Turkish delight is known to have been produced in Turkey as early as the late 1700s, hence its name. The exact origin of these sweets is yet to be definitively determined; however, the word "lokum" comes from the Arabic "al-halkum". In the Arab world, Turkish delights are called "rāḥat al-ḥulqūm" (رَاحَة الْحُلْقُوم) which means "throat comfort". According to the Hacı Bekir company, Bekir Efendi, named Hacı Bekir after performing the Hajj, moved to Istanbul from his hometown Kastamonu and opened his confectionery shop in the district of Bahçekapı in 1777. He produced various kinds of candies and "lokums", later including a unique
Hayriye, İnegöl from the war between the Russian and Ottoman Empires. Haci Mehmet Efendi from the neighboring village of Maden led them to the place called Hayriye where they finally were given by the Turkish authorities the right to settle after clashes with Chechen refugees, who themselves had fled from persecution in the Russian Empire. (Haci Effendi had chosen the area of Hayriye because it resembled the conditions of the Georgian area the settlers came from.) The village is still almost exclusively inhabited by the descendants of the original Georgian families. Since the 1960s, many inhabitants of Hayriye went as migrant workers