Develi

Develi is a town and district in Kayseri Province in Central Anatolia Region, Turkey.

History

The town's name is reported to derive from Devle Bey, a Seljuk commander of Alp Arslan, (not to be confused with later Sâhib Ata and Dulkadir Devle Beys), and who was also named Dev Ali ("Ali the Giant"), and leader of an Oghuz Turkish clan of the same or of a similar name (Devleoğlu or Develioğlu). The commander's 1094-built tomb stands near the Byzantine castle that he had captured (called Zengibar Castle today, not to be confused with homonymous castles in Malatya and Bozkır) and which commands the plain of Develi.

Zengibar was used as a name for the town until the first centuries of the Ottoman rule, as was Everek, the name of a town quarter today, through successive displacements of the center. The fact that the neighboring district of Yeşilhisar was historically named Develi Karahisar also sometimes led to confusion among the references relating to the two centers.

The town was once composed of four adjoining parts, the Turkish town center of Develi, Greek quarter of Agiostan (spelled as "Aygösten" in modern Turkish sources which cite the quarter and/or the name as Armenian), and the two Armenian neighborhoods of Evereg and Fenesse (which were separated from each other by the centrally situated Turkish quarter).