History

There are various accounts and pieces of information about the origins of the name Çorum.

According to Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Sources Long before the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, when Anatolia began to become Turkified, Turkic tribes had slowly begun to infiltrate and settle in Anatolia. At that time, Çorum, which was under Byzantine rule, bore the name Nikonya (Yankoniye).

According to the Danişmendname After fierce battles, Melik Ahmet Danişmend took the region of Çorum from the hands of the Byzantines. The people converted to Islam and pledged their loyalty. However, this conduct was a trap, for they intended to poison Melik Ahmet and his leading commanders at a banquet. Melik Ahmet saw this evil intent, as well as the city’s complete destruction by an earthquake, in a dream one night. As Melik Ahmet awoke filled with anxiety from this dream, the city began to shake. He immediately led his soldiers and companions out of the fortress.

The Byzantines in the fortress, pleased by the withdrawal of the Muslims, closed the fortress again, began preparing for war, and returned to their religion. But the earthquake intensified once more, and the fortress and the city were reduced entirely to ruins. Because of these treacheries against the Byzantines, the place was given the name “Cürümlü” (meaning “guilty”), which over time became “Çorumlu.”

According to Evliya Çelebi’s Travelogue (Seyahatname)

On page 407 of the second volume of Evliya Çelebi’s Seyahatname, it is recorded that because the region’s air was beneficial for asthma sufferers, the Seljuk Sultan Kılıç Arslan sent his sick son Yakup Mirza and hundreds of “çorlu” (the neglected, the frail, the sick) here, and they recovered their health. For this reason, the city came to be called Çorum.

It is also said that because Çorum lay in a fairly wide plain surrounded by mountains, it was called “Çevrim” (meaning “encirclement”), which in common speech turned into Çorum.

Çorum (sometimes formerly Çorumlu) acquired this name with the arrival of the Turks in the region. It is noted that the name Çorum or Çorumlu belonged to a clan of the Alayuntlu tribe of the Oğuz Turks.

The province of Çorum is a region bearing remarkable traces reaching from the depths of history down to the present day. Throughout it, one encounters remains belonging to various civilizations that have come down from the most ancient times to today. The Hittites began their dominion over Anatolia from this region.

In the region, these traces of civilization are found side by side or layered one upon another. Beside a Hittite mound, it is possible to encounter a Phrygian, Roman, or Byzantine-era tomb or floor mosaics, on the other side the ruins of a Seljuk caravanserai, and beside it Ottoman works.

There are numerous natural and man-made caves bearing the most distinctive characteristics of prehistoric times. The remains of civilizations from before and after written history are being brought to light through excavations, showing that the Çorum region was an ancient center of civilization in the history of human culture.

PRE-ISLAMIC ÇORUM

The Çorum region has a past extending back 7,000 years in historical and cultural terms. The region contains, in sequence, works belonging to the Chalcolithic (Stone) Age, the Early Bronze Age, the Assyrian Trade Colonies, and the Hittite, Phrygian, Hellenistic, Galatian, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk, and Ottoman periods.

The Paleolithic (Chipped Stone) and Neolithic (Polished Stone) Periods

A small number of stone tools found during archaeological excavations in the Çorum region give the impression that the Paleolithic (Chipped Stone) and Neolithic (Polished Stone) periods were experienced in this region; however, no definite conclusion has been reached regarding settlements belonging to these periods.

The Chalcolithic Period (Stone Age) 5000-3000 B.C.

The first settlement in and around Çorum dates to around 5000 B.C., to the fourth phase of the Chalcolithic period. In almost all of the excavated centers in the area, vessels and copper materials belonging to the Chalcolithic age have been found. Moreover, the presence of other ore deposits in the area hastened technological evolution and played a role in the emergence of wealthy ethnic groups and kingdoms in the region. Works from this period have been found at Alacahöyük, Büyük Güllücek, Boğazköy, Eskiyapar, and Kuşsaray. Settlements have shown continuity from this period onward. The most important Chalcolithic settlement came to light in the excavations carried out in the village of Büyükgüllücek in Alaca.

In the architecture of this period, houses with two, three, or four rooms typical of Central Anatolia, along with handmade black, gray, and red ceramics, are characteristic of the era. During this period the use of stamp seals became widespread, and the number of idols (schematic depictions of humans) increased.

The Bronze Age (Metal Age) 3000-1000 B.C.

The most important period in the history of the province of Çorum is the Bronze Age. The “bronze” obtained by mixing copper and tin also gave the period its name. This period, which lasted until 3000-1000 B.C., is divided into three.

The existence of many fortified city-states in and around Çorum around 3000 B.C. has been determined through archaeological excavations. At first, bronze, used in making rare objects, had not yet become widespread. The Early Bronze I phase is sometimes also called the Copper Age. This period lasted about 500 years. By the end of this time, the production and use of bronze objects began to spread and become common among the people.

