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

person guarding the Ottoman lands. 272 The Velâyetnâme of Otman Baba, written in
1483, also indicates the connection between Hacı Bektaş and Janissary corps. In the
legendary account of the velâyetnâme the headgear of Janissaries is reported as the
investiture of Hacı Bektaş. 273
Aşıkpaşazāde also touches upon the connection between the Janissaries and
Bektashis, attempting to reject it. 274 He first states Bektashis’ argument that the hat of
the Janissaries derived from Hacı Bektaş; and then explains how it was fabricated by the
Bektashis. He says, during the time of Orhan Beg, Abdal Musa participated in several
gazās among Janissaries. One day he took a worn-out hat from one of Janissaries. When
he returned from the campaign people asked about the hat on his head. Being proud, he
answered: “I have worn the cap of gāzis. … This is called ‘elif tāc’.” 275 Then finishes
Aşıkpaşazāde: “This is the true origin of their [Bektashis’] hat (tāc).” 276 He also
underlines the point that Hacı Bektaş Veli did not meet any members of the Ottoman
272
“Ol Hacı Bekdaş-ı güzīn gözler bu Osman illerin / Öpdüm mübārek ellerin bir gine görsem yüzlerin.”
See Divan-ı Muhyiddin Çelebi or Hızırnāme, Manuscript, Đstanbul Üniversitesi Kütüphanesi, Türkçe
Yazmalar, no. 949, fol. 27b. For further reading on Muhyiddin Çelebi and Hızırnāme, see Ahmet Yaşar
Ocak, “Hızırnâme”, Türkiye Diyanet Waqfı Đslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 17, 417-9; Mehmet Saffet Sarıkaya,
“Hızırname’nin Bektaşiliğe Dair Malumatı ve Hızırname Çerçevesinde Bektaşi Kültüründe Hızır Đnancı”,
2. Uluslararası Türk Kültür Evreninde Alevilik ve Bektaşilik Bilgi Şöleni Bildiri Kitabı, Filiz Kılıç and
Tuncay Bülbül (eds.), Ankara, 2007, 1463-80.
273
Gö’çek Abdal, Odman Baba Vilâyetnamesi, Vilâyetname-i Şāhî, haz. Şevki Koca, Đstanbul: Bektaşi
Kültür Derneği, 2002, pp. 198-9.
274
Aşıkpaşazāde’s account pertaining to Bektashis needs a careful reading and criticism. First of all, as
Köprülü long ago called attention, he was an “enemy of Bektashis”. (Köprülü, “Abdal Musa”, nşr. Orhan
Köprülü, Türk Kültürü, 124, Şubat 1973, p. 198.) Köprülü states that from Aşıkpaşazāde on the strict
sunni ulemā of Ottomans flourished such a negative and pejorative attitude with regard to the origin of
Bektashims and Hacı Bektaş Veli, and criticizes modern scholars like G. Jakop for they followed sunni
ulemā on this account. Second, his principal aim in writing his history was to prove the primary role of his
ancestors that are the descendants of Baba Đlyas, in the foundation of the empire. Thus he attempts to tone
down the contribution of other groups, including Bektashis. See Halil Đnalcık, “How to Read
Aşıkpaşazāde’s History”, in Studies in Ottoman History in Honour of Professor V. L. Ménage, edited by
Colin Heywood and Colin Imber, Istanbul: ISIS Press, 1994, 139-56. Republished in Halil Đnalcık, Essays
in Ottoman History, Istanbul, 1998, 31- 50.
275
“Abdal Musa seferden dönicek gerü vilâyetlerine varmış. Ol Yeniçeriden geydüği börg ile bile varmış.
Eyitmiş kim: ‘Üş de ben gaziler tacın geyüb geldüm’ deyü haylı tefâhür dahı eylemiş. Ol halk buna
sormuşlar kim: ‘Bunın adı nedür? Buna ne derler?’ demişler. Bu dahi anlara cevap böyle vermiş kim:
‘Buna bükme elif tac derler’ demiş.” See APZ, p. 238.
276
APZ, p. 238.
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