Ordu Province

Ordu Province is a province and metropolitan municipality of Turkey, located on the Black Sea coast. Its area is 5,914 km2, and its population is 763,190 (2022). Its adjacent provinces are Samsun to the northwest, Tokat to the southwest, Sivas to the south, and Giresun to the east. Its license-plate code is 52. The capital of the province is the city of Ordu.

Geography


Ordu is a strip of Black Sea coast and the hills behind, historically an agricultural and fishing area and in recent years, tourism has seen an increase, mainly visitors from Russia and Georgia, as Ordu boasts some of the best beaches, rivers, and lush, green mountains on the Black Sea coast. Walking in the high pastures is now a popular excursion for Turkish holidaymakers. The higher altitudes are covered in forest.

Melet River, Bolaman River, Elekçi River, Turnasuyu Stream, Akçaova Stream and Civil Stream are the main rivers of the province. The topography of the province is not conducive to lake formation and only two major lakes, Gaga Lake and Ulugöl, are present in Ordu.

Economy
The economy of the province depends on agriculture. Ordu is famous for hazelnuts. Turkey as a whole produces about 70 percent of the world's hazelnuts, and Ordu is the chief producer in Turkey, responsible for 150,000–180,000 tonnes per year, which amounts to around 30% of Turkey's production. Hazelnuts production takes around 88% of Ordu's arable land, the remainder mainly consists of corn and wheat fields. Whilst covering only 0.1% of the arable land of the province, Ordu's kiwi production is the second largest in the country after Yalova. Beekeeping is also important in Ordu, which produced in 2010 12.8% of honey produced in Turkey.

Demographics
In recent decades many people from Ordu have migrated away to jobs in Istanbul, Bursa, Samsun, Sakarya or abroad (espacially to Austria).

Districts
Ordu province is divided into 19 districts:


 * Akkuş
 * Altınordu
 * Aybastı
 * Çamaş
 * Çatalpınar
 * Çaybaşı
 * Fatsa
 * Gölköy
 * Gülyalı
 * Gürgentepe
 * İkizce
 * Kabadüz
 * Kabataş
 * Korgan
 * Kumru
 * Mesudiye
 * Perşembe
 * Ulubey
 * Ünye

Places to see
Ordu has an attractive coast including pretty bays and the cleanest and longest beaches on this stretch of the Black Sea coast. Specific sites include: Perşembe Yaylası Aybastı
 * Kurul Castle
 * Boztepe – a 460 m hill above the city.
 * Karagöl – a crater lake at 3107 m, above the plateau of Çambaşı
 * Yason (Jason) point – a headland in Perşembe
 * Çambaşı Yaylası a high plateau

Well-known residents

 * Fikri Sönmez – left-wing mayor of Fatsa in the period leading up to the 1980 Turkish coup d'état