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

quelques caractéristiques typiquement tribales. Lé système des deux ailes existe. 894 Les
troupes se composent des unités tribales.” 895
If we look at the geographical origin of the prominent qizilbash tribes, the very
eminent link between the movement and the Ottoman Anatolia appears. Among those
tribes, the Ustaclu, which had already associated with the campaigns of Shaykh Haydar
on Caucasus, and played an active role during the rise of Shah Ismail, 896 was stemmed
from Ulu Yörük, a great nomadic group living in the region of Sivas-Amasya-Tokat and
Kırşehir. In the later Ottoman surveys, towards the end of the sixteenth century, we still
come across the Ustaclu clan among the Ulu Yörük nomads. But their number was then
quite reduced. 897 As mentioned above, Ismail visited their summer pasture and stayed
there for two months just before the Erzincan congregation. This oymaq produced a
number of very influential war lords such as Muhammad Han Ustaclu, his brother
Karahan, and Çayan Sultan. 898
Another very important qizilbash tribe serving Shah Ismail, the Shamlu, was
composed of nomadic Turkomans from Halep Türkmenleri, so called in the Ottoman
official registers, which were grazing their herd in Uzun-Yayla, in the south of Sivas,
894
Following the Turko-Mongolian tradition, the Safavid army used to organize as two wings and a center
in battlefields. If the shah was present, he stayed at the center with dignitaries such as religious
representatives and statesmen. The right wing had always been dominated by the Shamlu tribe while the
left wing had been dominated by Ustaclu. Apart from Shamlu, Rūmlu, Tekelu, and Turkmān tribes used to
fight in the right wing, while Dulkadir, Afshar, and Qajar tribes used to fight in the left wing. For a
detailed analysis of the organization of the Savafid army based on the Safavid chronicles see Haneda, Le
Châh et les Qizilbāš, p. 48-61.
895
Haneda, Le Châh et les Qizilbāš, p. 47.
896
Aubin, “Les soufis de Lāhejān”, p. 9.
897
See Sümer, Safevî Devletinin Kuruluşu, p. 44. For Ulu Yörük see Erhan Afyoncu, “Ulu Yörük (1485-
1574)”, Anadolu’da ve Rumeli’de Yörükler ve Türkmenler Sempozyumu Bildirileri, haz. Tufan Gündüz,
Ankara, 2000, 1-7.
898
See Tarīh-i Kızılbaşān, pp. 45-9.
278