Review of the International Symposium “The Genghisids in Ottoman Sources”

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The International Symposium “The Genghisids in Ottoman Sources” was held in Istanbul on March 11, 2025, and was organized by the History Department of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of Marmara University and the Usmanov Center for Research on the Golden Horde and Tatar Khanates, Marjani Institute of History of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences (Kazan, Russian Federation). Scientists from Türkiye, the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, and the USA attended the symposium.

In recent years, research on the history of the Genghisids has gained momentum in Türkiye, as in the rest of the world. In this context, sources of the history of the Great Mongol Empire, Ilkhanate State, and Golden Horde State in different languages were translated into Turkish, and many master’s and doctoral theses and research works were written on the subject. As a result, the negative image of Genghis Khan and the Mongols, who were once dominant in Türkiye, began to change in a positive direction. It should also be noted that the number of scientific meetings, especially those on the Golden Horde, has increased in Türkiye in recent years.

Although a significant portion of the sources of Genghisid history in Persian, Arabic, Russian, Latin, and other languages have been published worldwide, Ottoman sources have not been studied much in terms of Genghisid history to date. Although the first works in the Ottoman Empire were only written at the beginning of the 15th century, many works from the Ottoman Empire have survived to the present day. Some of these are general world history and contain important information about Genghis Khan, his sons and grandsons, and the states they founded. The symposium held in Istanbul was an important scientific meeting that evaluated all this information.

The symposium was held with two main sessions and a closing session. The first speaker of the first session chaired by Prof. Dr. Fehmi Yılmaz, Prof. Dr. İlyas Kemaloğlu, who works at the History Department of Marmara University, gave a history of historiography in the Ottoman Empire in his paper titled “The Genghisids in Ottoman Sources” and then focused on the image of Genghis Khan and Genghisids in the first Ottoman annals. Kemaloğlu gave examples from chronicles such as Ahmedi’s Iskandername, Anonymous Tevarih-i Ali Osman, and Şükrullah Efendi’s Behcetü’t-Tevarîh. In his paper, Kemaloğlu stated that Genghis Khan was portrayed in a highly negative light in Ottoman sources, just like in other foreign works of the period, and that a similar approach was taken towards Hülagü and other Ilkhanate rulers. According to Kemaloğlu, the approach towards the Golden Horde rulers, especially Berke, was positive. Berke is described as a “Turkish sultan” in these sources. Several factors can explain the positive approach toward the Golden Horde. The first reason is that Berke Khan was the first Genghisid to accept Islam, and the second is the multifaceted development of Golden Horde-Ottoman relations. Commercial ties developed between the two countries, and at the end of the 14th century, these two countries tried to ally with the Mamluks against Amir Timur.

Ilnur Mirgaleev, the head of the Usmanov Center for Research on the Golden Horde and Tatar Khanates, Marjani Institute of History of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences (Kazan, Russian Federation), discussed the importance of Ottoman sources in the history of the Golden Horde. Mirgaleev stated in his speech that the Russian Orientalist Tiesenhausen had already touched upon this subject. However, despite preparing Arabic and Persian sources on the Golden Horde, he could not complete his work on Turkish sources. Mirgaleev stated in his statement that relations between Anatolia and the Golden Horde began before the Ottomans, that there was also contact with the Seljuks, and that relations between Anatolia and the Volga River were not limited to political ties, and that there were also intense contacts and mutual interactions between the two regions in economic, cultural, scientific and religious fields. According to Mirgaleev, these were naturally reflected in Ottoman sources. For this reason, Ottoman sources are of great importance regarding the history of the Golden Horde and the Tatar Khanates. Although Mirgaleev mentioned many Ottoman sources in his speech, he mainly focused on Ebu Bekir Kalender Aksarayi’s Kalendername and Evliya Çelebi’s travelogue. Indeed, Kalendername was published by the Usmanov Center for Research on the Golden Horde and Tatar Khanates. Some studies have been conducted in Kazan on Ottoman sources in recent years. While discussing Çelebi’s travelogue, Mirgaleev stated that Evliya Çelebi had information about the Golden Horde cities that was not found in any other source, and that the Ottoman historiography tradition was also dominant in the Crimean Khanate, which was established after the disintegration of the Golden Horde and soon came under Ottoman rule, and that the works written in the khanate were of great importance in terms of the Golden Horde historiography.

