History of Siirt

Known history of Siirt can be traced to 200BC, built on a place that Mesopotamia and Anatolian civilizations are intersects. Babylon, Hurri's, Mitanni's, Urartu, Persian, the Great Alexander, Romans, Byzantine, Omayyad, Abbasid, Seljuklian, Ilkhanid, Karakoyunlu, Akkoyunlu, Safevi and Ottoman's dominate Siirt they mention by order of domination.

source: kultur(dot)gov(dot)tr

History of Sakarya

Sakarya dates back to 378 BC. Ancient settlers included Phrygians, Bithynians, Cimmerians, Lydians and Persians, but Sakarya got its identity from the Romans and Byzantine rulers. One of the most important remains of historical significance is the Justinianus Bridge (Turkish: Beş Köprü) built by Byzantine Emperor Justinian in 533 CE.

source: wikipedia(dot)org

History of Niğde

See Niğde Province for a summary of the history of the region, which goes back a long way. This is rich famland near a number of ancient trade routes, particularly the road from Kayseri (ancient Caesarea) to the Cilician Gates. Settlers throughout history include Hittites, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and finally Turks from 1166 onwards. By the early 13th century Niğde was one of the largest cities in Anatolia. After the fall of the Sultanate of Rûm (of which it had been one of the principal cities), Niğde became independent, and, according to Ibn Battuta, ruinous, and did not pass into Ottoman hands till the time of Mehmet II.

More recent immigrants include Turkish people from Bulgaria and other Balkan countries, who were settled here by the Turkish authorities in the 1950s and 60s.

source: wikipedia(dot)org

History of Muğla

In antique times in Anatolia, the region between the Meander (Menderes) and Indus (Dalaman) rivers in the south was called Caria. The inhabitants were Carians and Lelegians. In his Iliad, Homeros describes the Carians as the natives of Anatolia, defending their country against Greeks in joint campaigns in collaboration with the Trojans.

As one of the first cities in Carian region, Mugla, located inland, could not benefit from the naval trade and was therefore not so affluent as its contemporaries like Halicarnassos and Mylasa. The antique name of Mugla is open for discussion. Various sources refer to the city as Mogola, Mobella or Mobolia.

There are almost no ruins to enlighten the history of Muğla. Whatever exists were found quite accidentally. On the high hill to the north of the city, the presence of some insignificant ancient remains indicate that the acropolis was located here. Two inscriptions unearthed within the city are from the 2nd century B.C., attesting to Rhodian domination.

In the 13th century B.C., following the invasion by Ramses II, the Carian region was under Egyptian rule for some time. The Anatolian tribes were defeated during the Trojan War and the Dorians settled along the southern shores in 1000 B.C. In 546 B.C., the Persians enslaved the Lycian King Croesus and took over the region when Caria became a satrapship governed by kings of its own race.

In 334 B.C., Alexander arrived in Anatolia and, following the shore line, conquered first Halicarnassos (Bodrum) and then Mugla. After his withdrawal from the region, Muğla went through a dark period of tumult. In 188 B.C., with the aid of the Romans, Muğla fell under the reign of the Pergamum Kingdom. However, Attalus III, the King of Pergamum, bequeathed all the kingdom, including the Muğla region, to the Romans in 133 B.C., by virtue of which the city became a Roman province. For some time the area changed hands among various generals and dictators. In 395 A.D., when the Roman Empire was divided into two, it became part of the Eastern Romans (Byzantines).

The Byzantine reign came to an end in 800 A.D. when the Abbasid Caliph Harun Al-Rashid arrived in the region, whereupon the Islamic influence became predominant.
Following the Manzikert (Malazgirt) War, Anatolia was "Turkified" and some sources mention the arrival of Suleiman Shah (Kilij Aslan I) in 1074 A.D.

During the decline of Seljukians in 1284, the region was called Menteşe due to the domination by Menteşe Beg. During the reign of the last Chief of Menteşe, Ilyas Beg, by late 14th century (1390-1391), the region was con-quered by Bayezid I (The Thunderbolt) and, following the invasion of Tamerlane (Timur), it was captured by the Ottomans in 1424 which was the starting point of dominant Turkish rule.

source: akyaka(dot)org

History of Mardin

Most Syriac Orthodox churches and monasteries in the city, which are still active today, date from the 5th century AD, such as the Deyrülzafarân Monastery. Mardin is likely the Maride and Marida of the Greeks and Romans. Another important church, Kırklar Kilisesi (Church of the 40 Martyrs), originally built in the name of Benham and Saro, the two sons of the Assyrian ruler who executed them because they chose to become Christian, dates from 569 AD.[citation needed] , and even during its use as a capital by the Artukid Turkish dynasty which ruled Eastern Anatolia and Northern Mesopotamia between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. The 12th century Sitti Radviyye Madrasa, the oldest of its kind in Anatolia, dates from this period.

The lands of the Artukid dynasty fell to the Mongols who took control of the region in 1394, but the Mongols never directly governed the area. Mardin was later controlled by the Turkish Akkoyunlu kingdom. The Kasımiye Madrasa was built by Sultan Kasım, son of the Akkoyunlu Sultan Cihangir, between 1457 and 1502. In 1517 was conquered by Ottoman Turks. 1915-1916 Arab, Aramaic and Armenian Christians of all denominations were massacred or driven away. On 15 August 1915 a public auction of Armenian women took place, for the first time.

source: wikipedia(dot)org

History of Kahramanmaraş

History of Kahramanmaraş dates back to pre-historic times. The city was founded during the Hittite Empire sovereignty ca. 1000 BC. It was called "Germanicia Caesarea" during the Roman Empire and "Germanicia-Marasion" during the Byzantine Empire sovereignty. After A.D. 1097, it became an important town of Lesser Armenia and was taken by the Seljuks in 1147. In the 16th century, the Ottoman Osmanli Empire Selim I, took the control of Maraş. Because of its heroic defense against the French Armenian Legion during the War of Independence, Maraş receieved an honour medallion. This heroic event is also known as the Sütçü İmam Incident. On October 7, 1973 it got its modern name when the Grand National Assembly (TBMM) of Turkey added "Kahraman" (means Hero in Turkish) to the name Maraş.

source: iwasinturkey(dot)com

History of Malatya

In ancient times the Malatya province was called Maldiya, Milid or Meliddu. From the Bronze Age, this region became an administrative center of a place, which lies in the kingdom of Ishuwa. In the fourteenth century B.C. the city was conquered by the Hittites and after their reign, the region became the center of a Neo-Hittite kingdom.

During 1115-1077 B.C., an encounter took place with the Assyrian king and Malatya was forced to pay tribute to Assyria. The unhindered progress of Malatya first faced an obstacle in 712 B.C. when the Assyrian King Sargon II sacked the city and later it experienced a steep decline when Anatolia got invaded by the Cimmerians and Scythians. Currently, the village of Arslantepe corresponds to the Hittite city of Milid.

During the Roman period, the city was known by the name of Melitene, which was the base camp of Legio XII Fulminata. Around 100 CE, Melitene was granted city status by the Roman Emperor and at the same time was in the process of becoming the Roman capital of Asia Minor. After sometime, Melitene was completely destroyed by the Byzantine, only to be rebuilt under the instruction of Abbasid caliphs. The Seljuk Turks conquered the city in the 12th century and some 300 years later it got incorporated into the Ottoman Empire. In 1838, modern Malatya was founded in a site that is in the South of the ancient settlement of Milid and Melitene (modern Battalgazi). However, the next year, the city had to be rebuilt, following the devastations of an earthquake.

source: turkeyforyou(dot)com