Düziçi 3.64

Düziçi is a town and district of Osmaniye Province in the Mediterranean region of Turkey. It is located in a small plain in the foothills of the Nur Mountains and 440 m above the sea level.Düziçi is on a route from the Middle East to Anatolia and has seen numerous armies and campaigns throughout the centuries. The historical names for this site are minor variations of Haruniye (Arabic: al-Hārūniyya(h); Armenian: Harun or Harunia; Crusader: Haronia or Aronia). Its small castle is on an outcrop about 3 kilometers northeast of the town.History and MonumentsThe fortress was built in A.D. 785/86 during the Abbasid Caliphate by Hārūn ar-Rašīd as a link in a chain of Arab defenses along the Nur Dağları. The Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus Phocas captured the 1,500 residents of Haruniye in 959. When it was recaptured by the Sayf ad-Dawlah in 967, the fort was repaired. Following the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 nomadic Turks began to move into Anatolia and the nearby hills were temporarily settled by the Avşar tribe of the Turkmen. At some point between the mid-12th century and 1198/99 it became the possession of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. On January 22, 1236 the Armenian King Het‛um I and his wife Zapēl bestowed the castle and village of Haruniye to the Knights of the Teutonic Order.