Söğüt- a small town who raised Ottoman Empire in its cradle

As the Turkish series, Resurrection Ertuğrul is trending in Pakistan now days, from children to teenager and middle aged to old aged; folks are searching to know more and more about Islamic Hero Ertuğrul Gazi.

Suleiman Shah’s Son Ertuğrul has this honour to cast a heroic history with his daring decisions, courageous steps and competitive personality to serve Islam and raise righteous flag higher and higher which later tilled way for Ottoman Empire. Söğüt has integrity to serve this tremendous figure of history, which of course, now days are one of the enlisted places on list of nomads and travellers. Let’s explore the mighty places of Söğüt with Traveltuc.

Söğüt is an old-fashioned, unremarkable town of 14,000 people about three-hours away from Istanbul, crossing zigzag roads wounding through the highlands of sunflower, wheat, hop and lettuce fields, the town is capturing attention traction on Turkey‘s tourism map. Located in Bilecik province of Turkey, Söğüt, a town and district in Marmara region, was a Seljuk Turkish tribe in western Anatolia that later gave birth to the Ottoman Empire extended from Kayi branch of the Seljuk Turks.

The nucleus attraction in Söğüt is the tomb of Ertuğrul Bey, with free standing flags of several Turkic nations beautifies the inside structure. Around the grave, are small boxes containing packages of soil brought from former governorates of the Ottoman Empire in Ertuğrul honours, a Kayi flag and a Turkish flag stand on both sides of the crown of the grave.  At outside of tomb, Söğüt has decency to host the graves of the Kayi leader’s wife, Haleeme Hatun, Savci Bey his middle son, and the nineteen nominal graves of Ertuğrul Gazi’s close friends and close Kayi Alps. Adjoining marquees have been set up displaying the selling Kayi normal such as swords, leather Armor, Bey Caps, fur hats, flags, tribal dress, and gifts themed around Dirilis: Ertuğrul for admirers of this Turkish game of thrown series. 

Moreover, Söğüt has honor to encompass the first work of the Ottoman Empire” Kuyulu Mescid or Ertugrul Gazi Mescid” built by the Kayi leader with a nearby dried up well, due to which it’s called Kuyulu Mosque. In the heart of town, is one of the oldest buildings of Söğüt named Celebi Mehmet Mosque or Ulucami, constructed back in the reign of Sultan Mehmet Fatih, a multi-domed mosque that proudly represents the landmark of remarkable work of Ottoman architecture. At few footsteps, a magnificent wooden mansion of Ertugrul Gazi Museum that serves as the window to the Kayi tribe’s lifestyle displaying the  Kayi weapons, clothing, rugs, earthenware, weighing instruments and money pouches besides many other things. The museum also shows coins from the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman empires. Outside the boundaries of Söğüt town, set on a hilltop is the shrine of a mystic, poet, and a scholar of Islamic jurisprudence, Dursun Fakih who with Osman countersigned the foundation of the Ottoman Empire.  He declared Osman Gazi as the head of a new and independent Ottoman state after the defeat of Karacahisar in nearby Eskisehir province. Today Söğüt is a small town in the humid river valley of Bilecik that demonstrates the Turkish history and life-size statues of the Ottoman sultans in the Söğüt Ethnographical Museum.