Malazgirt

Malazgirt

Malazgirt is a district of Muş province. It is a district known for its plain, castle and historical Battle of Manzikert. The surface area of the district is 1534 km². It is 137 km away from Muş province. The district is surrounded by Patnos in the east, Bulanık in the west, Ahlat in the south and Murat River in the north. According to Musa of Horen, who is considered the father of Armenian historiography, Manzikert was founded by Manaz, one of the sons of Hayk, the legendary and anonymous patriarch and ancestor of the Armenians. There was a king named Menuas at the head of the Urartians, who were founded in the Van Lake basin in the B.C. period, and it is widely believed that the name Manzikert is related to the name of this king. According to an inscription belonging to this ruler, the king founded a city called the city of Menuas (Menuahina) around today's Manzikert and its name was derived from here. This determination may be correct, since the name of the city in Armenian is Manavazekert or Manazkert. In Arabic Sources, it is referred to as Manazcird. In medieval Byzantine sources, it is referred to as Manazkert. Later, its name changed to Manzikert. Its people call the city Kelê because of its castle. Manzikert and its surroundings, like other nearby regions, remained under the rule of the following states: Assyrians, Hasanians, Urartians, Scythians, Armenians, Georgians, Medes, Persians, Romans, Parthians, Sassanids, Byzantines, Umayyads, Abbasids, Seljuks, Ahlatshahs, Anatolian Seljuks, Mongols, Ilkhanate, Karakoyunlu, Akkoyunlu, Timur, Ayyubid, Ottoman, Safavids. Later, it came under Ottoman rule again. The Urartian period, the Persian period, the Armenian Kingdom period, the 1071 Battle of Manzikert and the Seljuk period are important for the history of the district. In 1071, Seljuk sultan Alparslan defeated the Byzantines in Manzikert. This victory has an important place both for Turkish unity and for the history of Manzikert. The district, which was connected to Muş as a result of Muş becoming a province again in 1929, was connected to Ağrı in May 1934, but was connected to Muş again on January 4, 1936.