A MYTH ABOUT THE EMERGENCE OF THE QARAMANID DYNASTY AS REFLECTED IN THE OTTOMAN SOURCES

Abstract

The issue of when and how the Qaramanid dynasty or tribe that founded the Qaramanid state came to Anatolia is still an unsolved historical problem. The view put forward by famous Turkologist the late Fuat Köprülü (1890-1966) in 1922 remains largely valid. This issue will remain unresolved unless a new source work is released. The general view was that the Qaramanid tribe, belonging to the Afshar branch of the Oghuzs who escaped from the Mongol invasion, came to the Shirvan or Arran region of Azerbaijan. From here they came to Ermenak by way of Sivas. It was claimed that the Babai uprising of Sivas had an impact on the establishment of the Qaramanid State. In the middle of the thirteenth century, the Qaraman tribe began to act independently in Ermenak, which was situated in the Seljuk-Armenian border (uc), under the leadership of Qaraman Bey. Their relations with the Mongols, Armenians and Seljuk sultans were not regular. They have dealt with plunder in the region. When Qaraman Bey captured the fortress of Ermenak from the Armenians, he turned this place into a political center. Later he captured the town of Laranda. 
 Seljuk, Arab and Armenian historical sources related to this subject have been extensively studied by scholars. Whether the information given by the Mamluk historians about the Qaramanids is reliable or not is an issue that needs to be addressed separately. Ottoman chroniclers such as Mustafa Ali, Ruhi, Müneccimbaşı, Kâtip Çelebi, Hayrullah Efendi, Hezarfen Hüseyin Efendi, Cenabi, Rustem Pasha and Müneccimbaşı also contemplated the emergence of the Qaramanid dynasty. However, these sources are problematic in terms of historical methodology, since they are of late date. As a matter of fact, Fuat Köprülü did not take these sources into account. Most likely, these are just a compilation. The information in the Şikari History, the official history of the Qaramanids, and the information given by Ottoman chroniclers do not match with each other. In this article, we are at least publishing these texts about the Qaramanids. The problem unfortunately remains unresolved.