Kirklareli

Kırklareli's name translates to "Forty Churches"—a Turkish rendering of the Byzantine Greek "Saranta Ekklisiès." The Bulgarian name, Lozengrad, means "Vineyard Town." Both names survive because this province has changed hands between empires more often than most: Thracian tribes, Romans (who called it Salmydessus), Byzantines, Bulgarians (914-1003, and briefly 1912-1913), and Ottomans from 1363. Each conquest left demographic residue; each treaty redrew populations.

The 1923 population exchange imposed the sharpest discontinuity. Under the Treaty of Lausanne, Greeks from Kırklareli were sent to Greece; Muslims from Thessaloniki were sent here. Most current inhabitants trace ancestry not to the Forty Churches of Byzantine legend but to the White Tower of Thessaloniki. The vineyards that gave the city its Bulgarian name survived the population exchange but not industrialization—wine production collapsed after World War I and only now shows signs of revival at boutique operations like Arcadia Vineyards.

The Istranca (Strandzha) Mountains define the province's northern character. These forested highlands—containing Mahya Peak at 1,031 meters, European Turkey's highest point—remained sparsely populated while the southern plains developed for agriculture. The 2007 designation of Longos Forest as a national park preserved what industrial development had bypassed. Below the mountains, the fertile Thracian plain produces dairy, cereals, tobacco, and sugar beets for processing in Tekirdağ's industrial corridor.

By 2026, Kırklareli's proximity to both Bulgaria (180km of shared border) and Istanbul (via Tekirdağ) positions it for logistics development. The wine revival signals possible premium agriculture futures. But the fundamental tension persists: northern forests remain underdeveloped while southern plains integrate into Istanbul's economic orbit.