Gazipaşa () is a municipality and district of Antalya Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,111 km2, and its population is 53,702 (2022). It is situated on the Mediterranean coast, 180 km east of the city of Antalya. Gazipaşa is a quiet rural district famous for its bananas and oranges. Gazipaşa district is adjacent to Alanya to the northwest, Sarıveliler to the north, Anamur to the east, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west.

Geography
The district of Gazipaşa stands on a narrow strip of coast between the Mediterranean Sea and the high Taurus Mountains rising steeply behind (highest point the 2253m "Deliktaş". Prehistoric animal remains (shelled sea animals) can be found at many locations in the mountains.  Before these were the Taurus Mountains (Paleozoic Age) these peaks were below the sea. 
The coast road is winding Alanya, but good with four lanes in places making Gazipaşa easy to access from Antalya and Alanya.  From Gazipaşa east the road is two lanes but in the process of being improved to four.  It is 80 km to the next town Anamur which takes two hours to drive). The remote rocky hillsides are home to snakes, scorpions and other wildlife such as deer, rabbits, wild boar, wild sheep and badgers. There is 50 km of coastline, half of which is sandy beach and rocky stretches with small coves that can be used for swimming. The beaches of Gazipaşa are used as nesting grounds by loggerhead sea turtles. Construction is forbidden in these sea turtle areas.

The local economy depends on agriculture and the land of the coastal strip is used for growing fruits and vegetables, especially citrus fruits and bananas. The mountainous areas have many fruit orchards and in recent years a large number of glasshouses have been built to produce crops such as cucumbers, strawberries and artichokes all year round in both locations. Some grain is grown and there is also much animal husbandry animals in the summer these animals are grazed higher in the mountains. Gazipasa has a dam (Gökçeler Barajı).  There is also some forestry and fishing but only small industry. Its current mayor is Mehmet Ali Yılmaz.

Gazipaşa has not experienced the tourist boom of neighbouring Alanya but there are now efforts being made to attract tourists to the district by building a yacht marina and an international airport. Tourist attractions include some sites from antiquity, caves, beaches, the opportunity to appreciate the marvellous Taurus Mountain scenery with mountain walking or motor touring.

The Gazipaşa-Alanya Airport, opened in 2010, serves the tourist economies of Alanya, Anamur and Yeşilöz.

Composition
There are 53 neighbourhoods in Gazipaşa District:

 Akoluk
 Aydın
 Aydıncık
 Bakılar
 Beyobası
 Beyrebucak
 Çakmak
 Çalıpınar
 Çamlıca
 Çığlık
 Çile
 Çimenbağ
 Çobanlar
 Çörüş
 Cumhuriyet
 Doğanca
 Ekmel
 Esenpınar
 Esentepe
 Gazi
 Göçük
 Gökçebelen
 Gökçesaray
 Güneyköy
 Gürçam
 Hasdere
 Ilıcaköy
 İnalköy
 İnceğiz
 İstiklal
 Kahyalar
 Karaçukur
 Karalar
 Karatepe
 Kırahmetler
 Kızılgüney
 Koru
 Korubaşı
 Küçüklü
 Macarköy
 Muzkent
 Öznurtepe
 Pazarcı
 Şahinler
 Sarıağaç
 Sugözü
 Üçkonak
 Yakacık
 Yeni
 Yenigüney
 Yeniköy
 Yeşilyurt
 Zeytinada

History

This is a part of the world with a long history, and there is evidence of Hittite settlement going back to 2000 BC, and it is assumed that this coast was settled long before that. The Ancient Greek city of Selinus was established here on the River Kestros (today called Hacımusa) by 628 BC, as part of the kingdom of Cilicia. In 197 BC the area passed into the hands of the Ancient Romans, and in the 2nd century AD the Emperor Trajan died here after falling ill while journeying along the Mediterranean coast. His body was taken by his successor Hadrian for burial in Rome and for a period the town was named Traianapolis.

The later Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) continued to rule the area until it was taken by the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia who lost the area to the Seljuk Turks of `Ala' ad-Din Kay-Qubad in 1225. Selinus was retaken briefly by Armenians before the conquest of Karamanids in the end of the 13th century. During the area of the Anatolian beyliks the coast including Selinti was controlled by the Karamanid clan of Konya and was brought into the Ottoman Empire in 1472 by Gedik Ahmet Pasha, naval commander of Sultan Mehmet II. The 17th century traveller Evliya Çelebi records Selinti as a group of 26 villages, with a well-kept mosque on the seafront along with a jetty for boats to Cyprus, and green mountains behind.

Archaeological research continues and in 2004 a team from Florida State University found a small bronze statue of Pegasus dating back to 300 BC in the waters off Gazipaşa; it is now in the Museum of Alanya.

We can list the castles in Gazipaşa as Selinus, Iotape, Lamos (Adanda), Nephelis and Antiochia ad Cragum.

International relations
Gazipaşa is twinned with:
  Brønnøysund, Norway
  Virovitica, Croatia

Gallery of various scenes

References

External links
 Gazipasa municipality's official website 
 Panorama image
 Investigation of the construction history of the supposed cenotaph of Emperor Trajan (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut)
 Antiochia ad Cragum (University of Nebraska)
 
 Selinos coins

Districts of Antalya Province
Populated places in Antalya Province
Populated coastal places in Turkey
 
Metropolitan district municipalities in Turkey