Ece Tunca DEPICTION of the ENEMY THROUGH the EYES OF
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Ece Tunca DEPICTION OF THE ENEMY THROUGH THE EYES OF AN OTTOMAN BUREAUCRAT-SOLDIER: ÂSAFİ’S ŞECÂ’ATNÂME (THE BOOK OF VALOR) IN THE CONTEXT OF OTTOMAN- SAFAVID RIVALRY MA Thesis in Comparative History, with a specialization in Interdisciplinary Medieval Studies. CEU eTD Collection Central European University Budapest DEPICTION OF THE ENEMY THROUGH THE EYES OF AN OTTOMAN BUREAUCRAT-SOLDIER: ÂSAFİ’S ŞECÂ’ATNÂME (THE BOOK OF VALOR) IN THE CONTEXT OF OTTOMAN-SAFAVID RIVALRY by Ece Tunca (Turkey) Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts degree in Comparative History, with a specialization in Interdisciplinary Medieval Studies. Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU. ____________________________________________ Chair, Examination Committee ____________________________________________ Thesis Supervisor CEU eTD Collection ____________________________________________ Examiner ____________________________________________ Examiner DEPICTION OF THE ENEMY THROUGH THE EYES OF AN OTTOMAN BUREAUCRAT-SOLDIER: ÂSAFİ’S ŞECÂ’ATNÂME (THE BOOK OF VALOR) IN THE CONTEXT OF OTTOMAN-SAFAVID RIVALRY by Ece Tunca (Turkey) Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts degree in Comparative History, with a specialization in Interdisciplinary Medieval Studies. Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU. ____________________________________________ External Reader CEU eTD Collection DEPICTION OF THE ENEMY THROUGH THE EYES OF AN OTTOMAN BUREAUCRAT-SOLDIER: ÂSAFİ’S ŞECÂ’ATNÂME (THE BOOK OF VALOR) IN THE CONTEXT OF OTTOMAN-SAFAVID RIVALRY by Ece Tunca (Turkey) Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts degree in Comparative History, with a specialization in Interdisciplinary Medieval Studies. Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU. ____________________________________________ External Supervisor CEU eTD Collection I, the undersigned, Ece Tunca, candidate for the MA degree in Comparative History, with a specialization in Interdisciplinary Medieval Studies declare herewith that the present thesis is exclusively my own work, based on my research and only such external information as properly credited in notes and bibliography. I declare that no unidentified and illegitimate use was made of the work of others, and no part of the thesis infringes on any person’s or institution’s copyright. I also declare that no part of the thesis has been submitted in this form to any other institution of higher education for an academic degree. Budapest, 18 June 2017 __________________________ Signature CEU eTD Collection Abstract The aim of this thesis is to present a textual and visual analysis of an Ottoman war narrative, the Şecâ‘atnâme (the book of valor) written by Âsafi Dal Mehmed Çelebi between the years 1578 and 1586, in the context of Ottoman-Safavid rivalry. While the main focus of this study is Âsafi’s encounters with the enemy, it also elaborates on the essentials of the Ottoman-Safavid rivalry and the problem of “Kızılbaş,” with the aim of contextualizing Âsafi’s impressions within a historical framework, and investigating to what extent his views were aligned with the Ottomans’ general attitude on this issue—if it is possible to generalize in this respect—during the period in question. In other words, instead of making a general analysis of the whole text, this thesis focuses on the Kızılbaş issue as one of the most controversially discussed aspects of the Ottoman-Safavid rivalry. Not only does the Şecâ‘atnâme shed light on certain events during the Ottoman- Safavid wars of 1578-90, but it is also a striking example for the illustrated histories abundantly produced during the reign of Murad III (r. 1574-95), which witnessed the changing dynamics in the manuscript production and patronage. While the Şecâ‘atnâme was written with the aim of eulogizing Özdemiroğlu Osman Pasha’s exploits, it was an extraordinary work given its production process and the emphasis placed on Âsafi as the hidden protagonist of the narrative. In this respect, apart from discussing how a Sunni Ottoman bureaucrat-soldier viewed the Safavids and their troops, this thesis also focuses on the Şecâ‘atnâme as a means of self-promotion, and asks the question, “whose şecâ‘at?” CEU eTD Collection Keywords: illustrated histories, war narratives, gazâvatnâme, gazânâme, Ottoman-Safavid rivalry, Kızılbaş, Qizilbash, Ottoman Sunnitization, Sunni-Shi’i conflict, Âsafi Dal Mehmed Çelebi, Özdemiroğlu Osman Pasha