town
population. There were about fifty Greek families, the rest of the
population (4000) being Moslem (as of 1911). The plain was subsequently
controlled by the Ancient Romans, Byzantines, and the Seljuk Turks. The
town was the headquarters of Beylik of Teke clan of Anatolian Turkish
Beyliks when it was brought into the Ottoman Empire at the time of
Sultan Bayezid I. It remained a key mountain stronghold in the Ottoman
period and through the early years of the Turkish republic, but has
declined as recent generations have left the dry mountainside for jobs
on the coast or in Turkey’s major cities.
The district’s economy is largely agricultural; 37% of the land is
planted. In keeping with its name, (literally apple-town) Elmali
produces 12% of the Turkey’s apples. Other fruit and vegetables are
grown here too, the local leblebi (dried chick peas) is delicious.
Few tourists come to Elmali although the town is beginning to attract
visitors thanks to its rich traditional architecture and beautiful
mountain surroundings; these people are either day-trippers or passing
through en route to the Mediterranean coast, but do bring important
income to the area. Also some residents of the coastal towns such as
Finike, Fethiye or Kas
have holiday homes in Elmali, a retreat from the summer heat on the
coast. There is little industry or manufacturing in the district, only a
brickworks, flour and feed mills, and a fruit juice plant.
Most people live in cottages and wooden houses, but there are some
apartment buildings in Elmali itself, a small town of 14,500 people with
banks and other essential services. The infrastructure in the villages
is basically little more than telephones, and elementary schools. Each
village used to have a traditional guest house (köy evi) but many are in
disrepair today.
The cuisine is typical of Anatolia, you will find ladies grilling the
flat bread gözleme by the roadside, but Elmali is known for its various
ways of using sesame, including baked beans served with a lemon and
sesame relish (Antalya usulu
piyaz). Another local speciality is a goats milk ice-cream. And of
course one of the most delicious things in Elmali is the cool mountain
spring water. Or a glass of tea made with it.