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Eirene'nin Saltanati Döneminde Bizans

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Eirene'nin Saltanati Döneminde Bizans Tarih Dergisi, Sayı 64 (2016 / 2), İstanbul 2016, s. 125-140 EİRENE’NİN SALTANATI DÖNEMİNDE BİZANS ANADOLU’SUNUN SAVUNMASI* James A. ARVITES Öz İmparatoriçe Eirene ve oğlu VI. Konstantinos saltanatı boyunca Bizans, Doğu’da yükselen bir Arap tehdidiyle uğraştı. Bu dönemde, özellikle sınırlar, Bizans-Arap askerî politikasında önemli bir yere sahiptir. Askerî politikalar çerçevesinde sınırlar, VIII. yüzyıl boyunca Arapların sürekli saldırıları altında kaldı. İmparatoriçe Eirene (780-802), bu saldırılara karşı koymaya çalıştı. Bu zor zamanlarda, Bizans büyük toprak kayıpları yaşamadı ve imparatorluk savunmaları sağlam kaldı. Nitekim bu çalışma, İmparatoriçe Eirene saltanatı döneminde Bizans-Arap ilişkilerini açıklar. Anahtar Kelimeler: Anadolu, Bizans, Eirene, Savunma, Müslüman Araplar. Abstract THE DEFENCE OF BYZANTINE ANATOLIA DURING THE REIGN OF IRENE (780-802) During the reigns of Empress Irene and her son Constantine VI, Byzantium strived with an increasing Arab menace in the East. In this process, specially the frontier district have an important position in Byzantium and Arab military policy. The frontier district as part of military policy constantly remaned under pressures of the Arabs throughout the VIIIth. century. Empress Irene (780-802) tried to counterac- tion this attacks. In this difficult times Byzantium suffered no major territorial losses and the imperial defenses remained intact. In fact this study examines the relations of Byzantine-Arab in the period of the reign of empress Irene. Key Words: Anatolia, Byzantium, Eirene, Defence, Muslim Arabs. * “The Defence of Byzantine Anatolia During the Reign of Irene (780-802)”, Armies and Frontiers in Roman and Byzantine Anatolia, ed. Stephen Mitchell, B.A.R 1983, s. 219-236. JAMES A. ARVITES Anadolu’daki Bizans-Arap sınırı, VIII. yüzyıl boyunca sürekli savaşlara sahne oldu. Eirene ve oğlu VI. Konstantinos’un saltanatının 22 yıllık süresince [780-802] Bizans, Batı’da Frank Krallığının güçlü bir yükselişiyle, dinî tartışma- larla, iç karışıklıklarla ve Doğu’da yükselen bir Arap tehdidiyle karşı karşıya kal- dı. Abbasî Halifeliği ve Bizans arasındaki düşmanlığın şiddetlenmesiyle Anado- lu, sürekli Arap saldırılarına maruz kaldı. Bu yüzden, Asya themalarında büyük imparatorluk ordu gruplarının yerleştirilmesi gerekliydi. Bizans’ın dikkatini ve insan gücünü Anadolu’ya yönlendirmesinden dolayı İmparatorluk, Balkanlardaki Bulgar ve Slav hareketlerine etkili bir şekilde karşı koyamadı ve İtalya’da, politi- kalarını ve nüfuzunu kabul ettirmek için etkisizdi. VIII. yüzyılda Bizans Anadolusu ve Arap halifeliği arasında kabaca, To- roslar ve anti-Toros sıradağları boyunca uzanan doğal bir sınır ortaya çıktı. Bi- zans ve Araplar arasında Loulon, Adata [Hadath], Kamacha [Kemah] ve Tyana [Niğde] gibi kilit stratejik sınır kaleleri sürekli el değiştirdi1. Sadece üç büyük geçit, Toros ve anti-Toros sınırına ulaşmaktaydı. Anadolu içlerine ulaşımı sağ- layan anayol Kilikya geçitlerindeydi2. Kilikya geçitlerinin erişilmez ve yüksek kuzeybatı bölgesinde yer alan önemli Loulon kalesi, Tyana yoluna kadar Tarsus’a