THE ORIGINS OF THE QIZILBASH IDENTITY IN ANATOLIA

708 Pages·2008·5.08 MB·Turkish

TURKOMANS BETWEEN TWO EMPIRES:
THE ORIGINS OF THE QIZILBASH IDENTITY IN ANATOLIA
(1447-1514)

A Ph.D. Dissertation

by
RIZA YILDIRIM

Department of History

Bilkent University
Ankara
February 2008
To Sufis of Lāhijan
TURKOMANS BETWEEN TWO EMPIRES:
THE ORIGINS OF THE QIZILBASH IDENTITY IN ANATOLIA
(1447-1514)

The Institute of Economics and Social Sciences
of
Bilkent University

by

RIZA YILDIRIM

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

in

THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
BILKENT UNIVERSITY
ANKARA

February 2008
I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope
and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History.

……………………..
Assist. Prof. Oktay Özel
Supervisor

I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope
and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History.

……………………..
Prof. Dr. Halil Đnalcık
Examining Committee Member

I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope
and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History.

……………………..
Prof. Dr. Ahmet Yaşar Ocak
Examining Committee Member

I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope
and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History.

……………………..
Assist. Prof. Evgeni Radushev
Examining Committee Member

I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope
and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History.

……………………..
Assist. Prof. Berrak Burçak
Examining Committee Member

Approval of the Institute of Economics and Social Sciences

……………………..
Prof. Dr. Erdal Erel
Director
ABSTRACT

TURKOMANS BETWEEN TWO EMPIRES:
THE ORIGINS OF THE QIZILBASH IDENTITY IN ANATOLIA
(1447-1514)

Rıza Yıldırım
Ph.D., Department of History
Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Oktay Özel

February 2008

This thesis aims to evaluate the emergence of the Qizilbash Movement and
the Qizilbash Identity during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century within the
struggle between the Ottoman and the Safavid power. The process of the making of
the Qizilbash Identity, which was, in essence, the concurrent process of the
Turkoman milieu’s gradual divergence from the Ottoman axis and convergence to
the Safavid affiliation, is reflected in available sources as if it were predominantly a
religious issue. The present study argues, however, that the religious aspect of the
developments was simply the ‘surface’ or ‘outcome’ of a rather inclusive process
including anthropological, cultural, sociological, and political dimensions. It is
argued that the Qizilbash Identity was a product of the intercession of two separate
but interrelated lines of developments: on the one hand being the alienation of the
‘nomadic-tribal Turkoman world’ from the ‘Ottoman imperial regime’, while on the
other hand being the synchronized rapprochement between the ‘Turkoman milieu’ of
Anatolia and the Safavid Order. One of the prominent promises of the present thesis
is that the most decisive factors governing the course of both lines of the
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developments stemmed from the structural inconsistencies, or ‘unconscious
structures’ of societies as Lévi-Strauss states, between two ‘ways of life’: one is
sedentary life, which accomplished its socio-political organization as bureaucratic
state, and the other is nomadic or semi-nomadic life organized around tribal axis.

Key words: Qizilbash, Safavids, Ottoman, Turkoman, tribe

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ÖZET

ĐKĐ ĐMPARATORLUK ARASINDA TÜRKMENLER:
ANADOLU’DA KIZILBAŞ KĐMLĐĞĐNĐN KÖKENLERĐ
(1447-1514)

Rıza Yıldırım
Doktora, Tarih Bölümü
Tez Yöneticisi: Yrd. Doç. Dr. Oktay Özel

Şubat 2008

Bu tez Osmanlı-Safevi mücadelesi çerçevesinde on beşinci yüzyılın sonları ve on
altıncı yüzyılın başlarında Kızılbaş kimliğinin oluşumunu incelemektedir. Kızılbaş
kimliğinin oluşumu esas itibariyle Türkmen kitlelerin bir yandan Osmanlı
ekseninden uzaklaşırken diğer yandan Safevi şeyhlerine/şahlarına bağlanmalarına
dayanan tarihsel sürecin bir ürünüdür. Çağdaş kaynaklarda bu mesele daha çok
dinsel yönüyle ön plana çıkarılmaktadır. Ancak elinizdeki tez bunun antropolojik,
kültürel, sosyolojik, ve siyasi unsurları da içinde barındıran çok kapsamlı ve
karmaşık bir süreç olduğunu, kaynaklarda bolca tesadüf edilen dinsel argümanların
meselenin sadece dış yüzü ya da bir sonucu olduğunu ileri sürmektedir. Bu çalışma,
süreçte asıl belirleyici olan faktörlerin Osmanlı gücünün büyümesine paralel olarak
git gide bir birinden uzaklaşan iki hayat tarzı arasındaki yapısal uyumsuzluklar, ya da
Lévi-Strauss’un deyimiyle toplumsal hayatın gidişatını belirleyen ‘bilinçsiz
yapılar’ın farklılaşmasında aramak gerektiğini savunmaktadır. Bu iki yapı, bir yanda
Osmanlıların benimsediği yerleşik hayata yaslanan ve siyaseten bürokratik devlet
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olarak örgütlenen hayat tarzı, diğer yanda da konar-göçer bir hayat süren ve aşiret
yapısı içinde örgütlenen Türkmen hayat tarzı idi.

Anahtar kelimeler: Kızılbaş, Safeviler, Osmanlı, Türkmen, aşiret

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Before everything else, I would like to thank my dissertation committee for
their inspiring guidance and consistent encouragement. I would like to express my
gratitude to Prof. Halil Đnalcık, who generously shared his time, immense knowledge,
and stimulating ideas and suggestions with me in several stages of this dissertation.
His valuable suggestions, both in scope and content, contributed too much to the
development of this dissertation.
My heartfelt gratitude is due to the invaluable support and encouragement of
my supervisor Dr. Oktay Özel. I thank him for his generosity in sharing his
knowledge, his skilful and attentive advising, and his willingness to have long
conversations with me on my dissertation. Some of the most noteworthy ideas and
approaches in this dissertation emerged and were shaped during our long
conversations and insightful discussions with him. I am especially indebted to his
subsistent support and consistent encouragement to explore unfamiliar avenues of
Ottoman history, not only in terms of knowledge but also approach and methodology
as well.
I would also like to express my gratitude to Prof. Ahmet Yaşar Ocak for his
valuable help and encouragement. I owe too much to his inspiring suggestions and
stimulating contributions. I especially thank him for his generosity in sharing his
time and insightful ideas as well as his vast knowledge.
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Finally, my wholehearted gratitude goes to my beloved wife B. Edanur
Yıldırım, whose endless encouragement and support became my primary source of
motivation. Without her invaluable presence in all stages of my study, this
dissertation could not have been completed.

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