Ahlat

Ahlat

Ahlat is an Oghuz/Turkmen city that served as the capital of the Ahlatshah Principality during the Seljuk period and played an important role in political and cultural fields. Located on the Turkish invasion routes, this city was a military base where raids on Anatolia were planned and where they gathered on their return, and it was also a medieval Seljuk city where masses of Oghuz tribes settled. As a matter of fact, among the masses belonging to these Oghuz tribes, there is also the Kayı Tribe, to which the Ottomans belong. For this reason, Ahlat is an ancestral Ottoman city of considerable importance for the Ottomans. When the Turks came to Anatolia, cities such as Malazgirt, Erciş, Bargiri (today's Muradiye), Van and Vestan (Gevaş), except Ahlat, located on the northwestern shore of Lake Van, were under the rule of the Byzantine Empire. For this reason, Seljuk Sultan Tuğrul Bey took action in 1054 and captured Bargiri, located in the north-east of Lake Van, and then Erciş, after a short siege, in order to open a way for the Turkmens. He continued his advance through Ahlat and besieged Manzikert. However, the city could not be conquered because it was well fortified. In addition, Ahlat, which was established on the plateaus overlooking Lake Van between the Süphan and Nemrut Mountains and has a strategic location due to its location on the Turkish invasion routes, was turned into a military base of action where the raids on Anatolia were planned and where they gathered on their returns. As a matter of fact, just before the Manzikert Victory, Seljuk and Turkmen lords and emirs, who completed their preparations in Ahlat by the order of Alparslan, attempted conquests in Eastern and Central Anatolia. One of them, Hâcib Gümüş Tegin (1066), accompanied by Afşin, Ahmed Şâh and other Turkmen tribes and lords, advanced from the Murat and Dicle river basins and fought in Nizip, Nusaybin and Adıyaman (Hısn Mansur) in the Al-Jazeera region, while he captured Ahlat. Beys such as Er - Basgan and Sanduk, who had gained a base of action, were also carrying out regular expeditions to Anatolia. At this time, Sultan Alparslan took Ahlat from the administration of the Mervanids and gave it to the administration of Sanduk, one of the famous commanders who gained fame in the Anatolian wars. Because Emir Sanduk had the first degree of courage among Alparslan's commanders and made regular raids on Anatolia before the Battle of Manzikert, making Ahlat the jihad and war base of the Turks. In fact, Sanduk Bey showed that he was a strong commander by defeating the twenty thousand-man vanguard force sent by the Byzantine Emperor to Ahlat (August 3, 1071). However, Alparslan gave Ahlat back to its former owner, the Mervanids, a little after the Battle of Manzikert. Ibnü'l - Ezrak writes that Alparslan appointed governors to Ahlat and Manzikert after the Battle of Manzikert, and the sultans who came after him acted in the same way. However, it is certain that Ahlat came under Seljuk rule before the Battle of Manzikert. On the other hand, although the Great Seljuk Sultan Meliksah eliminated the Mervânì State in 1085, Ahlat was still in the hands of a Mervânì emir. However, the people, who were tired of the cruelty and torture of the Emir of Mervânì, Sökmen el, one of the Turkish emirs who gained fame with his justice and goodness. - He sent news to Kutbi and invited him to Ahlat. Sökmen el-Kutbì, who accepted this invitation, came to Ahlat with his forces and took over the city without using force. Thereupon, the Mervanids moved away from Ahlat. Muhammed Tapar also handed over the Ahlat and Van Lake basins to Sökmen el-Kutbi, who always supported him and provided successful services during his struggles for the throne. Thus, Ahlat became the capital of the Ahlatshahs Principality founded by Sökmen el-Kutbì and one of the leading political and cultural centers of that period. As a matter of fact, during the struggle for the throne between the Seljuk sultan Berkyaruk and Muhammed Tapar, Muhammed Tapar, who lost the war in Hoy (1103), came to Ahlat, the center of power of the Turks. Here, he prepared for the fight against Berkyaruk again by taking into his service Ahlatşâh Sökmen el-Kutbi, Erzurum Saltuklu Bey Ali and Ani emir Menuçehr, one of the Eastern Anatolian Turkish lords.