Kemalpaşa is a municipality and district of İzmir Province, Turkey. Its area is 681 km2, and its population is 114,250 (2022). Kemalpaşa town is from the historical and traditional center of İzmir, (Konak) and has high levels of development in terms of industry and services. İzmir-Ankara highway crosses the district area to the north of the district center. Kemalpaşa district borders on the district Bornova to the west, Yunusemre, Şehzadeler and Turgutlu (Manisa Province) in the north and east, and İzmir's districts of Torbalı and Bayındır in the south. The eastern and southern parts of Kemalpaşa district preserve their markedly rural characteristics, which results in an urbanization rate of only 25.7 for the district area as a whole, despite the presence of a strong industrial base in and to the west of Kemalpaşa town. Kemalpaşa's very large organized industrial zone (KOSBİ) brings together producers of construction materials, rubber and plastic goods, textiles and clothing, leather, paper, packaging materials, machinery and other equipment, including electrical tools and installations, dyes and other chemical substances, marble and car parts, as well as foundries and other metalworks. Agriculture also occupies a portion with high added value in Kemalpaşa's economy, its cherries being of nationwide renown (known as Kemalpaşa kirazı in Turkish) and exported. Literacy is at a high level at 90%, and the neighboring Bornova, where Ege University is based, serves as a nearby pool in terms of trained personnel.
Administration
A township depending the sanjak (subprovince) of Saruhan (Manisa) until the late-Ottoman times, the town was attached to the subprovince of İzmir in 1900 and a municipal administration was constituted the year after.
There are 49 neighbourhoods in Kemalpaşa District:
8 Eylül
Akalan
Ansızca
Armutlu 85. Yıl Cumhuriyet
Armutlu Hürriyet
Aşağı Yenmiş
Aşağıkızılca
Atatürk
Bağyurdu 29 Ekim
Bağyurdu Kazımpaşa
Bağyurdu Kemal Atatürk
Bağyurdu Yeni
Bayosb
Bayramlı
Beşpınar
Çambel
Çınarköy
Çiniliköy
Cumalı
Damlacık
Dereköy
Gökçeyurt
Gökyaka
Hamzababa
Kamberler
Kızılüzüm
Kuyucak
Mehmet Akif Ersoy
Nazarköy
Ören 75. Yıl Cumhuriyet
Ören Egemen
Örnekköy
Ovacık
Sarıçalı
Sarılar
Sinancılar
Soğukpınar
Sütçüler
Ulucak Cumhuriyet
Ulucak Istiklal
Ulucak Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Vişneli
Yenikurudere
Yenmiş
Yeşilköy
Yeşilyurt
Yiğitler
Yukarıkızılca Merkez
Zeamet
History
Kemalpaşa region has always been a key point of passage between the Gulf of İzmir and the lands of the Anatolian interior. The recorded history dates back to 1300 BC. The Karabel relief depicting a Hittite warrior was until recently the only trace of that civilization discovered in western Anatolia. The recent discovery and the explorations that are currently being conducted in the prehistoric mound (höyük) near the depending municipality of Ulucak (Ulucak Höyüğü), is likely to shed new lights to the region's earlier history. There are also numerous tumuli in the Lydian style in the region.
Karabel Hittite-Luwian rock relief
The relief is a late Hittite-Luwian rock relief about 1.5 meter wide and 2.5 meters high and located in a passage between two mountains on the road south to Torbalı at a distance of six kilometers from Kemalpaşa center. It is dated to the second half of the 13th century BCE during the reign of Tudhaliya IV. A male figure depicted standing with a bow in his right hand and a spear in his left wearing a tunic and a cone-shaped hat is identified as Tarkasnawa, King of Mira, according to a recent reading by David Hawkins, widely approved by scholars and matched with a name mentioned in Hattusa Hittite annals. The relief is called "Eti Baba" (the Hittite father) locally.