i Acknowledgements I would first like to extend my sincerest thanks to my advisor, Tijana Krstić for her guidance, valuable contributions, corrections and patience during my research and writing process. I would also like to express my gratitude to Derin Terzioğlu not only for taking place in my thesis committee, but also for her insightful comments and suggestions. I am also grateful to Marcell Sebők for his constructive comments during my thesis defense. I would like to thank Selim Sırrı Kuru not only for his excellent tutelage at the Ottoman and Turkish summer school in Cunda, which helped me a lot while dealing with Ottoman Turkish texts, but also for his valuable inputs on my research. I’m grateful to Zsuzsanna Reed for her thorough proofreading of my thesis. I would also like to thank Johanna Tóth for her sincere assistance, promptly and patiently replying all my irksome questions. I would like to thank my fellow graduate Szitár Kristóf not only for making my life more enjoyable amongst classes, assignments and thesis work with his sincere friendship, but also for his valuable comments on my research. I owe my deepest gratitude to Bora Yalçın, who didn’t hesitate to change his life for moving to Budapest with me, for his endless love and support. Lastly, I would like to thank lya and M şfik for their therapeutic purrings. CEU eTD Collection ii Note on Transliteration Throughout the thesis, I used the modified Modern Turkish transcription system while while indicating Turkish consonants such as ç and ş, as in Kızılbaş, Çaldıran; Turkish vowels .as in şecâ’at ,(ء) and hamza (ع) such as ı and ü as in mülhid, küfür, kadı; long vowels, 'ayn On the other hand, although I was faithful to the system used in the Encyclopedia of Islam as in rāfiḍa, I used the same (ض) while referring to the Arabic terms with the consonant, dāḍ consonants as râfızi while referring to a Turkish source. As for the direct quotations from the primary source, the Şecâ‘atnâme, I have been faithful to the system used in Mustafa Eravcı’s book, which I found easier to understand and closer to the Modern Turkish language. CEU eTD Collection iii Table of contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER 1 OTTOMAN-SAFAVID RIVALRY AND THE ISSUE OF KIZILBAŞ (1500-1590) ........ 9 1.1. The Rise of the Safavids and the Formation of the Kızılbaş Identity ........................... 11 1.2. Ottoman-Safavid Rivalry: Ottoman Policies and Terms Used to Refer to the Kızılbaş .............................................................................................................................................. 14 1.2.1. The Early Phase ................................................................................................... 14 1.2.2. Periods of Intense Conflict and Eventual Peace: The Reigns of Selim I and Süleyman the Magnificent ............................................................................................. 17 1.2.3. Breach of the Peace: Ottoman-Safavid Wars of 1578-1590 ............................. 27 CHAPTER 2 ÂSAFİ DAL MEHMED CHELEBİ AND THE ŞECÂ’ATNÂME .................................... 35 2.1. Biography of Âsafi Dal Mehmed Çelebi ...................................................................... 36 2.1.1. Âsafi as a Man of Learning ................................................................................. 37 2.1.2. Âsafi as a Man of Sword ...................................................................................... 38 CEU eTD Collection 2.2. Illustrated Histories and Patterns of Patronage during the Reign of Murad III: Production of the Şecâ‘atnâme ............................................................................................ 41 CHAPTER 3 DEPICTING THE ENEMY: KIZILBAŞ IN TEXT AND IMAGE .................................. 46 iv Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 61 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................ 68 Figures...................................................................................................................................... 73 CEU eTD Collection v List of Figures Figure 1: Map of the places mentioned. ................................................................................... 73 Figure 2: Âsafi and Kaykı Bey in Shirvan, Şecâ‘atnâme, 120b. ............................................. 74 Figure 3: Alexander Khan in the presence of Osman Pasha. Şecâ‘atnâme, 20b. .................... 75 Figure 4: Parrots and cats in a garden. Şecâ‘atnâme, 50b. .....................................................