Type: | neighbourhood |
Province: | Gaziantep |
District: | Oğuzeli |
Tilhalit | |
Other Name: | Asmacık |
Population Total: | 195 |
Population As Of: | 2022 |
Coordinates: | 36.7619°N 37.6294°W |
Tilhalit, also spelled Tell Khalid (Latin: Trialeth) and officially recognized as Asmacık, is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Oğuzeli, Gaziantep Province, Turkey.[1] Its population is 195 (2022).[2] It was a fortress during the 12th century, contested at times by the Crusaders, Zengids and Ayyubids.
The village is inhabited by Abdals of the Kurular tribe.[3]
On 29 November 1114, an earthquake devastated Tell Khalid, along with numerous other places across the region of Aleppo.[4] It was also damaged in the 1138 Aleppo earthquake.[5] In the autumn or winter of 1150, it was captured by the Zengid ruler Nur ad-Din from the County of Edessa, a Crusader state, which was entirely conquered by the Zengids and other Muslim powers by July 1151.[6] On 17 May 1183, Saladin, a former emir of Nur ad-Din, turned Ayyubid sultan, captured Tell Bashir as part of his general movement to capture Aleppo, which he besieged four days later, from the Zengids.[7] Saladin's brother, Buri, had already been besieging Tell Khalid, but its town and fortress surrendered without fighting upon Saladin's arrival there.[7] It was thereafter bestowed to Badr ad-Din Dildirim al-Yaruqi, the Turkmen lord of nearby Tell Bashir and ally of Saladin.[7] He continued to hold Tell Bashir well after the death of Saladin, and into the 12th century during the latter's son az-Zahir Ghazi's rule over the Emirate of Aleppo, which included Tell Bashir.[8] By 1218, it was firmly in the possession of az-Zahir Ghazi's son and successor, al-Aziz Muhammad.[9] There is scant information about Tell Khalid in the historical record after the Ayyubid era.