Kıyıköy

Kıyıköy, historically Medea (Мидия; Μήδεια; Midye), is a town (belde) in the Vize District, Kırklareli Province, Turkey. Its population is 2,160 (2022). It is on the Black Sea coast, from Vize and away from Kırklareli. It became a municipality in 1987. Fishing, forestry and tourism are the main local sources of income. The town has a small beach while the surrounding area is covered by dense forest mainly of oak. Two streams, the Kazandere and the Pabuçdere, surround the town in the south and north respectively and flowi into the Black Sea. The Kasatura Bay Nature Reserve Area is south of the town along the Black Sea and offers a pristine forest and beach. The only naturally growing grove of black pine (Pinus nigra) in Turkish Rumelia is found here. The town hosts the onshore terminal of the Turkstream pipeline from Russia. Kıyıköy is identified with Salmydessus, where according to Greek mythology the Argonauts rescued Phineus from the Harpies. Later it became Medea/Midye, a name which means merely 'Middle' in Greek. It was occupied by Imperial Russian troops after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, and later by Bulgarians and Greeks following the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913. According to the Treaty of London, the border of the Ottoman Empire passed through the town for a brief period after the First Balkan War; the border was known as the "Midye-Enez Line" (Midye-Enez Hattı) or the Enos-Midia line since the town's name was still Midye at the time. The border was moved further west after the Ottomans regained some territory after the Second Balkan War. According to the terms of the population exchange between Greece and Turkey that took place in 1923, the mostly Greek and Bulgarian Christian residents of the town were replaced by Turks from Thessaloniki in Greece because of their wide knowledge of maritime matters. In 1960, the settlement's name was changed from Midye to Kıyıkent because the former was regarded as a foreign-language name.