Düziçi is a town in

Osmaniye Province Osmaniye Province () is a province in south-central Turkey. It was named Cebel-i Bereket () in the early republic until 1933, when it was incorporated into Adana Province. It was made a province again in 1996. Its area is 3,320 km2, and its p ...

in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

region of

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. It is the seat of

Düziçi District Düziçi District is a district of the Osmaniye Province of Turkey. Its seat is the town of Düziçi.İlçe Belediyesi
Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 22 May 2023. Its population is 56,724 (2022). It is located in a small plain in the foothills of the

Nur Mountains The Nur Mountains (, "Mountains of Holy Light"), formerly known as Alma-Dağ, the ancient Mount Amanus (), medieval Black Mountain, or Jabal al-Lukkam in Arabic, is a mountain range in the Hatay Province of south-central Turkey. It begins sou ...

and 440 m above the sea level. Düziçi is on a route from the Middle East to

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

and has seen numerous armies and campaigns throughout the centuries. The historical names for this site are minor variations of Haruniye (Arabic: ''al-Hārūniyya(h)''; Armenian: ''Harun'' or ''Harunia''; Crusader: ''Haronia'' or ''Aronia''). Its small castle is on an outcrop about 3 kilometers northeast of the town.

History and Monuments

The ancient names of the city were Irenopolis and Neronias. The fortress was built in A.D. 785/86 during the

Abbasid Caliphate The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 CE), from whom the dynasty takes ...

Harun al-Rashid Abū Jaʿfar Hārūn ibn Muḥammad ar-Rāshīd (), or simply Hārūn ibn al-Mahdī (; or 766 – 24 March 809), famously known as Hārūn al-Rāshīd (), was the fifth Abbasid caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate, reigning from September 786 unti ...

as a link in a chain of Arab defenses along the Nur Dağları, and named after him as al-Haruniyya. The Byzantine general Nicephorus Phocas captured the 1,500 residents of Haruniyya in 959. When it was recaptured by

Emir of Aleppo The monarchs of Aleppo reigned as kings, emirs and sultans of the city and its surrounding region since the later half of the 3rd millennium BC, starting with the kings of Armi, followed by the Amorite dynasty of Yamhad. Muslim rule of the city ...

Sayf al-Dawla ʿAlī ibn ʾAbū'l-Hayjāʾ ʿAbdallāh ibn Ḥamdān ibn Ḥamdūn ibn al-Ḥārith al-Taghlibī (, 22 June 916 – 8 February 967), more commonly known simply by his honorific of Sayf al-Dawla (, ), was the founder of the Emirate of Aleppo, ...

, in 967, the fort was repaired. Following the

Battle of Manzikert The Battle of Manzikert or Malazgirt was fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Empire on 26 August 1071 near Manzikert, Iberia (theme), Iberia (modern Malazgirt in Muş Province, Turkey). The decisive defeat of the Byzantine army ...

in 1071 nomadic Turks began to move into Anatolia and the nearby hills were temporarily settled by the Avşar tribe of the Turkmen. At some point between the mid-12th century and 1198/99 it became the possession of the

Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, also known as Cilician Armenia, Lesser Armenia, Little Armenia or New Armenia, and formerly known as the Armenian Principality of Cilicia, was an Armenian state formed during the High Middle Ages by Armenian ...

. On January 22, 1236 the Armenian King Hethum I and his wife

Isabella Isabella may refer to: People and fictional characters * Isabella (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Isabella (surname), including a list of people Places United States * Isabella, Alabama, an unincorpo ...

bestowed the castle and village of Haruniyya to the Knights of the

Teutonic Order The Teutonic Order is a religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious institution founded as a military order (religious society), military society in Acre, Israel, Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Sa ...

Silver dirham of Abbasids minted in Haruniyya

The plan of the local medieval fortress, Haruniye Kalesi, reveals a compact

keep A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residen ...

-like structure with a massive tower at the east, which protects a

postern A postern is a secondary door or gate in a fortification such as a city wall or castle curtain wall. Posterns were often placed in concealed locations, allowing inconspicuous entrance and exit. In the event of a siege, a postern could act as a s ...

gate. There are continuous galleries with pointed vaults in the north and west walls which are opened by embrasured arrow slits. The main entrance is at the south. Repairs to the castle may belong to the Teutonic Knights or the Mamluks. The lower level of the large tower at the east may have functioned as a cistern. In the late 13th century it was captured by the Egyptian Mamluks, who made Haruniyya the administrative center for eastern Cilicia in the mid-14th century. The Ottomans took control in 1516 during the campaign against Egypt of Sultan

Selim I Selim I (; ; 10 October 1470 – 22 September 1520), known as Selim the Grim or Selim the Resolute (), was the List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1520. Despite lasting only eight years, his reign is ...

. In the Ottoman period the town was still known as ''Haruniye''. Düziçi is one of many places in the

Çukurova Çukurova (), or the Cilician Plain (''Cilicia Pedias'' in antiquity), is a large fertile plain in the Cilicia region of southern Anatolia. The plain covers the easternmost areas of Mersin Province, southern and central Adana Province, western Os ...

area that claims association with the legendary 17th century folk-poet

Karacaoğlan Karacaoğlan was a 17th-century Anatolian Turkish folk poet and ashik. His exact dates of birth and death are unknown but it is widely accepted that he was born around 1606 and died around 1679. He lived around the city of Osmaniye. His tomb, wh ...

. The town was occupied by the French forces after the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

until the

Turkish War of Independence , strength1 = May 1919: 35,000November 1920: 86,000Turkish General Staff, ''Türk İstiklal Harbinde Batı Cephesi'', Edition II, Part 2, Ankara 1999, p. 225August 1922: 271,000Celâl Erikan, Rıdvan Akın: ''Kurtuluş Savaşı tarih ...

Education

1 High School of Science in the town center, 2 Anatolian High School, 1 Public High School, 1 Vocational and Technical High School, 1 Health Professions High School, 1 Commercial High School, 1 Multi-Program High School a total of 8 schools, including, in the hands District 1 General high school for a total of 9 high school, also one kindergarten, one 8 years 22 and 29 at 5 There is a total of 51 years, including elementary school. There are a total of 61 schools across the district.

Places of interest

*The castle of Harun al-Rahshid. *The Haruniye hot springs. *Mount Düldül, a peak in the Nur Mountains

References

External links

District municipality's official website

Extensive photographic survey, description and plan of Haruniye Castle / Düziçi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duzici Populated places in Düziçi District Castles in Turkey 780s establishments District municipalities in Turkey

History and Monuments

Education

Places of interest

See also

References

External links