Selim

Selim

Although prehistoric research is currently not sufficient to give the opportunity to have the final say, it has been proven that Kars and its region have been a settlement center since ancient times. The district's proximity to the center of Kars and its suitability as a settlement result in the continuation of this historical unity. The region came under Urartu sovereignty BC. After the domination of the Scythians in 145 BC, the Azovs came to power. They became the rulers of the region in the 5th century. In 430, the Sassanid Empire took Kars and its surroundings under control. The region has been an area of struggle between the Sassanids, Byzantium and Muslims for a long time. Towards the year 1000, the Seljuk Dynasty began to come to Anatolia, and the struggle with the Byzantine Empire formed the basis for the Turks' first and long-term entry into the region, with the victory of Kars in 1064 and Manzikert in 1071. Kars and its surroundings were taken over by the Georgians in 1153, the Mongols in 1239, and then the Timurids, Karakoyunlular and Akkoyunlular, and were under the control of the Safavids in 1502. The struggle between the Safavids and the Ottoman Empire led to the destruction of many historical monuments in the region. With the Iraq expedition during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the region was definitely transferred to the Ottomans. After the Erzurum Treaty signed with the Iranians in 1823, the struggle with Tsarist Russia began in the region. As a result of the 1855 Crimea and 1877-1878 wars, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed in 1918, and then the Armenian threats and attacks left the region in ruins. Selim was saved from the Armenian occupation on September 30, 1920, during the War of Independence initiated by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, by Martyr Captain Reşit Balkanlı, the commander of the first unit that entered the district.