Guide
The Sultansuyu stud farm lies in the Sultansuyu valley in the Akçadağ district, 27 kilometres west of Malatya on the Malatya-Kayseri road, between Erhac airport and the Tohma valley. It has been breeding horses, with interruptions, since the nineteenth century. It was founded in 1865 as the Sultansuyu Ciftlikat-i Hümayun, the imperial farm, supplying the army with riding horses, felt, wool and other animal products until 1908. After the constitutional restoration that year the imperial farms were abolished and the land passed to the treasury, and until 1915 it was worked on a half-share basis with local people.
In 1915 a foal depot was set up on the 500 decares around the Aziziye barracks, which is still the centre of the farm, and the name hara — stud — was used for the first time. That establishment was dissolved in 1924 and an artillery regiment took its place; when the regiment left in 1928 the Sultansuyu stud was founded by government decree of 29 July 1928, with the aim of improving horse stock in the eastern and central Anatolian provinces, breeding purebred Arabians suited to desert conditions to renew the bloodlines of the country's horses, and raising light cavalry mounts for the army. The farm is run today by the General Directorate of Agricultural Enterprises and is known for its purebred Arabians; it also supports local farmers in agriculture and stockbreeding. There is room to picnic and rest at the farm and around the nearby Sultansuyu dam.
