Kemalpasha

Initially, the Greek city of Nymphaeum ( Greek Νύμφαιον ) was located in these places. The golden age of Nymphaeum fell on the period between 1204 and 1291, when he played an important role in the life of the Nicene Empire , and then the Byzantine Empire restored after 1261 . The city was located close to Smyrna , but at some distance from the Aegean Sea, which made it more protected from pirates , especially during the crusades . The nymphaeum was located in a rather picturesque region of Ionia with a mild winter climate, so the last Byzantine emperors Paleologues chose it as their winter residence. Only the ruins of the former Byzantine palace have survived to this day. In Nymphaeum used to celebrate Palm Day (Palm Sunday), the Nicene Emperor John III Duca Vatats . There he died on November 3, 1254 in a tent set up in the palace garden.

Despite the formal proclamation of Nicaea as the capital of the empire, its emperors lived mainly in Nymphaeum ^[1] . It is no coincidence that many important negotiations took place in the city and the Treaty of Nymphaeum (1261) was concluded, which was disadvantageous for the empire. After him, a gradual weakening of the empire began.

By 1291 , after the collapse of the Byzantine fortifications on the river. Sangaria , Turks and Turkmens came close to Nymphaeum. The former capital has turned into a border post and found itself on the front line. In 1292-1293, the Byzantine Emperor Andronicus II and the commander Alexy Dilantropen stayed in Nymphaeum with troops, but their efforts to somehow stabilize the Greek border with the Turks were ultimately futile ^[2] . In 1315, the Turkish Bey Sarukhan finally conquered the city, renaming it Nif ( Tur . Nif ), although until 1922 the city ​​continued to be one of the centers of the Greek Orthodox culture of Asia Minor.

On September 8, 1922 , Mustafa Kemal Pasha spent the night in the city before ending the occupation of Izmir , and in honor of this event, the city of Nif was subsequently renamed Kemalpasha. Since the 1990s, the city has actually turned into a suburb of Izmir, undergoing an intensive process of suburbanization.

• Official website of the city