Söğüt is a town in the Turkish region of Eastern Marmara. A small town stuck among the hills, Söğüt could be "Anywhere, Turkey", were it not for the fact that the Ottoman Empire, spanned over multiple continents and multiple centuries, was founded right in this, seemingly insignificant, place.

For the Mediterranean village/resort of the same name, see Marmaris.

Understand

The Byzantines knew the town as Thebasion, a way station on the Silk Road between the harbour towns on the southern coast of the Sea of Marmara and inland Anatolia.

In the meantime, the Kayı tribe of the Oghuz Turks, led by Ertuğrul (d. 1280), was fleeing from the chaos brought about by the Mongolians in their homeland in Central Asia during the 13th century. Like many of the relative tribes, they immigrated through Khorasan to Anatolia, which was then ruled by the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, established by their Oghuz kindred in the preceding centuries. First setting up the camp (in a literal sense, with their yurts) in Ahlat on Lake Van, which was then in the eastern realms of the Sultanate, they were later granted the area around Söğüt at the opposite end of the land — the Seljuk policy towards the tribes pouring in from the east was to settle them in the borderlands of the Sultanate, in a similar fashion with the marches of medieval Europe, both to keep those unruly nomads away from the Seljuk policy centres and to keep the borders secure by using them as a first line of defence against unwanted incursions. They were provided with autonomy in their tribal affairs, as long as they accepted the sovereignty of the Seljuk sultan in Konya above each and all.

However, the Mongols soon showed up at the doorstep of hitherto presumed-to-be-safe Anatolia, and the Seljuk Sultanate collapsed after the Battle of Kösedağ, east of Sivas in 1243. After a tumultuous half-a-century of the Mongolian rule over Anatolia, the tribal chiefs declared their sovereignty one after another. So did Osman I (d. 1324), the son of Ertuğrul and considered to be the founder of the Ottoman dynasty, in 1299.

The newly established Ottoman state was luckier over the other petty kingdoms forming a patchwork on the maps of Anatolia, as it was on the borderlands of the Byzantine Empire, which was much weakened by that time, and more or less was limited to the immediate rim of the Sea of Marmara and Northern Greece. Using Söğüt as a base, the Ottomans quickly captured the Byzantine castles in the area, but it took until the first year of the reign of Orhan (r. 1324–1362), the son of Osman I, that they took control of Bursa, the first major city to fall under the Ottoman rule. The throne was then quickly moved to Bursa.

For centuries after the capital was moved to Bursa, Söğüt was all but forgotten, although it was still on a major route heading to the Anatolian plateau. Later, during the age of nationalism in the 19th century, when the Ottoman authority was in a steady decline and was shattering in the outlying areas of the empire inhabited by non-Turkish population, Söğüt got another boost, especially by "back to the roots"-minded Abdülhamid II (r. 1876–1909), who ordered the repair of the earliest Ottoman structures, a mosque to be built anew, and had the members of his personal bodyguard regiment to be specifically selected from the Karakeçili clan — considered to be the closest relatives of the dynastic family — of the Kayı tribe dispersed around Söğüt.

Nowadays, Söğüt is home of 15,000 and is a sleepy town off the major highways of the country. However, the locals are extremely proud of their heritage, and annually celebrate the foundation of the Ottoman Empire in their town.

Get in

There are three main approaches to Söğüt from the national highways — from Bilecik (28 km), Bozüyük (23 km), and Eskişehir (50 km).

These three cities are also where minibuses bound for Söğüt depart from, with a frequency of at least every two hours during the day.

See

The sights in Söğüt all relate to the Ottoman heritage. Since they are situated along an almost straight line through the town, it is easy to list them north to south:

• 1 Ertuğrul Ghazi tomb (Ertuğrul Gazi türbesi). (updated Nov 2017)
• 2 Hamidiye Mosque (Hamidiye Camii). (updated Nov 2017)
• 3 Ertuğrul Ghazi Museum (Ertuğrul Gazi Müzesi). (updated Nov 2017)
• 4 Hamidiye Academy (Hamidiye İdadisi). (updated Nov 2017)
• 5 Çelebi Sultan Mehmet Mosque (Çelebi Sultan Mehmet Camii). (updated Nov 2017)
• 6 Mosque of the Well (Kuyulu Mescid). (updated Nov 2017)

Go next

• Bilecik — a nearby city and the provincial capital was also an early Ottoman possession and has some associated sites.
• Eskişehir — back in the early years of the Ottoman Empire, Eskişehir was the site of a small Byzantine castle as well as of a Turkish-run regional marketplace. Nowadays, it is a fine riverside city, taking pride in being the hometown of Malhatun, the spouse of Osman I and the mother of Orhan.
• Bursa — the Ottoman capital after Söğüt is chock full of monuments from the early years of the empire, and is the site of the tombs of many sultans, including Osman I.
• Domaniç — over the misty mountains to the southwest, Domaniç was the summer meadows of the Kayı tribe back in the nomadic days, and is the site of the tomb of Hayme Ana, the mother of Ertuğrul.