Kızılırmak Delta

The Kızılırmak River's delta in northern Turkey is the third largest in the country. Formed where the river flows into the Black Sea, the delta has the biggest wetland in the region, with many coastal lagoons. The wetland is a key biodiversity area and the most important Ramsar site in Turkey.

With more than 500 kinds of plants and three-quarters of Turkey's bird species, the delta's reserve lets migrating birds rest and feed after the Black Sea crossing. Water buffalo provide milk and meat. The reserve is popular with tourists, particularly on weekends.

The land is some of the most fertile in Turkey: more than half is farmed. The town of Bafra on the delta and the nearby coastal city of Samsun made money from tobacco farming in the 19th and 20th centuries, but in the 2020s the main crop is rice.

The river was channelized near its mouth in the 2010s, which reduced bird habitat. The ecology of the delta is being damaged, such as by eutrophication of some lakes due to fertilizer in water running off fields. The coastline is receding because sediment is caught in upstream dams, and this is forecast to continue. There is a management plan for the delta until 2034, but it is not widely available.

History

A little more than 2000 years ago Greek geographer Strabo described the plains east of the mouth of the river around the town of Gadilon as abundant in fruit, deer, gazelle, and soft-wooled sheep. During the rule of the Ottoman Empire and the early years of the Republic of Türkiye, malaria was widespread in the marshes, and the delta was occupied seasonally. Meanwhile, the higher lands above the delta supported tobacco and hazelnut farming. Tobacco cultivation continued into the 20th century, and Bafra has a tobacco museum to preserve this heritage.

As in some other parts of the country, much of the population was forcibly exchanged between Greece and Turkey in the early 20th century. After the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, which saw the loss of land for the Turkish state, malaria hindered attempts to resettle migrants from the lost land (for example by killing people who had moved from Circassia); water drainage efforts began in the 1960s to combat mosquitos and provide agricultural land for migrants from Circassia and Turkey's eastern Black Sea region. Roma also grew tobacco in the delta. Members of the Yörük ethnic group settled the delta in the early 20th century and raised camels there until the 1990s. Several Yörük villages exist in the delta, including Yörükler in 19 Mayıs.

Water drainage efforts allowed rice production in the delta to expand and become the delta's dominant crop. Many peasants moved to the delta in the second half of the 20th century. State Hydraulic Works, a state agency, became responsible for managing wetlands in the mid-20th century. Encouraged by the government, some of the delta's woodlands were felled in the 1950s and 1960s to make space for agriculture and search for oil. Dams built on the Kızılırmak, such as the Altınkaya Dam in 1988 and the Derbent Dam in 1990, prevented the lower delta from flooding and allowed for more agriculture on the former floodplains. Soil lost upriver due to deforestation and agriculture had been expanding the delta. However, the dams reduced annual sedimentation from 23 million tonnes to about 300 thousand tonnes, increasing the effects of erosion due to the loss of sediments, especially on the eastern side.

In the late 20th century, the ecological value of the marshes was recognized, and attempts to protect them began, although residents opposed restrictions on agriculture and building. In 1998, the marshes were designated a Ramsar site. Some illegally-built holiday homes were demolished by the Samsun Council in 2015. In 2016 Turkey nominated the wetland as a World Heritage Site: although it did not meet the International Union for Conservation of Nature criteria, as of 2025 Turkey has kept it on the tentative list. Since 2017, hunting has been banned in part of the delta. Between 2014 and 2019, the last 6 km of the river before its mouth were channalized, which caused habitat fragmentation and loss.

Traditionally, clean water and certain plants and animals were considered sacred, and there were restrictions on the times and manners in which certain organisms could be killed. Various festivals were held, including a stork festival, a festival for the spring release of water buffaloes, and a sheep breeding festival. These beliefs and practices, though prevalent among older residents, have largely not been passed to the younger generations.

Geography

The Kızılırmak is the longest river entirely within Turkey and has the country's second largest drainage basin. The delta covers an area of about 56,000 hectares, of which 11,600 are wetland ecosystems and related habitats, north of the Black Sea coastal road in the Ondokuz Mayıs, Bafra and Alaçam districts. Bafra (80% of the district is in the delta) – which has about 150,000 people – is the largest of the three municipalities located in the delta; the other two are 19 Mayıs (15%) and Alaçam (5%). In addition to these three towns, more than 30 villages are located in the delta. Most of the plain is used for agriculture. From 2010 to 2020, water surface and built-upon areas increased, and the amount of arable land decreased.