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 From: Royal Anthropological Institute. Journal. V. 51, pp. 
 310-342 # 
 
 310 
 
 HETERODOX TRIBES OF ASIA MINOR. 1 
 By the late F. W. jHasluck. 
 
 I. 
 
 § 1. Introductory. 
 
 Professor von Luschan, in his Huxley lecture on Early Inhabitants of Asia Minor? 
 has done much to bring order into our ideas of the still insufficiently known ethno- 
 logical and religions divisions of that country. His studies are based mainly on his 
 personal observations, and his point of view is for the most part that of a physical 
 anthropologist. His predecessors in field work, dealing generally with narrower 
 areas, have produced a great mass of literature, scattered or in some cases difficult 
 of access, and no serious attempt has been made to approach the problems involved 
 from the historical side. It therefore seems worth while at this stage to bring 
 together the scattered material of explorers and collate with it such historical 
 information as may be gleaned from pointed sources, with the object of presenting 
 in one view a summary of the facts at our disposal and the problems they suggest 
 for the investigation of future explorers in the history, and particularly the religious 
 history, of Anatolia. 
 
 European travellers in Asia Minor, mainly classical archaeologists and very seldom 
 orientalists, are generally better acquainted with Christianity than with Islam. 
 Consequently, the divisions of the Christians are more obvious to them than those 
 of the Mahommedan populations. By most the latter are regarded as a single 
 whole, and any divergence they may notice from orthodox Sunni practice suggests 
 to them that the population in question has been affected by Christianity, that is, 
 it represents an originally Christian population half-converted to Islam. This 
 
 1 [My husband left this article in an unfinished condition. Shortly before his death, he 
 expressed a doubt as to whether it should be published, but as illness and war conditions had 
 separated him for more than three years from his MS., he spoke from memory only. It has 
 seemed to me that Part I* could be published as it stood and that a little editing, mostly in the . 
 form of re-arrangement, would render Part II also suitable for publication. This has been done, 
 but as my husband wished the article, if published, to be re-printed as a chapter in his book, 
 Studies in Greek and Turkish Popular Religion, I should be grateful for any suggestions or 
 criticisms which would assist me in removing blemishes from the article before its final incorpora- 
 tion in this book. Letters addressed to me c/o Newnham College, Cambridge, will be forwarded. 
 — M.M.H.] 
 
 1 J.R. Anthr. Inst, xli, 221 ff. 
 
F. W. Has luck. — Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 311 
 
 archaGologically attractive theory is especially dangerous in so far as it touches 
 anthropological questions, since the supposed converted Christians are naturally 
 assumed to be a pre-Turkish, and, in default of evidence to the contrary (which is 
 never forthcoming), an aboriginal population. 
 
 The archaeologists, then, mainly on the evidence afforded by religion, hold that 
 (1) the heterodox tribes are converted Christians, and they gladly accept .the theory 
 of the anthropologists, based mainly on craniology, that (2) the heterodox tribes 
 are aboriginal. The orientalists, headed by Vambery, deny both these statements, 
 holding that the peoples concerned are mainly of Turkish blood and comparatively 
 recent immigrants from Western Persia or beyond. ' 
 
 As far as religion is concerned, the main purpose of the present paper is to 
 emphasise the fact that, though crypto-Christians exist in Asia Minor, many, if not 
 most, of the unorthodox practices obtaining amongst tribes supposed to have been 
 originally Christian, are in fact to be referred either (1) to the primitive stratum 
 of religion, which survives in superstitious practice among Christians no less than 
 Mahommedans, or (2) to the Shia branch of the Mahommedan faith, which, though 
 orthodox in Persia, is to the Sunni Turks quite as much outside the pale as the 
 Christianity of the Armenian is to the Greek or vice versd. 
 
 It is probable that many Turkish tribes, passing through Northern Persia on 
 their way westwards, first met with Islam in the Shia form, so that the Shia religion 
 may be considered to some extent as the link between paganism and Sunni Mahom- 
 medanism. We can certainly point to a period during which a Shia, or at least a 
 Persianising, form of Islam was prevalent, together with a culture derived almost 
 exclusively from Persia, in Central Asia Minor. 
 
 Very considerable confusion has also arisen with regard to the heterodox tribes 
 of Asia Minor owing to a vague and inaccurate use of tribal and other names. It 
 has been more or less assumed that, whatever their original significance, the names 
 Yourouk, Turcoman, Kyzylbash, Takhtadji, Bektash, etc., are on the same footing 
 and have ethnological significance. An examination of what has been written on 
 the tribes in question leads to the Conclusion that some of these names denote, not 
 ethnological, but religious and other divisions. Thus, of the names cited above, 
 Yourouk 1 in itself denotes no more than the nomadic life of the tribes so designated, 
 while Turcoman is a tribal name wrongly used to cover a much larger division of the 
 population. Takhtadji (" woodcutter ") is essentially a caste-name, Kyzylbash 
 (" red-head ") is a nickname for a widely distributed religious sect, while Bektash 
 designates members of a religious organisation within that sect. So far from these 
 categories being mutually exclusive, it would be possible for a single person to come 
 under all of them. 
 
 1 Tk. youroumek == to walk. The word " Yourouk " is first used, as far as I' can discover, 
 by Rycaut {Hi*, of the Turks, ii, 138 ; cf. Pococke, Descr. of the East II, ii, 108) of the nomads of 
 the Troad. 
 
312 F. W. Hasluck. — Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 
 
 §2. The Yourouks. - **+>fa2x* r 
 
 T he ter m Yourouk has long been recognised by ethnologists as of very wide 
 and vague application : in itself, as we have said, it signifies no more than " nomadic." 
 Dr. Tsakyroglous of Smyrna, whose profession has given him unusual opportunities 
 for intimacy with the Yourouks of his vilayet, is the only writer who has dealt with 
 the Anatolian Yourouks as a whole. 1 He enumerates no less than eighty-eight tribes 
 of them, varying greatly in size and importance and distributed over all parts of 
 Asia Minor. 2 His list, however, does not profess to be complete, though, if we except 
 the short list of tribes in the Aidin vilayet given by Vambery, 3 it is the only attempt 
 to collect Anatolian tribal names. As the pamphlet containing this list is inacces- 
 sible, the list is given in full below, 4 together with some tribal names collected by 
 Langlois in Cilicia, and, for comparison, a list of Turcoman tribes given to Niebuhr by 
 Patrick Russell of Aleppo. 
 
 The Yourouk tribes (ashiret) bear for the most part personal names, presumably 
 of ancestral chiefs, with or without the adjectival suffix -li. Examples are Dourgout, 
 Ahmedli, Gueuk Mousali, Shichli. It is significant that the chief of the latter tribe 
 bears the surname Shichli Baba Zade (" Son of Father Shichli "). Other tribes bear 
 names apparently denoting their habitat, as Akdaghli (" ol the White Mountain "), 
 and Roumli, or characteristics as Katchar (" runners "), Tash-evli (" stonehouse 
 men "), Boini Indjeli (" slim-figured men "), Sari Ketchi-li (" men with yellow goats "). 
 
 Traces of early divisions of originally united tribes are probably to be seen in) 
 the numerous tribal names running in pairs, such as Selge- and Keles-Katchar, 6 
 Kara- and Sari-Tekkeli, Kyzyl- and Kara-Ketchili. Colour-epithets, such as Kara 
 (" black "), Ak (" white "), Kyzyl (" red "), Sari (" yellow "), and Gueuk (" blue ") 
 are probably in all cases taken from the natural colour or distinctive markings of the 
 flocks of two divisions of the same tribe ; this seems clear from the occurrence of such 
 names as Ak-koyounlu {white sheep tribe), Aladja-koyounlu (spotted sheep tribe), 
 Kyzyl-ketchili (red goat tribe), etc. 
 
 Some of the Anatolian tribe-names occur also further East, as Odemish in Merv 6 
 and Kengerlu in Transcaucasia. 7 From the Katchar tribe, which is also to be found 
 
 1 Ilfpi YiovpovKwv (pp. 40), -At hens, 1891. There is also a French translation printed at Smyrna. 
 [Another in German is said to exist in Olobus, but I have failed to trace the reference. — M.M.H.] 
 
 2 Tsakyroglous, op. cit., 13 ft", and 22 : in view of theories regarding the origin of the Zebeks, 
 I note on the latter page the name Zeibekli : the significance of the name seems to be somewhat 
 similar to that of naWqicdpi in Greek (c/. von Diest, Reisen und Forschungen, i, 27). 
 
 • Das Tiirkenvolk, 606 (the names which do not figure in Tsakyroglous' list are marked by 
 an asterisk) : Selge Katchar*, Keles Katchar, Kara Tekkeli, Sari Tekkeli, Satchi Karali, Eski 
 Yourouk, Farsak, Kyzyl Ketchili, Kara Ketchili*, Khorgoun, Bourkhan, Yel Aldi, Karin Karali*, 
 Karagatchli*, Kirtish, Akdaghli, Narindjali, Djabar*, Dash Evli, Chepni. 
 
 • P. 319 ff. 
 
 • Vambery, op. cit., 606 ; but according to Tsakyroglous, Koula Katchar, Keles Katchar and 
 Ova Katchar are subdivisions (mahallas) of the same tribe. 
 
 • Tsakyroglous, 21. 7 Vambery, 572. 
 
4 
 
 *:v 
 
 F. W. Hasluck. — Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 
 
 313 
 
 in Transcaucasia, was descended the late dynasty of Persia. 1 Nadir Shah was^of the 
 Afshar tribe of Khorassan, with which the Anatolian Afshara claim kinship. 2 Of 
 the Yourouk tribes in the Aidin vilayet enumerated by VambSry, the Bourkhan, 
 Narindjali, and Kirtish still exist among the Central Asian Turcomans. Baiandir 
 is a subdivision of the Gtoklen tribe." 
 
 A very large proportion of the tribal names can be found also on the map of 
 Asia Minor as village names, presumably denoting places where tribes or portions of 
 tribes have settled. Examples are Baindir, Ushak, Odemish, Kenger, Tourgoutlou, 
 and many others. 
 
 Though most of these tribes are pastoral, some are addicted to other callings : 
 the Katchar and Varsak are camel-men, many of the Yourouks of Mount Ida are 
 woodcutters, the Abdal, whom von Luschan identifies with the gypsies, a beggar 
 caste. 4 Other tribes are distinguished by their skill in certain crafts, as the Turkmen, 
 Harmandali, and Zili in carpet-weaving, and the Kenger of Adala (near Koula in 
 Lydia) in massage. 5 
 
 The jiead of the tribe is called Bey or Sheikh. 6 The tribe is. subdivided into 
 kabilehs (" clans ") or mahaUas (" quarters," " wards "), the latter a word in common 
 use as a division of a town among the settled populations. Divisions of the same 
 tribe are found in widely-separated districts in Asia Minor : evidence of such splitting 
 up is to be found in the occurrence of certain tribal-names all over the map. On 
 the other hand, some tribes have a well-defined area within which their settlements 
 are thickly planted. Of this the Afshar tribe of the Taurus affords a notable 
 instance. 7 Similarly, the original home of the Farsak tribe in Asia Minor seems to 
 have been the mountainous region North : West of Selefke which bears their name. 8 
 But scattered units of both tribes, to judge by the evidence of the map, wandered 
 far. 
 
