Azaz

Azaz (Arabic: أعزاز‎ / ALA-LC: A‘zāz) is a city in northwestern Syria, roughly 20 miles (30 kilometres) north-northwest of Aleppo. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Azaz had a population of 31,623 in the 2004 census. As of 2015, its inhabitants were almost entirely Sunni Muslims, mostly Arabs, with a number of Arabized Kurds and a small Yazidi community of ten people.

It is historically significant as the site of the Battle of Azaz between the Crusader States and the Seljuk Turks on June 11, 1125. It is notable for its proximity to a Syrian–Turkish border crossing, which enters Turkey at Oncupinar, south of the city of Kilis.

History

Azaz was the scene of a humiliating defeat of the Byzantine emperor Romanos III in August 1030, but was soon after captured by the Byzantines under Niketas of Mistheia.

On 11 June 1125 (or June 13), forces of the Crusader States commanded by King Baldwin II of Jerusalem defeated Aq-Sunqur il-Bursuqi's army of Seljuk Turks and raised the siege of the town.