KUTAHYA

city, western Turkey. It lies along the Porsuk River, at the foot of a hill crowned by a ruined medieval castle. Ktahya, known as Cotyaeum in antiquity, lay on the great road from the Marmara region to the Mesopotamian plains; the town flourished and declined according to the changing importance of the trade routes. As a medieval Byzantine town, it was taken by the Seljuq Turks toward the end of the 11th century. It functioned as the capital of the Germiyan Turkmen principality from 1302 to 1429 before its absorption into the Ottoman Empire. During the 16th century, Ktahya emerged as a centre of the Ottoman ceramic industry, supplying tiles and faience for mosques, churches, and other buildings in Turkey and parts of the Middle East. Its importance was eclipsed by the growth of neighbouring Eskisehir at the end of the 19th century, but the development of industries at Ktahya in the mid-20th century restored some of the town's former importance. Its industries now include sugar refining, tanning, nitrate processing, pottery and carpet making, and the manufacture of smoking pipes and other articles from meerschaum (silicate of magnesium), which is extracted in the vicinity. Ktahya is linked by road and railway with Eskisehir (40 miles northeast) and Afyon Karahisar (56 miles southeast). The city's old neighbourhoods have traditional Ottoman houses made of wood and stucco. The area in which Ktahya is situated contains extensive areas of level or gently sloping agricultural land culminating in high mountain ridges to the north and west. Its products include cereals, fruits, and sugar beets. Large deposits of lignite are extensively worked at Tunbilek and Degirmisaz, and stock raising is important. Pop. (1990) city, 130,944.