Güzelbahçe

Güzelbahçe is a coastal district of Izmir Province in Turkey. Until 2009 Local Government Elections, Greater Izmir Municipality had 9 district (second-tier) municipalities and Güzelbahçe was one of the smallest district municipality in terms of land area and population. With March 2009 Local Elections, Izmir Greater (Metropolitan) Municipality now have 21 district municipalities, since new municipalities had established due to high population of some major second-tier municipalities like Karsiyaka and Konak. Now, Izmir Greater (Metropolitan) Municipality has several smaller municipalities in terms of land area coverage, however, Güzelbahçe still remains as the smallest municipality within the metropolitan area in terms of population. March 2009 Local Elections of Turkey has also resulted of mergers of villages and town municipalities with their respective second-tier / district municipalities in all greater municipalities. Therefore, parallel to this regulation and changes, Yelki town municipality and Çamlik Villages become part of Güzelbahçe Municipality in 2009. Although the population of Güzelbahçe Municipality increased little, the land area increased greatly. The population and land borders of Güzelbahçe County/District however remained same. Güzelbahçe is part of the Izmir Greater (Metropolitan) Area and Municipality since the establishment of Izmir Greater Municipality in 1984. Although Güzelbahçe seems very urbanized at the rate of 82,7 percent, there are relatively remote villages in the Southern part of the Güzelbahçe Municipality. These villages, like Payamli, Kavacik, (Kavacik become part of newly established Karabaglar second-tier district municipality in March 2009) are/were part of the Güzelbahçe County/District and famous with their delicious grapes grown on mostly steep hills and mountains. Vineyards during summer and autumns have worth to visits and grapes are definitely worth to taste due to natural growth. Grapes in the vineyards different due to lack of major irrigation or watering.