Ұрла: Тарихы, географиясы және қазіргі жағдайы

The name "Urla" is derived from the Greek Βουρλά ("Vourla") meaning marshlands and the town was cited as such in western sources until the 20th century. Bryela (Byzantine name meaning Woman of God i. e. Holy Maria) whereas it has been suggested that due to the transposition of vowels Bryela has become Vourla, meaning marshlands. Urla is where the ancient city of Klazomenai is located and its remains are much visited, while the name lives on in the unofficial appellation used in the region for part of the coastline of the district, "Kilizman" which is a still used derivative of Klazomenai. (Former name of Güzelbahçe). With literacy among the highest in Turkey at 97%, Urla is also home to İzmir Institute of Technology. Urla prides itself for having raised two important men of letters, Giorgos Seferis and Necati Cumalı.

The district center is located in the middle of the isthmus of a small peninsula which protrudes northwards in the Gulf of İzmir, but its urban tissue is comparatively loose and extends eastwards to touch the coast and to cover a wide area which also includes a large portion of the peninsula. Sizable parts in the municipal area, owned by absentee landlords, remain uninhabited or are very rural in aspect. The peninsular coastline present a number of compounds constituted by seasonal residences along the beaches and the coves and which are administratively divided between Urla center's municipal area or its depending villages. Urla district area's eastern end neighbors the westernmost district of the Greater Metropolitan Area of İzmir, Güzelbahçe, and urbanization is much denser across that part, contributing to the whole district's average urbanization rate of 75%. With İzmir center (Konak) at a distance of only , an important part of Urla's population is composed of residents, often wealthy, who commute to the big city every day, access to and from İzmir and Çeşme, an international center of tourism at a distance of from Urla, having been greatly facilitated by the building of a six lane highway. Urla district nevertheless manages to preserve an overall outlook of a pleasant suburb and resort, and as it extends to the west along Karaburun Peninsula, where it borders on the districts of Çeşme and Karaburun, secondary residences built along the coast or large farms of the interior, as well as native villages, all bearing typical Aegean characteristics, increase in number. To the south, Urla district neighbors that of Seferihisar and the settlement pattern is thinner in that section, with even some empty land, although housing projects targeting İzmir's professional classes start to show a rising interest for that section as well.

There are 16 students for each teacher and 492 patients for each doctor in Urla.

Information on Urla region's pre Hellenistic history is quite recent, based on the excavations in Limantepe pursued by an international team since 1979. Some researchers refer in its context to the possible most ancient regularly used port in the world.

Urla was an important cultural centre also in its Hellenistic period. It was the site of the Ionian city of Klazomenai. Pieces of art and sculpture found during excavations are now exhibited in the Louvre or in İzmir Archaeology Museum. The oldest attested olive oil production facilities were recently discovered in Klazomenai. The traces also indicate first exports of olive oil by way of sea. Olive oil extraction installation (işlik) dating back to the third quarter of the 6th century BC uncovered in Klazomenai is the only surviving example of a level and weights press from an ancient Greek city and precedes by at least two centuries the next securely datable earliest presses found in Greece. It was restored and reconstructed in 2004 2005 through collaboration between Ege University, a Turkish olive oil exporter and a German natural building components company, as well as by local artisans, on the basis of the clearly visible millstone with a cylindrical roller and three separation pits. The olive oil obtained turned out to be quite a success in business terms as well.

In the summit of Ottoman power, during the 16th century, Urla was almost entirely incorporated into the pious foundation established by Ayşe Hafsa Sultan for the revenues and the maintenance of the complex she had had built in Manisa in the 1520s. With the decline of the Ottoman power, the town, placed along with the entire peninsula at the frontier of the Aegean Sea difficult to control, frequently saw itself at the mercy of plunderers. İzmir's rise as an international trade port partially relieved Urla from its security concerns, while it also gradually increased its dependency to the neighboring metropolis. A quarantine center was established in Urla in 1865 through French initiative, in the island opposite Urla quay that bears today the very name of Karantina, and where part of the site of ancient Klazomenai also extends. The center was in service until the 1950s, now transformed into a state hospital and an annexed summer camp, although the quarantine installations are still standing. Prior to the foundation of the quarantine center, Admiral Charles Napier had spent the winter of 1839 1840 here, before intervening, along with allied Turkish troops, against Muhammad Ali of Egypt in Lebanon. From 1867 until 1922, Urla was part of the Aidin Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire. The town's population in 1914 was composed of 9.361 Turks, 24.711 Greeks, 423 Jews, 51 Bulgarians and 42 Armenians. The Greek inhabitants left for Greece after the 1923 Population Exchange with many settling in the town of Kamena Vourla. After 1923, Urla became a Turkish majority town.

Urla had two important men of letters among his sons: It is the birthplace of the Greek poet and Nobel laureate Giorgos Seferis and the Turkish novelist Necati Cumalı (born in Florina and re settled in the framework of the 1923 Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations) grew up in Urla.

In January 2021, archaeologists headed by Elif Koparal, announced the discovery of the ruins of a 2500 year old temple of Aphrodite from the 5th century BC. Among other findings in and around the temple, they found a statue piece depicting a woman, a terracotta female head and an inscription that reads, "This is the sacred area". The traces of the temple were first excavated in 2016.

Urla's names as referred to by Dr. Mahmut Tolon