Vakıflı, Samandağ

Template: Infobox city in Turkey / Maintenance / county without inhabitants or surface

Vakifli (Armenian Վաքիֆ Vak'if ) is a village in the administrative district Samandağ the Turkish Hatay Province. Vakifli is about 27 km southwest of the provincial capital of Antakya and 5 kilometers north of Samandağ. Had Vakifli according to the last census in December 2009 123 inhabitants. Vakifli is approximately 9 km from the Mediterranean Sea. The population consists mainly of Apostolic Armenians. Vakifli is the last Armenian village in Turkey. The Armenians living here speak Western Armenian dialect.

History

The residents of Vakifli are the descendants of those Armenians who escaped the genocide in 1915 and at the nearby Musa Dagi found refuge. They fought 53 days long from the attacks of the Turkish troops, to the French navigator " in need Christians: saving " a banner with the inscription saw. The Armenian refugees were evacuated by the French in the Egyptian city of Port Said. After the French occupation of Turkey, 1918, the Armenian refugees returned to their seven villages back into the Hatay Province. After the peace treaty between Turkey and France on 29 June 1939, the State Hatay was annexed to Turkey and six of the seven villages were depopulated. Half of the residents of Vakifli left the village. The villagers immigrated mainly in Lebanon and were mainly settled in Anjar. The modern Anjar was founded in 1939 with the support of the French colonial power of several thousand Armenian refugees from Musa Dagi. The six districts are named after the six villages ( Haji Hababli, Kabusia, Vakif, Khodr Bek, Yoghun Oluk and Bitias ) of Musa Dagi. 2011 lived in Vakifli nor the 97 -year-old Avedis Demirci, who witnessed the resistance from the " Mountain of Moses " as a baby.

Economy and infrastructure

Between 1994 and 1997 the only church of Vakifli was restored with the support of the Turkish government and expanded. In 2005 the old school building was rebuilt with two other buildings in a Bed and Breakfast.

Due to lack of jobs left in the 2000s, about 500 people of the village and all of them live in Istanbul since then. They maintain very good relations with her ​​native village, are organized in associations and visit often during the summer holidays for their families. The Association for the Development of Vakifli has its headquarters in Istanbul. The aim of the association is to implement ecotourism in Vakifli.

The farmers turned increasingly to organic farming. The source of income was a time of growing organic oranges. In 2004, exported Vakifli organic oranges worth half a million euros. The proceeds were insufficient due to lack of arable land. The tourism in 2011 was an important source of income.