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

Ottoman historians depict the disciples of Şahkulu as rebellious, people who stir
up trouble, vagrant, vagabonds, good-for-nothing, and heretics. These are frequently
phrases employed by Ottoman historians and reporters for the adherents of the rebellion:
‘ehl-i tuğyan’, ‘müfsīd’, ‘bağī’, ‘evbāş’. 1169 An anonymous history from the sixteenth
century best summarizes the Ottoman perception of Şahkulu rebels. It reads, “They
deviated from the avenue of obedience and fixed their foot on the route of heresy; they
wholly agreed on performing strife and sedition.” 1170
The attitude of theOttoman administration towards the nomadic Turkish
population was quite pejorative. The common phrases often applied by the court
historians, who were high officials and representatives of the high Ottoman bureaucracy
and intelligentsia as well, for these groups are ‘Etrāk-i bī-idrāk’ (the Turks without
capacity to perceive), ‘Ertāk-i nā-pāk’ (the dirty Turks), ‘dike burun’ (the man who does
not obey), ‘bī-bāk fettāk’ (the man without fear and kills many people).Their description
of these Turkomans especially in the context of the Şahkulu rebellion clearly reflects
the view of the Ottoman bureaucrats regarding nomadic subjects. Kemalpaşazāde, for
example, depicts the adherents of the rebellion, who defeated the Ottoman army under
1169 An anonymous history recounts the early phase of the revolt as follows: “…Ol bed-ahterlerden bir
nice evbāş-ı huffāş-ittikāş ki her biri ismen ve resmen mechūl ve hilkat-ı pür-nekbetleri habāsetle mecbūl
idi. Đhmāl ve eskāl infi’alle ol bed-fe’ālun vücūdları kendu boyunlarında bār-i girān olmağın terīk-i fesād
ve dalāletde cān u baş terkini tahfīf-i me’net bilürlerdi. ..Sene seb’a ‘aşere ve tis’ami’e Muharreminin
evāyilinde zikr olan ehl-i tuğyāndan birkaç müfsīdler yolda giderken şehzādenin hazāin ve emvāline
ta’arruz idüb sūret-i bağī izhar eylediler...” ANMB, p. 173.
1170 “Cādde-i itā’atden çıkub tarīk-i dalāletde sābit-kadem olmağla mu’āhede eyleyüb cem’isi fitne vü
fesāda el-bir itmişlerdi.” ANMB, p. 174. It is interesting to note that HR, completely contrary to the
Ottoman sources, depicts Şahkulu and his followers as “the people on the right path” while accusing
Ottoman troops “those in favor of the darkness”. See HR, p. 154.
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