TURKOMANS BETWEEN TWO EMPIRES: THE ... - Bilkent University

and was obviously involved in the conquest of Rumelia, which was materialized by ex-
Karasid and Ottoman troops. The velâyetnâme attributed to Seyyid Ali Sultan vividly
pictures the close co-operation and similar religious stands of ‘heterodox’ dervish milieu
and the early Ottomans.
The hagiography, if to summarize briefly, narrates how the Thrace was
conquered under the leadership of Seyyid Ali Sultan and his forty companions. While
Orhan was deep in thought seeking a way to pass through the Dardanelles and conquer
the Thrace, they moved from Khorasan in order to realize the Ottoman Sultan’s dream
which he had received by an order of the Prophet in dream. After first visiting Hacı
Bektaş and receiving his spiritual guidance, Seyyid Ali Sultan and his forty friends came
to the Ottoman Sultan, who warmly welcomed them on his own right. They negotiated
several plans and finally accepted the suggestion of Seyyid Rüstem Ghazi 213 , the closest
Islam, which was wide-spread among laymen and vulnerable to non-Islamic influences. The religious
propaganda successfully fulfilled by Seyyid Ali Sultan and his disciples paved way for the emergence of
the Bektashi Order in the Balkans. Birge portrays the religious interpretation propagated by Seyyid Ali
Sultan and other early mystics as the ‘Bektashi Way’. (See John K. Birge, The Bektashi Order Of
Dervishes, London, 1937, p. 51.) For the purpose of this study, the primary concern is that these mystics
were responsible for the shaping of religious understanding among laymen, especially among the
Turkoman populace, by whom they were perceived as ideal religious personalities to imitate and followed
enthusiastically.
Seyyid Ali Sultan is, indeed, one of the most famous figures in early Ottoman history. Especially the
writers interested in the Balkan conquests and Early history of the Bektashi Order or so called ‘heterodox
Islam’ in the Balkans, somehow mention him. But paradoxically he is a very little known man due to the
scarcity of sources about his life. His prominent role in the early history of the Bektashi order was first
discerned by Birge, who used the velâyetnâme and some oral traditions he had heard in Bektashi circles.
After Birge, many scholars touched upon Seyid Ali sultan’s role in shaping the Bektashi way of spiritual
life and in the conquest of Balkans. Irène Beldiceanu-Steinherr wrote an article devoted to the deeds of
Seyyid Ali Sultan. (Beldiceanu-Steinherr , “Osmanlı Tahrir Defterlerinde Seyyid Ali Sultan: Heterodox
Đslam’ın Trakya’ya Yerleşmesi”, Sol Kol, Osmanlı Egemenliğinde Via Egnatia (1380-1639), ed. Elizabeth
A. Zachariadou, çev. Özden Arıkan, Ela Güntekin, Tülin Altınova, Đstanbul: Tarih Waqfı Yurt Yayınları,
1999, 50-72. ) Before this article Beldiceanu, actually, presented her first findings at a conference. But
only the abstracts of the proceedings of this conference were published. (Beldiceanu-Steinherr, “La Vita
de Seyyid ‘Ali Sultan et la conquête de la Thrace par les Turcs”, in Proceedings of the 27th International
Congress of Orientalists, 1967, ed. D. Sinor, Wiesbaden, 1971, s. 275-6.) For the latest publication of the
Velâyetnâme of Seyyid Ali Sultan, text and analysis, and discussions of the sources see Rıza Yıldırım,
Seyyid Ali Sultan (Kızıldeli) ve Velâyetnâmesi, Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu, 2007.
213 Seyyid Rüstem Gazi is not mentioned in any other contemporary sources. Although a certain
Karamanlı Rüstem, who resembles Seyyid Rüstem Gazi, can be seen in early chronicles, a close scrutiny
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