Seyifler Castle

Seyifler Castle, locally known as Seyifler Kalesi, lies south of the village with the same name, in the province of Sakarya in Turkey.

The Byzantine Empire suffered a decisive defeat against the Seljuk Empire in the Battle of Manzikert, in 1071. After that, the Turks started to conquer more and more terrain in the Anatolian heartland. To protect themselves against Turkish raids the Byzantines built a string of fortifications along the Sakarya river, in the 12th/13th century. Amongst them was Seyifler Castle. Others were the castles of Pasalar, Geyve, Çoban, Adliye, Harmantepe, and Karasu.

I was not able to find out any more historical information about this castle. If you know more, please contact me.

Seyifler was built near the confluence of the Sakarya river and the Çark Suyu creek. It probably protected bridges over those waterways. It was built with a square ground plan of roughly 80 x 80 meters. What remains today is part of the north curtain wall with a semicircular tower, the wall foundations leading to the northwest corner, a circular tower at that corner and wall parts of the west curtain wall. Especially the last 2 sections are heavily overgrown.

At present Seyifler Castle can freely be visited. Be respectful however, because the site is now owned and used by someone from a neighboring village as a walnut grove. I had a nice talk with the man and received a large bag with freshly picked walnuts as a gift.

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