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

wished to demonstrate the true devotion, let them heed the order (hükm) the moment
they received it. The order reached them in the late afternoon. By sunset, 5.000 men of
this tribe had mounted.” 877
In accordance to the decision taken in the previous summer, Safavid disciples
gathered in Erzincan under Ismail’s banner. By the time followers from the Shamlu,
Ustaclu, Rūmlu, Tekelu, Dulkadirlu 878 , Afshar 879 , Qajar 880 , and Varsaq tribes, and sufis
from Karacadağ 881 had joined him in this place, the size of the Safavid army had reached
seven thousand men. 882 Among those new-comers were Muhammad Beg Ustaclu and
877
Quoted in Savory, “The Consolidation of Safawid Power in Persia”, p. 86.
878
Of course this was a group from the Dulkadir tribe, which was ruling in the region of Maraş, Elbistan,
and Harput under Alāuddevle Beg. It seems from available evidence that Alāuddevle did not, or could not,
apply any effective measure against a certain branch of his tribe’s adherence to the qizilbash movement.
Following his death in 1515, the Dulkadir tribe is said to have divided into three parts: One went to Sultan
Selim, the other to Shah Ismail, and the third group to Ubayd Khan Uzbak. See Muhammad Karim
Youssef-Jamālī, The Life and Personality of Shāh Ismā’īl I (1487-1524), Ph.D. dissertation, University of
Edinburgh, 1981, p. 58. For further reading on Dulkadirlu tribe see Mükremin H. Yinanç, “Dulkadırlılar”,
IA, vol. 3, 654-62; Tarīh-i Kızılbaşān, edited and published by Mir Hāşim Muhaddes, Tehran, 1361
(1982), pp. 49-51.
879
For Afshar tribe see M. Fuad Köprülü, “Afshar”, EI2; “Afşar”, IA, vol. 2, 28-38; Faruk Sümer,
“Afşarlar’a Dair”, Fuad Köprülü Armağanı, Đstanbul, 1953, 453-78.
880
According to Faruk Sümer, Qajars came from the Boz-ok region (Yozgat) in Anatolia to Gence in
northern Azerbaijan towards the end of the fifteenth century. Among the most prominent disciples and
amirs of of Shaykh Haydar was Pīrī Beg Qajar. However during the same period another branch of the
Qajar tribe served Akkoyunlu rulers. Later on, following Shah Ismail’s seizure of the power they fully
joined Qizilbash troops. Nonetheless, their achievement of primary rank in the state affairs of the Safavids
would occur under Shah Tahmasb. See Faruk Sümer, Safevî Devletinin Kuruluşu ve Gelişmesinde
Anadolu Türkmenlerinin Rolü, Ankara: TTK, 1999, pp. 12, 53-4, 96-8. For further reading on Qajar tribe,
see Faruk Sümer, “Kadjar”, EI2; M. Longworth-Dames and B. Darkot, “Kaçar (Kacar)”, IA, vol. 6, 33-9;
James J. Reid, “The Qajar Uymaq in the Safavid Period, 1500-1722”, Iranian Studies, 11, 1978, 117-43;
Robert D. McChesney, “Comments on the ‘The Qajar Uymaq in the Safavid Period, 1500-1722’”, Iranian
Studies, 14, 1981, 87-105.
881
See, for example, HT, p. 184. Karacadağ is a mountainous region in the north of Tabriz, between
Tabriz and Aras River.
882
This force constituted the essential core of the Safavid army, which would conquer the whole of
Azerbaijan, Iran, as well as Iraq in ten years. Compare Aubin, “L’avènement des Safavides”, pp. 10-11;
Efendiev, “Le rôle des tribus de langue Turque”, p. 31. Almost all of the early Safavid sources agree on
this number. Iskender Munshī, who frequently refers to those early sources such as HS and HR, however,
interestingly gives the number as three of four thousand. He also says that those sufis came from “Syria,
Diyarbakr, Sivas, Bayburd, and those regions.” See AA, p. 43.
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