EÃÂirdir is a town in Isparta Province in the Mediterranean Region of Turkey. It is the seat of EÃÂirdir District. Its population is 16,759 (2022).
EÃÂirdir is located on a peninsula in Lake EÃÂirdir, with two nearby islands that are now connected to the mainland by a causeway. In the Middle Ages, the town was the capital of a small principality.
EÃÂirdir is located near the south end of Lake EÃÂirdir, on a peninsula extending northwards into the lake. Immediately southwest of EÃÂirdir is a mountain called EÃÂirdirsivrisi or Camili daÃÂñ, which rises to 1,733 m above sea level. Northeast of EÃÂirdir are two islands called Can Ada and Yeà Âil Ada, which are now connected to the mainland by a causeway. Yeà Âil Ada was formerly called Nis Ada, probably derived from Greek ý÷ÃÂï (nesÃÂ) "island". The town is located about 110 km north of Antalya.
EÃÂirdir has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa) with some continental influence; hot, dry summers, and chilly, wet winters with frequent snow.
The town and the lake were formerly called EÃÂridir, a Turkish pronunciation and possible appropriation of the town's old Greek name Akrotiri. Moreover, the name "EÃÂridir" means '(It) is bent.'.
The Greek name Akroterion () is first attested in 1438, although it was probably in use earlier, in Byzantine times. The discovery of numerous ancient coins suggests that there was an early settlement here. The ancient settlement of Prostanna was most likely located nearby, on the EÃÂirdirsivrisi mountain. The Seljuks first conquered it around 1080. It was probably conquered along with Isparta in 1204 by Kilij Arslan III of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum. The later Seljuk sultan Kayqubad I probably built the town's citadel during his reign in the 1220s-30s.
In the 1300s, EÃÂirdir (also known as FalakÃÂbÃÂd during this period) became the capital of the HamidoÃÂullarñ beylik. Ibn Battuta, who visited the town in 1332 (and called it Akrëdà «r in Arabic), described it as "a great and populous city with fine bazaars and running streams, mosques, fruit trees and orchards", which was situated beside "a lake of sweet water". He also referred to merchant shipping on Lake EÃÂirdir at this point. The HamidoÃÂullarñ principality lasted until 1381.
Can Ada was uninhabited in ancient and medieval times, but Yeà Âil Ada used to have a domed Christian basilica decorated with numerous frescoes which are stylistically dated to the 9th through 13th centuries. Another adjacent church, now converted into a mosque, was dated to the 14th century.
Timur captured EÃÂirdir in 1403, and then the Ottomans took control in 1417. Most of EÃÂirdir's population consisted of Greek Orthodox people until the population exchanges of the 1920s.
EÃÂirdir lies between Lake EÃÂirdir and the Mount Sivri, and contains the EÃÂirdir Castle said to have been built by Croesus, king of Lydia, although additions were built by the Romans, Byzantines, and Seljuks.
The population of EÃÂirdir was 19,469 in 2010, but swells in the summer months as part-time residents return for the holidays. EÃÂirdir is a fishing community and local residents fish in Lake EÃÂirdir year round.
Yeà Âil Ada (Turkish for "green island") is a small island connected to EÃÂirdir by a short causeway. Restaurants, hotels, pensions (s or hostels), and a few private residences fill the island. Known for its past as a Greek village, Yeà Âñl Ada still has quite a few stone homes remaining from the Greek era.
Locals claim that EÃÂirdir is home to the world's only walk-through minaret.