Page "Afyonkarahisar" Paragraph 5

The area thrived during the Ottoman Empire, as the centre of opium production and Afyon became a wealthy city with the typical Ottoman urban mixture of Turks, Armenians and Greeks.

During the 1st World War British prisoners of war who had been captured at Gallipoli were housed here in an empty Armenian church at the foot of the rock.

During the Greco-Turkish War ( 1919-1922 ) campaign ( part of the Turkish War of Independence ) Afyon and the surrounding hills were occupied by French, Italian and then Greek forces.

However, it was recovered on 27 August 1922, a key moment in the great Turkish counter-attack in the Aegean region.

After 1923 Afyon became a part of the Republic of Turkey.