![Azaz nahiyah](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Azaz_nahiyah.svg)
Azaz ( ar, أَعْزَاز, ʾAʿzāz) is a city in northwest Syria, roughly north-northwest of
Aleppo
)), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black".
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. According to the
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Azaz had a population of 31,623 in the 2004 census.
[General Census of Population and Housing 2004](_blank)
. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Aleppo Governorate. , its inhabitants were almost entirely
Sunni Muslim
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word ''Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagree ...
s, mostly
Arabs
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Wester ...
but also some
Kurds ug:كۇردلار
Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Ir ...
and
Turkmen
Turkmen, Türkmen, Turkoman, or Turkman may refer to:
Peoples Historical ethnonym
* Turkoman (ethnonym), ethnonym used for the Oghuz Turks during the Middle Ages
Ethnic groups
* Turkmen in Anatolia and the Levant (Seljuk and Ottoman-Turkish desc ...
.
It is historically significant as the site of the
Battle of Azaz between the
Crusader States
The Crusader States, also known as Outremer, were four Catholic realms in the Middle East that lasted from 1098 to 1291. These feudal polities were created by the Latin Catholic leaders of the First Crusade through conquest and political in ...
and the
Seljuk Turks on June 11, 1125. It is close to a
Syria–Turkey border
The border between the Syrian Arab Republic and the Republic of Turkey ( ar, الحدود السورية التركية, translit=alhudud alsuwriat alturkia; tr, Suriye–Türkiye sınırı) is about long, and runs from the Mediterranean Sea ...
crossing, which enters Turkey at
Öncüpınar, south of the city of
Kilis
Kilis is a city in south-central Turkey, near the Syria–Turkey border, border with Syria, and the administrative centre of Kilis Province.
History
Although there aren't any definite information related to its foundation, today's Kilis mainl ...
. It is the capital of the
Syrian Interim Government
The Syrian Interim Government ''(SIG)'' is an alternative government in Syria, formed by the umbrella opposition group, the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces. The interim government indirectly controls some areas ...
.
History
The city was known in ancient times with different names: in
Hurrian
The Hurrians (; cuneiform: ; transliteration: ''Ḫu-ur-ri''; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri or Hurriter) were a people of the Bronze Age Near East. They spoke a Hurrian language and lived in Anatolia, Syria and Northern ...
as ''Azazuwa'', in
Medieval Greek
Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the Ottoman co ...
as Αζάζιον (''Azázion''), in
Old Aramaic as ''Ḥzz'' (later evolved in
Neo-Assyrian as ''Ḫazazu'').
Early Islamic period
In excavations of the site of Tell Azaz, considerable quantities of ceramics from the early and middle Islamic periods were found.
[Eger, p. 88.] Despite the importance of Azaz as indicated by archaeological finds, the settlement was rarely mentioned in Islamic texts prior to the 12th century. However, a visit to the town by the Muslim musician
Ishaq al-Mawsili
Ishaq al-Mawsili ( ar, إسحاق الموصلي; 767/772 – March 850) was an Arab musician of Persian origin active as a composer, singer, music theorist and writer on music. The leading musician of his time in the Abbasid Caliphate, he served ...
(767–850) gives some indication of Azaz's importance during
Abbasid
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
rule.
The
Hamdanids of
Aleppo
)), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black".
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(945–1002) built a brick citadel at Azaz.
[Bylinsky 2004, p. 161.] It was a square fortress with two enclosures, situated atop a
tell.
[Deschamps 1973, p. 343.]
On 10 August 1030, Tubbal near Azaz became the scene of a
humiliating defeat of the
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
emperor
Romanos III
Romanos III Argyros ( el, Ρωμανός Αργυρός; Latinized Romanus III Argyrus; 968 – 11 April 1034), or Argyropoulos was Byzantine Emperor from 1028 until his death. He was a Byzantine noble and senior official in Constantinople whe ...
at the hands of the
Mirdasids
The Mirdasid dynasty ( ar, المرداسيون, al-Mirdāsiyyīn), also called the Banu Mirdas, was an Arab dynasty which ruled an Aleppo-based emirate in northern Syria and the western Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia) more or less continuously fro ...
. In December of the same year, the Byzantine generals
Niketas of Mistheia
Niketas of Mistheia was a Byzantine official, originally from Mistheia, and '' doux'' of Antioch (1030–1032). He was an eunuch who held the titles of ''patrikios'' and ''rhaiktor''.
Career
In 1030, Byzantine Emperor Romanos III Argyros appointe ...
and Symeon besieged and captured Azaz, and burned Tubbal to the ground in retaliation.
Crusader period
During the Crusader era, Azaz, which was referred to in Crusader sources as "''Hazart''", became of particular strategic significance due to its topography and location, overlooking the surrounding region.
