Malkara ( el, Μάλγαρα, Malgara) is a town and district of
Tekirdağ Province in the
Marmara region of
Turkey. It is located at 55 km west of
Tekirdağ and 190 km from
Istanbul. It covers an area of 1,225 km², which makes the district the largest in Tekirdağ. Population of the town is 25,000 with another 36,000 residing in surrounding villages. The mayor is Ulaş Yurdakul (
CHP).
Climate
The district has cold winters, wet winds from the
Balkans blow hard across
Thrace.
History
Thrace was the scene of fighting during the
Persian Wars
The Greco-Persian Wars (also often called the Persian Wars) were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire and Greek city-states that started in 499 BC and lasted until 449 BC. The collision between the fractious political world of the ...
and the name Malkara is said to come from the Persian 'Margaar' meaning 'cave of snakes'. Alternatively the town may be named after 'Malgar' a general in the army of
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...
who built a fortress here after they had succeeded in bringing to an end the Persian 30-year occupation of Thrace. These fortifications remained in use up until 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 ...
period.
Once the area had been brought under Ottoman control it was settled with Turks from
Anatolia and a Turkish town emerged which thrived supplying the Ottoman cavalry regiments. Malkara was then used as a place of exile for those out of favor in the Ottoman court including:
* Hacı Evhat – personal tutor to
Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman I ( ota, سليمان اول, Süleyman-ı Evvel; tr, I. Süleyman; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the West and Suleiman the Lawgiver ( ota, قانونى سلطان سليمان, Ḳ ...
, who exiled Evhat in 1524 when he did not like the lessons
*
Koca Sinan Pasha – statesman and Grand Vizier, exiled for four years here after the failure of his
campaign against Persia in 1580
*
Melek Ahmed Pasha – Grand Vizier, 1650–51
*
Boynuyaralı Mehmed Pasha
Boynuyaralı Mehmed Pasha (died 1665 in Eyüp, Istanbul), also known as Boynueğri Mehmed Pasha, was an Ottoman statesman. He was grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 26 April 1656 to 15 September 1656.İsmail Hâmi Danişmend, Osmanlı Devlet ...
– Grand Vizier, 1656
*
Bekri Mustafa Pasha – Grand Vizier, 1688–89
The 17th-century Ottoman traveler
Evliya Çelebi described Malkara as a tidy, hard-working town of 150 houses of tiled roofs noted for production of honey, cheese, and leather.
At the end of the 18th century Malkara was the scene of an uprising by the
Jannissary troops in protest against plans by Sultan
Selim III to replace them with a new model army.
Malkara was occupied by Russian troops in the
Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829, again by the Russians in
The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 and most painfully by the Bulgarians for 8.5 months during the
Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and def ...
of 1912–1913. In the aftermath of the 1913 Ottoman coup d'état, Malkara was reoccupied by Ottoman troops.
During World War II, the Greek part of Thrace was occupied by German and Bulgarian troops, and when Turkey was preparing for a possible entry into the war against the Axis powers, refugees from Greece were briefly housed in Malkara for their safety.
Malkara today
Malkara is a small market town serving the countryside around it, which is mostly devoted to growing sunflowers for seeds and oil. There are also one or two coal mines. Many of the people of Malkara originate in the Balkans and are liberal- and secular-minded.
Places of interest
The village of Yenidibek with its reservoir and ruined Byzantine castle is a popular picnic spot.
References
{{Districts of Turkey, provname=Tekirdağ, image=Tekirdag
Towns in Turkey
Populated places in Tekirdağ Province
Former_Greek_towns_in_Turkey
Districts of Tekirdağ Province