The Basic Dynamic Of Politics In Anatolia Under The Ilkhanid Rule: The Struggle Of Nomad Turcomans And Mongols

The nomad Mongols established their hegemony in Anatolia after the Kosedagh War in 1243. When the Hülagü destroyed Bagdad in 1258 and Ilkhanids took the leadership in the Middle East, the Mongols, thus, became the policy makers in Anatolia. Not sooner, however, they were confronted with the alliance of the states of Mamluks, Seljukids and nomads of Anatolia, the Turcomans. Among them the Turcomans constituted the most decisive point of resistance against the political aims and military operations of the Mongols. The opposition, involved religious motifs like gaza, holy war, was, indeed, the result of Turcomans’ efforts to make Anatolia their homeland. In fact, there was no any choice for the Turcomans who intensively populated the frontier zones of Anatolia since the political and geographical frontiers of the peninsula prevented them from migrating to another region. For this reason the attitudes of making Anatolia their homeland decisively and opposing to the Mongols persistently balanced each other. Thus the long lasting struggles between the Mongol and Turcoman nomads were resulted in the collapse of both the Seljukid and Ilkhanid rules in Anatolia. The Turcomans, in turn, becoming the leading political actors consequently adopted the Political Turcoman Identity. It seems that political and social groups who established the Turcoman Beyliks in the frontier zones of Anatolia at the beginning of the fourteenth century were under the influence of this identity. For example, Osman Bey, founder of the Ottoman Beylik, used the political methods, arguments and tools produced as a result of the struggle between Mongol and Turcoman nomads under the Ilkhanid rule.

Keywords

Anatolia, Anatolian Seljukids, Ilkhanids, Mongols, Turcomans