Manzikert

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Manzikert (măn´zĬkərt), Turk. Malazgirt, village, E Turkey, SE of Erzurum. It was an important town of ancient Armenia. A council held there in AD 726 reasserted the independence of the Armenian Church from the Orthodox Eastern Church. There, in 1071, the Seljuk Turks under Alp Arslan routed the troops of Byzantine Emperor Romanus IV in a decisive battle that resulted in the fall of Asia Minor to the Seljuks.