Dernekpazarı


Dernekpazarı is a district of Trabzon Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey.The old name of the town was Kondu and the current mayor of the town is Mehmet Aşık. Dernekpazarı is part of the Of-valley system ; it lies between the coastal Of district and the alpine Çaykara district.

History

The colonists are considered the very first founders of Dernekpazari, but some historians argue that there were some Central Asian originated sedentary tribe people in town before colonists. The history of Dernekpazari is highly related to the history of the Trabzon and depending who is ruling the Trabzon Province, the town ruled by ancient Greeks, Persians, Romans, Byzantine Greeks and Ottoman Turks. While most of the villagers in the valley converted to Islam during the 17th and 18th centuries, some of the residents of the Dernekpazarı area retained their Christian faith. In the wake of the population exchange between Greece and Turkey in 1923 these Christian families chose to resettle in Greece, in the village of Nea Trapezounta. The Of-dialect of Pontic Greek is still spoken in the district.

Villages

The villages are listed north to south, with their Turkish and Greek names:
The following villages are part of the 'Holo' community in the southwest of the district: