Karaisalı is a municipality and district of Adana Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,165 km2, and its population is 22,042 (2022). The area contains the reservoirs of Çatalan and Nergizlik. There is a wrestling tournament in late-April to early-May at Salbaş and a countryside festival in the last week of August at Kızıldağ.

History

In Greek and Roman times there was a town here named Midelle. Throughout history, the town was controlled by several kingdoms, such as the Seljuk Turks and Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. Following the arrival of the Turks in the area the name was changed to Çeceli and inhabited by the Yüreğir and Menemencioğulları and Ramazanoğulları tribes. Between 1481 and 1496 the town was controlled by the Mamluk Sultanate and once it was defeated by the Ottoman sultan Selim I, he left the control of the town to the Ramazanoğulları dynasty as a vassal state. The current name Karaisalı was later given in memory of a Ramazanoğulları lord. Right before his death in 1520 however, Selim I decided to formally annex the town and the surrounding region into the Ottoman Empire. The town was not occupied by the Allies during the Turkish War of Independence in the early 1920s and became a centre of Turkish resistance against the Allies for the Çukurova area.

Composition

There are 62 neighbourhoods in Karaisalı District:

Climate

Karaisalı has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa) with mild, rainy winters and very hot, dry, yet muggy summers.

Places of interest

Notable people

Long-term mayor of Adana, Aytaç Durak is from Karaisalı and during his term the district was included in the Metropolitan Municipality of Adana.