Two-day events in eastern Türkiye for the anniversary of the Battle of Manzikert (Malazgirt) wrapped up on Monday in the venue where the battlefield is presumed to be located. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Cabinet ministers and dignitaries participated in the patriotic celebrations in present-day Muş province.
In an address to the crowd gathered for the celebration, Erdoğan lauded the “Manzikert spirit still alive for the Turkish and Islamic world after 953 years.”
The president on Sunday was in Ahlat, a town where a Seljuk army led by Sultan Alparslan set out to confront the Byzantine forces centuries ago. Celebrations in Ahlat culminated in Malazgirt where traditional Turkish yurts were set up. The president, flanked by people dressed up in Seljuk and Ottoman military uniforms, rallied a fervent crowd of supporters with an emotional speech where he often quoted patriotic poems on Turkish victories. The battle’s anniversary falls into a month of several Turkish victories throughout history, including the Great Offensive of 1922, where forces under the command of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk drove out occupying forces in post-World War I Anatolia.
“We are blessed to mark the anniversary of the Manzikert victory that opened the gates of Anatolia (to Turks). We have the same excitement as a nation we had 953 years ago,” Erdoğan said.
Fondly remembering Alparslan and his soldiers, Erdoğan also paid tribute to “all heroes who gave their lives or were injured so that the Turkish flag would not be taken down, our nation would live in peace, and our independence would be ensured.”
The president described the victory as a saga of the fight against oppression. “It is the victory of unity against oppression,” he said, reminding the crowd that Alparslan’s army fought a force four times bigger than themselves. “Only four years after the victory, we founded our first state in these lands, the Anatolian Seljuk state. For almost 1,000 years, we have Anatolia as our homeland. The Spirit of Manzikert is a fountain of faith for the Turkish and Islamic world and it will remain so forever. Each member of this nation will have the same ideal as those fought in Malazgirt,” he said.
Erdoğan said that Manzikert, beyond a mere battle, was the beginning of a movement of renovation that gave birth to a civilization. “You need spirit and culture to make a place your own homeland. It sometimes needs blood, faith and labor. This nation made Anatolia its homeland by blood, faith and labor,” he underlined. The president said the victory also paved the way for the conquest of Jerusalem by Muslims. “This is not only a victory of Turks but also a victory of Kurds, Arabs and people of different ethnicities who fought in Alparslan’s army,” he said.
On Aug. 26, 1071, Byzantine Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes' army took on the Seljuk army of mostly mounted archers, led by Sultan Alparslan, suffering a huge defeat. Romanos was taken captive before being released by Alparslan. According to the agreement between the two leaders, a few border posts were handed over to the Seljuks. The deal allowed Sultan Alparslan to turn his full attention to the Fatimids ruling over Egypt. However, the emperor was soon toppled, tortured and killed by rivals before the empire was consumed by a destructive civil war. The agreement between the two leaders was not ratified by the new emperor, who rejected its terms. The civil war allowed nomadic Turkmen tribes following in the footsteps of the Seljuk army to flood and take over most of Anatolia, apart from a few outposts on the coast. Alparslan did not live long after the battle, dying at the hands of an assassin a year later.
The conquest of Anatolia also directly resulted in the Orthodox Christian Byzantine Empire seeking help from the Catholic Vatican. Pope Urban II used Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos's request for military aid to declare, at the Council of Clermont in 1095, a general mobilization of Western Christendom against the Turks who had occupied Anatolia and much of the Middle East. The resulting mass invasion is called the Crusades.
The battle is seen by the Turks as the beginning of the transformation of Anatolia as the land of the Turks.
Erdoğan said on Monday that they would hand over the flag handed over to them by their ancestors to future generations. “Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it. History is learning lessons and building upon achievements to accomplish new victories. Manzikert is not simply a golden chapter in our glorious history but also a guiding light for our quest for Türkiye of 2071. I see the Turkish youth is inspired by our history; I have faith in them,” Erdoğan said.
The president stated that the victory was the fruit of unity and that the nation can only overcome challenges by standing united against attacks targeting the homeland.
