Yevpatoria

Yevpatoria is a city on the western coast of Crimea, north of Kalamita Bay, and the administrative centre of Yevpatoria Municipality. It had a population of 105,719 at the 2014 census. Greek colonists built the first recorded settlement here, Kerkinitis, around 500 BCE, and the modern name derives from the nickname Eupator of King Mithridates VI. Later it was a Khazar settlement, then passed under the Cumans, the Mongols and the Crimean Khanate, when it was known as Kezlev, and its Juma-Jami Mosque of 1552 to 1564 was designed by Mimar Sinan. Russia took it in 1783, and it was occupied by British, French and Turkish troops in the Crimean War. In Soviet times it became a children resort town with dozens of sanatoriums. Today it is a Black Sea port, rail hub and resort with mineral water, salt and mud lakes, and its economy rests on fishing, food processing, winemaking, limestone quarrying and tourism. Russia has occupied it since 2014, which the UN General Assembly considers a temporary occupation of Ukrainian territory.