Muş

Sister cities

• Denizli

History

An inscription belonging to Urartian King Argisti I (785-765 BC) was unearthed near Kepenek Castle. The inscription is now under protection by the Muş Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism. The inscription in question reads: The date of foundation of Mush is unknown, although a settlement is believed to have been around by the time of Menua, the king of Urartu (c. 800 BC), whose cuneiform inscription was found in the city's vicinity. During the Middle Ages, Mush was the center of the Taron region of Armenia. It is first mentioned as a city in Armenian manuscripts of the 9th and 10th centuries. In the late 8th century, Mush, along with the Taron region, came under control of the Armenian Bagratid (Bagratuni) dynasty, who reconquered it from the Muslim Arabs. Mush and the Taron region were captured and annexed to the Byzantine Empire in 969. The region continued to face attacks from the Hamdanids, Uqaylids and Marwanids until the Byzantines were finally ousted from the region by the Seljuk Turks following the 1071 Battle of Manzikert. Following this battle, it came under the rule of the Ahlatshahs. After the 11th century, the town was ruled by Islamic dynasties such as the Ahlatshahs, Ayyubids, Ilkhanids and Kara Koyunlu. In the 10th-13th centuries Mush developed into a major city with an estimated population of 20 to 25 thousand people. In 1387 the Central Asian conqueror Timur crossed the area and apparently captured Mush town without a battle. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica (1911) the population was nearly equally divided between Kurds and Armenians. During the Armenian genocide of 1915 the indigenous Armenian population of the region was exterminated. Over 140,000 Armenians of the Mush sanjak (living in 234 villages and towns) were targeted in…