SöÃÂüt (, ) is a town in Bilecik Province, Turkey. It is the seat of SöÃÂüt District. Its population is 13,566 (2021). The mayor is ðsmet Sever (MHP), elected in 2019.
SöÃÂüt is notable as the founding location and first capital of the Ottoman Empire from 1281 to 1335.
The name of the settlement is first attested under the Greek name Thêbásion () in the 13th century. The current name of the town probably comes from a tree in the willow family (Turkish: SöÃÂüt/SöÃÂüt AÃÂacñ) that usually grows near water. Claims that SöÃÂüt/SöÃÂüd was an ancient settlement called Sagouados have not been proven. It is not known exactly when SöÃÂüt emerged as a settlement in the historical process. The history of the SöÃÂüt region, which is stated to have been on the route passed by armies in ancient times, is included in the general history of the Bithynia region, which also includes Bilecik. However, the emergence of this place as a settlement must have occurred in the second half of the 13th century, when the Ottoman Principality settlement was being established. In this regard, one of the common rumors of the early Ottoman historians is that ErtuÃÂrul Gazi, the gentleman of his Kayñ tribe, influenced the Seljuk Sultan Alaeddin with his success during the siege of Karacahisar, whereupon Sultan Alaeddin gave ErtuÃÂrul Gazi the valley of the SöÃÂüt, which includes a fertile Declivity between Bilecik and Eskisehir, as a barracks, and the Domaniç mountains as a plateau. Another narrative is that ErtuÃÂrul Gazi came here during his settlement as a frontier lord on the borders of the Seljuk State and fought with the local Byzantine forces and took Bilecik.
Claims that SöÃÂüt/SöÃÂüd was an ancient settlement called Sagouados have not been proven. It is not known exactly when SöÃÂüt emerged as a settlement in the historical process. The history of the SöÃÂüt region, which is stated to have been on the route passed by armies in ancient times, is included in the general history of the Bithynia region, which also includes Bilecik. However, the emergence of this place as a settlement must have occurred in the second half of the 13th century, when the Ottoman Principality settlement was being established. In this regard, one of the common rumors of the early Ottoman historians is that ErtuÃÂrul Gazi, the gentleman of his Kayñ tribe, influenced the Seljuk Sultan Alaeddin with his success during the siege of Karacahisar, whereupon Sultan Alaeddin gave ErtuÃÂrul Gazi the valley of the SöÃÂüt, which includes a fertile Declivity between Bilecik and Eskisehir, as a barracks, and the Domaniç mountains as a plateau. Another narrative is that ErtuÃÂrul Gazi came here during his settlement as a frontier lord on the borders of the Seljuk State and fought with the local Byzantine forces and took Bilecik. SöÃÂüt, as the place became known, had a kaza centre in the ErtuÃÂrul Sanjak of Hüdavendigâr Vilayet, the centre of which was Bilecik. The kaza centre included present-day districts of ðnhisar, ðnönü, Mihalgazi, Sarñcakaya and Yenipazar, central and eastern parts of Bozüyük and some villages of Nallñhan and Tepebaà Âñ before World War I.
SöÃÂüt was occupied three times by the Greek Army during the Turkish War of Independence: 8âÂÂ11 January 1921, 24 March-21 April 1921 and 12 July 1921 â 6 September 1922.
Today SöÃÂüt is a small town in the humid river valley of Bilecik Province in Turkey. Turkish history and life-size statues of the Ottoman sultans are exhibited in the SöÃÂüt Ethnographical Museum. It is also the 3rd biggest district center in its province after Bozüyük and Bilecik.