hâkimdi3. Loulon’a sahip olmak, hem Bizans hem de Araplar için önemliydi. İbn Hurdazbih’e göre Loulon, Konstantinopolis’in Asya’daki kırsal kesimlerine sa- dece 431 mil uzaklıktaydı4. Fakat sadece birkaç Arap akını, Ege Denizi kıyılarına ve Boğaziçi’ne ulaştı5. Akıncıların çoğu, genellikle anayolları takip ederek Lyka- onia, Isauria ve Kappadokia’ya sık sık saldırılarda bulundular6. Ancak nadiren bazıları daha uzak batıya Dorylaion [Eskişehir], Ikonion [Konya] ve Amorion [Hisarköy]’a ulaştı7. İkinci akın rotası, Adata’dan anti-Toros Dağları üzerinden Kappadokia’ya oldu. Genellikle Arap akıncıları, Caesarea [Kayseri]’ye ilerledi; ardından kuzeye 1 Arnold Toynbee, Constantine Porphyrogenitus and his World, London 1973, s. 108. 2 W. M. Ramsay, The Historical Geography of Asia Minor, London 1890, s. 77, 186, 216, 330n, 339, 343, 351, 449; Anthony R. Santoro, “Byzantium and the Arabs during the Isaurian Period 717-802 A. D.”, Ph. D. dissertation, Rutgers University 1978, s. 200; Toynbee, Constantine Porphyrogenitus and his World, s. 108. 3 Ramsay, The Historical Geography of Asia Minor, s. 342-343. 4 G. Le Strange, The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate, Cambridge 1905, s. 134-135. 5 Hélène Ahrweiler, “L’Asie Mineure et les invasions arabes (VII-IX siècles)”, Revue Historique, sayı 227 (1962), s. 10. 6 Aynı yer. 7 Theophanes, Chronographia, A. M. 6259, 6271, ed. C. de Boor, Hildesheim 1980, 1: 351, 452. 126 EİRENE’NİN SALTANATI DÖNEMİNDE BİZANS ANADOLU’SUNUN SAVUNMASI ve batıya Galatia’ya, bazen Ankyra [Ankara]’ya ya da Paphlagonia ve Karadeniz limanları Sinope [Sinop] ve Amastris [Amasra]’e devam etti. Adata, Germanikeia [K. Maraş]’nın kuzeybatı girişine, önemli Arabissos [Afşin] ve batı kalelerine geçişi kontrol etmekteydi8. Arap akıncıları tarafından kullanılan üçüncü geçiş güzergâhı, Euphrates Nehri [Fırat]’nin sağ kıyısında kurulmuş olan Melitene [Malatya]’den başla- maktaydı. Bu noktadan, anti-Toros geçidinden hareket ettikten sonra düşman akıncıları, üç farklı yöne gidebilmekteydi. Birinci güzergâh, doğrudan batıya Arabissos’a ve daha sonra Caesarea ve Kappadokia’ya ilerlerken bir diğeri, ku- zeybatıya Sebasteia [Sivas]’ya ve üçüncü güzergâh ise Yukarı Euphrates vadisi içinden Kamacha ve Trebizond [Trabzon]’a ulaşmaktaydı9. Bizans, kalabalık ordular ile üç büyük istila geçiş noktasını kapatmak için hiçbir ciddi teşebbüste bulunmadı. Bizans askerî stratejistleri, bunu yapmak için girişilen herhangi bir çabanın düşmanın kendilerine üstünlük sağlayabileceği ih- timalinden korkmuş olabilirler ki bunun yerine bir “takip etme” planı uygulandı. Arap akıncıların herhangi bir karşı koymayla karşılaşmadan imparatorluğa gir- mesine müsaade edildi. Bizans askerî yıllıkları, imparatorluk ordularına düşman güçlerini “gizlice takip etmelerini”, ancak özellikle düşman kuvvetleri eşit ya da daha güçlü ise meydan muharebelerinden kaçınmalarını öğretmiştir. Daha- sı Anadolu’nun derin iç kısımlarına aşırı yayılmış Arap kuvvetleriyle savaştan kaçınılması tavsiye edilmiştir. Çünkü umutsuz ve kıstırılmış insanlar daha çetin savaşır. Bizans kuvvetleri, pusu, hile ve “arazi yakma”10 stratejileri ile işgale karşı koyma konusunda eğitildiler11. Son olarak yıllıklar, bir düşman ile çarpışmaya girmek için en iyi zamanın onların