NAVAL CITY GOLCUK HISTORY

Navy City Golcuk and its neighborhood have a very old and rich historical background. When you look at the history of South Coast of Izmit Gulf; it´s seen that frrom BC VIII century Phrygians, Lydian´s, and Persian, BC 378 the Kingdom of Britain reined in this region.

This region joined Roman Empire later and after the partition of Roman Empire Eastern Rome (Byzantium) reined this region. It was exposed to many Arabian attacks when it was in the reign of Byzantium. Seljuk´s captured it in 1075 for a short time but it was taken back by the Crusaders in 1101. It had been under the control of Byzantium and Crusaders until Ottomans took it back.

Golcuk was conquered by Karamursel Bey who was born in Akcakoca. In 1326 a big part of the region was given to Cavalry soldiers. Ottoman in their early years used to immigrate to the new lands especially to the countryside and tribes used to settle those places.  When Golcuk was captured people settled in and new settlements were built later. Villages are called by the people´s tribe names who established them. According to the records of Sultan Kanuni period Degirmendere and Golcuk were used as settlements.

We can see Hasan Zobuoglu as a member of National Forces in the war of Independence. Golcuk and its neighborhood were taken back in 1922 after the destruction of Ottoman Empire.

We can start today´s Golcuk history with the Yavuz (a battleship). In the First World War when Yavuz anchored at Izmit Gulf in 1924 there used to be small port and nothing more than a few houses. When the ship was fixed the place where there was a pond became a shipyard. This place is a lake of which 3 out of 4 surrounded by the land. The origin of our city´s name “Golcuk” is that lake.

Golcuk became a city gradually after 1150´s and its location in the industrialized zone (Izmit – Yalova – ­Bursa) has had an important role on its development. As Izmit has been an industrialized City, there has been a rapid development in building in Golcuk and that caused a lot of people frrom different cities to have moved to Golcuk.

While becoming a modern city, Golcuk damaged by the well known earthquake of Marmara in 1999. After recovering, the lower side of Bursa – Izmit highway was left and new settlements were built on the hills. With its City Library, Culture Center, Sports Complex, Children Centre, Art Center, Community Center, University, Recreation Areas, Marina, City Center and the efforts of  building new green lands, Golcuk said        “Hello – Buenos das -  Guten Tag -  Bonjour -  Buongiorno – Goddag ” to new life.

Its decreased population frrom 77 to 56 thousand) began to increase.  With the establishing of Ford Auto Factory and University Began to develop again. Our city has become a beautiful city and ready for the new developments.