Adliye Castle

Adliye Castle, locally known as Adliye Kalesi, lies in some fields south of the village of 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 Adliye Castle. Others were the castles of Pasalar, Geyve, Çoban, Harmantepe, Seyifler and Karasu.

I was not able to find out any more historical info about Adliye Castle. If you know more; please mail me.

The castle was built with a somewhat rectangular ground plan and would have had corner towers. All that remains today are some curtain walls, with a wall thickness of 2 meters and a height of some 4 to 5 meters.

At present Adliye Castle can not be visited. It is situated on private farmland between the Anatolian railway and the river. It seems to be used as a grove of some sort. But as the remains are very much overgrown, this is not a very interesting castle ruin.

Gallery