Malatya, city in eastern Turkey, capital of Malatya Province, on the plateau of Anatolia, at the foot of the Malatya Mountains (a part of the Taurus range). Malatya is a rail junction and trade center for an area producing grains, fruit, vegetables, and opium. The city also has plants manufacturing cotton textiles, sugar, cement, and wine. It is the site of Inönü University (1975). A Hittite town in antiquity (then known as Melitene), it later passed to Cappadocia and to Rome, under which it was an administrative center. Rebuilt in 757 by the Abbasids after having been razed by the Byzantine emperor Constantine V, the city was occupied by Arabs, Armenians, and the Seljuk Turks before being incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in the early 16th century. Malatya was rebuilt in 1893 following an earthquake, and in 1895 an Ottoman massacre of Armenians took place here. The city was called Milidia or Melid in the Middle Ages; later its name was spelled Malatia. Population (1996 estimate) 323,429.Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001
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