This period is called the Early Bronze II Period and was experienced between 2500-2300 B.C. Alacahöyük emerges as one of the richest cities of this period. In the Early Bronze III Period (2300-2000), Anatolia was a community of peoples consisting of numerous city-states and presenting a rather colorful ethnic appearance. The works obtained at the end of the excavations carried out in the town of Alacahöyük belong to the Bronze Age III Period.

The people who founded wealthy city-states in Anatolia during this period were the Hattians. The Hattians emerge as the oldest known indigenous people of Anatolia.

The Middle Bronze Age

The Middle Bronze Age is the period when the Assyrian Trade Colonies and the Old Hittite State emerged in Anatolia. It is distinguished from the Early Bronze Age by the beginning of the use of writing.

The Age of the Assyrian Trade Colonies (1950-1850 B.C.)

At the beginning of the second millennium B.C., Anatolia was a wealthy and prosperous place of settlement. The Mesopotamians, aware of Anatolia’s condition, developed their trade with Anatolia under the leadership of the Assyrian State. The Assyrians established market towns called “Karum” next to nine Anatolian cities. The city established at Boğazköy (Boğazkale) under the name “Hattuş-Karum” was one of these trade centers. These Karums, which were subject to Assyria, paid taxes to local rulers for the security of trade and the roads.

These trade relations influenced Anatolia culturally, economically, and politically. Around 2000 B.C., Anatolia came to know writing.

The important works of this age are cylinder and stamp seals, tablets, figurines of humans and animals, and animal-shaped drinking vessels (rhytons). Pottery-making developed greatly with the use of the wheel. The art, local customs, and traditions living in Anatolia developed under the influences coming from Mesopotamia, gained a new dimension, and laid the foundations of the later Hittite art.

THE TURKISH SETTLEMENT OF ÇORUM

The Settlement of the Oğuz Tribes in the Çorum Region and the Transition to Turkish Rule

Ahmet Gazi, the Danişmend Bey under the Great Seljuk ruler Melikşah, after taking Amasya, assigned Çavlı Bey to also take Çorum (Nikonya). Çavlı Bey marched on Çorum together with his commanders Karatekin and Serkes Ahmet Gazi, but because reinforcements came from Kastamonu to Nastura, the Tekfur (governor) of Çorum, Çavlı Bey was unable to succeed. Thereupon, Melik Ahmet Gazi came to Çorum with an army of 30,000 men. Accompanying him was his commander İltekin Gazi.

The Byzantine forces coming from Kastamonu to aid Çorum were routed, and the city was besieged. Melik Ahmet Gazi sent his envoy Yahya to Nastura to surrender the city. Nastur rejected this offer. After a one-week siege, the city of Nikonya (Çorum) was taken in 1075.

Melik Ahmet Gazi left İlyas Bey, the head of the Çorumlu clan of the Alayuntlu tribe of the Oğuz, as governor of Çorum, and departed from Çorum with İltekin Gazi to take Osmancık. He assigned Çavlı and Karatekin Bey to conquer the Çankırı region. After Osmancık was taken, he gave it to Osman Bey of the Alayunt tribe. Osmancık took its name from this bey.

The Danişmend Beylik, which quickly took Central Anatolia from the Byzantines, opened Çorum and its surroundings to the Turkic tribes and contributed to the Turkification of Anatolia. In this region, the Oğuz Turks gave the names of their tribes and clans to the places where they settled. Some place names of villages, neighborhoods, streams, hills, mountains, and plains bear the names of the Oğuz tribes. Bayat, Büget, Kayı, Kınık, Salur, Avşar, Bayındır, Karakeçili, Karaevli, and Dodurga are some of the tribe and clan names given. The Turkmens belonging to the Oğuz tribes played a great role in the Turkification of Anatolia. Within this framework, it is seen that a large number of Turkmens belonging to the Oğuz tribes also settled in the Black Sea Region. These Turkic tribes ensured the Turkification of the region both through conquests and through settlement. According to determinations made from the research of Prof. Dr. Faruk SÜMER, when the place names in the sancaks (districts) of Amasya, Canik (Samsun), Çorum, Karahisar-i Şarki, Kastamonu, Kengiri (Çankırı), Sivas, and Trabzon in the 16th century are examined, 21 of the Twenty-Four Oğuz Tribes had settled there. These are the tribes of Kayı, Bayad, Kara-Evlu, Yazır, Döğer, Todurga, Afşar, Kızık, Beğ-Dili, Karkın, Bayındır, Çavundur, Çepni, Salur, Eymür, Ala-Yundlu, Yüreğir, İğdir, Büğdüz, Yıva, and Kınık. There are 268 place names belonging to these tribes in the region.

