Енез: Тарихы мен географиясы

Enez consists of an old town centre, backing on to the Meriç/Evros river forming the border with neighbouring Greece; the harbour and Pırlanta Beach, 3 km southwest across the lagoon; and Altınkum Sahili (Golden Sands Beach), another 2 km south, which has been developed as a resort strip mainly catering for domestic tourists. Despite Enez's proximity to the Greek border there is no crossing point by land here. To cross the border into Greece it is necessary to travel north to İpsala.

The town is located on the left (eastern) bank of the river Meriç (Greek: Evros, historically the Hebrus) where its estuary broadens to flow into the Gulf of Saros (the ancient Melas Gulf) and so into the Aegean Sea. Enez occupies a ridge of rock surrounded by broad marshes. In ancient Greek times it lay on a land route for trade from the Black Sea to the Aegean and was a port for transporting the wood and fruit produced in eastern and central Thrace.

The mythical and eponymous founder of the ancient Greek city of Ainos/Aenus was said to be Aeneus, a son of the god Apollo and father of Cyzicus. Another mythical ruler, named Poltys, son of Poseidon, entertained Heracles when he came to Aenus. On that occasion, Heracles slew Poltys' insolent brother Sarpedon on the beach of Aenus. According to Strabo, Sarpedon is the name of the coastline near Aenus, so both Poltys and Sarpedon would appear to be eponyms. The Suda suggests that the first settlers were Greeks from the Alopeconnesus and later more settlers came from Mytilene and Kyme which agrees with what Harpocration had written. Presumably because of the similarity of the names, Virgil had Aeneas founding the city after the destruction of Troy. A surer sign of its antiquity comes from the Iliad, where Homer mentions that Peirous, who led Troy's Thracian allies, came from Aenus. Herodotus (7.58) and Thucydides say Aenus was an Aeolian colony. Pseudo Scymnus and Scymnus Chius (696) say that the colonists came from Mytilene on Lesbos Island, while Stephanus Byzantius says they came (also?) from Cumae. According to Strabo (p. 319), a more ancient name for the place was Poltyobria while Stephanus says it was also called Apsinthus. In 1463 Ainos was given by Mehmed II to the deposed Despot of the Morea, Demetrios Palaiologos, as an appanage (along with parts of Thasos and Samothrace). He remained in possession of the town until 1467, when he fell into disgrace. The Venetians briefly captured the city in 1469.

The town gave its name to the Enos Midia line, which briefly marked the border of the Ottoman Empire in Europe in the disastrous aftermath of the First Balkan War. The border was shifted further northwest after the Turks made some limited gains in the Second Balkan War, recapturing the city of Edirne. Enez had a large Greek population, and was affected from the 19th century onwards by ethnic conflicts and nationalistic aspirations. After the Turkish War of Independence (1919–23), the Treaty of Lausanne drew the current borders of Turkey and required Greek communities to leave Turkey while Turkish communities left Greece and Bulgaria. Overnight Enez became a provincial backwater, a dead end, up against an unfriendly border. It was a garrison town and military zone, off limits to foreigners, right into the 21st century. Although foreigners are now allowed to visit, modern Enez makes a living largely from local tourism. Improved highways bring many weekenders from Istanbul. the original town has a steady population while that of the beach strip soars in summer and drops to near zero in winter. Enez remains the westernmost Turkish town on the European continent (excluding Imbros which is an island). The town of Alexandroupoli (Dedeağaç) lies just across the border with Greece but the two towns are separated by a swampland reserve and the Evros/Meriç River delta so that what should be a short journey actually takes about 1.5 hours. In the late 2010s and early 2020s the area became especially sensitive since it separates Turkey from the European Union. The tense situation around the border has tended to limit development in the area which has been a boon for the delta wildlife.

Enez was the site of a Byzantine Church of Hagia Sophia built in the 12th century (although some sources suggest the sixth century) but converted into a mosque during the reign of Sultan Mehmed II. The mosque was repaired several times in the 18th century but was left in ruins after an earthquake in 1965. Work began on a new restoration in 2016 and the mosque reopened for worship in 2021. The mosque stands inside the remains of Enez Castle (Turkish: Enez Kalesi) which probably dates back to the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I and was probably built as a defence against raids from the Balkans. The Has Yunus Bey Türbesi is a historic mosque and graveyard 300 m south of the castle which started life as a Byzantine chapel. Has Yunus Bey was the commander who captured Enez for the Ottomans and who was buried here. The only historic monument in the resort area of Enez is the Sahil KervansarayI, the shell of an Ottoman caravanserai, which might have functioned as a customs office. It's believed to date back to the 16th century, when it probably stood on the coastline, now 500 m away. Local accounts suggest that it served a military function during the First World War, and it's therefore known as the İngiliz Kışlası ("English barracks").

The city was already an episcopal see in the 4th century under bishop Olympius who was driven from the see by the Arians in the reign of Constantius II. At first it was a suffragan of Trajanopolis, the capital and metropolitan see of the Roman province of Rhodope, but by the time of the Notitia Episcopatuum of Pseudo Epiphanius (c. 640), it was an autocephalous archbishopric and rose to become a separate metropolitan see (without suffragans) at the end of the 11th century. Macarius took part in the Council of Chalcedon (451), Paul in the Second Council of Constantinople (553), George in the Trullan Council of 692, and John in the Photian Council of Constantinople (879). Another John took part in the Council of 1030/38, and Michael in the councils of 1092 and 1094. Between 1285 and 1315, the see was awarded to the Metropolitan of Antioch in Pisidia. In 1361 the see was awarded to the Metropolitan of Makre, two years later to the Metropolitan of Sougdaia and in 1369 to the Bishop of Athyra. It remained a residential see of the Greek Orthodox Church until the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey. No longer a residential bishopric, Aenus is now listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.