was incorporated into Trabzon Province under the leadership of Canik Sanjak. The region flourished as an agricultural, fishing and shipping center under the Ottoman Empire. The exact date of the establishment of the modern town is not known, though according to historical census records it appears in 1854. Many Turks came to Bafra from the Crimean Khanate after the loss of Crimea to the Russian Empire in 1783. These refugees largely settled in Bafra due to its location on the Black Sea. According to the Ottoman census of 1893, the population of Bafra was 62,782. The vast majority of those living in the region at the time of that census (62% (38,936 people)) were Sunni Muslim Turks. The Greek population of Bafra 22,834 (36%). As a result of the 1923 partition, the Greek population left the region entirely and was replaced by Greek Muslims most of whom came from Western Thrace. Fortunes for the Ottoman Empire declined further as a result of the Balkan and First World Wars during which the region became significantly impoverished. The decline in economic conditions lead to growing tensions between the largely impoverish ethnic Turkish Sunni Muslim population and the wealthier Greek and Armenian Christian populations. In the events preceding the Turkish War of Independence, the Greek population of the region founded the Mavri Mira Society and considered the establishment of a Pontic governate to fortify their interests. However, with the start of the National Struggle in 1919, these aims could not be realized and armed conflicted ensued. The Pontic Greek population left the region after the partition of 1923 which caused widespread economic devastation. Refugees from the former Ottoman Empire were settled in Bafra and in villages along the Kızılırmak river in an attempt to repopulate the region and revive its agricultural economy. With the repopulation of the region, Bafra entered into a period of extensive agricultural, cultural and economic development. Between 1950 and 1951, a small number of Turks from the Deliorman region of Bulgaria resettled in Bafra. in the years 1950-1951. Due to Bafra's appealing growing climate and tobacco industry, many people from the Eastern Black Sea, Tokat, Sivas and various provinces of Anatolia settled in the district. Bafra has a small population of Pomak people. Some of Pomak people continue to live in a traditional manner in the rural portions of Bafta. After the First Balkan War, a large population of