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

paradoxically constitutes one of the fundamental characteristics of nomadic life. 319
Needless to say, therefore, nomadic tribes strongly resisted the expansion of timar
system.
To summarize, it was indeed these two principal foundations of the Ottoman
official ideology or imperial regime that was chiefly responsible for producing an
antagonized social segment, which would appear with their red head-gear in Anatolia. It
is to be shown that both the political-military and religious aspects of the Qizilbash
movement evolved in response to the arising official ideology or regime of the Ottoman
state. On one hand, the notion of the exalted state, which leaves no room for the political
content of tribal organization, seriously disturbed the existing political habits of the
militant Turkomans. On the other hand, the sunni-orthodox version of Islam imposed on
the subjects by the state was neither practicable nor perceivable by nomadic Turkomans,
who were too ignorant to understand the subtler details of the religion; thus the
‘approved’ way of religion was unacceptable for them. As a matter of fact, they refuted
both imposition of the Ottoman regime and raised the banner of revolt, which would
appear as if in the name of Safavid shaykhs. 320
319 For a broader evaluation of nomadic autonomy in context of cultural and economic dependence among
Middle Eastern tribes see Gellner, “Tribal Society and Its Enemies”, p. 442.
320 One should be reminded, however, that not all the discontent Turkomans converted to the
Qizilbashism; but a considerable portion somehow conformed within the Ottoman regime. The focus of
the present study is those Turkomans who did not conform but raised strong resistance against the
Ottoman imperialism.
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