1. Introduction

2. History Of Samsun

3. Samsun’s Situation In The Years Of Armistice
     3.1. Disjunctive Activities Of Rum-Pontus Association

4. Some Important Events Related To Samsun During The Republic Period

1. Introduction

The city of Samsun where Atatürk started the Turkish War of Independence on May 19, 1919; has a special place in the history of Turkish independency. Samsun has been a trade and culture center, and a harbor city since the ancient times. It has stayed as the same until this day. It still has this feature, today. It is a window of Central Anatolia that opens to Black Sea. It has highway, airway, seaway, and railway communications.

Samsun which has a special role for the beginning of the National War of Independency and for the establishment of the modern Turkish Republic, has been an important center of the Black Sea Region and our country in the history of our republic. Even though it has natural and economic resources that cannot be evaluated properly, it is still the biggest city of the Black Sea Region in terms of population, industry, trade, natural and cultural wealths.

Mountains that lie down as adherent to the coasts along the East Black Sea, draw away towards the midlands and give Samsun two of our country’s big and fertile savannas, and then they go on their way as parallel to the coastal. Fertile Çarşamba and Bafra savannas; Yeşilırmak and Kızılırmak which vitalize these savannas are geographical characteristic features of Samsun. Agricultural products that are cultivated in these savannas are the real factors of our country’s industrial and commercial existence.

Samsun’s soil size is 957.888 ha. and 46.87% of this size is agricultural area. Primary products which are cultivated here are tobacco, wheat, rice, sugar beet, corn, hazelnut, sun flower, fruits, and vegetables. By reason of the city’s agricultural situation, the agricultural industry needs to be developed and induced.

Industrial zone is nearly completed; and completion works of Kavak and Bafra industrial zones are continuing.

By adding new and different departments and faculties every year, Ondokuz Mayıs University has been developed; and it has 30,000 students now. Our university is cultural center and pride resource of Samsun.

Samsun is the center of the region because of its geographical position; so it is possible to find almost all district directorates of every firm.

2. History Of Samsun

Samsun is a very old residential area for the history of humanity. With the inclusion of today’s city center, people have been living in Kızılırmak valley, Kavak, Tekkeköy, and Çarşamba savannas.

In the middle stone age ( B.C 10000 - 5000) it is known that people were living in the asylums in Tekkeköy and they are the primal residents of the region. Again, in Neolithic and Calcolithic periods, it is known from the excavations that people were living in Dündar Tepe, Kalenderoğlu, and Bafra İkiztepe.

The primal community that lived in Samsun by establishing a state is Gashkas. Also this community is called as Gasgas ( B.C 5000 – 3500). After this known primal community, Paflagons who were in control of the whole North Anatolian, lived in Kızılırmak Basin ( B.C. 3000 – 1100). Hittites ( B.C. 2000 – 1200), Phrygians ( B.C 1182 – 676), Kimmers ( B.C. 676), Lydia’s ( B.C. 1200- 547, they constructed a site called ENETE in the place which is known as Kara Samsun today).

Milletlies (Ionia), (B.C. 2000 – B.C. 400), settled down to ENETE from Aegean by using Black Sea way, and they called ENETE as “Amisus” or “Amisos”. As the result of the beating of Krezus who is the king of the Lidia, against Persians ( B.C. 550-330), the Persian Empire captured the Amisos in B.C. 546. In B.C. 331, Alexander the Great defeated the Persian Empire, Macedonia Empire captured the Amisos. After the death of Alexander the Great, Kont Kingdom whose origins are based on the Persian Empire was established ( B.C. 255-63). Amisos became the capital city of Kont Kingdom. Later that, in the firs century before Christ, Amisos entered the dominance of the Roman Empire. After the Roman Empire was divided into two branches, Amisos stayed inside the borders of Byzantine Empire in A.C. 385. Although in A.C.860, during the Abbacy Period, with the order of Caliph Mutassım, Amisos was captured by the armed forces which were under the command of dreadful Omar; but Byzantine Empire took it back later. After Turks had come to Anatolian, Samsun was beleaguered by Danişmentliler, but it could not be obtained. During the Anatolian Seljuk Empire, Muslim residential areas of Samsun were captured by Anatolian Seljuk Empire in 1185. For the first time, the name Amisos was changed and it became Samsun. After the Crusade, Trabzon became the capital city. Then, Cenevizliler, had a dominance on the trade in Black Sea; so they lived here approximately 100 years. In this period, Samsun where the Turks lived was called as “Muslim Samsun”, and trade site of the Cenevizliler which is 3 km away from the Muslim Samsun, was called as “non-Muslim Samsun”.

In 1071, after Manzikert War, after Seljuks created the Muslim Samsun by constructing a castle at the coast of Samsun; with Kösedağ War in 1243, Trabzon Rum Empire captured Samsun; but then, in 1296, Samsun was captured by Anatolian Turks. In 1389, during Yıldırım Beyazıt period, it became a part of Ottoman Empire. While Anataolian Seljuks Empire was collapsing, it became capital city of Canik Principality.

