Kirk Kilisse
| Kırklareli | |
|---|---|
| Municipality | |
 Kırklareli
|
|
| Coordinates: 41°44′05″N 27°13′31″E / 41.73472°N 27.22528°ECoordinates: 41°44′05″N 27°13′31″E / 41.73472°N 27.22528°E | |
| Country | Turkey |
| Province | Kırklareli |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Mehmet Siyami Kesimoglu (CHP) |
| Area | |
| • District | 1,528.20 km2 (590.04 sq mi) |
| Population (2012) | |
| • Urban | 67,360 |
| • District | 88,956 |
| • District density | 58/km2 (150/sq mi) |
| Website | www |
Kırklareli is the capital of Kırklareli Province in Eastern Thrace, on the European part of Turkey. It is also the name of the district of the same name.
It is not clearly known when the city was founded, nor under what name. The Byzantine Greeks called it Saranta Ekklisiès (Σαράντα Εκκλησιές, meaning forty churches). In the 14th century this was translated to Turkish and called "Kırk Kilise". Following the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923, sanjaks became cities and on December 20, 1924, Kırk Kilise's name was changed to Kırklareli, meaning The Place of the Forties. The denomination Kırklareli was already used years before 1924, for example in the contemporary literature concerning the Balkan Wars of 1912–13. The Bulgarian name of the town is Lozengrad (Лозенград) which means Vineyard Town. (see also its other names)
Ongoing archeological excavations in the city support the claim that the area was the location of one of the first organized settlements on the European continent, with artifacts from the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods.
The settlement and its surrounding areas were conquered by the Persians in 513–512 BC, during the reign of King Darius I.
In 914 during the Bulgarian invasion in Adrianople led by Simeon I, the settlement was captured by the Bulgarians and was under Bulgarian rule until 1003 when it was lost to the Byzantines.
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Wikipedia