In the hands of the Muslims, Azaz stymied communications between the Crusader states of
Edessa
Edessa (; grc, Ἔδεσσα, Édessa) was an ancient city (''polis'') in Upper Mesopotamia, founded during the Hellenistic period by King Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Seleucid Empire. It later became capital of the Kingdom of Osroene ...
and
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ ...
, while in Crusader hands it threatened the major Muslim city of
Aleppo
)), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black".
, motto =
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.
Around December 1118, the Crusader prince
Roger of Antioch and the
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
prince
Leo I
The LEO I (Lyons Electronic Office I) was the first computer used for commercial business applications.
The prototype LEO I was modelled closely on the Cambridge EDSAC. Its construction was overseen by Oliver Standingford, Raymond Thompson and D ...
besieged and captured Azaz from the Turcoman prince
Ilghazi
Najm ad-Din Ilghazi ibn Artuq (died November 8, 1122) was the Turkmen Artukid ruler of Mardin from 1107 to 1122. He was born into the Oghuz tribe of Döğer.
Biography
His father Artuk Bey was the founder of the Artukid dynasty, and had be ...
of
Mardin
Mardin ( ku, Mêrdîn; ar, ماردين; syr, ܡܪܕܝܢ, Merdīn; hy, Մարդին) is a city in southeastern Turkey. The capital of Mardin Province, it is known for the Artuqid architecture of its old city, and for its strategic location on ...
.
In January 1124, Balak and
Toghtekin, the
Burid
The Burid dynasty was a dynasty of Turkish origin ''Burids'', R. LeTourneau, The Encyclopedia of Islam, Vol. I, ed. H.A.R. Gibb, J.H. Kramers, É. Lévi-Provençal and J. Schacht, (Brill, 1986), 1332. which ruled over the Emirate of Damascus ...
atabeg
Atabeg, Atabek, or Atabey is a hereditary title of nobility of Turkic origin, indicating a governor of a nation or province who was subordinate to a monarch and charged with raising the crown prince. The first instance of the title's use was wit ...
of
Damascus
)), is an adjective which means "spacious".
, motto =
, image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg
, image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg
, seal_type = Seal
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, breached Azaz's defenses, but were repulsed by Crusader reinforcements.
In April 1125, the
Seljuk Seljuk or Saljuq (سلجوق) may refer to:
* Seljuk Empire (1051–1153), a medieval empire in the Middle East and central Asia
* Seljuk dynasty (c. 950–1307), the ruling dynasty of the Seljuk Empire and subsequent polities
* Seljuk (warlord) (di ...
atabeg
Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi
Qasīm al-Dawla Sayf al-Dīn Abū Saʿīd Āqsunqur al-Bursuqī (), also known as Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi, Aqsonqor il-Bursuqi, Aksunkur al-Bursuki, Aksungur or al-Borsoki, was the atabeg of Mosul from 1113–1114 and again from 1124–1126.
Accessi ...
of
Mosul
Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second large ...
and Toghtekin invaded the Principality of Antioch and surrounded Azaz.
In response, in May or June 1125, a 3,000-strong Crusader coalition commanded by King
Baldwin II of Jerusalem
Baldwin II, also known as Baldwin of Bourcq or Bourg (; – 21August 1131), was Count of Edessa from 1100 to 1118, and King of Jerusalem from 1118 until his death. He accompanied his cousins Godfrey of Bouillon and Baldwin of Boulogne to the ...
confronted and defeated the 15,000-strong Muslim coalition at the
Battle of Azaz, raising the siege of the town.
[Deschamps 1973, p. 344.]
However, the Crusaders' strength in the region was dealt a blow following the
Zengid capture of Edessa in 1144.
Afterward, the other fortresses in the County of Edessa, including Azaz, gradually became neglected.
In 1146,
Humphrey II of Toron sent sixty knights to reinforce the garrison at Azaz.
Despite its strong fortifications, the fortress of Azaz finally fell to the Muslims under the Zengid emir of Aleppo,
Nur ad-Din in June 1150.
13th–20th centuries
The
Ayyubid
The Ayyubid dynasty ( ar, الأيوبيون '; ) was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni ...
emir of Aleppo,
al-Aziz Uthman, rebuilt the earlier Hamdanid structure at Azaz with stone.
During Ayyubid rule, in 1226, the local historian
Yaqut al-Hamawi, described Azaz as a "fine town", referring to the settlement as "Dayr Tell Azaz".
It was the center of a district bearing its name that also included the market towns or forts of
Kafr Latha,
Mannagh, Yabrin, Arfad, Tubbal and
Innib.
The
Mamluk Sultanate ruled over the area from the 13th century. The
Ottomans
The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922).
Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...
entered the area in 1516 with a victory at the
Battle of Marj Dabiq. Azaz continued to be inhabited by
Turkmen
Turkmen, Türkmen, Turkoman, or Turkman may refer to:
Peoples Historical ethnonym
* Turkoman (ethnonym), ethnonym used for the Oghuz Turks during the Middle Ages
Ethnic groups
* Turkmen in Anatolia and the Levant (Seljuk and Ottoman-Turkish desc ...
in the Ottoman era. It was a
sanjak
Sanjaks (liwāʾ) (plural form: alwiyāʾ)
* Armenian language, Armenian: նահանգ (''nahang''; meaning "province")
* Bulgarian language, Bulgarian: окръг (''okrǔg''; meaning "county", "province", or "region")
* el, Διοίκησι ...
administrative division along with that of
Kilis
Kilis is a city in south-central Turkey, near the Syria–Turkey border, border with Syria, and the administrative centre of Kilis Province.
History
Although there aren't any definite information related to its foundation, today's Kilis mainl ...
. After the
fall of the Ottoman Empire
The dissolution of the Ottoman Empire (1908–1922) began with the Young Turk Revolution which restored the constitution of 1876 and brought in multi-party politics with a two-stage electoral system for the Ottoman parliament. At the same ti ...
in the early 20th century, the new
Syria-Turkey border ran just north of Azaz. The town was first part of the
French colonial empire
The French colonial empire () comprised the overseas colonies, protectorates and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "First French Colonial Empire", that exist ...
's
Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon
The Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon (french: Mandat pour la Syrie et le Liban; ar, الانتداب الفرنسي على سوريا ولبنان, al-intidāb al-fransi 'ala suriya wa-lubnān) (1923−1946) was a League of Nations mandate foun ...
and, from 1946, the independent state of
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
.
Syrian civil war
![Azaz, Syria](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Azaz%2C_Syria.jpg)
On 19 July 2012, during the
Syrian civil war, rebels opposed to the
Syrian government
Government of the Syrian Arab Republic is the union government created by the constitution of Syria where by the president is the head of state and the prime minister is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government. Syr ...
succeeded in
capturing the town. The town is highly valued as a logistical supply route close to the Turkish–Syrian border.
The
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...
took control of Azaz in October 2013, but withdrew from the city in February 2014 after having been cut off from the rest of its territory.
Following the departure of ISIL, Azaz was left under the control of
Northern Storm, a brigade under the authority of the
Islamic Front, nominally a part of the
Free Syrian Army
The Free Syrian Army (FSA) ( ar, الجيش السوري الحر, al-jaysh as-Sūrī al-ḥur) is a loose faction in the Syrian Civil War founded on 29 July 2011 by officers of the Syrian Armed Forces with the goal of bringing down the governm ...
(FSA) at that time. A Sharia Committee was responsible for the administration of
sharia law
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the Five Pillars of Islam, religious precepts of Islam and is based on the Islamic holy books, sacred scriptures o ...
, and was policed by the Northern Storm brigade. A Civil Council governed the field of public services.
During its northern offensive in 2015, ISIL approached Azaz, but fell short of directly assaulting the city; taking
Kafra and surrounding territory. While regular ISIL forces were finally expelled from the Aleppo Governorate in October 2016, the
January 2017 Azaz bombing
The January 2017 Azaz bombing occurred on 7 January 2017 when a car bomb in front of a courthouse and near a market in the rebel-held city of Azaz, Syria detonated, killing at least 60 people, mostly civilians, and wounding around 50 others. Th ...
was attributed to ISIL.
In January 2015,
al-Nusra Front
Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra ( ar, جبهة النصرة لأهل الشام, Jabhat an-Nuṣrah li-Ahl ish-Sham lit. ''Front of the Supporters of the People of Syria/the Levant''), known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham ( ar, جبهة فتح ال ...
had a limited presence in the town and controlled one mosque.
[ By October 2015, the control of the town was shared between Nusra and a brigade of the FSA.
Turkey began organising Turkmen militia bases in Azaz during the People's Protection Units (YPG) advance against ISIL in 2015, in order to prevent the YPG obtaining a land bridge between the Afrin and ]Kobanî Canton
Euphrates Region, formerly Kobanî Canton, ( ku, Herêma Firatê, ar, إقليم الفرات, syc, ܦܢܝܬܐ ܕܦܪܬ, translit=Ponyotho d'Prat) is the central of three original regions of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Sy ...
s. The Turkish government declared Azaz to be a "red line" which Kurdish forces must not cross. Azaz became one of the first towns to come under the Turkish occupation of northern Syria during the 2016 Operation Euphrates Shield. By late 2017, Azaz was the headquarters of the Syrian Interim Government
The Syrian Interim Government ''(SIG)'' is an alternative government in Syria, formed by the umbrella opposition group, the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces. The interim government indirectly controls some areas ...
.
Climate
Azaz has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
''Csa'').
References
Bibliography
*
*
{{Cities of Syria
Cities in Syria
Populated places in Azaz District
Towns in Aleppo Governorate