In the first session, Prof. Dr. Ashirbek Muminov, whose name was mentioned in the third list, also discussed the 16th-century Ottoman sources containing information about the Golden Horde State in his report. Muminov, who works at IRSICA, focused on the names of Mustafa al-Cenabi’s (d. 1590–1591) al-Aylam ez-Zahir fi Ahval’il-Ava’il ve’l-Ava’hir and Katib Çelebi’s (d. 1657) Fadhlekat Ekveli’l-Akhyar fi Ilmi’t-Târikh ve’l-Akhbar in his report. According to Muminov, recently extensive studies have been published about the author of the first work al-Aylam az-zakhir. The success in the research is related to the reading of the name nisba as “al-Janabi”. The solution to the problem of the author's wrong attribution to the village of “Janaba” in “Iran” near Basra helped to attribute the work to the Ottoman historiographical school. 39 copies of this work have been identified in world collections. IRCICA prepared the identified copies of the work he discussed in his report to compile and publish the critical text of the voluminous work, which contains many written texts. Fadhlekat Ekveli’l-Akhyar fi Ilmi’t-Târikh ve’l-Akhbar is related to the famous historian Katib Çelebi. The largest work of the great scientist remains unpublished to this day. Now, this work is being prepared for publication in IRCICA. In this work, Katib Çelebi showed himself to be a sociologist of history, a successor of the school of Ibn Khaldun. The only copy of the work that has survived to the present day is in the Istanbul Bayazıt Library.

The last speaker of the first session, Prof. Dr. Yulay Şamiloğlu from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, presented a paper titled “The Golden Horde Khans and Their Wives”. Şamiloğlu used primary sources, including Ottoman sources, to present the status of women in the Golden Horde. Şamiloğlu stated in his speech that the Mongols did not marry girls from their tribes, and that Genghisids particularly preferred the girls of the Kongırat tribe. He also stated that women married to the Genghisids, such as the Töregene and Oğulkaymış, played an important role in the political life of the empire. In contrast, ordinary women performed tasks such as riding horse carriage, setting up tents, milking cattle, and making butter. In other words, a large portion of daily tasks were the responsibility of women. In addition to Western travelers, the famous Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi also provided information about women in the Genghisid states. In general, the scientists who presented papers at the symposium agreed on the importance of Evliya Çelebi’s work in terms of the history of the Genghisids.

The second session mainly dealt with the sources of the Crimean Khanate, the heirs of the Golden Horde. In his paper titled “Notes on the Golden Horde in es-Sebü’s-Seyyâr fî Ahbâr-ı Mülûki’t-Tatar”, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Serkan Acar emphasized the importance of this work in terms of the history of the Genghisids. Despite this, this work has only recently begun to attract the attention of researchers. While Yavuz Söylemez in Türkiye prepared this work, its transcription was first published in Kazan by R. R. Abdujemilev, and then its translation into Russian was made by İsmail Gibadullin. Serkan Acar drew attention to the fact that the author was both a bureaucrat and a scientist and stated that Seyyid Muhammed Rıza belittled the steppe tradition and even insulted it at times and that while he called Hülagü “scourge”, he was respectful towards Batu. This issue is undoubtedly related to Batu’s campaigns to distant lands from Anatolia, and the state founded by Hulagu also encompasses Anatolian lands. According to Serkan Acar, the perception of the Genghisids in this source was a continuation of the perception in the Islamic world. One of the issues that Serkan Acar draws attention to is that the author does not distinguish between the Golden Horde and Ilkhanate rulers when counting the Muslim Genghisids. Again, according to Acar, the author correctly assessed the process of the collapse of the Golden Horde State and directed justified criticisms to Edigey Mirza in this context.