 The languages current among the Youro uks ar e va ried. They a re mostly rough 
 dialects of Turkish, among which those of Azerbeijan and Jagatai have been recog- 
 nised. 9 Dr. Chasseaud of Smyrna tells me he has found that Yourouks from different 
 parts (presumably of the Aidin vilayet), even when they acknowledge kinship, are 
 unable to understand each . other. Tsakyroglous says,, further, that some tribes 
 speak Kurdish, i.e. probably, that some nomads are Kurds, and that the Abdal 
 speak a language of their own. 10 
 
 ■ Vambery, 607. * Vambery, 394. 
 
 Vambery (p. 391) found a subdivision of a Central Asian 
 
 1 Vambery, 572, 577. 
 
 * Tsakyroglous, op. cit., 19 
 Turcoman tribe so named. 
 
 5 Tsakyroglous, 21. • Tsakyroglous, 17. 
 
 7 Grothe, Vorderasienexpedition, ii, 135 and map. See also Ramsay, Impressions, 108 ff. ; 
 Tschihatscheff, Reisen, 14 ; Skene, Anadol, 184 ; van Lennep, Travels in Asia Minor, ii, 96. 
 
 8 Hadji Khalfa, tr. Armain, 665. 
 
 • Tsakyroglous, op. cit., 22. 
 
 *• Tsakyroglous, 26, where samples are given. 
 
 
314 F. W. Hasluck. — Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 
 
 As_to_the religion of the Yourouksjon which subject they are extremely reticent, 
 very varied accounts have been given. Humann speaks of them in Western Asia Minor 
 as entirely without religion? Drs. Tsakyroglous and Chasseaud, with their more 
 intimate knowledge, concur in considering them (negatively) heretical. Some nomad 
 tribes are certainly* Shia, 2 while the Yourouks of Lycia are reported by Bent to be 
 goocl Sunni Mahommedans. 8 These discrepant accounts are intelligible only when we 
 realise that the Yourouks are not a homogeneous race, but a collection of tribes and 
 sub-tribes which, originally pagan, have fallen to a greater or less degree under 
 various missionary influences. 
 
 """"It is generally reported of Yourouks that circumcision is not usually practised 
 among them, and that when the operation is performed from motives of policy, 
 they prefer that it should not be done by a Sunni in orthodox fashion. A similar 
 prejudice is implied by the story quoted by Tsakyroglous* from the Turkish news- 
 paper Hakikat to the effect that a Jew from the Dardanelles is habitually invited 
 by the Yourouks of Mount Ida to perfonn for them some ritual act at marriages. 
 This is probably a confusion, the same word (duyun) being commonly used by the 
 Turks both for marriage and circumcision (properly sunnet). 5 
 
 Dr. Chasseaud tells me that when he has operated on Yourouks the feast was 
 made several days after, and a hodja duly invited. It was then explained to the 
 latter that the operation had been already performed, and his scruples silenced 
 by a present of money. The object of this manoeuvre is probably to ensure the 
 proper disposal of the part amputated in order that it may not come into the 
 wrong hands. 8 Similarly, Dr. Chasseaud tells me both Yourouk women and 
 
 1 Verhandlungen Oes. f. Erdkunde, 1880, 248. ' ■ 
 
 1 C. B. Elliott, Travels, ii, 107 (Turcomans near Akhissar) ; Hadji Khalfa, tr. Armain, 656 
 
 (Turcomans near Trebizond) ; ibid., 683 (liva of Bozouk = 'Kirshehr). The Afshars are Sunni 
 
 (Karolides, Ta»Ko/*nv.i, 42) but do not veil women. 
 
 * J. R. Anthr. Inst., xx, 274 ; cf. von Luschan, Lykien, ii, 216. 
 
 4 Utpl riOVpOVKWV, 32. 
 
 8 So apparently in India the Persian word for marriage (shadi) is used for both ceremonies 
 (Hastings, Diet, of Religion, s.v. Circumcision, 678). For the performance of the operation by 
 non-Musulmans, see the same article, p. 677. 
 
 6 Hastings (Diet, of Religion, s.v. Circumcision, p. 678) says " the exuviae seem generally to 
 be burned or buried, sometimes in a mosque." At an imperial circumcision in 1582 the part 
 amputated was presented in a golden box to the Queen Mother (de Vigenere, Illustr. sur Chal- 
 condyle, 271, in de Mezeray's Hist, des Turcs, ii). In the seventeenth century the Turks burnt 
 it (Aaron Hill, Account of Turkey, 47). Among Persians of the same date aut gallinis edendum 
 dabatur aut a feminis sterilibus spe progeniei consumebatur (Raphael du Mans, Estat de Perse, ed. 
 Schefer, 77). Scarlatos Byzantios in the middle of the last century, writes : " To anorp^Qiv p.ip»s 
 arrTfTat rj (ptptrai wff (pvXaKTTiptov eVi rrjs Kt<pa\TJs virb tov vtodxcTiaTOv* " (KcovoTavrivoviro^is, 
 iii, 485). Osman Bey states that the part amputated is presented to the parents on a plate, where 
 they in return place the customary gifts (Les Imans et les Derviches, 121). The magic power 
 of the part in question is thus proved : it might be used actively as a charm or merely put out of 
 harm's way. The modern Turks in towns are said to be very careless in the matter, doubtless 
 regarding the superstitions concerned as old wives' tales : hence possibly the scruples of the 
 Yourouks, who are still punctilious in the' matter. 
 
< 
 
F. W. Hasluck.— Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 315 
 
 Turkish midwives in towns are exceedingly scrupulous that the placenta should be 
 properly disposed of. 1 Some Uappadocian Greeks hide the umbilical cord of 
 new-born children in a chink in the wall of church or school, which ensures that 
 the child grows up devout or learned. 2 It is natural to compare the similar 
 superstitions about nail-parings and extracted teeth. 3 
 
 When a Sunni preacher visits the Yourouk villages of Mount Ida during 
 Ramazan, he is lodged in the best tent and royally entertained, but induced by 
 a present of money to abstain from meddling with the Yourouks' ceremonies and 
 from preaching and teaching. 4 
 
 All this merely shows that the tribes in question are not Sunni. Little has 
 been extracted from them as to the positive side of their religion. According to 
 Dr. Chasseaud, the Yourouks have an initiation ceremony corresponding to 
 circumcision at which he has himself been present, though he was unable to see 
 what took place. Further, their holy places — called, as all over Turkey, dedes — 
 are frequently trees or bushes, not remarkable to the outside observer, which they 
 hang with rags ; certain springs, also not outwardly remarkable, are held sacred. 
 . On two occasions Dr. Chasseaud, when in the company of Yourouks, was prevented 
 by them from drawing water at such springs, though the tabu did not extend to 
 the Yourouks themselves. A Yourouk mountain-cult with a festival on August 15th 
 on the summit of Ida and vaguely connected with two giants (male and female), 
 to whom small offerings of money are made, has come under my own observation. 5 
 These hints, so far as they go, point to a primitive animistic religion slightly touched 
 with anthropomorphism. 
 
 The Lycian Yourouks (as opposed to the heretical Takhtadji) are regarded 
 by both Bent 6 and von Luschan 7 as good Sunni Mahommedans : they have hodjas, 
 the Koran, and circumcision, say their five prayers, eschew pork and wine, and 
 make pilgrimage to Mecca. In villages they assimilate themselves to the settled 
 
 1 On the importance attached to the placenta in Egypt and elsewhere, see Seligmann in Man, 
 1911, 168, and in Ridgeway Essays, 451. For Turkey, cf. Abbott, Macedonian Folklore, 123. 
 a Pharasopoulos, TA SuAnra, 41. 
 
 3 Frazer {Taboo and the Perils of the. Soul, 267 ff.) shows that superstitious care in the disposal 
 of nails and teeth is world-wide, the original idea being to prevent their malicious use by sorcerers, 
 In Bosnia nail-parings are placed where contact with unclean things is not likely, in fountains, 
 in the earth, or in a mosque ( Wiss. Mitth. aus Bosnien, vii, 279). For the superstition in Asia 
 Minor, see White, Trans. Vict. Inst., xxxix (1907), 159 ; de Bunsen, Soul of a Turk, 147 ; Aucher- 
 Eloy, Voyages, 71 (hole in mosque wall at Angora used for extracted teeth and toothache so 
 cured) ; in Macedonia, Abbott, Macedonian Folklore, 214 ; in Lesbos, Georgeakis et Pineau, 
 Folk-Lore de Lesbos, 331. 
 
 4 Hakikat, ap. Tsakyroglous, 32 ; cf. for Persian nomads Malcolm, Hist, of Persia, ii, 433. 
 
 * Cf. Leaf in Qeog. Jour, xl, 1912, 37. The date seems at first sight to be a link with Christ- 
 ianity, but it should be noted that the same day is a witches' feast in Georgia (N. W. Thomas 
 in Man, 1901, 57) and a Bektashi feast in Albania (Degrand Haute Albanie, 234). 
 
 • J. R. Anthr. Inst., xx, 274. 
 7 Lykien, ii, 216. ! 
 
316 F. W. Hasluck. — Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 
 
 population, though intermarriage is rare. 1 Sunni propaganda, as we have seen, 
 exists among the Yourouks of Ida : it is said to have made great strides elsewhere, 
 especially in the Konia vilayet. 2 The Yourouks of Lycia are probably of com- 
 paratively recent conversion. 
 
 Of the Shia heresy there is little or no trace except among the confessedly 
 " Kyzylbash " tribes, 3 which we shall discuss at length 4 ; we do not know whether 
 Shia missionaries are at work among the pagan nomads. Nor are there any positive 
 traces of Christianity, though the idea is widely, if vaguely, current. The_evidence 
 we have points to the conclusion that, except where they have been affected by 
 Shia or Sunni propaganda, the Yourouk tribes are " primitive " in religion ; 
 further, that by race and speech they are largely Turkish, and may be regarded 
 as still unsettled fragments of the nomad hordes which strayed into Asia Minor 
 in the Middle Ages. 
 
 The Turks, before they left their home in Central Asia, worshipped the sky -god 
 (Tafiri) 5 and spirits of earth and water ; they had no priestly caste. 6 That ancestor- 
 worship developed early is clear from the present comprehensive use of dede 
 (lit. " grandfather ") to describe any holy place 7 : gaining ground, possibly 
 because more or less permitted in Islam, it seems to have been fused with the 
 original elements of their religion, and especially with the cult of " high places," 
 originally doubtless the places where the sky-god was worshipped, especially for 
 rain. 8 We consequently find that mountains in Turkey frequently bear human 
 names, which are, or are said to be, those of saints. When these saints' names 
 
 1 Von Luschan, Lykien, ii, 216. 
 
 * Tsakyroglous, nrpl TiovpovKwv, 35. 
 
 * I here note the frequency of the name Haider among Yourouks, perhaps a link with the 
 Kyzylbash. The Yourouks are said by the writer of the Hakikat article to drink wine, which is 
 still negative eyidence of Shi ism, and to be visited yearly by an itinerant holy man (? from 
 Syria), which is true of the Lycian Kyzylbash and may be merely a confusion. 
 
 4 Below, p. 327 ff. Some include the Tchepni in this category ; see Oberhummer, Durch 
 Kleinasien, 393. Wilson in J.R.Q.S., 1884, 314, calls them Nosairi by religion. See also von 
 Diest, Reisen und Forschungen, i, 27. 
 
 5 On the word see Vambe>y, Prim, fadtur des Turko-Tatarischen Volkes, 240 ff. This seems 
 to have been the current word for " God " in Turkish till quite a late date, cf. Schiltberger, ed- 
 Hakluyt, 74, ed. Penzel, 149 ; Leunclavius, Pandectes, § 177 ; Hammer-Hellert, Hist. Emp. OH., 
 iv, 64. It occurs frequently in the modern folk -tales collected by Kunos. 
 
 * Eliot, Turkey in Europe, 79. The latter is still true of the nomads. The first Turkish 
 ruler to embrace Islam is said to have been Satok Bogra, Khan of Turkestan, died 1048 (Grenard 
 in Journ. Asiat., xv, 1900, 5 ff.). 
 
 7 Bent in Report British Assoc, 1889 (Newcastle), Sect. H, p. 3, says tribes of Azerbeijan 
 (the district through which the Turks came into Asia Minor) are governed by hereditary chiefs, 
 supposed to descend from a tribal holy man (pir) : the grave of the pir is shown, at the summer 
 quarters of the tribe. For dede with the meaning of numen, cf. Ramsay, Pauline Studies, 172. 
 
 * This custom is preserved among the Shia Turks (Kyzylbash) of Pontus (White in Trans. 
 Vict. Inst, xxxix (1907), 154). They have also a festival at the summer solstice held on mountain 
 tops. 
 
\ 
 
F. W. Hasluck. — Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 317 
 
 are also those of tribes, it seems probable that they are regarded as the eponymous 
 ancestors of the tribes concerned. In tribes still without a priestly caste the tribal 
 chief is the natural person to invoke the sky-god on behalf of the tribe, and the 
 eventual confusion between the sky-god who sends rain and the tribal chief whose 
 prayers induce him to send it, is merely the confusion between deity and intercessor 
 which is familiar enough in Christendom. • 
 
 The rainmaker-sheikh and the magician or dervish are hardly distinguishable, 
 so that we are not surprised if Tour Hassan Veli, the saint of the Hassan Dagh in 
 Cappadocia, and his tribesmen are said in folk-tales to have been dervishes, 1 or if 
 Ibn Batuta 2 says of Baba Saltuk, the tribal saint of a group of Crimean Tartars, 
 that he was " said to have been a diviner." 
 
 Tour Hassan seems really an historical figure known by a lucky accident to 
 have been a petty prince ruling part of Cappadocia about 1100 a.d. 3 The name 
 of his tribe survives in Tour Hassanli, a village near Kirshehr, the word being 
 formed, like the majority of tribal names in Tsakyroglous' list, by adding -li to 
 the name of the eponymous chief. Of Saltuk before he became involved in the 
 Bektashi legend, we know less, but here again the tribal name Saltaklu seems to 
 be preserved at a village near Baba Eski in Thrace and possibly in Asia 
 Minor. 4 
 
 The tribe of Mentesh, which eventually gave its name to the kaza of Moughla 
 in Caria, can be traced by villages bearing its name from the Sivas district westward 
 across Asia Minor. The eponym Mentesh figures in tradition 6 as the brother of 
 Hadji Bektash, who was himself before the usurpation of his tomb by the Houroufi 
 sect,' 8 no more than a tribal ancestor. Bektashli is a fairly common village-name 
 in the district round his tomb and occurs sporadically so far west as Cape Lectum. 7 
 Not only Bektash himself but many of the " seven hundred dervishes " of his cycle, 
 who came with him from Khorassan at the bidding of Khodja Achmet of Yassi 
 for the conversion of Roum, 8 must have been tribal heroes of the same kind. 
 
 This grouping round tribal leaders seems to be the basis of the early Turkish 
 polity : the tribal tie was not always one of blood, since powerful tribes or leaders 
 included under their own name less important allies. The tribe known from its 
 leader as Osmanli was a political combination of this sort, and is said to have been 
 
 1 Carnoy et Nicolaides, Trad. Pop. de VAsie Mineure, 212 ff. 
 
 * Tr. Sanguinetti, ii, 416, 445. 
 
 * Anna Comnena, xiv, 1 ; c/. also Tomaschek, Sber. Wien. Akad., Phil. Hist. Gl., cxxiv (1891), 
 viii, 85. . 
 
 ^ «See B.S.A.,xix, 205. 
 
 s Ashik PasLa Zade in Brown, The Dervishes, 141. 
 8 Jacob, Die Bektaschijje, 19 (in Abh. k. Bayr. Ak., xxiv, 1909). 
 
 7 This village is at least as early as the seventeenth century, being mentioned in the British 
 Museum MS. Harl. 7021, /. 422 vso. 
 
 * Evliya, Travels, tr. von Hammer, ii, 70 ff. 
 
 4 
 
318 F. W. Hasluck. — Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 
 
 composed of seven tribes, of which at least one (the Farsak 1 ) still exists independently 
 as a Yourouk tribe. A similar political grouping in recent times is that of the 
 Shahsavand Kurds, which was formed artificially and purely for political reasons 
 by Shah Abbas of Persia in the seventeenth century. 2 Such probably was the 
 grouping of tribes round the Seljouk dynasty, which succeeded in attaining to a 
 considerable degree of material civilisation and political cohesion, dominating the 
 greater part of Asia Minor. 
 
 When the central power became weakened, however, the combination dis- 
 integrated into smaller territorial units, resting probably on similar tribal groupings, 
 which kept their names in some cases for many centuries. 3 The province ot 
 Tekke (Adalia) is a notable instance. Tekke or Tekkeli is a " Yourouk " tribe 
 in Asia Minor to this day 4 — the name occurs also in Central Asia — and the 
 Tekke-oglou, descendants or reputed descendants of the tribal eponym, were 
 still important derebeys in the Adalia district as late as the reforms of 
 Mahmoud II. 5 
 
 Down to the reforms and centralisation of the early nineteenth century the 
 nomad tribes were allowed a great deal of liberty and were administered by their 
 own beys, 6 occasionally by strangers appointed from Constantinople. 7 They seem 
 to have been turbulent and easily excited to rebellion. Their risings were often 
 fomented by sheikhs, probably Persian emissaries sent over the frontier to embarrass 
 the Sultan. 
 
 In the wooded mountains of Anatolia and in the steppe land of the central 
 plateau, notably in the districts of Bozouk (Kirshehr) and Haimaneh, where the 
 natural conditions — thin soil and lack of water — are against permanent settlement 
 the Yourouks have been able to maintain themselves in compact masses without 
 abandoning their primitive social conditions : the mountaineers turn to wood- 
 cutting and the men of the plains to herding. 
 
 1 Hammer-Hellert, Hist. Emp. Ott., i, 361. 
 
 * Bent, Report Brit. Ass., 1889 (Newcastle), Sect. H, p. 3. 
 
 8 Kyzyl Ahmedli (in Paphlagonia) and Mentesh (in Lycia) are probable examples. In 
 1564 the Venetian Relazioni (Alberi, ser. Ill, vol. ii, 19) mention as leading families in Asia Minor 
 the Kyzyl Ahmedli (Paphlagonia), Diercanli (Saroukhan ?), Durcadurli (Zoulkadir), and Rama- 
 danli (Cilicia). 
 
 4 Settled according to Tsakyroglous, Hepl Tiovpivsatv, 15, about Nazli in the Aidin vilayet : 
 see below, p. 321. 
 
 6 Cuinet, Turquie d"Asie, i, 860 ; W. Turner, Tour in Levant, iii, 386 ; Beaufort, Karamania, 
 118 ff. ; Cockerell, Travels, 182. 
 
 * Leunclavius, Pandectes, § 61 ; a chief of the tribes," Tourgout, is mentioned as a feudatory 
 of the Karamanoglou dynasty in the time of Mourad II (1421-1451) by Hammer (Hist. Emp. 
 Ott., ii, 288). The Yourouks of Roumeli in the eighteenth century suppUed^a contingent of 57,000 
 troops under their own leaders (Perry, View of the Levant, 48). 
 
 7 A Circassian, Abaza Hassan, was appointed Voivode of the Anatolian Turcomans (see 
 below, p. 324) in the seventeenth century (Hammer-Hellert, op. cit., x, 300). Abaza Hassan's 
 palace at the modern Vezir Kupru is mentioned by Hadji Khalfa, tr. Armain, 683. 
 
*» 
 
 F. W. Hasluck.— Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 319 
 
 Various attempts have been made to break up their solidarity and weajLjjiem 
 to settled life, the first by the importation of Kurds, 1 the second by the formation 
 of town-centres. Many towns of the districts mentioned seem to be of recent 
 origin and artificial foundation. Ak Serai is a Seljouk foundation of 1171 , 2 Nevshehr 
 was founded by Damad Ibrahim in 1720, 3 and Yuzgat, the capital of the Tchapanoglou, 
 dates from the eighteenth century. 4 The two latter certainly are not spontaneous 
 growths but artificial settlements. 5 
 
 T he morebackward tribes are still nomadic in the restricted sense — that i s, 
 they have definite summer pasturages and fixed winter quarters, between which 
 « they alternate. 8 The winter quarters tend gradually to become fixed villages, and 
 despite the mutual antipathies of "Turk" and " Yourouk," some tribes are said 
 toHbe absorbed by towns. 7 But government pressure has not yet succeeded in 
 weaning, the Yourouks from their old life and their conversion to Islam is also 
 incomplete. 
 
 In view of all we have said, it wou ld be surp rising nojLJiQ find among these 
 heterogeneous tribes great diversity in physical type, as well as customs and religion, 
 within the restrictions imposed on them by their manner of life, and future 
 investigators will perhaps do best to consider the tribes known as " Yourouk " more 
 as separate units than has been done hitherto. Their apparent and obvious simi- 
 larities, such as the absence of mosques, relatively high status of women, 8 and 
 hospitality, are probably due to the habits of life shared by the whole group irrespective 
 of race. 
 
 IT* 
 
 Addendum. 
 
 Yourouk Tribes according to Tsakyroglous, Uepi Tiovpov/ccov, 13 ff. 
 (a) In the north-west portion of the vilayet : — 
 
 Ahmedli : part at Koula, part at Simav in the adjoining vilayet of Brusa. 
 AUdji (AXra-C) : about Attala as far as At-alan. 
 • Anamasli : in the kaza of Demirdji. It has 50 tents and 70 houses (dam), 
 16,000 beasts, and pays 15,000 p. in verghi. 
 
 1 The Kurds of the Haimaneh district are Sunni (Cuinet, Turquie d'Asie, i, 253). 
 8 It was founded by Kilidj Arslan in 1171 (Le Strange, Eastern Caliphate, 149). 
 3 Hammer, Hist. Emp. OIL, ed. Hellert, xiv, 190. Damad Ibrahim was Vizir 1718-1730 
 (Hammer, op. cit., xiii, 336, xiv, 225). 
 
 * W. J. Hamilton, Researches in Asia Minor, i, 387, speaks of Yuzgat as being " ninety years 
 old." There was another attempt in the fifties to settle nomad Kurds near Yuzgat (H. J. Ross, 
 Letters from the East, 248). 
 
 * None of these towns is an important centre at the present day, and in antiquity the districts 
 in question contained no towns of great note. 
 
 * Of. the nomads of Adana, who winter there and summer at Caesarea (Langlois, Cilicie, 23). 
 7 Ramsay, Impressions, 101. 
 1 Women are not veiled even among Sunni tribes : this is categorically stated by Karolides 
 
 of the Afshar (Ta Kafxava, 42) ; the veiling of women is not an original Turkish usage. 
 
 , 
 
320 F. W. Hasluck. — Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 
 
 Arapli : about Salihli, and extends into the vilayet of Brusa. 
 
 Farsak : all over the vilayet of Aidin. It is a very rich and populous tribe, 
 
 counting 1,200 families. 
 Gueuk Mousali : in kaza of Demirdji, above the village of Indjikler. It 
 ' has 50 houses and 50 tents. 
 Hourzoum 1 : in the vilayets of Aidin and Brusa. 
 Ivatli : about Karneit : it possesses 22 tents. 
 Kara Tekkeli : winters about Smyrna. 
 Katchar : at Serge and Alashehr, extending south as far as Nazli. A large 
 
 and important tribe divided into mahallas, Koula-Katchar, Keles-. 
 
 Katchar, Ova-Katchar, etc. 2 
 Kombatch : about Soma. 
 Kyzyl Ketchili : at Prinar-Kiov, in the mudirlik of Selenti (Koula). It has 
 
 800 tents, 60.000 beasts, and pays 60,000 piastres taxes. 
 Manavli : between Alashehr and Salihli and in the vilayet of Brusa. 
 Narindjali : kaza of Koula, in the neighbourhood of Omour Baba Dagh 
 
 up to Denizli. 
 Saratch : between Ushak and Esme. 
 
 Sari Tekkeli : between Nazli and Denizli, and in the vilayet of Brusa. 
 Shehidli : kaza of Koula. It has 60 houses. 
 Shichli : winters at Uluborlu, summers at Afioun Kara Hissar. It is divided 
 
 into ten kabiles (including Arpat-shichli, Kisat-shichli, Hadjiseli), 
 
 possesses 70-80 tents and 200 houses, and pays 15,000 piastres taxes. 
 Tchakal : in the sandjak of Saroukhan. 
 Tcharik : in the kaza of Koula. 
 
 Yaghdji Bendirli (or Yangdji Bendir) : Soma and the vilayet of Brusa. 
 (6) South-western and other districts of Aidin vilayet : — 
 Abdal : Uluborlu and elsewhere. 
 Akdaghli : about Nazli. 
 Ak-kozali. 
 
 Aladja Koyunlu : up to Konia. 
 Allah-Abeli : sandjak of Saroukhan. 
 Beylikli. 
 Boini-lndjeli. 
 
 Bourkhan : also in vilayet of Brusa. 
 Dede Karkinli : sandjak of Saroukhan. 
 Deridji : vilayets of Aidin and Brusa. 
 Djerit : about Nazli. 
 Dosouti : Arapli. 
 
 1 VamWry's Khorgoun. 
 
 * Vambery adds Selge Katchar. 
 
F. W. Hasluck.— Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 321 
 
 Eski Yourouk. 
 Eshpek (EaxrreK). 
 Geigel. 
 
 Gerinisli : Nazli to Moughla. 
 Uirnhdji • Niittli. 
 Guzel-beyli : about Nazli. 
 Harmandali. 
 
 Hartal. , 
 
 Ignedji ^lyver^l) : sandjak of Saroukhan. 
 Imir-haridji : sandjak of Saroukhan. 
 Karafakoglou : vilayets of Aidin and Brusa. 
 Karamanli : Nazli to Isbarta. 
 ^ Karayaghdjili. 
 Kilaz. 
 
 Kioseler : Nazli. 
 Kirtiz. 1 
 
 Kislilerli : sandjak of Saroukhan. 
 Kodja-Beyli : vilayets of Aidin and Brusa. 
 Kyzyl-Issikli : also in the vilayet of Brusa. 
 Mousarlarli : sandjak of Saroukhan. 
 Mouzan : also in vilayet of Brusa. 
 Qmouritf. 
 Rachman. 
 
 Saatdji-Karali (SqaT^l KdpaXl) 2 : about Nazli. 
 Sari-Kelchili. 
 Tosh Evli. 
 
 Tchambar : vilayets of Aidin and Brusa. 
 
 Tchipni : an important tribe, scattered all over the Aidin vilayet. 
 Tchitmi. 
 Tekkeli : Nazli. 
 Teradji. 
 
 Yataganli : about Karagatch. 
 Yel-aldi. 
 
 (c) Mainly in vilayet of Konia : — 
 
 Dourgout : important tribe, perhaps Mongolian. 
 
 Piroglou. 
 
 Risfan. 
 
 Roumeli or Ouroumli. 
 
 Tapanli. 
 
 1 VambSry's Kirtish. % 
 
 • Salchi Karali in VamWry. 
 
 VOL. LI. Y 
 
322 F. W. Hasluck. — Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 
 
 Terkiani. 
 Turkmen. 
 
 (d) Exclusively in vilayet of Adana : — 
 
 Berber. 
 
 Karsant. 1 
 
 Menemendji. 1 
 
 Sirkentili. 1 
 Additional (habitat not specified) : — 
 
 Barakli. 
 
 Imrazli. , 
 
 Kalabak. 
 
 Karandirlik. 
 
 Ketchili. 
 
 Mersinli. 
 
 Nihar. , 
 
 Tarazli. 
 
 Tchamban. 
 
 Tchebrekli ( Kurds j. 
 
 Zefbekli. 
 Yourouks ofCilicia according to Langlois, Voyage en CUicie, p. 21 ff. : — 
 
 Tarsus : 
 ► Baxis and H. Hassanoglou with 300 H. 
 
 Kalaounlu with 30 H. 
 Karakai'alu with 700 T. 
 Kara-tekeli with 150 H. 
 Melemendji with 3,000 H. 
 Pouran and Moustapha-bey with 200 T. 
 Sortan and Kudjuoglou with 500 It. 
 Tekeli with 600 H. 
 Thoroglou with 300 H. 
 
 Adana : 
 
 Bousdagan with 1,400 T. 
 Daoundarlu with 200 T. 
 Djerid with 1,200 T. 
 Farsak 2 with 800. 
 Kara-had jelu with 500 H. 
 Karitinlu with 100 T. 
 
 1 These are, according to Grothe ( Vorderasienexpedition, ii, 146), subdivisions of the Afshar 
 
 tribe. 
 
 * Mentioned also by Bertrandon de la Brocquiere, p. 8. 
 
F. W. Hasluck. — Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 323 
 
 Yourouks of Cilicia — continued. 
 
 Adana — continued. 
 
 Kerim-oglou with 2,500 T. 
 Khozanoglou with 500 H. 
 Sarkanteli-oglou with 800 T. 
 Tadjerlu with 1,200 T. 
 
 Makash : 
 
 Djedjale with 200 T. 
 
 Hadji Kouyounlu with 120 T. 
 
 Klisle with 400 T. 
 
 Kurds of Cilicia 1 (ibid.) : — 
 
 Adana (at CaESAREA in summer) : 
 Afchar with 3,000 T. 
 Karalar with 600 T. 
 Karsanteli with 1,300 T. 
 Lek with 150 T. 
 
 For comparison I add the list of sub-tribes of the Afshars given by H. Grothe* : 
 Awschar. 
 Beisgitli. 
 Bosdan. z 
 
 Djedjeli Salmanly. 
 Djerid. 
 Farsak. 
 
 Hadji Mustafa Ali-Uschak. ' 
 
 Hadji Mustafa Redje Uschak. 
 Hodjan Ali. 
 Hiir.-Uschak. 
 Jaidji-usch. 
 Karsanty. 
 Kekili Uschak. 
 Kirli. 
 
 Kosan. . , . 
 
 Melemendji. ^ 
 
 Schabbach. 
 Tedjerli. 
 Torun. 
 
 1 Some Kurds are pagan, some are Sunni, and some are said to be Yezidi (Langlois, 
 loc. cit., p. 23). 
 
 * Vordf.rasienexpedition, ii, 146, n. 2. 
 
 * [Sometimes written Bosdagban. — M.M.H.] 
 
 Y 2 
 
324 F. W. Hasluck. — Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 
 
 §3. The Turcomans. 
 
 The word Turkmen (Turcoman) seems properly applied to an important tribe 
 of the Youroulf group? This tribe is widely distributed, being found in the districts 
 oTThe Bithynian Olympus, Dineir, Konia, Sivas and even Cyprus. 1 Dr. C hasseaud 
 considers that the term denotes a markedly Mongolian type and is synonymous with 
 Tartar. 2 The Turkmens with whom he is acquainted are herdsmen by calling, not 
 rich, and frequently serving others. 
 
 This tallies with the account given by Burckhardt 3 of the Turcomans he knew. 
 He divides them into five main tribes, namely, the " Ryhanlu " with thirteen sub- 
 tribes, the " Jerid " with six sub-tribes, the " Pehluvanlu," the " Rishwans " with 
 four sub-tribes, and the " Karashukli." Of these, the " Karashukli " are a mixed 
 tribe of Turcomans and Arabs, living near Bir on the Euphrates. The Pehlivanli are 
 the most numerous, while both the Djerid and the Rishwans are more numerous than 
 the Rihanli, who have 3,000 tents, each containing two to fifteen inmates, and 
 muster 2,510 horsemen all told. The Pehlivanli and the Rihanli are tributary to 
 the Tchapanoglou, the Djerid to the governors of Badjazze (Baias ?) and Adana, 
 between which they live. The Rishwans also are now tributary to the Tchapanoglou, 
 though formerly to the governor of Besna (Behesneh ?) near Aintab. The Pehlivanli 
 drive sheep as far as Constantinople, and their camels form almost exclusively the 
 caravans of Smyrna and the interior of Anatolia. The Rishwans are notorious liars. 
 If Rihanli families dislike their chief, they join another tribe. Some of the 
 Pehlivanli have long been cultivators, but the Rihanli employ fellahs to cultivate for 
 them. 
 
 But the word has for long had a wider signification, exactly corresponding to 
 the ordinary use oT the word Yourouk, i.e. it denotes nomadic as opposed to settled 
 Turks. The word is found with this meaning as earlv as Cinnamus 4 and is still 
 so used by the modern Turks. 5 
 
 1 Tsakyroglous, op. cit., 11. 
 
 s So Tsakyroglous, 34, von Luschan, J. R. Anthr. Inst., xli, 227, and van Lennep, Travels in 
 Asia Minor, i, 296. 
 
 * Travels in Syria, App. I, pp. 633 if. 
 
 4 P. 121p: cf. Ducange'a note ad loc. ; Leunclavius, Pandecles, §61; Ramsay, Hist. 
 Oeog. 213, and Cit. and Bish., 696. 
 
 * Tsakyroglous (op. cit. 11) says that the words " Turkmen," " Yourouk," " Gotchebeh " 
 (Tk. gotch etmek= to move house ; Kotche is the Turcoman word for nomad according to 
 Vambery, op. cit. 385) are used by the Turks indiscriminately for nomads, except that the last 
 implies a tribe on the move. Turks and Turkomans are distinguished by Hadji Khalfa, tr. 
 Armain, 690. . " - 
 
A 
 
 F. W. Hasluok.— Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 325 
 
 Addendum. 
 
 P. Russell's list of Turcoman tribes, as published in Niebuhr's Voyage en Arabic, 
 ii, 336 ff. 1 
 
 In country of Sivas and Angora :— - 
 
 Aghsje Kiuneli [Akdje Koyounlou] : 500 T. 
 
 Auschir [Avshar] : 500 T. 
 
 Beherli: 1,000 T. 
 
 Dsjerid [Djerid] : 500 T. . 
 
 Kudsjikli [KotUchouklou] : 10,000 T. 
 
 Lek: 1,000 T. 
 
 Pehlivanli: 15,000 T. 
 
 Scham Biadli : 500 T. 
 
 In Sivas district : — 
 
 DsjefrgJianli [Djafferghananli] : 200 T. 
 
 Eilebkeli [llbekli] : 2,000 T. (half in Aleppo district). 
 
 Irak : 1,000 T. (summer at Sivas, winter at Zor). 
 
 Kulindsjefli : 500 T. 
 
 Rihanli : 2,000 T. (summer at Sivas, winter at Aleppo). 
 
 Sufulir [Sofoular] : 500 T. l 
 
 In Angora district : — 
 Burenik: 12,000 T. 
 
 In Aintab district : — 
 
 Dade Kirkan : 100 T. . ' 
 
 Dindischli : 500 T. 
 
 Ditumli : 3,000 T. 
 
 Dsjadsjeli [Djadjeli] : 1,000 T. 
 
 Kirsak : 2,000 T. 
 
 Musa Beikli [Musa Beyiklv\ : 500 T. 
 
 In Caesarea district : — 
 
 Dadli : 200 T. (summer at Caesarea, winter in Urfa pashalik). 
 
 Karadsjekerd [Karadja Kurd] : 500 T. 
 
 Kvluk [Koulak] : 200 T. (summer at Caesarea, winter at Adana). 
 
 1 [Niebuhr complains of the difficulty he had experienced in making out the list because 
 Russell had sent him no transcription of the Turkish names and he himself knew no Turkish. 
 To facilitate use of the list in connection with the article by readers with no knowledge of Turkish 
 I have sometimes inserted in square brackets a transcription more in harmony than Niebuhr's 
 with the spelling usually adopted by my husband. In some oases, however, the Turkish names 
 are too corrupt even for a rough rendering. Professor Margoliouth has kindly checked my 
 transcriptions. — M.M.H.] * 
 
326 F. W. Hasluck.— Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 
 
 In Aleppo district : — 
 
 Aulischli [Aulashli] : 200 T. 
 
 In Damascus district : — 
 Kabeli: 1,000 T. 
 Kara Kojunli [K. Koyountou] : 500 T. 
 
 Syria, mostly Damascus pashalik : — 
 Aiali: 1,000 T. 
 
 Asehdiuli [Azedinli] : 500 T. . * 
 
 Ausferli [Auzarli] : 1,000 T. 
 Eilner [Imir] : 500 T. 
 Fidsjeli : 200 T. 
 KiUi [Geikli] : 2,000 T. 
 Saradsjdller [Saradjafar] : 500 T. 
 Scherefli : 500 T. 
 Tuchtamarli : 500 T. 
 
 In Urfu pashalik : — 
 
 Baujindir [Baindir] : 300 T. 
 Bekddi: 12,000 T. 
 Mahmalenli : 500 T. 
 
 List of Turcoman tribes according to Burckhardt. 1 
 
 (a) Rihanli : 3,000 tents : north-west of Aleppo : winter in Antioch plain, summer > 
 » in mountains of Gorun and Albistan. 
 
 Sub-tribes of Rihanli: — 
 
 Aoutshar : 20 horsemen. 
 
 Bahaderlu : 100 horsemen : mountains of S. Simon. 
 Cheuslu : 200 horsemen : from Badjazze (Baias ?). 
 Coudanlut : 600 horsemen. 
 Delikanli : 600 horsemen. 
 Hallalu : 60 horsemen. 
 Kara Ahmetli : 150 horsemen. 
 , Kara Soleimanlit : 50 horsemen. 
 
 Karken : 20 horsemen. 
 LeuJdu : 100 horsemen. 
 
 Okugu : 50 horsemen. ' > 
 
 Serigialar 2 : 500 horsemen : Maden. 
 
 Toroun : 60 horsemen. 
 
 i 
 
 1 Travels in Syria, 633 ff. 
 
 * [Niebuhr's Saradjalar.— M.M.H.] 
 
 i) 
 
F. W. Hasluck.— Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 327 
 
 List of Turcoman Tribes — continued. ' 
 
 (b) Djerid : between Badjazze (Baias ?) and Adana : winter in plains, summer in 
 
 the Armenian mountains. 
 
 Sub-tribes of Djerid : — 
 Aoutshar, 
 Bosdagan. 
 
 Karegialar [Karadjalar]. 
 Jerid. 
 Leek. 1 
 Tegir.* 
 
 (c) Pehlivanli : live in district of Bosurk (? Bozuk, near Angora) and near 
 
 Constantinople : summer one day's distance from the Rihanli. 
 
 (d) Rishwans : winter in Haimaneh district near Angora, formerly near Aleppo. 
 
 Sub-tribes of the Rishivans f-~* 
 Deleyanli. 
 Gelikanli. 
 Mandolli. 
 Omar Anli. 
 
 (e) Karashukli : near Bir on Euphrates. 3 
 
 II. 
 
 §4. The Kyzylbash, Takhtadji, and Bektashi. 
 
 The word Kyzylbash (lit. "red-head") is said byall authorities to be of comparatively 
 recent origin, dating only from the establishment of the Sefavi dynasty of Persia by 
 the Shah Ismail in 1499. 4 " Kyzylbash " was originally a nickname given to the 
 new Shah's supporters on account of their having adopted as a distinguishing mark 
 
 1 These speak a language of their own (Burckhardt, op. cit, 642). 
 
 2 Cf. Grothe's Tedjerli, above, p. 323. 
 
 * A comparison with the list of the Turcomans of Luristan as given by Rawlinson (in J.R.G.S., 
 ix, 1839, 103) is also of interest. He enumerates them as follows : — Ulaki and Mai Ahmedi, 
 with 400 families, wintering at Sar Dasht and Dizful, summering at Japalak and Silakhir : 
 Bulchtiyariwand with 600 families and the same habitat as the above : Duraki with 4,000 families, 
 summering at Chahar Mahal and wintering as above : Sallaki with 2,000 families, summering 
 at Burburud: Kunursi with 1,000 families, summering at Feridun and about Zardah Kuh, 
 wintering at Ram Hormuz, Janniki-Garmasir, and about Schuster : Suhuni with 1,500 families, 
 habitat as Kunursi : Mahmud Saleh with 1,000 families and same habitat : Mogui with 500 families, 
 Memiwand with 4,000, and Zallaki with 4,000, all with habitat as Kunursi : Bawai with 3,000 
 families, XJrak and Shaluh combined with 2,500 families, summering at Bazuft and wintering at 
 Susan and Mai Amir. 
 
 * Haramer-Hellert, Hist. Emp. Ott., iv, 90 and iv, 94, note ; cf. Leunolavius, Pandectes, § 188 ; 
 d'Herbelot, Bibl. Orient, s.v. Haidar ; Knolles, Hist, of Turks, 316. * 
 
328 F. W. Hasluck. — Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 
 
 a red cap : the name continued in Persia to designate a kind of warrior caste or 
 order of knighthood. 1 
 
 The Persian change of dynasty brought with it a change in the official religion, 
 since the preceding raonarchs had been of Turkish origin and Sanni, whereas Shah 
 Ismail adhered to the Shia doctrines of his father. 
 
 The name " Kyzylbash," therefore, is associated from the first both with Persian 
 nationality and Persian (Shia) religion, but has no ethnological significance whatever. 
 In modern popular Turkish, owing to the long enmity between the two nations and 
 the two religions, and to the suspicion and dislike with which the Turks regard the 
 " Kyzylbash" of their own country, the word is used merely to designate a person 
 of loose morals. 2 
 
 As r egards Anatolia, " Kyzylbash " is a contemptuous term used to denote the 
 adherents of all sects of the Shia religion, including, e.g., the Nosairi and Yezidi, 
 irrespective of race or language : the corresponding inoffensive term, by which the 
 Anatolian Kyzylbash designate themselves, is Allevi (" worshippers of Ali "). Both 
 terms include the Shia tribes of Northern Asia Minor, who are said to be Iranian 
 Turks 3 and speak Turkish, and the so-called " Western Kurds," whose speech is 
 a distinct dialect (" Zaza ") of Kurdish or Turkish, anfjLwhose^race is generally 
 thought to contain a strong admixture of Armenian blood. This opinion, based not 
 only on the physical characteristics of the tribes concerned but on tradition of 
 various kinds, is of some importance as bearing on the question of the Christian 
 element in the Kyzylbash religion : we shall return to it later. 
 
 In the W est of Asia Minor the " Kyzylbash " are found only sporadically. In 
 thejSmyrna vilayefthey are numerous in the sandjak of Tekke (Lycia), where they 
 are called " Takhtadji," 4 and are reported by Tsakyroglous to inhabit certain valleys 
 of the Hermus 6 and Maeander, 6 where they are nomadic or semi-nomadic. 7 The 
 Kyzylbash of Kaz Dagh (probably Ida, which other considerations point out as a 
 Kyzylbash district) are mentioned by Cantemir, 8 and Oberhummer found Kyzylbash 
 villages in the neighbourhood of Afioun-Kara-Hissar, 9 which forms a link on the 
 main highway between the Eastern and Western groups. 
 
 As to the Eastern group of Kyzylbash, they are known to inhabit certain parts 
 of the vilayet of Angora, 10 and are admitted even by Turkish statistics to be numerous 
 
 1 P. della Valle, Viaggi (Rome, 1658), ii, 46-7. - 
 
 2 Similarly, dervish is used of a person lax in the performance of his religious duties or suspected 
 of free thought. 
 
 ■ Vambery, Turkenvolk, 607. « See below, p. 329. 
 
 * On the slopes of Mounts Tmolus and Sipylus and in the districts of Nymphi and Salikli. 
 ' At Denizli and Apa. 
 
 7 rifpi ViovpovKav, 29. 
 
 8 Hist. . . . Othoman, tr. Jonquiere, i, 179. 
 
 • Durch Syrien und Kleinasien, 393. 
 
 10 Crowfoot in J. R. Anthr. Inst., xxx (1900), 306-320 ; fcerrot, Souvenirs, 423 ; Cuinet, 
 Turquie <TAsxe, i, 263. 
 
F. W. Hasluck. — Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 329 
 
 in- those of Sivas (279.834), 1 Diarbekir (6,000), 2 and Kharput (182,580). 3 In the 
 case of the Sivas vilayet the official figures represent them as exactly half as numerous 
 as the Sunni Moslems, not only in the vilayet as a whole but in every kaza composing 
 it. The inference is that they are in reality much more numerous than the govern- 
 ment is willing to admit. 
 
 Grenard, the only writer who has treated the Eastern Kyzylbash area &* a 
 connected whole, estimates the total number of the sect as upwards of a million. 4 
 Of these, he places 365,000 in the vilayet of Sivas (kazas of Sivas, Divrigi, Tonous, 
 Yildizili, Hank, Zileh, Medjid Euzu, Hadji Keui), 300,000 in that of Kharput, and 
 107,000 in that of Erzeroum (sandjak of Erzingian, especially kazas of Baiburt, 
 Terdjian, and part of Kighi). It is thus in the " Armenian " vilayets that the 
 11 Kyzylbash " are strongest. 
 
 The great importance of Grenard's statistics consists in the fact that they- clearly 
 show the close geographical contact of the Kyzylbash communities of Western 
 Kurdistan with those of Eastern Anatolia. We may probably assume that the 
 Eastern Anatolian Kyzylbash are similarly connected with the more scattered 
 communities of Western Anatolia. 
 
 The_Kyzylbash religion, if we make allowances for variation due to locality and 
 to the natural intelligence7~can3our and knowledge of different informants, is 
 similarly homogeneous, though fluid ; there are indications that the whole sect is 
 linked together by its alliance with the Bektashi dervishes. 
 
