Emirdağ is a town of

Afyonkarahisar Province Afyonkarahisar Province (), often shortened to Afyon Province, is a Provinces of Turkey, province in western Turkey. Its area is 14,016 km2, and its population is 747,555 (2022). The provincial capital is Afyonkarahisar. Adjacent provinces a ...

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 ...

, between the cities of Afyon and Eskişehir. It is the seat of

Emirdağ District Emirdağ District is a Districts of Turkey, district of Afyonkarahisar Province of Turkey. Its seat is the town Emirdağ.

.İlçe Belediyesi
Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 12 January 2023. Its population is 22,978 (2022). The mayor is Serkan Koyuncu ( AKP). The Emir Mountains rise steeply behind the town. The region is vulnerable to earthquakes. The weather is very cold in winter.

Etymology

During the Hellenistic era the name of Emirdağ was Amorion (). After the Arab conquests of Anatolia the city was known as Ammūriye by Arab-Islamic sources. The Ottomans called the settlement Hergen Kale, which refers to its old city. After 17th century, the city was named as Muslucalı (Which means "from

Mosul Mosul ( ; , , ; ; ; ) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. It is the second largest city in Iraq overall after the capital Baghdad. Situated on the banks of Tigris, the city encloses the ruins of the ...

") due to migrations of Turkmens from Mosul Vilayet and Rakka Eyalet. From 1867 until 1932, the town was called Azîziyye in honour of Sultan Abdulaziz. In 1932 the name Emirdağ was given by

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish field marshal and revolutionary statesman who was the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first President of Turkey, president from 1923 until Death an ...

which derives from the Seljuk commander Emir Ahmed Mengücek, who defeated the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

at the Battle of Bolybotum, and rested on the

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have aris ...

near the area. Therefore the mountains were called Emir ( Amir) and dağları (mountains).

History

The area has been occupied since at least 1437 BC by a succession of peoples beginning with

Hittites The Hittites () were an Anatolian peoples, Anatolian Proto-Indo-Europeans, Indo-European people who formed one of the first major civilizations of the Bronze Age in West Asia. Possibly originating from beyond the Black Sea, they settled in mo ...

, Lydians,

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

ns, and

Greeks Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...

. The ruins of the

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

and

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

city of Amorium lie about 12 km east of Emirdağ. Amorium was one of the four principal Byzantine cities in

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 was the home of the Byzantine Amorian dynasty. It was conquered in 838-845 by the

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

Caliph Al-Mu'tasim. The area was settled by Turkmen from 1068 onwards and particularly following the battle of nearby Bolvadin, between the Byzantines and the

Seljuk Turks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; , ''Saljuqian'',) alternatively spelled as Saljuqids or Seljuk Turks, was an Oghuz Turks, Oghuz Turkic, Sunni Muslim dynasty that gradually became Persianate society, Persianate and contributed to Turco-Persi ...

. Later further waves of Turkmen followed including the Dulkadirids; Yörük nomads were settled here by the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. From 1867 until 1922, Emirdağ (Azîziyye) was part of the Hüdavendigâr vilayet of the

. During the Greco-Turkish War, Emirdağ was occupied by Greek forces from 16 August 1921 till 22 September 1921.

Emirdağ today

Many Turkish migrants in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

and the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

originally came from Emirdağ and the surrounding villages, including Karacalar where there is a strong Alevi minority. People originally went abroad to work as miners in the 1950s and nowadays are typically occupied with running restaurants, cafes, and bars. This emigration helps to explain why the population growth in Emirdağ in recent decades has been less than most Anatolian towns (the population of the town in 1960 was 10,069). It also means that in summer the district is swollen with local families returning on vacation. Many of these families have invested their savings in apartment buildings, offices and shops in Emirdağ. This is still a typical Turkish country town and quite conservative; the tea-gardens are segregated into areas for families and single men. There are some basic restaurants and internet cafes. There is a jandarma training camp in Emirdağ and the army is important for the economy of the town in winter. The local cuisine includes arabaşı, a soup with dumplings.

Climate

Emirdağ has a borderline humid subtropical and

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Cfa''/''Dfa''), with hot, dry summers, and cold, somewhat snowy winters.

Politics

Ugur Serdar Kargın ( MHP) is elected as new mayor in 2014. The council had an ''alderman for external affairs'' in 2004–2009, Metin Edeer ( MHP), who has been living in Schaerbeek (

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

) since 1978, where he runs two restaurants and presided over an association of people from Emirdağ (EYAD); he visits Emirdağ during the summer holidays.Mehmet Koksal,
Emirdag et son échevin belge des Affaires étrangères
, ''Minorites.org'', 14 April 2004 Previous mayors: *Lütfi Ihsan Dag, AK Party (2004-2009) *Ismet Güler, CHP (1994-2004) *Ali Kocaman, DYP (1989-1994) *Ömer Faruk Pala, SHP (1985-1989) *Erol Sarıer, ANAP (1984-1985) *Hacı Ali Kılıçalp, AP (1968-1982)

Population

The population of the municipality of Emirdağ is shown below:

Emirdağ Folk Songs

Emirdağ Folk Songs are very famous. Some Emirdağ Folk Songs: * Al Fadimem * Emirdağ'ı Birbirine Ulalı * Harmana Sererler * Su vermez Diyorlar * Zalım Poyraz * Dabandan * Düz Oyun * Pancar Ektim Emirdağ'ın Düzüne * Ağıl Ören * Yoğurt Çaldım Kazana * Yalan mıydı Yaşar * Ekizce Üstünde Bir Karabulut * Emirdağ'ın Güzelleri * Kuşburnu Pürlenir mi * Ta Yaylanın Yükseğinde Evleri * Erzurum'dan Çevirdiler Yolumu * Eylülde Gel * Emirdağı'na Vardım Sabaha Karşı

Notable natives

Emirdağ has long had a rich folk culture and has given us many folk songs ( türkü) and singers including in the 20th century. * Kubat - popular singer specialising in a hybrid of Turkish folk music with electronic instruments. He was brought up in Belgium of an Emirdağ family. * Azra Akın - Miss World 2002, brought up in the

of an Emirdağ family. * Tevfik Başer - film director * Bülent Akın - Footballer who has played for Turkish giants Galatasaray and English club Bolton Wanderers * Fuat Çapa - Belgian-Turkish football manager. * Cemal Çavdarlı - Former Belgian member of Parliament

References

External links

Christopher S. Lightfoot, ''Trade and Industry in Byzantine Anatolia – The Evidence from Amorium'', 2005 (abstract)

Archaeological site of Amorium

Emirdağ Municipality web site

News about Emirdağ
{{DEFAULTSORT:Emirdag Populated places in Emirdağ District Archaeological sites in the Aegean region District municipalities in Turkey Amorium