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

mysticism among the early Ottoman population but also took part, with their disciples,
in the ‘gazā’ against the infidels as well. We know from contemporary sources that
Abdal Musa, Geyikli Baba, Kumral Abdal and many others fought against Byzantine
troops during the conquest of Bursa and other cities. 200
The sentiment and the attitude of the ‘heterodox’-sufi milieu is arguably best
reflected in the hagiography (velâyetnâme) literature attributed to the leading figures of
this milieu. Since these works are the products of collective memory rather than
individual authors, one may easily recognize in their accounts the traits of shared
sentiment and opinion of the whole community. In other words, the legends attributed
to the religious figures in the velâyetnâme genre are simply the stories either created or
evaluated in the folk memory; hence they strongly reflect the sentiments and concerns of
those people who maintained this tradition. Although the anonymous characteristics of
such sources and their abundant superstitious accounts led historians to underestimate
the historical value of velâyetnâme genre, 201 for the purpose of my analysis, this is
exactly the feature that enhances the credibility of these accounts, for they directly
reflect the opinion and sentiment of a particular social segment, 202 which was heavily
influenced by tribal-nomadic traditions and inclined, parallel to the centralistic tendency
in the Ottoman administration, to set apart from the ‘accepted re’āya model’ of the state.
It is reasonable then to argue that the heroic stereotypes and the stories in these
200
For Geyikli Baba see Hilmi Ziya (Ülken), “Anadolu’da Dinî Rûhiyat Müşahedeleri: Geyikli Baba”,
Mihrab Mecmuası, 13-14, 1340.
201
For an analysis of velâyetnâme genre as source for history see Ahmet Yaşar Ocak, Kültür Tarihi
Kaynağı Olarak Menâkıbnâmeler, Metodolojik Bir Yaklaşım, Ankara: TTK, 1997.
202
As Ocak has already stated, most stories in these hagiographic accounts might be partly or fully
fabricated. But it is exactly this fact that augments their historical value, because in this way the stories,
patterns of narration, the portraits of sheikhs are all vehicles that convey the desires, sentiments, and
idealized models to be imitated by the people. See Ocak, pp. 33-34.
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