 Thus, in Cilicia the woodcutter (Takhtadji) caste has embraced a form of the 
 Shia faith and would be reckoned by the Turks as Kyzylbash : some have identified 
 their religion with that of the Syrian Nosairi. 5 In the province of Tekke (Lycia) 
 the Kyzylbash are generally known as Takhtadji (" woodcutters ") on account of 
 their employment, but like the Kyzylbash elsewhere, they call themselves Allevi 6 
 and are connected with the Bektashi order of dervishes, 7 whose local centre is at 
 
 1 Cuinet, Turquie d y Asie, i, 617 ; for further information on the Kyzylbash of this vilayet 
 see van Lennep, Travels in Asia Minor, i, 30 (cf. Jewett in Anter. Miss. Her. liv, 109 f., Nutting, 
 ibid., lvi, 345, Livingston, ibid., lxi, 246, Winchester, ibid., lvii, 71 ; Prof. G. White (of Marsovan 
 College), Trans. Vict, hist., xl (1908), 225-36 and Contemp. Rev., Nov. 1913, 690 ff. Jerphanion's 
 Carte du Yechil Irtnaq is the first attempt to show the distribution of the Kyzylbash villages. 
 
 2 Cuinet, op. cit., ii, 322. 
 
 3 Ibid., ii, 412. Further information on the Kyzylbash of Kurdistan is given by Taylor in 
 J.R.O.8., 1865, 28 ff., 1868, 304 ff. ; Perkins in Amer. Miss. Her., lii, 296 f., liii, 304 ff. ; Wilson 
 in Murray's Asia Minor [63] and 276 ; Bent, Report Brit. Ass., 1889 ; Huntington in Oeog. Jour., 
 xx (1902), 186 ff. ; Molyneux-Seel in Geog. Jour., xliv (1914), 51 ff. 
 
 * Jour. Asiat., 1904 (x serie, iii), 521. 
 1 Tsakyroglous, op. cit., 18 ; but this identity is denied by F. Schaffer, Cilicia (Petermann's 
 
 Mitth., Erganzungsheft, cxli, p. 27). 
 
 • On the Lycian Takhtadji see Bent, J. R. Anthr. Inst., xx (1890), 269-76 ; von Luschan, 
 Lykien, ii, 198-213 ; Cuinet, i, 855. 
 
 7 See below, p. 331. 
 
330 
 
 F. W. Hasluck. — Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 
 
 
 ■A 
 •A 
 
 b 
 o 
 
 1 ^ 
 1 
 
 g ^ 
 
 i. 
 
 I 
 
F. W. Hasluck. — Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 331 
 
 Elmali. The Lycian Takhtadji.are said to owe their conversion to Skia Islam to 
 the missionary activity in the fourteenth century of sheikhs from Konia. 1 
 
 Side by side with the Lycian Takhtadji von Luschan found traces of what 
 appeared to be a second heterodox sect, the Bektashi. 2 Similarly, Crowfoot, finding 
 that the Kyzylbash of the Halys district {vilayet of Angora) hailed each other as 
 " Bektash," suspected that this was the name of a local sect of Kyzylbash.* 
 
 The real explanation of the apparent second sect or subdivision lies in the close 
 association of many Kyzylbash with the Bektashi order of dervishes. Lycia has 
 long been a field of Bektashi propaganda, and the Kyzylbash villages of the Halys 
 are not far from the central sanctuary of the Bektashi, near Kirshehr, 4 which contains 
 the tomb of their titular founder, Hadji Bektash, and is visited as a pilgrimage even 
 by the distant Kyzylbash Kurds. 5 The Bektashi-Kyzylbash of Lycia are probably 
 Kyzylbash who have become affiliated as lay adherents (muhib) of the Bektashi order 
 of dervishes. 
 
 As to the " Bektash " of the Halys district, which are nearer the Bektashi centre, 
 they may either be inhabitants of villages forming part of the endowments (vakouf) 
 of the tekke of Hadji Bektash, or, if (as I have suggested elsewhere) 6 " Hadji 
 Bektash " himself represents the original tribal-chief and medicine-man eponymous 
 of a tribe Bektashli, they may be a portion of this tribe. 
 
 Kyzylbash, in the Turkish sense at least, are to be reckoned the inhabitants of 
 certain heterodox villages in the Hermus valley, regarding the population of which 
 Ramsay gleaned the following details. Like the nomads, they do not conform to 
 orthodox Mahommedan custom in the details of veiling women, polygamy, abstention 
 from wine, and worship in mosques. They fast twelve days in spring, their women 
 are called by Christian names, they have no aversion to Christian holy books, and 
 are visited by an itinerant holy man called a Karabash 7 (Tk. " black head "). 
 
 It happens that, among the Yezidi of Syria (Jebel Siman), 8 there is a tribe 
 possessing a kind of Levitical status and called Karabash. 9 The Yezidi religion is, 
 of course, known to contain Christian elements, and the Yezidi view of Christianity 
 and the Bible is somewhat similar to that of the Kyzylbash. It would thus appear 
 
 1 Von Hammer, Hist. Emp. Oft., iv, 91 (from the sixteenth century Turkish historian 
 Djenabi). 
 
 * Von Luschan, Lykien, ii, 203, note. 
 
 3 J. R. Anthr. Inst., xxx (1900), 305 ; cf. Grothe, Vorderasienexpeditioh, ii, 148 note 4. 
 
 * It has been visited by P. Lucas ( Voyage dans la Grlce, Amsterdam, 1714, i, 124) ; G. Naumann 
 (Vom Goldnen Horn, 195) ; and Prof. White (Contemp. Review, Nov. 1913, 690-98). 
 
 5 Molyneux-Seel, Geog. Journ., xliv (1914), 66. 
 
 • B.S.A., xxi (1914-16), 89. 
 
 7 Ramsay, Pauline Studies, 180 f. and Intermixture of Races in Asia Minor, 20. 
 
 8 This is a colony of their main settlement, grouped round the shrine of Sheikh Adi in the 
 Mosul vilayet. For the Yezidi see Menzel in Grothe, Vorderasienexpeditiori, i, lxxxix fL 
 
 • Jerphanion in Melanges de la Faculte Orientate (Beyrout), ii, 376. The Yezidi itinerant 
 preachers wear black turbans (Hume Griffith, Behind the Veil, 288). 
 
332 F. W. Hasluck. — Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 
 
 that the heterodox villages of the Hermus valley are connected with the Yezidi, 
 which implies that they were converted or colonised from Syria. But it # will be 
 observed that the whole argument depends on the word " Karabash," which is 
 ambiguous, having been applied, till recently, to Christian monks and priests 1 (as 
 wearing black caps) in general. It is safer to suppose for the present that the story is 
 a garbled version of an annual visitation of Kyzylbash villages, which are known to 
 exist in this district, 2 by Bektashi sheiklis. 
 
 The following is a summary of the information at our disposal on the religion 
 of the Kyzylbash, compiled from several sources and referring chiefly to the Kyzylbash 
 of the Kurdish and Armenian vilayets. It will be found that, although we have little 
 exact information on the religion of the Lycian Takhtadji, what we have confirms the 
 idea of their close religious connection with the Kyzylbash further East. 
 
 I. Theology* 
 
 God is one and omnipotent, without son or companion. 3 
 
 Ali is God incarnate, identical with Christ, and will appear again. 4 
 
 Ali is identical with Christ and is the spirit of God. " Ali is the best of men, 
 
 excelling even Mohammed in goodness ; if Ali had not existed, God could not have 
 
 created the world, but Ali is emphatically not divine." 5 
 
 Ali is identical with Christ, but the Kyzylbash call him Ali to deceive the 
 
 Turks. 8 
 
 The Kyzylbash Trinity is perhaps Ali, Jesus and Mahommed (Father, Son and 
 
 Holy Spirit respectively), but the intrusion of Mahommed, for whom they have no 
 
 reverence, is to be suspected. 7 
 
 Their prayers are directed .chiefly to Allah,jyi. and Hussein. 8 
 
 The Devil is a person and is re-incarnated to oppose each incarnation of God : 
 
 he is not worshipped. 9 
 
 Intermediaries are the five archangels, twelve ministers of God, and forty 
 
 prophets, including Selman. The prophet Khidr is identified with S. Sergius. 10 
 
 1 Cf. 0. F. von Richter, Wallfahrten, 333 ; Fallmerayer, Fragmente, 125 ; also Schiltberger, 
 Reise, ed. Penzel, 149, cd. Hakluyt, 74. Hammer mentions a Khalveti called Karabash (Hist. 
 Emp. Ott., xviii, 97 (805)). 
 
 2 Above, p. 328. 
 
 3 Molyneux-Seel in Geog. Journ., xliv (1914), 65. 
 
 4 Grenard in Jonrn. Asiat., 1904 (x serie, iii), 514 ff. 
 
 5 M. Sykes, Dar-ul-Islam, 121-2. 
 
 * Dunmore in Amer. Miss. Herald, liii (1857), 219. 
 
 7 Grenard, op. cit., 615. 
 
 8 Grothe, Vorderasienexpeditiun, ii, 153. 
 
 • Grenard, 516. , 
 10 Grenard, 516, and (for the last part) Molyneux-Seel, 66. 
 
F. W. Hasluck. — Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 333 
 
 The twelve Imams are the twelve Apostles ; Hassan and Hussein are SS. 
 Peter and Paul. 1 
 
 The twelfth Imam is in hiding and the Kyzylbash await his coming. 2 
 
 The great prophets are Jesus, Mohammed, Moses, Abraham and Ali. 3 
 
 The great prophets are A Hum, Memo*, David and Jesus. 4 
 
 The great prophets are Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Christ, Mahommed and 
 Ali. 6 
 
 Moses, David, Christ and Ali are all incarnations of the same person. 6 
 
 Jesus is the_greatest of the rjrophets. 7 
 
 The Virgin is regarded as the Mother of God and much venerated.* 
 
 II. Mythology. 
 
 When the Mahommedans of Damascus killed Hussein, the son of Ali, they 
 cut off his head and carried it away. It was stolen from them by an Armenian 
 priest, Akh Mrtouza Keshish, who substituted for it the head of his eldest son, 
 at the proposal of the latter. As the Turks discovered the fraud, the priest cut 
 off the heads of all his seven sons and offered each in turn as the head of Hussein. 
 In the case of the last head he received a divine warning to smear it with the blood 
 of Hussein and by this means deceived the " Turks " and kept the holy relic for 
 himself. 9 
 
 He placed it in a special apartment, which he adorned with gold and silver and 
 silk. His only daughter, entering that apartment one day, saw not the' head of 
 Hussein but a plate of gold filled with honey. She tasted the honey and became 
 with child. " One day the girl complained of a cold, and on sneezing her father 
 saw suddenly issue from her nose a bright flame, which changed at the same instant 
 into the form of a child. Thus did Imam Bakir, son of Hussein, come into the 
 world." 
 
 1 Molyneux-Seel, 66. 
 
 2 Sykes, 122. 
 
 3 Sykes, 121. 
 
 4 Ellsworth Huntington in Geog. Journ., xx (1902), 187. 
 
 5 Molyneux-Seel, 65. 
 
 K Von Luschan, Lykien, ii, 201. 
 
 7 Huntington, 187. 
 
 8 Grenard, 515. 
 
 • Molyneux-Seel, 64. A variation is related by White from the Cappadocian Kyzylbash 
 country (Contemp. Review, Nov. 1913, 698) as follows : — " There is a story that when the great 
 Ali was put to death by his enemies, his head by some chance was placed for safe keeping in the 
 hands of a Christian priest. Afterwards the persecutors wanted it to gloat over it or abuse it, 
 but the priest refused to deliver it up. On being pressed, he cut off the head of his eldest son 
 and offered that instead, but it was refused. So he did with his second and other sons, to the 
 number of seven. Then his wife asked her husband to cut off and offer her head. He did so, 
 and this was accepted." 
 
