TURKOMANS BETWEEN TWO EMPIRES: THE ORIGINS OF THE QIZILBASH IDENTITY IN ANATOLIA (1447-1514) A Ph.D. Dissertation by RIZA YILDIRIM Department of History Bilkent University Ankara February 2008 To Sufis of Lāhijan TURKOMANS BETWEEN TWO EMPIRES: THE ORIGINS OF THE QIZILBASH IDENTITY IN ANATOLIA (1447-1514) The Institute of Economics and Social Sciences of Bilkent University by RIZA YILDIRIM In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY BILKENT UNIVERSITY ANKARA February 2008 I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History. …………………….. Assist. Prof. Oktay Özel Supervisor I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History. …………………….. Prof. Dr. Halil Đnalcık Examining Committee Member I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History. …………………….. Prof. Dr. Ahmet Yaşar Ocak Examining Committee Member I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History. …………………….. Assist. Prof. Evgeni Radushev Examining Committee Member I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History. …………………….. Assist. Prof. Berrak Burçak Examining Committee Member Approval of the Institute of Economics and Social Sciences …………………….. Prof. Dr. Erdal Erel Director ABSTRACT TURKOMANS BETWEEN TWO EMPIRES: THE ORIGINS OF THE QIZILBASH IDENTITY IN ANATOLIA (1447-1514) Rıza Yıldırım Ph.D., Department of History Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Oktay Özel February 2008 This thesis aims to evaluate the emergence of the Qizilbash Movement and the Qizilbash Identity during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century within the struggle between the Ottoman and the Safavid power. The process of the making of the Qizilbash Identity, which was, in essence, the concurrent process of the Turkoman milieu’s gradual divergence from the Ottoman axis and convergence to the Safavid affiliation, is reflected in available sources as if it were predominantly a religious issue. The present study argues, however, that the religious aspect of the developments was simply the ‘surface’ or ‘outcome’ of a rather inclusive process including anthropological, cultural, sociological, and political dimensions. It is argued that the Qizilbash Identity was a product of the intercession of two separate but interrelated lines of developments: on the one hand being the alienation of the ‘nomadic-tribal Turkoman world’ from the ‘Ottoman imperial regime’, while on the other hand being the synchronized rapprochement between the ‘Turkoman milieu’ of Anatolia and the Safavid Order. One of the prominent promises of the present thesis is that the most decisive factors governing the course of both lines of the iii developments stemmed from the structural inconsistencies, or ‘unconscious structures’ of societies as Lévi-Strauss states, between two ‘ways of life’: one is sedentary life, which accomplished its socio-political organization as bureaucratic state, and the other is nomadic or semi-nomadic life organized around tribal axis. Key words: Qizilbash, Safavids, Ottoman, Turkoman, tribe iv ÖZET ĐKĐ ĐMPARATORLUK ARASINDA TÜRKMENLER: ANADOLU’DA KIZILBAŞ KĐMLĐĞĐNĐN KÖKENLERĐ (1447-1514) Rıza Yıldırım Doktora, Tarih Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Yrd. Doç. Dr. Oktay Özel Şubat 2008 Bu tez Osmanlı-Safevi mücadelesi çerçevesinde on beşinci yüzyılın sonları ve on altıncı yüzyılın başlarında Kızılbaş kimliğinin oluşumunu incelemektedir. Kızılbaş kimliğinin oluşumu esas itibariyle Türkmen kitlelerin bir yandan Osmanlı ekseninden uzaklaşırken diğer yandan Safevi şeyhlerine/şahlarına bağlanmalarına dayanan tarihsel sürecin bir ürünüdür. Çağdaş kaynaklarda bu mesele daha çok dinsel yönüyle ön plana çıkarılmaktadır. Ancak elinizdeki tez bunun antropolojik, kültürel, sosyolojik, ve siyasi unsurları da içinde barındıran çok kapsamlı ve karmaşık bir süreç olduğunu, kaynaklarda bolca tesadüf edilen dinsel argümanların meselenin sadece dış yüzü ya da bir sonucu olduğunu ileri sürmektedir. Bu çalışma, süreçte asıl belirleyici olan faktörlerin Osmanlı gücünün büyümesine paralel olarak git gide bir birinden uzaklaşan iki hayat tarzı arasındaki yapısal uyumsuzluklar, ya da Lévi-Strauss’un deyimiyle toplumsal hayatın gidişatını belirleyen ‘bilinçsiz yapılar’ın farklılaşmasında aramak gerektiğini savunmaktadır. Bu iki yapı, bir yanda Osmanlıların benimsediği yerleşik hayata yaslanan ve siyaseten bürokratik devlet v olarak örgütlenen hayat tarzı, diğer yanda da konar-göçer bir hayat süren ve aşiret yapısı içinde örgütlenen Türkmen hayat tarzı idi. Anahtar kelimeler: Kızılbaş, Safeviler, Osmanlı, Türkmen, aşiret vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Before everything else, I would like to thank my dissertation committee for their inspiring guidance and consistent encouragement. I would like to express my gratitude to Prof. Halil Đnalcık, who generously shared his time, immense knowledge, and stimulating ideas and suggestions with me in several stages of this dissertation. His valuable suggestions, both in scope and content, contributed too much to the development of this dissertation. My heartfelt gratitude is due to the invaluable support and encouragement of my supervisor Dr. Oktay Özel. I thank him for his generosity in sharing his knowledge, his skilful and attentive advising, and his willingness to have long conversations with me on my dissertation. Some of the most noteworthy ideas and approaches in this dissertation emerged and were shaped during our long conversations and insightful discussions with him. I am especially indebted to his subsistent support and consistent encouragement to explore unfamiliar avenues of Ottoman history, not only in terms of knowledge but also approach and methodology as well. I would also like to express my gratitude to Prof. Ahmet Yaşar Ocak for his valuable help and encouragement. I owe too much to his inspiring suggestions and stimulating contributions. I especially thank him for his generosity in sharing his time and insightful ideas as well as his vast knowledge. vii Finally, my wholehearted gratitude goes to my beloved wife B. Edanur Yıldırım, whose endless encouragement and support became my primary source of motivation. Without her invaluable presence in all stages of my study, this dissertation could not have been completed. viii