Giresun is an agricultural region and its lower areas, near the Black Sea coast. It is Turkey's second largest producer of hazelnuts and it is famously home to the best quality hazelnuts in the world; a Giresun folk song tells "I will not eat a single hazelnut, unless you are by my side,"[3] while another tells of a lover shot dead under a hazelnut tree.[4]
Pınarlar village
Forests and pasture cover the high mountainous regions, and in places there is mining of copper, zinc, iron and other metals. The mountain villages are remote, with poor roads and little else in the way of infrastructure. The hillsides are too steep for most forms of agriculture, and as a result, cornbread is the traditional meal, as wheat cannot be grown.
The climate is typical of this stretch of the Black Sea coast, i.e. very wet. Local flora includes bilberries (Turkish "taflan").
Demographics
The province is traditionally inhabited mostly by Chepni Turks as well as a minority of Cheveneburi Georgians in select rural villages and towns.
Due to migration, more Giresunians live outside of Giresun than inside it.
Districts
Giresun province is divided into 16 districts (capital district in bold):
Giresun province is culturally divided into two regions from north to south. North Giresun having virtually the same culture as the neighbouring Ordu and Trabzon, while south Giresun (aka. the Şebinkarahisar region) being much closer to the neighbouring Sivas province and the Central Anatolia region. Because of the northern part dominating much of the province's economic and demographic sides, south of the province is more often than not ignored.
Handcrafts
Due to the dense forestry in Giresun, woodwork is among the common handcrafts in the region. Some small wooden handcrafts peculiar to the city are churns, külek (a storing pot for cheese), and spoons. One of the oldest handcrafts in the city is weaving. Wool, linen threads and similar raw materials are spun in handlooms to produce various local clothes, heybe (shoulder bags) and bags. Strong threads and knitted threads are also produced in handlooms.
Cuisine
Some of the dishes peculiar to the city are corn soup (Mısır çorbası), kale soup (kara lahana çorbası or pancar çorbası), cabbage leaves stuffed with a meat filling (etli lahana sarması or pancar sarması/dolması), black cabbage dish (karalahana yemeği or pancar yemeği), pilaf with anchovy (hamsili pilav), pilaf with cabbage (dible), kaygana, kuymak (made of cheese, cornmeal and butter)[5]
Kuşköy, ("Village of the Birds") is known for the famous 400-year-old whistled language that is used by the local residents.
Kırkharman Kilisesi, a former Greek church also known as the Church of Prophet Elias.
Kümbet, Karagöl and Bektaş are areas of an attractive mountain pasture in the district of Dereli, where people can enjoy walks and picnics. Annual folklore festivals are held here in Summer.
The TV series Uy Başuma Gelenler was filmed in the village of Düzköy. It is the story of a young man from Istanbul who inherits a hazelnut grove in Giresun (a Turkish twist on Monarch of the Glen).
The folk song "Giresun üstünde vapur bağrıyor" ("Eşref Bey Ağıtı") has been recorded by a number of artists including Ismail Hakkı Demircioğlu, and tells of a wounded soldier dying in Giresun.
"Giresun'un içinde" has been sung by Musa Eroğlu, Selda Bağcan and Fuat Saka, who also sang "Lazutlar," which means corn in the local dialect and is a kind of Cider with Rosie rural idyll in verse.
Ahmet Kaya sang "Mican," a ballad about a local bandit in the mountains.
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