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

olmamışlardı, hizmete kāyil değillerdi.” 383 The frequent phrase Kemalpaşazāde employs
to describe these tribes is “bāğī” and “tāğī”, which means the ferocious, rebellious
people who do not recognize state authority. 384 Remembering the ideal subject or re’āya
that the Ottoman regime demanded within the timar system, the view of Kemalpaşazāde,
who was intrinsically attached to the official ideology, becomes meaningful.
Both Şikārī and Ottoman sources frequently refer to the Turgutlu tribe as the
most loyal and powerful ally of the Karamanids. 385 Several suggestions have been made
about the ethnic origin of this tribe. According to Hammer they were Tatar 386 , while
Zeki V. Togan suggests they were Kıpçak. 387 Faruk Sümer rejects both arguments and
asserts that Turgutlu was a Turkoman tribe. 388 Şikārī counts Turgut among six begs
gathered around Nūre Sofi. 389 From then on until the end of the Karamanid rule, the
Turgutlu tribe had always been primary ally of the Karamanids, which was often
reinforced by marriages. The leaders of Turgutlu tribe usually held the post of beylerbey
in the Karamanid state. 390
383
“The tribes of aforementioned region did not hitherto accept suzerainty and service of any sultan.”
KPZ8, p. 87.
384
See, for example, KPZ8, pp. 88, 90, 103, 104.
385
Turgutlu tribe lived in Taşlık-Silifke region and in the area between Akşehir, Aksaray, and Karaman.
See Faruk Sümer, “Turgut-eli”, IA, 12/2, p. 120.
386
Hammer, Osmanlı Tarihi, III, trs. M.Ata, Đstanbul, 1330, p. 92.
387
Togan, Umumi Türk Tarihine Giriş, Đstanbul: Enderun Kitabevi, 1981, pp. 318-9.
388
Faruk Sümer, “Turgutlular”, IA, 12/2, p. 120. Zeki Oral follows the same arguement. See Zeki Oral,
“Turgut oğulları”, IV. Türk Tarih Kongresi, Ankara: TTK, 1952, pp. 153-4. For the extended version of
this article, see Zeki Oral, “Turgut Oğulları, Eserleri-Waqfiyeleri”, Vakıflar Dergisi, III, 1956, 31-64.
389
Şikârî, p. 10. Another begs were Bayburt, Kaya, Mirza, Đmadeddin, and Hayreddin. Şikârî always
mention Turgut Beg and Bayburt Beg as close men of Nūre Sofi and his son Karaman Beg. Later on the
tribes of these two begs became known as Turgutlu and Bayburtlu. According to a legendary source,
Didiği Sultan Menâkıbnâmesi, Turgut and Bayburt were brothers and sent by Didiği Sultan from Khorasan
to Rūm. Another interesting point here is that according to the hagiography, Didiği Sultan was a cousin of
Hacı Bektaş. See Zeki Oral, “Turgut oğulları”, p. 149. On the tekke of Didiği Sultan, see Ömür Bakırer-
Suraiya Faroqhi, “Dediği Dede ve Tekkeleri”, Belleten, 39, 1975, 447-71.
390
Sümer, “Karamanoğulları”, p. 454 ; Oral, “Turgut oğulları”, p. 140; Gary Leiser, “Torghud”, EI2, X, p.
570.
143