Malkara ( el, Μάλγαρα, Malgara) is a town and district of

Tekirdağ Province Tekirdağ Province ( tr, Tekirdağ ili , ) is a province of Turkey. It is located in the East Thrace region of the country, also known as European Turkey, one of only three provinces entirely within continental Europe. Tekirdağ Province is borde ...

in the Marmara region of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. It is located at 55 km west of

Tekirdağ Tekirdağ (; see also its other names) is a city in Turkey. It is located on the north coast of the Sea of Marmara, in the region of East Thrace. In 2019 the city's population was 204,001. Tekirdağ town is a commercial centre with a harbour ...

and 190 km from

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

. 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 The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

blow hard across

Thrace Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to t ...

History

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, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...

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 Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

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 Koca Sinan Pasha ( tr, Koca Sinan Paşa, "Sinan the Great"; c. 1506 - 3 April 1596) was an Albanian-born Ottoman Grand Vizier, military figure, and statesman. From 1580 until his death he served five times as Grand Vizier. In a Ragusan documen ...

– statesman and Grand Vizier, exiled for four years here after the failure of his campaign against Persia in 1580 *

Melek Ahmed Pasha Melek Ahmed Pasha ("Ahmed Pasha the Angel"; 1604–1662) was an Ottoman Empire, Ottoman statesman and Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, grand vizier during the reign of Mehmed IV. Early years He was of Abkhaz people, Abkhaz (or Abazins, Ab ...

– 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 Devle ...

– Grand Vizier, 1656 *

Bekri Mustafa Pasha Bekri Mustafa Pasha ("Mustafa Pasha the Drunkard"; known by the epithet ''Tekirdağlı'', meaning "from Tekirdağ"; died January 1690) was an Ottoman grand vizier during the Great Turkish War. He was a member of the Janissary corps of the Ot ...

– Grand Vizier, 1688–89 The 17th-century Ottoman traveler

Evliya Çelebi Derviş Mehmed Zillî (25 March 1611 – 1682), known as Evliya Çelebi ( ota, اوليا چلبى), was an Ottoman explorer who travelled through the territory of the Ottoman Empire and neighboring lands over a period of forty years, recording ...

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 A Janissary ( ota, یڭیچری, yeŋiçeri, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops and the first modern standing army in Europe. The corps was most likely established under sultan Orha ...

troops in protest against plans by Sultan

Selim III Selim III ( ota, سليم ثالث, Selim-i sâlis; tr, III. Selim; was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1789 to 1807. Regarded as an enlightened ruler, the Janissaries eventually deposed and imprisoned him, and placed his cousin Mustafa ...

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 defe ...

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