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Malatya is located in the Upper Euphrates Basin of the Eastern Anatolia Region, and has connecting highways to the Central Anatolia, Mediterranean, Eastern Anatolia and South Eastern Anatolia Regions. Malatya is located in the southwest of the Eastern Anatolia Region and is surrounded by Elazığ to the east, by Erzincan to the northeast, by Sivas to the northwest, by Kahramanmaraş to the west, by Adıyaman to the south and by Diyarbakır to the southeast. The landscape in Malatya is formed mostly of high plateaus and mountains. The mountain chain which forms the high western part of the South Eastern Taurus Mountains covers a large area in the south province. It includes the mountains Beydağı at 2544 m, Bozdağ at 2613 m, Karadağ at 2400 m and Kurudağ at 2100 meters. The Malatya Plain lies to the north of these mountain chains. The plain has the shape of a coarse triangle; it is surrounded by the South-eastern Taurus Mountains to the south, by the Euphrates River to the east and by the foothills of Akçadağ and the mountain pasture of Doğanşehir to the west.
The Tohma River divides this large plain into two parts. The significant rivers of Malatya are the Euphrates (Fırat), Tohma, Derme Suyu, Kuru Çay, Sürgü and Şiro Çayı. Plateaus and plains cover a large portion the Malatya Province. The significant plains are Malatya, Doğanşehir, Mığdı, Sürgü and Çaplı.
Generally a terrestrial climate condition prevails in Malatya. Usually, summers are hot and dry and winters are cold and snowy. It rains mostly in the spring and the fall seasons.
ORIGIN OF NAME ‘MALATYA’
Malatya is referred to as ‘Melita’ in Kültepe sources, and as ‘Maldia’ in Hittite ones. In Assyrian and Urartu sources, the name becomes Maldiya, Melitea, Melid, Melide, Meliddu and sometimes Malita. In the Hittite site governments, the name was Milidia. Romans called the city ‘Melitene-Melita’. The name ‘Malatiyye’, which was given by Arabs, took its present form of ‘Malatya’ when the city was taken by the Turks. The name has remained virtually unchanged for the last 3500 years. Czech scientist Bedrich Hrozny proposed that the meaning of the name in Hittite is “honey and fruit garden”. In Hittite hieroglyphic texts, Malatya is represented by a calf’s head and bull’s foot.
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
During the course of history since ancient times, Malatya has enjoyed strategic importance because of its location at the intersection of the trading routes coming from Central Asia, the Middle East and Mesopotamia and continuing on the passageway to the west. A branch of the Ancient Silk Road and King’s Highway are known to have passed through the boundaries of the Malatya Province.
Malatya’s history extends to the Palaeolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages. It has been under the sovereignty of Assyrians, Persians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Seljuks and Ottomans. It was a strategic gateway and a trading centre for almost all civilizations, and so control of Malatya frequently changed hands.
The first settlement of the city is Aslantepe, located 7 km. northeast of Malatya’s present location. Romans moved the city centre of Malatya to Eski Malatya (Ancient Malatya). This new centre is the Battalgazi district today. Malatya developed as an important eastern city in the Roman and Byzantine periods. Malatya was taken under the Islam sovereignty during the period of Hz. Ömer. Malatya became a focal point in the war between Muslims & Byzantines during the period of Abbasid and Umayyad sovereignties in the Muslim World. Danişmentoğulları, which was a Turkmen principality, ruled in Malatya in the early years of the 12th Century. Malatya was taken under Ottoman sovereignty during Yavuz Sultan Selim’s military expedition to Egypt in 1517.
When Hafız Pasha set his headquarters in Malatya in 1838 the native people of Malatya had to move to their summer houses in Aspuzu, today’s modern Malatya, and did not return to Ancient Malatya afterwards.
Malatya was first a subdivision (sancak) of the Maraş State. It was bound to the Harput State during the administrative separation in the year 1847. Malatya became a province of during the Republic period. Malatya is one of the places where Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who is the founder of the Republic of Turkey, visited to investigate the economic development activities which had begun in the whole country after the founding of the Republic. Atatürk visited Malatya on the 13th of February in 1931 and on the 17th of November in 1937.
German Version
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