3. Samsun’s Situation in the Years of Armistice

3.1. Disjunctive Activities of Rum-Pontus Association

Disjunctive activities were spread to Anatolia at the beginning of the 20th century. Rums in the East Black Sea were one of the parties which were acting to construct an independent state. In 1904, a party which was called as “Pontus-Rum Association” was established in the American College which is in Merzifon and it was spread quickly. This association which is established by a teacher called Papadopoulos, went on its organization with the leadership of Mr. White who is school director and on the other hand, it took support of the Allies. In the Anatolian College which is in Merzifon, there were no Turkish students. There were 135 students at the school; 108 of them were Armenian, 27 of them were Rum. School director was a father like the other schools. In 1983, some demonstrations were held against the state, the father of the Merzifon Anatolian College director was one of the planners of these demonstrations.

Pontus Association which organized in many towns in a short while, started to organize with new associations in the region. Its primary association was Müdafa-i Meşruta. On the other side, it was trying to give guns every people who are older than 20. Müdafa-i Meşruta association which opened 14 offices within the short time, had offices in Çarşamba, Bafra, Havza, and Kavak. Besides this, it had an office called “Holy Anatolian Rum Association” which was acting towards cooperation with European countries.

During the First World War, the divider Rums who got the open support of the Allies, by working harder and harder, they managed to take guns from Tsarist Russia. After the Montrose Armistice, English people gave the Samsun Rums 10.000 rifles, in accordance with the request of Rum patriarchate in Istanbul and Greece, in the last 50 years, 50.000 Rums were settled down to Samsun and its neighborhood as “emigrant”. 25.000 of them held a place for “Pontus Gangs” and by making sabotage, killing, and injuring they started to make genocides.

On May 19, 1919 when Mustafa Kemal reached Samsun as the 9th Army Inspector; the English soldiers were in the city and they were an important military force in the region including Merzifon. Mustafa Kemal sent a report to General Stuff on May 21. In this report, he declared that there were approximately 40 disjunctive Rum gangs in Samsun and its neighborhood; the Muslim society was living in apprehension and anxiety; some Laz gangs were brought to the region in exchange of money as a precaution against the Rum gangs and were used against Rum attacks. One of the most powerful Laz gangs was “Lame Osman Gang”. It was arranging attacks against Rum gangs in almost everywhere of the region. It was putting the Rum gangs on the spot. Lame Osman was one of the first person who was met by Mustafa Kemal in Samsun.

After the Greek navy bombed Inebolu on June 9, 1921, Rum gangs raised their frenzies. So; Ankara Government decided to remove the Rum population in the Black Sea to the other regions. The central army under the command of Nurettin Pasha which was established in Sivas took the getting rid of movement duty. Central Army Commandership took arrest decision for people who support Pontus ideas, and started to capture them one by one. American College in Merzifon was shut down and its directors were sent to outside of the country. By the way, Samsun and Trabzon metropolitan centers were attacked and a lot of documents and guns were captured. When the Allies started to make these precautions against Rums ineffective, they were given the note below by Turkish Grand National Assembly Foreign Affairs:

“Rum Patriarchate in Istanbul and Greece have revitalized the idea of Pontus State. In Samsun and Marmara Sea more than 200,000 Turks have been killed. Turkish women have been raped, and their villages have been set on fire. Rums, whose origins are based on Turks, are given guns by Greece. They are being transported to inside of the Anatolian to make Black Sea Rums ineffective. 2.500 rifles and more than 1.000.000 bullets have been captured from the Rum villages in Samsun zone.”

Central Army was strengthened and its number was raised. From the beginning of the year 1922, rebellion of Pontus was started to be controlled. National forces sent to region for this purpose, started to loot Rum villages and their supportive places. At the end, ringleaders of Rums who had the dream of Pontus State and their aiders were completely destroyed. 10,886 Rum gangs which were captured by Central Army were partially forgiven. 11,188 Rums who did not surrender and continued to resist were killed. At the beginning of the year 1923, Rum women and children were sent to Greece with ships. So; the dream of Pontus came to the end.

4. Cumhuriyet Döneminde Samsunla İlgili Olarak Gerçekleşen Bazı Önemli Olaylar

• Mustafa Kemal Pasha reached Samsun on May 19, 1919.
• Mustafa Kemal Pasha came to Samsun again on September 20, 1924.
• Vezirköprü County was taken from the city Amasya and attached to Samsun.
• Cigarette factory which was belonged to French, was handed over to Tekel.
• Electricity Network was opened in 1927.
• Water network was set up in 1929.
• Gazi Library was opened on October 29, 1930.
• Samsun – Sivas railways was opened in 1932.
• In 1934, Kavak nook became a county.
• In 1944 Alaçam nook became a county.
• In 1946 Tuberculosis Fight Dispensary was opened.
• SSK Hospital was opened in 1953.
• Public Education Center was opened in 1954
• Samsun Airport was opened in 1957
• Red Crescent Blood Center was established in 1959.
• In 1960, Samsun Harbor was opened.
• In 1961, Samsun Fair was opened.
• Black Sea Copper Enterprises were opened in 1968.
• In 1970, Samsun Azote Factory started to make production.
• In 1973, Municipality Palace was opened.
• In 1979, Samsun was opened to intercity full automatic telephone calls.
• 19 Mayıs University started to education in 1982.
• In 1993, Samsun got the Big City Status.
• In 1996, Samsun drinking and using water project was completed.
• In 1997, Samsun was considered as preferential region in development. It was put into practice in January, 1998.
• In 1998, Samsun – Çarşamba International Airport was officially opened. In February, 1999 travels were started.