Söğütlü
Söğütlü is a district of Sakarya province. Its population is 14,203 as of 2020. The history of Söğütlü dates back to the Akkadians in 2340 BC. Later, the region, which was under the domination of the Hittite, Phrygian, Lydian and Cimmerian civilizations, passed to the Persian Empire in 546 BC. After Alexander the Great destroyed the Persians, it fell into the hands of the Macedonian Empire. With the death of Alexander, the Hellenistic period began. The region, which remained in the hands of the Bithynia Kingdom, came under the rule of the Eastern Roman Empire in 63 BC. This dominance passed into the hands of the Anatolian Seljuks in the 6th century AD. After the Seljuks collapsed, the area of Sögütlü, which passed to the Iznik Empire, was annexed by Orhan Gazi to the Ottomans. Constantly changing the bed of the Sakarya river and the Söğütlü plain surrounded by swampy areas made it difficult to settle and prevented the rich historical artifacts from reaching today. The plain, where mostly nomads lived and grazed their animals, gained meaning when immigrants from Bulgaria, Romania and Greece were brought to the region during the Ottoman-Russian war. Villages in the region, which were also under the influence of various gangs during the National Struggle, were destroyed during the withdrawal of the Greeks. While it was a town center before, it became a municipality on February 20, 1956, with the status of a municipality. Söğütlü became a district with the law numbered 3644, which was accepted on 9.5.1990 and entered into force on 20.5.1990. The Agriculture, Livestock and Milk Festival is held every year in the third week of July.