The ÇEPNİ in particular played important roles in the Turkification of the Black Sea Region, especially the coastal strip.

It is understood from the records that the Turks who settled in the region after the conquest of Anatolia used the Çorum region as homeland and pasture.

The tribes that left the most village and place names in the region are the Bayat, Eymir, Kargın, Yapar, and Çavuldur tribes.

Places in our province that bear the names of the Oğuz tribes:

1- Avşar (Kargı - village)

· Avşar Divanı (a district in Alaca)

2- Alayuntlu (a locality name)

3- Bayat (district)

· Bayat (a village of Çorum)

· Bayat Gediği (a mountain pass)

· Bayat Mezarı (a locality around Bayat village)

· Bayat Su Kavşağı (a locality name)

· Bayat Çayı (a stream)

· Bayat (a village in the Kargı district)

4- Bayındır (a village of the Mecitözü district)

· Bayındır plain (a locality)

5- Becek (ruins site)

6- Beydili (a village of the Central district)

· Beydili (a village in the Bayat district)

7- Büğdüz (a village of the Central district)

· Büget (a village of the Central district)

8- Çetmi (a village of the İskilip district)

· Çepni (a neighborhood in central Çorum)

9- Dodurga (district)

10- Döker (Döger) (a locality)

11- Eskiyapar (a village of the Alaca district)

12- Evlik (a village in the Osmancık district)

13- Eymir (a village of the Central district)

· Eymir stream (a locality)

· Eymir sırtı (ridge) (a locality)

· Eymir gölü (lake) (a locality)

· Eymir (a neighborhood in the Osmancık district)

14- Gürleyik (a neighborhood in the Osmancık district)

15- Karaevli (Karaevliya) (a village in the Uğurludağ district)

16- Kargın (a village of the Alaca district)

· Kargın (a neighborhood of Evlik village in the İskilip district) · Kargın (a locality)

· Kargın (a neighborhood in İkipınar village, İskilip)

· Kargın (a neighborhood in Kavak village, İskilip district)

· Kargı (Kargın) (a village of the Mecitözü district)

· Kargın yaylası (a highland pasture on Deveci mountain, İskilip)

· Kargı (district)

· Kargı (a village in the Osmancık district)

17- Kayı (a village of central Çorum)

· Kayı (a village in the Oğuzlar district)

· Kayı (a village in the Mecitözü district)

18- Kınık (a village of central Çorum)

· Kınıkdelileri (a village of the Central district)

19- Salur (a village in central Çorum)

20- Yavu (a village in the Laçin district; its present name is Gökgözler.)

· Yavu (a village in the İskilip district)

· Yıva (a locality)

ÇORUM UP TO THE OTTOMAN PERIOD

In Çorum, which was annexed to the Ilkhanate State in 1308, Eretna Bey established his rule after Timurtaş, the Mongol governor of Anatolia, fled to Egypt. After the death of Eretna Bey, his seven-year-old son Mehmet was raised to the Beylik, while Kadı Burhanettin served as his guardian. Kadı Burhanettin declared his sovereignty, defeated Şahgeldi Paşa, took Çorum, and later also seized Osmancık. Kadı Burhanettin made a tripartite agreement with the Karamanoğulları and the Emirs of Kastamonu against the Ottomans.

Yıldırım Beyazıt, who acted with the desire to establish Turkish political unity in Anatolia, first defeated Süleyman, the Emir of Kastamonu, and demanded the surrender of Osmancık from Kadı Burhanettin. Kadı Burhanettin won the battle fought in the present-day Kırkdilim region (1392). After some time, Yıldırım Beyazıt seized Çorum, İskilip, and Osmancık with the help of the beys who supported him. Kadı Burhanettin was forced to withdraw to Sivas.

ÇORUM UNDER OTTOMAN ADMINISTRATION

As a result of the Battle of Ankara (1402), the political unity established by Yıldırım Beyazıt was broken. During the time of Çelebi Sultan Mehmet, who exercised his rule in Amasya under Timur’s protection, Çorum again remained under Ottoman administration. This situation continued until the Republican administration. Çelebi Sultan Mehmet established a Subaşılık (military command) in Çorum and also had Köpekoğlu Sülü and his brother Hüseyin, who frequently troubled Çorum, killed, and additionally dealt with the followers of the Babai sect.

Çelebi Mehmet, who secured Ottoman unity, made his son Murat II governor of Amasya. Hamza Bey, son of Biçer and tutor (Lala) of Murat II, rendered services to Çorum. From the 16th century onward, the Çorum region became a place where Celalis such as Karayazıcı rose in rebellion.

Çorum in 1649 Through the Eyes of Evliya Çelebi

“Setting out in the morning from the Kırkdilim Valley, with great difficulty we came to a village whose name we did not know. This village is a Muslim village of 200 households on the soil of the Çorum sancak.

