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Karpuzlu (District Municipality, Turkey)

Flag of Karpuzlu - Image by Tomislav Šipek, 16 April 2015

Presentation of Karpuzlu
Flag of Karpuzlu

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Presentation of Karpuzlu

The municipality of Karpuzlu (11,817 inhabitants in 2012, 2,072 in the town proper; 25,253 ha) is located 60 km of Aydın.

Ivan Sache, 6 March 2016

Flag of Karpuzlu

The flag of Karpuzlu (photo) is white with the municipality's emblem in the middle. "Belediyesi" means "Municipality".
The emblem of the municipality features the ruined aqueduct of the ancient town of Alinda (photos). Quoting Turkey from the Inside:

Alında even has a backstory to match its setting which draws in not just one but two iconic figures from the ancient past: Alexander the Great and Queen Ada, the sister of Mausolus, the man who was laid to rest in the famous Mausoleum of Halicarnassus (Bodrum). The site here is believed to have been settled by the Carians but only really stamped its mark on history when Queen Ada of Halicarnassus was usurped and took refuge in the mountain city.
In 334 BC Alexander the Great appeared on the scene and Ada offered not just to surrender the city to him but also to help him against her treacherous relatives. Finally, she offered to adopt Alexander as her son and heir. He declined to take Alında from her but accepted her offer of help and eventually named her queen of all Caria. He also accepted her adoption offer. Otherwise very little for sure is known about the site's history; even the claim that it had a temple to Adonis endowed with a statue of Aphrodite by the sculptor Praxiteles is unconfirmed.
The city appears to have survived at least into early Byzantine times when it was a bishopric under Stauropolis (Afrodisias). Later, though, a decision must have been made to move to a new site further down the slope. On its flanks there are shells of pretty little stone houses like those at Stratonikeia that date from late Ottoman times. Karpuzlu itself looks entirely modern.

Tomislav Šipek & Ivan Sache, 6 March 2016