city, northwestern Turkey. Bilecik lies along the Karasu River, a tributary of the Sakarya River. It was captured from the Byzantines by the Ottoman ruler Osman I in 1298. The city and its famous silk industry suffered heavily during the Turkish War of Independence (1919–22), when it was occupied by Greek forces. The old town is on the upper slopes of a hill, while the modern quarter lies around the railway station, on the Ankara-Istanbul line. Pop. (2000) 34,105.