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

this correspondence must have taken place in the same year. 1023 Solakzāde also gives the
same date, 908/1502. 1024 But some historians trace this date back. 1025
Some important points to be noted in these imperial decrees are that the terms
‘sufi’ and ‘khalifa’ are being used with quite a specific connotation in these edicts.
Accordingly, it stands to reason to presume that these terms had already acquired their
specific meaning within the order and social organization of qizilbash society so that
Ottoman administration recognized their specific connotations. 1026 The orders were sent
to the border provinces, which are known as parts of qizilbash zones. But surprisingly no
order seems to have been sent to the governors of Teke or Taş-eli. Or, to be more
precise, at least this collection does not contain such orders. 1027
In these decrees sufis were not clearly mentioned as nomads. But there are some
clues. Some phrases such as “zümre-i tugāt ve tāife-i eşkıyā” invoke nomadic
connotation. 1028 We know from other sources that the Ottoman government uses these
1023 Also consider Bacqué-Grammont, Les Ottomans, les Safavides et leurs voisins, p. 20, footnote, 27.
1024 Solakzāde narrates it in the same manner: “Hudud kumandanlarına hükümler tebliğ olundu. Bundan
böyle sufi nāmı ile hiç kimsenin Anadolu’ya geçmemesine ve yolların zabt olunmasına dāir emirler verildi.
Çünkü bu çirkin kalabalık Anadolu diyārında bu vechile mahbūs oldu. Şāh Đsmail ashāblarının
kendilerine ulaşmasından me’yūs olunca, bizzarure, 908 (1502) yılında Der-i Devlet’e ubūdiyet-nāmeler
gönderdi. Miskinliğini arz iderek itāat yüzünü gösterdi. Babasının ahbablarının Acem diyārına
gitmelerine icāzet verilmesini rica eyledi. Amma onun bu ricalarına hiç bir sūretle iltifat olunmadı.
Kabūle karin kulağı ile işidilmedi.” SLZ1, p. 429.
1025 According to Gaffârî, for example, it must be written in late 905 or early 906 / middle of 1500. (See
Ahmed Đbn Muhammed Gaffârî Qazvinî, Târikh-i Cehân Ârâ, ed. M. Minuvî, Tehran, 1953, p. 265.)
Allouche, basing on textual analysis of the letter, follows Gaffârî’s account. To him this letter must have
been written just before embarking on the campaign over Shirvan. (Allouche, p. 89.)
1026 Solakzāde states Ismail made his soldiers wear red-caps and his soldiers became famous as qizilbash.
We know that this term is actually derived from Haydar. Then how should we read this passage in
Solakzāde? “Şah Đsmail Tebriz’de saltanat mülkünün tahtına oturdu. Kendisine de Şah namını takdı.
Askerlerine kırmızı çukalardan tāclar giydirdi. Kızılbaş nāmı ile şöhret ve şan kazanmalarına vesile
oldu.” SLZ1, p. 428. This passage obviously refers to the turning point of the Safavid Order from a mystic
order into a state. SLZ mentions his disciples as qizilbash for the first time. In the former paragraphs he
referred, as other sources, to them as ‘sufi’. In the Ottoman sources ‘qizilbash’ is used during 1510s in the
context of rebellions and war with Ismail. And this term has clear politico-religious connotation.
1027 Compare Veinstein, “Les premières mesures”, p. 229.
1028 See Chapter III and Chapter VI in this study.
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