History

The origin of its name

According to a story passed down by the village elders, there used to be a village and a church on the site of the present-day village even in the days of the Greeks. One of the Greek villagers, who had a stammer, could not bring himself to say ‘church’ – the word everyone else used – so he called it ‘kürse’. This way of speaking appealed to everyone, and the village has been known as Kürse ever since.

The threshing floor at the entrance to the village is pointed out as the site of the church. It is said that, until recently, remains of brick and stone foundations were unearthed here. The discovery of these ancient foundation remains indicates that the site where the village now stands was also a settlement in the past.

From the Balkans to Kürse

According to the account, following the 1877–78 Russo-Turkish War (the War of 93), a village of 300 households belonging to the town of Razgrad (Hezargrad during the Ottoman period) in Bulgaria migrated en masse. These migrants settled in the villages of Dişbudak in Lapseki, Karaçam in Savaştepe and Gürece in Susurluk, as well as in Kürse.

The majority of the village’s inhabitants are descendants of these migrants from the Balkans. It is also said that Yörük tribes once lived in the vicinity of the village and that some of the households in the village trace their ancestry back to them.

Today

Kürse is a neighbourhood within the Altıeylül district of Balıkesir province. With the enactment of Law No. 6360 in 2012 and Balıkesir becoming a metropolitan city in 2014, the legal status of the villages ceased to exist and Kürse officially became a neighbourhood. However, in popular parlance and in people’s hearts, it is still known as Kürse Village. The neighbourhood is administered by a muhtar and a council of elders in accordance with the provisions of the Municipalities Act No. 5393.

Sources: Wikimapia — Kürse Village entry (user contribution, CC BY-SA), based on accounts from village elders, and Wikipedia. The text has been rewritten using these sources.