We will speak now about the lands of Yambol during the Ottoman rule. At the beginning of thirteen seventy three Sultan Murad initiated a march towards the Bulgarian lands in order to punish Tsar Ivan Shishman for refusing to send him support at Chernomen. One of the Sultan’s armies headed along the valley of Tundzha River towards Kazukgaach, today’s Elhovo and Dubilin, as they were calling Yambol then. After conquering Elhovo in the spring of thirteen seventy three the askers reached the gates of Yambol fortress. The fortress fell several months later at the height of the summer in thirteen seventy three. The summer had been extremely hot, the food and the water became bad and the heroic defenders of the stronghold surrendered. The Turks demolished the walls and the few survived Bulgarians who had not been sold into slavery, settled down in the neighborhood of Kargona, on the opposite bank of Tundzha.  Thus, Yambol became the town that had been longest time under Turkish yoke – five hundred and five years.

Because it was a peninsula, where the fortress had been located, and there was no space to establish a big city, the Turks began to construct buildings in the place, where today the center of Yambol is. They built Eski Mosque approximately in fourteen thirteen. Initially the mosque had been a square building and it definitely must have preceded the construction of the big mosque in Edirne. Later on Eski Mosque was extended with additional structures to the east and to the west and its minaret was also built. In addition to that mosque, other mosques had also been constructed in the city. Such as Sufi Mosque which was erected in fourteen eighty three over the remains of the church in the fortress. The mosque literally out-topped the Bulgarian church. Then another mosque was built – on the other side of the Bezisten.

In fourteen eighty three the Turkish bath was also constructed and it had been preserved to this day though rather modified. In addition to this bath which exists even today, there were another baths as well. Like the one which today is located under the sidewalk of hotel Tundzha.  They say that it had been preserved well to this day, being underground.

The Bezisten was opened on ninth of May, in the year sixteen and nine. After it was constructed, for centuries it had always been the central market of the city. In sixteen sixty seven, when the traveler Evlia Chelebi saw it he exclaimed: There is no such a lively and decorated bezisten in any other country. You can find there all kind and plenty of valuable items and for no money at all…

During the Turkish domination Yambol was strategic location for the start of campaigns of the Turkish Sultans. Therefore there was also a muleteer’s place. It was a huge barn for five thousand mules that accompanied the baggage convoy of the sultans. The barn of those five thousand mules had been on the place where the barracks near the river are today. It had to be close to water so that the animals could be easily taken to water. Furthermore, from the urine of those mules saltpeter was made, necessary for gun powder production. In those times Yambol had been mentioned as one of the major centers of the Ottoman Empire, for supply of saltpeter and gunpowder.

During the Turkish time Yambol had also been known for its production of Kebeta. Kebeta means wool blankets. Those blankets were made of wool, painted in different colors.

In Ottoman times the clock tower in the city center was also built. It was known that such towers were made when there were well-to-do Bulgarian craftsmen and tradesmen who would give money for their construction.
In the year eighteen twenty nine the Russian armies under the commandment of Dibich Zabalkanski, crossed Bulgaria for the first time and entered Yambol.  But after signing the Edirne Treaty the Russian troops had to withdraw. Because of that, the Bulgarians from the whole region also retreated and settled down in Bessarabia. From three hundred houses in Yambol, only twenty five remained. That interrupted for a long time the economic development of the town and the family memory of people. Naturally the place did not stay empty for a long time. Soon, from Stara Zagora region and from the Balkan, people came down and the city was full of population again.  Somewhere around the Crimean War Yambol restored its population again.
And that went on until the Russo-Turkish war. Then on seventeenth of January eighteen seventy eight, after being five hundred and five years under foreign domination, the city was liberated by the Twenty third Regiment of Donskoy-Cossack , led by colonel Nikolay Yakovlevich Baklanov.  From that day on, Yambol started its new life.