334 F. W. Hasluck. — Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 
 
 " The fact that a descendant of Ali had been born immediately became known 
 to the sorcerers of the Turks, who thereupon sent people to search for the child 
 and slay it. They came to the priest's house. At this time the young mother 
 was engaged in washing the household linen, and, being told the reason of the visit 
 of the Turks, hastily put her child into a copper cauldron which was on the fire 
 and covered him with linen. The Turks knew by their magic arts that the child 
 was in a house of copper, but unable to find any such house in the precincts of the 
 priest's dwelling were baffled, and the child's life was saved. On account of this 
 incident the child received the name of Bakir, which in Turkish means copper." 1 
 
 Ali as a child went to Khoubyar and was put into a furnace for seven days 
 as his enemies wished to kill kim. 2 
 
 III. Hierarchy. 
 
 The priests are called Dede ; above them are bishops and patriarchs. Of the 
 latter there are two, one of whom resides in a tekke at Khoubyar, fifty-five kilo- 
 metres North -East of Sivas. The patriarchs are descendants of Ali and infallible in 
 doctrine. 3 
 
 The religious head of the Kyzylbash resides in the Dersim. 4 
 
 Priests are called Seid ; above them are bishops (Murshud) and archbishops 
 (Murshudun Mursh/udu). Seids give religious instruction and receive tribute. 6 
 
 The Kyzylbash arei visited once a year, but at no fixed time, by a murshud, 
 who holds a service, recites the law, and gives definite readings and interpretations 
 of the sacred books. If he pays a second visit in the year he holds no religious 
 conversation. 6 
 
 Priests are allowed to marry, but celibates enjoy greater prestige. 7 
 
 Once or twice a year every village is visited by a dede, a kind of communion 
 takes place-, as also preaching, prayers, and a religious dance in which both sexes 
 participate. 8 
 
 The hierarchy is composed of Deydees and Seyds ; the latter are hereditary, 
 the former apostolically consecrated. 9 
 
 Peripatetic dedes are mentioned by GJrothe. 10 
 
 1 Molyneux-Seel, 65. 
 
 • Grenard, 518. 
 
 x 3 Ibid. i 
 
 • Obcrhummer and Zimmerer, Durch Syrien und Kleinasien, 394. 
 
 • Molyneux-Seel, 64. 
 •Ibid., 66. 
 
 7 Prof. White in Trans. Vict. Inst., xl (1908), 236. 
 
 • Ibid., 231. 
 
 • Taylor in J.R.O.8., xxxviii (1868), 319. 
 • «• Grottie, ii, 155. 
 
F. W. Hasluck. — Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 335 
 
 Among the Lycian Takhtadji every tribe, however small, has a Baba or Dede, 
 whose office is hereditary. 1 
 
 IV. Fasts and Feasts and Public Worship. 
 
 The twelve days' fast and feast of Mohurrem is observed. 2 
 They fast twelve days for the twelve Imams and three days for Khidr. 3 
 They fast before Khidr's feast (February 9th) and at the Armenian Easter. 4 
 " On the night of January 1st (O.S.) 6 they meet at the house of the Seids for 
 a ceremony resembling the Communion. After prayers the Seid blesses the bread, 
 which is called Haqq loqmasi,* and distributes it to the communicants, who approach 
 two by two. The blessed bread is not distributed to any person who may be 
 declared by the inhabitants of his village to be unworthy. The communicants are 
 called Musseib." 1 
 
 The Kyzylbash have neither mosque nor church, but both sexes meet for 
 prayer at the house of the Seid on Fridays. 8 
 
 They have a perverted mass : the priest chants prayers in honour of Christ, 
 Moses and David. Water is consecrated by the priest dipping a stick into it. 
 There is a public confession of sins, which are punished by fines : lights are put 
 out while the congregation mourns its sins. 9 When they are re-lighted, the priest 
 gives absolution, 10 and, having blessed bread and wine, gives a sop to the congre- 
 gation. Morsels (loqma) of the flesh of a sacrificed lamb are given at the same 
 time. Known evil livers are not admitted to the service. 11 
 
 As to the consecrating of water the following is informing : — " All the Seids 
 keep with them a certain stick and a leather bag, about the uses of which there is 
 some mystery, and which are said to be employed in the performance of certain 
 pagan rites. However, the Seids say that the stick is a portion of the rod of Moses, 
 and the bag an imitation of that carried by St. John the Baptist." 12 
 
 1 Von Luschan, ii, 201. 
 
 * Grenard, 514 ; Sykes, 122. 
 8 Molyneux-Seel, 66. 
 
 1 Grenard, 518. 
 
 4 This is one of the days on which the Nosairi celebrate their communion, the others being 
 Christmas, Epiphany and the Persian New Year (Nevrouz). For some notes on Nevrouz, see 
 Goldziher in Rev. Hist. Rel, ii (1880), 308-9. 
 
 • " Morsel of the Just " {i.e. God). 
 
 7 Molyneux-Seel, 66. 
 
 8 Molyneux-Seel, 66. 
 
 9 Cf. Grothe, ii, 155. 
 
 10 Confession and absolution ceremonies exist also among the Lycian Takhtadji (von Luschan, 
 ii, 202). 
 
 11 Grenard, 517. A " sort of sacrament " is reported of the Eastern Kyzylbash by Huntington 
 (loc'cit., p. 188), a communion of bread and wine by White (Contemp. Review, Nov. 1913, 696). 
 
 11 Molyneux-Seel, 66. 
 
33 6 F. W. Hasluck. — Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 
 
 V. Private Prayer. 
 
 Private prayer is enjoined once a day. This prayer is secret, but contains 
 reference to all the great prophets. 1 
 
 They pray privately every morning. 2 
 
 They never pray in private. 8 
 
 They adore the sun rising and setting, 4 reverence fire, and sacrifice at the sources 
 of rivers, in particular that of the Mezoor. 6 
 
 VI. Sacred Books. 
 
 The Kyzylbash have no sacred books, but recognise as inspired the Pentateuch, 
 the New Testament, and the Koran. 6 
 
 They admit the five collections of Traditions, but do not recognise Jews or 
 fire- worshippers as " People of the Book." 7 
 
 They have four holy books, which are the Gospels. 8 
 
 They have two books, the Bouyourouk, 9 which contains selections from the 
 Old Testament, and the Yusef Kitab, 10 which contains extracts from the New 
 Testament. 11 
 
 They have a book, which is only in the possession of the priesthood, but it 
 does not seem to be a corpus of dogma. 12 
 
 The Lycian Takhtadjj claim to have a book. 13 
 
 VII. Pilgrimage. 
 
 The Kyzylbash do not make pilgrimage to Mecca but to the Shia sanctuaries 
 of Bagdad, Kufa and Kerbela, and to certain Anatolian holy places, the most 
 
 1 Sykes, 121. 
 
 2 Molyneux-Secl, 66. 
 8 Huntington, 187. 
 
 4 Cf. the similar custom of the Yezidi, mentioned by W. B. Heard in J. R. Anlhr. Inst., xli 
 (1911), 213. 
 
 • Taylor, J.R.G.S., xxxviii (1868), 320. A local legend connects the source of the Mezoo, 
 with a shepherd saint of the same name, who is said to have disappeared there (Molyneux-Seel 
 loc. cit., 60). It is probably a nature cult anthropomorphised. 
 
 • Molyneux-Seel, 66. Van Lennep says vaguely that they read the Christian scriptures 
 (Travels in Asia Minor, 30 ff.). 
 
 7 Sykes, 122. 
 
 8 Huntington, 187. This author recognises that the Kyzylbash, when questioned as to their 
 religion by Christians, colour their answers to make its analogies to Christianity closer. This 
 seems to be an extreme case. 
 
 • [" Book of Commandments " from bouyourmaq = to command. — M.M.H.] 
 
 10 [" Joseph's book."— M.M.H.] 
 
 11 Dunmore in Amer. Miss. Her., liii (1857), 220. ' , 
 » Grothe, ii, 151, 154. 
 
 11 Von Luschan, ii, 200. Mills records an attempt in 1841 to convert the Samaritans forcibly 
 on the plea that they had no book. The. Jews got them off on the plea that they accept the 
 Pentateuch (Three Months, 277 ff.). 
 
a 
 
 * 
 
 F. W. Hasluck. — Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 337 
 
 important being Hadji_j$ekfca&h' (near Kirshehr), .the centre of thfiJBektashr der- 
 vishes, and a reputed tomb of Hassan at Sivas. 1 
 
 IX. Marriage. 
 
 The Kyzylbash may marry three wives ; divorce and temporary marriage 
 are prohibited. An unfaithful wife may be killed. 2 
 « Divorce is prohibited. Armenians are accepted as parrains at marriages. 3 
 
 Divorce is prohibited. 4 
 
 Strictly the Kyzylbash are only permitted to take one wife, but many have 
 lapsed into polygamy. The peripatetic dede presides at marriages when possible. 6 
 
 Prostitution of virgins to guests, and especially to itinerent dedes, is recorded, 
 on the authority of a bigoted Sunni, by Grothe. 6 
 
 Among the Lycian Takhtadji marriage between brother and sister is per- 
 mitted. 7 
 
 It is fairly apparent that the predominating ejgmjent in th e Ky zylbash religion 
 is Shia Mahommedanism, and the secondary Christian, the whole having a sub- 
 
 , - *—mmm~- **»**» ■■■ wmiii* •■► ague mm--- ^a«. 
 
 stratum of pagan animistic elements, 8 many of which might be found in slightly 
 
 changed form among professedly orthodox Turks or oriental Christians. Op. the 
 
 Shia side note the exalted position held by Ali, Hassan and Hussein, and the 
 
 importance of their pilgrimages, as compared with the neglect of Mahommed and 
 
 Mecca : note also the importance of the Imams and the Second Advent. The 
 
 '''■' 
 Christian elements, apart from the formal identification of Shia with Christian 
 
 sacred figures, reduce themselves to the celebration of certain Armenian feasts. 
 
 and the ritual of the " perverted mass." It should be noted that the " ritual 
 
 meal " is an idea by no means foreign to Islam, 9 the Semitic element being, as in 
 
 Christianity, partly responsible. Nor must it be overlooked that one of the 
 
 prototypes of the Christian communion is found in Persian Mithraism. 
 
 As regards the hierarchy it seems clear that the parish priest, who is generally 
 
 called Seyid by our authorities, is normally married, his office being hereditary, 
 
 and he himself, as his name implies, a descendant of the Prophet and therefore of 
 
 1 Molyneux-Seel, 66. This is presumably the tomb of the Holy Children (Maksoum Pak), 
 discovered in recent times in the town of Sivas. The Holy Children are not Hassan and Hussein 
 but the infant sons of two of the Imams : the confusion in popular thought is natural (see F. W. 
 Hasluck in B.S.A., xxi, 1914-16, pp. 95-6 and 96, n. 1). 
 
 2 Sykes, 121. 
 
 * Grenard, 518, 521. 
 1 Taylor, 319. 
 8 Grothe, ii, 154. 
 ' Vgrderasienexpedition, ii, 150. 
 7 Von Luschan, Lykien, ii, 199. 
 .* Grenard, loc. cit., brings tbis out in detail. 
 
 • G. Jacob in Der Islam (ii, 232) for " Bektashi " communion. 
 
 VOL. II. Z 
 
338 F. W. Hasluok. — Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 
 
 Ali. A celibate monk can, however, as in oriental Christianity, officiate, if in 
 orders, as parish priest. 
 
