Seljuks in Dobruja
Seljuks in Dobruja refers to Seljuk Turks settled in Dobruja (now in Romania) in the 13th century
Background
Seljuk Turks in Turkey were defeated by the Mongols in Battle of Kösedağ (1243). During the rest of the century they were more or less the puppets of the Mongols. In 1257, the Mongols divided Seljuk lands between two brothers, Izzettin Keykavus II and |Kılıç Aslan IV. Moreover İzzettin was forced to obey his younger brother. Although İzzettin tried to struggle, in 1362 he had to flee from Antalya, a port in Seljuk territory to Byzantine territory with a large partisan group. [1]
Settlement in Dobrudja
Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos who had just recovered Constantinople (modern İstanbul) from the Latin Empire, was a relative of İzzettin. But he had allied himself with the Mongols of Baghdad (who’ll soon be called Ilkhanids) and instead of supporting İzzettin, he kept İzzettin as a refuge and settled İzzettin's partisans to the area between Varna (now in Bulgaria) to the estuary of the Danube (1262-1263), a country which later on was named as Dobruja. After an unsuccesfull revolt in Byzantine Empire, İzzettin fled to Crimea, which was under Golden Horde rule. But his followers stayed in the area allocated to them. Their new leader was Sarı Saltık Dede whose tomb is in Babadağ, Romania. [2]
Aftermath
In 1307, a part of Dobrudja Turks under Ece Halil [3] returned to Anatolia. They settled in north west Anatolian beylik of Karesi.(later Karesi became of part of the Ottoman Empire) [2]The rest stayed in Dobruja. While keeping their language, they converted to Christianity. They maintained their political independence from Second Bulgarian Empire. Their small principality of Dobruja lived till the Ottoman conquest in 1417.[2] They are believed to be the anchestors of modern Gagauz people.The name Gagauz may be a reminiscence of the name Kaykavus. [4]
References
- ^ Prof. Yaşar Yüce-Prof. Ali Sevim: Türkiye tarihi Cilt I, AKDTYKTTK Yayınları, İstanbul, 1991 p 131
- ^ a b c Kate Fleet-Machiel Kiel:Cambridge History of Turkey Vol 1, Cambridge Press, ISBN 978-0-521-62093-2 p.141
- ^ Prof. Yaşar Yüce-Prof. Ali Sevim: Türkiye tarihi Cilt I, AKDTYKTTK Yayınları, İstanbul, 1991 p 207
- ^ Claude Cahen: Pre Ottoman Turkey (j.Jones Willims, Taplinger Publishing Co., New York, 1968, p.279