951 years ago, took place the historic battle at Manzikert (now the Turkish city and the district of Malazgirt) between the Turks -Seljuks under the leadership of Sultan Alp Arslan and the army of the Byzantine Empire led by Emperor Roman IV Diogenes. The battle, in which the Byzantines, despite the numerous dominance, were crushingly defeated, made a start of the process of mass migration of the Oguz and Turkmen deep into Asia Minor.
As per the words of the leading research worker of the Institute of History and Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan Juma Orazklychev, chroniclers recorded this day of history as the day that gave rise to the “dialogue of worldviews” of the great Seljuk and Byzantine empires, writes CentralAsia.news.
“Way back in the past, on August 26, 1071, happened a battle between the armies of the Great Seljuk and Byzantine Empires, the unusual facts of which would be difficult to image even with the richest imagination.
The Seljuks until the last didn’t believe that the country with which they signed up a peace treaty 2 decades ago, would decide to launch a war. Even when the reconnoiter informed Alp-Arslan that a huge army was moving towards him, he sent an ambassador to the Emperor Roman Diogenes, but he, having considered that sultan got afraid, arrogantly rejected the offer of peace.
Roman's excessive confidence can be understood, because he led an army of 600 thousand people against 40 thousand horsemen of Alp-Arslan,” the Turkmen historian writes.
Oraklychev also notes that the battle was supposed to happen on the holy day of the week for Muslims – on Friday. The Sultan took a saber with the words: “If I am defeated, let this battle field become my grave then.”
It was noted that the Seljuks took the fight and dealt a crushing blow to the Byzantine army.
