'Çamlıyayla' is a district of
Mersin Province of
Turkey.
Formerly known as Lampron and
Namrun, Çamlıyayla is a small district high in the
Taurus Mountains. In summer the lakes, streams and pine forests of Çamlıyayla attract many visitors, people from
Adana,
Mersin and
Tarsus escaping from the extreme heat on the coast to summer homes up in the hills.
Çamlıyayla is a quiet rural area without the wild nightlife to entertain young people and is therefore popular with families and the retired, typically children stay in the hills with their grandparents while their parents are at work in the city; in the school holiday period the population of the district rises to over 100,000. The cuisine includes a slushed ice called ''karsambaç'', very refreshing in summer.
There is a mountain goat breeding centre in Çamlıyayla and people come here for hunting wild boar, rabbits and sandgrouse. At higher altitudes the district is bare mountainside, above the tree line.
History
The early history of the area is unknown but these hills must have been occupied from the earliest times. By the late 11th century Lampron was controlled in the name of the
Byzantine emperor by general
Oshin of Armenia, but was captured by the
Seljuk Turks in 1081. The castle was built later by the
Crusaders. Subsequently the castle was brought into the
Ottoman Empire and was the scene of fighting between the Ottomans and the
Mamluks.