ganimetlerle topraklarına dönerken olduğunu bildirmektedir. VIII. yüzyılda Bizans, Arap akınlarına karşı bir erken uyarı sistemi geliştir- di. Toros Dağlarındaki Argaios [Arguvan] ve Loulon’dan Konstantinopolis’teki imparatorluk sarayına Anadolu’nun dağ zirveleri boyunca bir dizi uyarı işareti 8 Ahrweiler, “L’Asie Mineure et les invasions arabes”, s. 9; J. G. C. Anderson, “The Road-System of Eastern Asia Minor”, Journal of Hellenic Studies, sayı 17 (1897), s. 27-28; Toynbee, Constantine Porphyrogenitus and his World, s. 109. 9 a.g.e. 10 Bir bölgeden çekilen ya da ilerlerken düşmanın kullanabileceği her şeyi yakıp yıkmaya yarayan askerî bir stratejidir. İstilacılara yakılarak bırakılan yerleri ifade eder. 11 Anonymous, περì παραδρομῆς πολέμων, in Leonis Diaconis Historiae, ed. C. B. Hass, Bonn 1828, s. 192-193; Leo VI Tactica, PG 107: 932, 933, 956, 977; Toynbee, Constantine Porphyrogenitus and his World, s. 109-111. 127 JAMES A. ARVITES [işaret ateşleri] konuldu. Bu sistem ile Başkent, birkaç dakika içerisinde düşman saldırılarına karşı bilgilendirilebilecekti. Sistem, aynı zamanda Bizans eyalet yö- neticilerine sivil nüfusun, güvenli bölgelere tahliyesi için de zaman kazandırmak- taydı12. Diğer yandan Araplar da Bizans İmparatorluğu ile olan kuzeybatı sınırını düzenledi ve takviye etti. Arap akıncılarının bulundukları sınır bölgeleri, Arap literatüründe “engel olmak, savunmak ve korumak” anlamlarına gelen “Avasım” ya da “Savunma” şehirleri olarak adlandırıldı. Bu savunma hattındaki ana kent Antiochia [Antakya]’yaydı. Avasım, Antiochia’dan Euphrates üzerindeki Balis Samosata [Samsat] ve Manbij [Menbic]’e şehirlerine kadar bir bölge oluşturmak- taydı. Yakın Bizans sınırı boyunca Thighur adı verilen hisarlar inşa edildi. Bu sa- vunma hattı boyunca en önemli şehir, Kilikya geçitlerine yakın konumlandırılmış ve Toros Dağlarına ana geçit olan Tarsus’tu13. V. Konstantinos (741-775) ve oğlu IV. Leon (775-78)’nun hükümdarlığı döneminde, ilk saldırı girişimleri Bizans kuvvetleri tarafından gerçekleştirildi. Arap iç isyanlarından faydalanan V. Konstantinos, güçlerini Toros Dağlarına yönlendirdi ve geçici olarak Germanikeia, Melitene [Malatya] ve Theodosiopolis (Erzurum)14’i ele geçirdi. Konstantinos, muhtemelen, bu önemli kaleleri kalıcı olarak elde tutma niyetinde değildi. Bu seferlerin amacı, Anadolu’ya yönelik sal- dırıların başlangıç noktalarını yok etmekti. Bizans kuvvetleri, IV. Leon’un hükümdarlığı boyunca yıkıcı saldırı- larına devam etti. 776’da imparatorluk orduları, Kilikya Geçitlerini geçerek Samosata’ya kadar olan şehirleri yakıp yıktı15. İki yıl sonra daha büyük bir Bizans kuvveti, Germanikeia civarındaki bölgeyi talan ettikten sonra Adata’ya başarılı bir saldırı gerçekleştirerek savunma surlarını yıktı16. 12 Cedrenus, Chronographia, ed. I. Bekker, Bonn 1838-1839, 2: 274; Ramsay, The Historical Geography of Asia Minor, s. 352-353. 13 E. A. Belyaev, Arabs, Islam and the Caliphate in the Early Middle Ages, çev. Adolph Gourevitch, New York 1969, s. 225-226. 14 el-Belazurî, The Origins of the Islamic State, I, çev. Philip Khuri Hitti, New York 1916, s. 294- 295 [Bundan böyle el-Belazurî]. Nicephorus, Opuscula Historica, ed. C. de Boor, Leipzig 1880, s. 62; Theophanes, A. M. 6237,
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