Wikipedia
Turgutlu is a very large town and district of Manisa Province in the Aegean region of Turkey. According to the 2009 census, population of the district is 140,753 of which 115930 live in the city of Turgutlu.The district covers an area of and the city lies at an elevation of . The district is the most populous after the province center of Manisa in its province and it is the second most populous district center, i.e. excluding province centers, in Turkey's Aegean Region.
The name derives from the name of the Turkish clan of "Turgutlu" (also cited as "Turgut" or "Turgutoğlu"), recorded as having provided the main support to the Beylik of Karaman during their time of existence and mentioned in historical records as an important political entity as late as the 18th century Iran. Their settlement in Turgutlu region is thought to have taken place some time in the 15th century at the same time as the Ottoman unification of Anatolia which resulted in the demise of Karamanids. That nearby Manisa was the center where Ottoman shahzades ( crown princes) received their education must have placed the clan once again in a non-negligible position in their relations this time with the Ottoman dynasty.
The city was alternatively called Kasaba (often spelled as Casaba or Cassaba in the 19th century Western sources also), which simply means "the town". People of Turgutlu still often use the term "Kasabalı" to define themselves and despite the general signification of the word (Kasaba being "the town", Kasabalı means "the townspeople"), people across Turkey usually understand when Turgutlu is being specifically referred to.
The term Casaba melons derive from the name of the city, an echo of its 18th-19th century past when it was an important regional trade center and hub, located in the middle of a fertile alluvial plain and with access to outside markets through nearby İzmir.