The other speaker in this session, Dr. Ismail Gibadullin, also discussed the same work in his paper. Gibadullin began his paper titled “The Ottoman Perspective on Tatar History: Seyyid Muhammed Rıza’s Es-Sebü’s-Seyyâr fî Ahbâr-ı Mülûki’t-Tatar” by explaining the title of the work. Accordingly, the number seven in the work’s title was sacred in the Middle East. After providing information about the author and content of the work, Gibadullin focused mainly on the Tatar perception in the work. Indeed, Seyyid Muhammed Rıza, who mocked both the Tatars and the Noghais and their lifestyle and traditions, criticized the Tatars harshly after stating that they were brave and very fast, calling them “savage, irreligious, Tatar predators, iron hearted.” Like Serkan Acar, Ismail Gibadullin also noted that this source is important regarding the history of the Golden Horde and the Tatar khanates.

The third speaker of the second session, Prof. Dr. Fehmi Yılmaz, discussed the yarlyks that have survived from the Crimean Khanate to the present in his paper titled “Continuity and Change in Yarlyks of the Crimean Khanate”. Recalling the explanation of the term yarlyk and the primary studies conducted on the yarlyks of the Golden Horde and Crimean Khans, Yılmaz stated that the yarlyks were divided into two as diplomatic and tarkhans and that the tradition of sending yarlyks in the Crimean Khanate was a legacy left to it by the Golden Horde. Stating that he could identify 408 yarlyks between the years 1393 and 1742, Yılmaz noted that the most yarlyks that have survived to the present day are from the 17th century and that these yarlyks changed in terms of language and style over time under the influence of the Ottoman chancellery. While stating that the language in the Crimean yarlyks of the 15th–16th centuries was Kipchak Turkish, he believes that Oghuz elements gradually increased in later periods.

The last speaker of the second session, Dr. Liliya Baybulatova, stated in her paper titled “Genghisids in Turkish Sources” that Turkish sources are significant in studying the history of the Golden Horde and Tatar Khanates. Baybulatova focused on three works in her paper. These are: Muhammed Şeybani’s Tevarih-i Güzide, Abdulgaffar Kırımi’s Umdetü’l-Ahbar, and Kadir Ali Bey’s Camiü’t-Tevarih. According to Baybulatova, one of the critical features of these works is that they also include the genealogies of the Genghisids. This is very important since not many works were left by the Mongols themselves. On the other hand, she emphasized that since most of these works were written upon the order of the rulers, the khans are naturally praised too much and that such matters should be considered when using the work.

The international symposium ended with a closing session. In the closing session, chaired by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Serkan Acar, Prof. Dr. İlyas Kemaloğlu, Dr. İlnur Mirgaleev, and Prof. Dr. Fehmi Yılmaz made evaluations. Since the symposium was broadcast on the YouTube channel of the Marmara University History Department, History Department students studying at universities all around Türkiye also had the chance to follow the symposium. The symposium held in Istanbul again showed great interest in the Golden Horde and the Genghisid general history in Türkiye. The fact that one of the 16 stars on the Presidential Seal of the Republic of Türkiye symbolizes the Golden Horde indicates the importance given to this state in Türkiye. On the other hand, the historical research on the Golden Horde State, which was banned in the Soviet Union for many years, is experiencing its best period today. The activities of the Usmanov Center for Research on the Golden Horde and Tatar Khanates, Marjani Institute of History of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences (Kazan, Russian Federation), headed by Dr. Ilnur Mirgaleev, had a significant impact on this process.

The International “The Genghisids in Ottoman Sources” Symposium, which brought together the world’s leading scientists, once again revealed the importance of Ottoman sources, which have not been researched much until now, regarding the history of the Genghisid. Ottoman sources contain important information on subjects such as the campaigns of Genghis Khan and his children, the arrival of the Mongols to Anatolia, the acceptance of Islam by the Genghisids, the Golden Horde-Ilkhanate wars, the alliance that tried to be established against Emir Timur, Ottoman-Golden Horde relations, and Tatar migrations. Therefore, evaluating Ottoman sources from this perspective will contribute to the research on the history of Genghisids. The papers presented at the symposium revealed that several critical studies have been conducted on this subject and will continue to be conducted in the future.

About the authors

İlyas Kemaloğlu

Author for correspondence.
Email: ilyas.kemaloglu@marmara.edu.tr
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-8350-5834

Dr., Professor of the Department of History of the Faculty of Letters

References

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