Suruç

Suruç, known in medieval sources as Saruj, stands on the plain west of Edessa. Its fortress made the town an important possession of the County of Edessa during the Crusades. Control of Saruj was fiercely contested: after Edessa fell to Zengi in 1144, the remaining Frankish fortress at Saruj held out until the following year. The surrounding district was also known for breeding horses, a tradition remembered in accounts of the town long after the crusader period.