Turkey / Cities and Towns /
Town in northwestern Turkey with 30,000 inhabitants (2004 estimate), situated in the Karasu River, a tributary of the Sakrya River. It is the capital of Bilecik province with 195,000 inhabitants (2004 estimate).
The economy is based upon the surrounding agriculture and small-scale industries.
Bilecik is well connected to nearby urban centres by rail and road, like Adapazari 100 km north and Eskisehir 75 km southeast.
Bilecik has an old town climbing up the hill central in town. Nearby are the mausoleums of Seyh Edebali, one of the founders of the Ottoman Empire, and of Orhan Gazi.
The history of Bilecik goes back to the early 2nd millenium BCE.
1298: Captured from the Byzantines by the first Ottoman ruler, Bey Osman 1.
1919- 22: Large parts destroyed during the Turkish War of Independence.