You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Turkish. (November 2020) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
View a machine-translated version of the Turkish article.
Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Turkish Wikipedia article at [[:tr:Susurluk]]; see its history for attribution.
You may also add the template {{Translated|tr|Susurluk}} to the talk page.
Susurluk is a municipality and district of Balıkesir Province, Turkey.[2] Its area is 652 km2,[3] and its population is 37,724 (2022).[1] It is famous for its production of soap and dairy products.[citation needed]
The highway from Istanbul to İzmir passes through Susurluk. In Turkey Susurluk is known for its 'tost' (susurluk tostu) - a toasted cheese sandwich with tomato paste, and for its foamy ayran. The mayor is Hakan Yıldırım Semizel (CHP).
History
Originally, the place where Susurluk is now located was an empty area of forest and swamp belonging to Karasi Bey. Under Bey's grandchildren, it was managed as a farm called Susığırlık. Later, in 1634, with raiders coming from Karaman, Hacı Hatip Oğulları, settled here. While Susığırlık was only a farm, it began to serve as a rest stop for caravans passing to Bursa and Istanbul. Later, it became crowded with Bulgarian and Caucasian immigrants who migrated to Anatolia during the 1858 and 1878 Turkish-Russian war and Turkmen tribes that were later settled by Ahmed Vefik Pasha.
On 3 November 1996 a car crash in the town made news headlines as the dead and injured included a parliamentary deputy, a right-wing gang leader, a former beauty queen and a senior police officer.[4]
The resulting political and social turmoil has come to be known as the Susurluk scandal, and the accident was described as definite proof of a link between politics, organized crime and the bureaucracy, known in Turkish as the derin devlet ("deep state").
Several people, including three former special forces members, were convicted of illegal activities and served prison terms.