It has three dervish lodges and 300 shops, with tradesmen of every kind. It has many learned people, witty gentlemen (çelebi), scholars, devout persons, and sheikhs. Because of the beauty of its water and air, the faces of its people are ruddy. On the qibla side of the town there is a fine, four-cornered fortress built to be safe from the menace of the Celali and Cemali; but it is small.

Near Çorum there is the ‘Pilgrimage Shrine of Aşık Paşa’s son Sheikh Ulvan (Elvan) Çelebi.’ He was one of the sheikhs of Orhan Gazi. He has many works.

On the eleventh day, we came to the station of the ‘Seydim Sultan Lodge’ on the Çorum Plain. It is a great lodge. From here we came to ‘Karakeçili Village.’ It is a Turkish village of 200 households on Çorum soil. Moving on from here, we reached the environs of İskilip. İskilip is a ‘Şerif Kaza’ (honorable district) worth 150 akçe, that is, a central district. İskilip has many scholars, medreses, and students. This is not a place of pleasure and whim but a town of learning.

When we reached Osmancık, we saw that on the western side of the town the ‘Sheikh of the Bektashis’ is buried. The pilgrimage place of the whole world, the mainstay of the saints, ‘Hz. Koyun Baba’; he is a successor (halife) of Hacı Bektaş and is buried here.

Here there is a bridge belonging to the ‘Charitable Works of Sultan Beyazid-i Veli,’ each of whose arches resembles a rainbow (eleğim sağma) and the ‘Kehkeşan’ (the Milky Way). It is as if the master architect built a ‘Sırat’ bridge over such a wild river.

Its fortress is on the eastern side of the Kızılırmak (Red River) and is crossed by a great bridge. It is a small and sturdy structure on a steep rock near the river. Its circumference is 800 paces all around.”

ÇORUM DURING THE NATIONAL STRUGGLE PERIOD The National Struggle movement in Çorum can be explained in three parts. Çorum Before May 19, 1919

Doctor Mustafa Cantekin of Çorum played a great role in the founding of the Society of Fatherland and Freedom (Vatan ve Hürriyet Cemiyeti), the root of the Committee of Union and Progress. In the establishment of the Committee of Union and Progress in Çorum, the literature teacher Münüf Kemal and Captain Selahattin took the lead.

The general turmoil that arose before World War I was also seen in Çorum, and the members of the Freedom and Accord Party (Hürriyet ve İtilaf) went into action under the leadership of the lawyers Kamil and Sabit. At this time, the Committee of Union and Progress disbanded.

Events Between May 19, 1919, and April 23, 1920

At the time Gazi Mustafa Kemal Paşa landed at Samsun, the atmosphere of turmoil in which the country found itself was also being experienced in Çorum. At this time, Çorum was a sancak attached to Ankara. In the administration of this sancak was Samih Fethi, who was subordinate to Muhiddin Paşa, the Governor of Ankara. These people, who were supporters of the Sultan, had taken a stand against the National Struggle movement. Atatürk invited Ali Fuat Cebesoy to Havza for a meeting. Ali Fuat Cebesoy, deeming the Sungurlu - Çorum - Merzifon route suitable, came to Çorum on June 16-17 and was a guest here. The Governor of Ankara, Muhiddin Paşa, who followed him to Çorum, met with the Mutasarrıf (district governor) Samih Fethi and wished to arrest Ali Fuat Cebesoy, but did not succeed.

After Atatürk held the Erzurum Congress, while he was coming to Sivas to hold a congress, Samih Fethi in Çorum wished to create some obstacles but did not succeed. Mehmet Tevfik Efendi and Dursun Bey, the French teacher of Çorum High School, were sent as representatives to participate in the Sivas Congress from the Çorum sancak.

The Main Outline of the Events in Çorum up to the Proclamation of the Republic

In compliance with Gazi Mustafa Kemal’s circular regarding the selection of five people from each sancak, the five people selected from Çorum were sent to Ankara to establish the first Grand National Assembly of Turkey (T.B.M.M.). Meanwhile, Cemal Bey, the District Governor (Kaymakam) of Haymana, was appointed Acting Mutasarrıf of Çorum, and one day after his arrival in Çorum, the Grand National Assembly opened in Ankara. At the beginning and most difficult time of the National Struggle movement, Çorum was under threat on one side from the Çapanoğulları and on the other from the Pontus forces. Thanks to the Çorum people’s devotion to the National Struggle movement, the Çapanoğulları rebellion was suppressed before it could spread further.

Çorum was among the provinces that gave the most martyrs in the National Struggle, and 1,510 people from its center and districts who took part in the War of Independence were honored with the Medal of Independence.