Suggestions for those coming to Mersin

Years ago, in my column in Bloomberg Businessweek Turkey, I wrote about my impressions from the first days I moved to Mersin. In the time that has passed, the city has changed, I have changed, and some habits have changed, but there are some things that continue to be an inseparable part of Mersin's character.

I decided to prepare a small guide for those thinking of moving to Mersin, those who want to start a business here, or those who might find themselves in the city for a few days. This is because Mersin has one of the biggest differences in Turkey between the city as it appears from the outside and the city as it is experienced from within.

First of all, do not expect a single city when coming to Mersin. It might look that way when you look at the map, but the reality is a bit different. Today, the place many people call Mersin actually consists of Yenişehir, Mezitli, and Toroslar. Tarsus has a character of its own. Silifke has a different spirit. Erdemli operates in another way. When you include Mut, Gülnar, and Çamlıyayla, what emerges is not a single city, but many neighboring cities. Especially when you go to Anamur, it is extremely normal to get the feeling that you have arrived somewhere near Antalya.

The second truth that those who settle in Mersin learn in a very short time is that we do not experience the same season as the rest of Turkey. While most of the country deals with snow in winter, Mersin deals with flies. Or rather, it tries to deal with them. The city has had a hygiene and fly problem that has not been solved for years. You quickly learn how strategic a decision it is to leave a window open during the summer months.

If you are coming by road, you start to understand that Mersin is a different place before you even fully enter the city. The moment you exit the highway and get onto the Adana-Mersin road, many people feel like they have boarded a roller coaster. The changes in the road surface are so distinct that there has been an urban legend circulating for years that this was done intentionally in Mersin to keep drivers awake. I don't know if it's true, but most of those who come for the first time prefer to believe this theory after a few kilometers.

Mersin's relationship with asphalt could already be a subject of academic study on its own. There are strong signs that it is believed that shaving the top of the asphalt reduces speed. Sometimes you pass through such roads that your relationship with your vehicle's shock absorbers strengthens.

The city has been trying to be a 'little Istanbul' for many years. However, it seems to be trying to do this not in cleanliness, urban planning, or cultural investments, but rather in site names and traffic. You can find the naming approach of many housing projects you see in Istanbul here as well. The traffic side is much more creative. Creating a third lane on a two-lane road is not a defiance of the laws of physics for some drivers, but a natural part of daily life. Those who object to this often find themselves in an argument they did not want to be in.

And then there are Mersin's famous roundabouts. There is a junction culture that those coming from outside the city find difficult to understand, but which Mersin residents accept as completely natural. Moreover, there is a strong belief that this is also applied in the developed cities of the world. It is often said that one of these cities is New York. I don't know if New York is aware of this situation, but Mersin residents are quite determined on this matter.

If you are coming to the city by air or land, it is useful to have a closer relationship with your speedometer starting from the Adana borders. Radar applications in the region have been one of the top topics discussed among drivers for years. Obeying speed limits is the right thing to do anyway, but those visiting the region for the first time should be a little more careful about this.

One of the issues that surprised me the most in Mersin was the air quality. We are talking about a city by the sea that is constantly windy. Despite this, when you look at the air quality data in some periods, the picture that emerges is not as bright as you would expect. I have been trying to understand for years whether the reason for this is the port, the industry, the traffic, or something else. For now, I don't have a definitive answer.

Another passion of Mersin is pools. The number of pools owned by the sites in the city has reached such a point that sometimes you are not sure whether you are seeing the Mediterranean or the pools of the sites more. Whether this is necessary for a city that already competes with the world in terms of humidity is a separate subject of debate.

Contrary to popular belief, Mersin is not the province with the largest coastline in Turkey either. It ranks second in this regard. If the scenario of Tarsus becoming a province, which has been on the agenda from time to time for years, comes true, this picture may change even more.

Çukurova International Airport is an interesting story in itself. Although it is an extremely important investment for the region, there is still no common feeling about who it actually belongs to. It has 'Çukurova' in its name, but many people see it as Adana's airport. It is located in Mersin, but Mersin does not seem to fully claim it either. Moreover, the parking lot, which seemed insufficient on the day it opened, is even more insufficient today. It is not difficult to predict that this problem will be talked about more in the coming years for a regional airport.

Years ago, when I wrote my first article about Mersin, I mentioned some brands that I thought should come to the city. Shortly after, we saw that Macrocenter entered Mersin with more than one store. The Migros management should be congratulated separately on this matter. Because they saw the potential that many institutions did not see. Similarly, the availability of Uber has made a serious contribution to the quality of urban transportation. Despite this, the fact that brands like IKEA and H&M are still not in Mersin remains interesting to me.

Mersin Marina, on the other hand, has gone down a different path than many marinas in Turkey over the years. When you look at it today, it looks more like an open-air shopping center than a marina. It is certain that it offers a very pleasant experience for visitors. Let's leave the answer to the question of whether it would be my first choice to tie my boat to another article. Apart from the marina, Palm City and Sayapark are also among the important centers of the city's social life.

Despite all my criticisms, Mersin has an important advantage. It doesn't explain itself very well, but it continues to grow. Its port is growing, its trade is growing, its agriculture is growing, its population is growing. Some brands realize this early, while others realize it years later.

My advice to those who will come to Mersin is this: Do not try to understand the city on the first day. Because Mersin is not one of those cities that explains itself at first glance. After a while, you start to get angry at some things about it. Then you get used to some of the things you were angry about. And finally, you find yourself explaining Mersin to others.

And at that point, Mersin has caught you too.