 The peripatetic " bishop " or murshud 1 seems to be a (celibate ?) dervish of 
 the Bektashi order. On this point Tsakyroglous, speaking of the Kyzylbash in 
 general but probably more particularly of those in his own vilayet of Aidin, is very 
 explicit. He says that the communities are visited yearly by Bektashi sheikhs, 
 who confess, catechise and instruct their flocks. 2 Professor White, speaking of 
 Pontus, says that the Kyzylbash villages there are organised in groups, each group 
 having its tekke of dervishes. 3 
 
 The " patriarchs," of whom one resides at Khoubyar (the other is probably 
 the " Tchelebi " of the Bektashi 4 ) are again hereditary (the " Tchelebi " certainly), 
 their descent being important. The doubling of the office reminds us of the 
 Armenian and Greek churches. 
 
 Certain points in the Kyzylbash system, mostly negative, sever them from, 
 and form a stumbling-block to, their Sunni neighbours. Thus, they do not conform 
 to Sunni practice in the matter of veiling women, the_five prayers, circumcision 
 and other religious duties ; they are said to eat pork and drink wine, to marry, 
 within the prohibited degrees, and t o indulge in immoral orgies, men and women 
 being assembled in a great room i n whi ch the lights are sudd enly ex tinguished. 
 This is evidently a prejudiced version of the " perverted mass " ceremony described 
 above. Impartial investigators have found that, while marriage between brother 
 and sister is countenanced by them, 5 they are very strict about divorce and monogamy, 
 and the grave charge of promiscuity, which has been much exploited by (chiefly 
 ignorant) Sunni partisans, and has earned for the Kyzylbash the opprobrious 
 nicknames of Zerati and Moumsounderen (" candle-extinguishers "•), is generally 
 thought to be a calumny. 
 
 The same charges of incest and promiscuity are brought against the Druses 
 by Benjamin of Tudela in the twelfth century, 7 and the latter in modern times by 
 
 1 The word is in general use amongst dervishes for a " spiritual director " ; every sheikh of a 
 convent, for instance, is a murshud in relation to his pupils (chaguirt). 
 
 1 Htp\ TtovpovKcov, 30 : — 'E«c rrjs ftovfjs ravrns (sc. tov Xarf i} Btierat) i^(p\ovrat rnjo-i'ws cif 
 TTfpio&tlav Sci^at im<TKtiTT6p,tvoi rat K&fias teal rd x a P ia tv6a vvdpxpvai KOivoTijrts tS>v Ki(i\- finds, 
 c£opo\oyov<riv avroits, Karqx ovari * a * iroht]ytTov<Tiv avrovt tit tijv obov rijs aXrjdtiat xai f^ovrfs avvdfia 
 SiKatTTiKrjV ovrut dneiu 8iKaio8o<rlav ^ofxnXvvovat dtrjvifctts k<u 8ia(popat {xpurrdfitvas fiera£i> rvtv 
 koivottjtcov, oCtoi (v TfKci \<i[iftdvovo ip nap' avrav koi to (t^ctlws itpurptvov brjvdpiov. 
 
 * Traits. Vict. Inst., x\ (1908), 231. 
 
 * Cf. White in Content p. Rev., Nov. 1913, 693. But Oberhummer speaks of a supreme 
 religious head of the Kyzylbash as resident in the Dersim {op. tit., 394). 
 
 • Von Luschan, ii, 199. 
 
 • Rycaut, Present State (1687), 65 : cf. Niebuhr, Reisebeschreibung, iii, 125. On zerati see 
 Gibb, Ottoman Poetry, i, 358. 
 
 7 Travels, ed. Asher, 61-2, ed. Wright, 80. For the same charge against the Nosairi of 
 Syria see Niebuhr, Voyage en Arabie, ii, 361. 
 
F. W. Hasluok.— Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 339 
 
 the Arabs against the fire-worshippers 1 as by the " Old " Turks against the Crypto- 
 Jews of Salonica. 2 The truth seems to be that the Turks are extremely strict about 
 the degrees of consanguinity, 3 and that some Kyzylbash infringe their rules. As a 
 matter of fact, as we have seen above, the marriage laws of the Dersim Kyzylbash 
 at least are in some respects much stricter than those of orthodox Islam. For the 
 rest, Kyzylbash laxity in the veiling of women and the fact that the sexes unite 
 in an act of worship, of which no more is known than that it is unorthodox, are 
 sufficient basis for a wholesale slander. 
 
 A certain amount of official pressure is exerted to convert the Kyzylbash to 
 the orthodox faith x>f Islam. To them, as to the Yourouks of Ida, Sunni missionaries 
 are sent to preach during the month of Ramazan, and mosques are occasionally 
 built in their villages by government orders. 4 The Pontic Kyzylbash, according to 
 Professor White, are to some extent organised against government aggression. Some 
 years ago, it is said, a rumour became current that the documents of the Kyzylbash 
 religious foundations (vakoufs) were required at Constantinople : the leaders of the 
 sect warned their communities to be ready to resist, and no steps were taken by 
 the government. 5 
 
 As regards the connection between Christianity and the religion of the Kyzylbash 
 the latter claim that there is very little difference between the two faiths ; 6 they are 
 certainly in their personal relations more, sympathetic to Christians than to Sunni 
 Mahommedans. An aga of Kyzylbash Kurds was actually converted to Christianity 
 by American missionaries in the fifties. 7 
 
 ,4a_.obvioii8 link between the two religions is the fact that both are regarded as 
 inferiors, socially and politically, by the dominant Sunni religion. Further, we 
 have found that the Kyzylbash celebrate certain Armenian feasts and are thickest 
 in the " Armenian " vilayets. A number of traditions also connect the two. Thus, 
 the Kurdish, and probably also the Anatolian, Kyzylbash represent their Imam as 
 
 1 Jerphanion in Mblanges de la Faculte Orientale (Beyrout), ii, 405. 
 
 2 Mecheroutiette (an organ of the Turkish Liberal party), 1914, p. 16. The same is alleged 
 of the Russian Tatarinof sect (see A. Dumas, Russie) : one of their number confessed this, but 
 under torture. Early Christian heretics were accused by the orthodox of the same crime (Strack, 
 Blutaberglaube, 71) ; pagans said the same of Christians (Kortholt, De Calumniis Paganorum, 
 Kiel, 1668). Thevenot records thai the vagabond Hhoiiames of Egypt practised promiscuity 
 (Voyages, ii, 852), but any mixed gathering was liable to the suspicion : cf. the accounts of the 
 Easter Fire ceremony at Jerusalem in d'Arvieux, Me" moires, ii, 142 ; Faber, Evagat. ed. Hassler, 
 ii, 92 ; Maundrell, Travels, ed. Wright, 182. Cf. also what Lucius says of the festivals of martyrs 
 in early times (Anfdnge des Heiligenkults, 319-23). In the Case of Jerusalem there is also an idea 
 that a child begotten in such circumstances and surroundings is particularly fortunate (Tobler, 
 Bethlehem, 75, 139 ; Tobler, Qolgatha-, 427). 
 
 * Cf. Le Bruyn, Voyage au Levant, i, 405. 
 
 • * White in Trans. Vict. Inst., xl (1908), 228. 
 8 Ibid., 235 : too much stress will not be laid on this story by those who know the country. 
 
 • Ibid., 231. 
 
 7 Dunmore in Amer. Miss. Herald, liii (1857), 219 f. 
 
 Z 2 
 
340 F. W. Hasluck. — Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 
 
 born of the virgin daughter of an Armenian priest. 1 The Armenians on their side 
 claim the Kyzylbash Kurds as perverted co-religionists. 2 
 
 Other examples of traditions recording the conversion of Armenians en bloc to 
 Islam are to be found in the cases (1) of a tribe classed as Turcoman and called 
 Pehlivanli, settled between Sivaii and Angora 8 (a " Kyzylbash " country, be it 
 remarked), and (2) of the Mahalemi " Kurds," who are said to have been converted 
 " two hundred years ago."* 
 
 According to Mrs. Scott-Stevenson the (Sunni) Afshars 8 of the Anti-Taurus 
 claim Armenian descent, 6 which, though probably false of the Afshars as a whole, 
 may still be true of some sections of the tribe. Tchihatcheff's picture of Pharasa 
 (a Greek village of the Anti-Taurus) in the fifties, ruled by Afshar chiefs and taking 
 part with them in their forays against the Turks, 7 may show a phase in such a develop- 
 ment. 8 As regards the Kyzylbash, it is important to note that all traditions speak 
 of them as converted Armenians, not Greeks. 
 
 ft must pot, how ever, be imagined that thfi , question_i)f the-^-Kyzylbash-" 
 r eligio n is finally dis posed of by classing it as <S^ia, since the Shia religion is .sub- 
 divided into numerous sects and heresies. Sir Charles Wilson compares the religion 
 of the Anatolian Kyzylbash, not with that of orthodox Persian Shias, but rather 
 
 1 Above, p. 333. 
 
 * Molyneux-Seel in Geog. Journ., xliv (1914), 64-7 : cf. Huntington in Oeog. Journ., xx (1902), 
 186. 
 
 * Niebuh- (who had it from Patrick Russell of Aleppo), Voyage en Arable (Amsterdam, 1780), 
 ii, 341. 
 
 4 Sir Mark Sykes in Geog. Journ., xxx (1907), 387. Both these and the Pehlivanli (Niebuhr, 
 Voy. en Arable, ii, 341) are said to have turned Musulman on account of the severity of Armenian 
 fasts. The motif is a " stock " one (cf. Pococke, Descr. of the East, ii, 133 ; G. Kammas, Miicpaa. 
 'HfitpoX, 1915, p. 281), but the conversion may nevertheless be a fact: on the other hand it may 
 be merely a reflection on the character of the tribes in question, put into currency by rivals or 
 enemies. The Maronite villages are said to convert regularly to Protestantism when oppressed 
 by their priests : when this pressure has gained them their point, they as regularly revert to 
 Catholicism (Mrs. Mackintosh, Damascus, 286). If it were as easy and safe to revert from Islam 
 as from Protestantism, we should doubtless find fewer Moslems in Turkey at the present day : 
 cf. the cases of the Presba villages (Berard, Macedoine, 20), of the Karamuratadhes (Pouqueville, 
 Voyage dans la Grece, i, 259-61), and of the Valachadhes (Berard, Mace'doine, 110; Wace 
 and Thompson, Nomads of the Balkans, 29). 
 
 5 For the Afshars see Grothe, Vorderasienexpedition, ii, 135 ff. 
 
 * Our Ride through Asia Minor, 218. Others have called them renegade Greeks (Tsakyroglous, 
 Ilfpi YiovpovKoav, 13). 
 
 7 Tschihatscheff'8 Reisen in Kleinasien, ed. Kiepert, 14. We may compare the conditions 
 noticed in the early years of the nineteenth century by Burckhardt in the Cilician plain (Barker, 
 Lares and Penates, 355 ff.). Here the Greek villages were subjected to Turcoman chiefs and had 
 largely assimilated themselves to their protectors. 
 
 8 The recent (" fifty years ago," i.e. about 1830) conversion of Burunguz, an Armenian 
 village near Tomarza, in the district of Csesarea, noted by J. F. Skene (Anadol, 175), is worth 
 putting on record in this connection : both period and locality point to the Afshars as the 
 " missionaries " responsible for the change. 
 
F. W. Hasluck. — Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 341 
 
 with that of the Nosairi of Syria 1 . Bent, speaking of the Takhtadji in particular, 
 classes their religion with that of the Nosairi and Yezidi, 2 and von Luschan 3 and 
 Oberhummer 4 are of the same opinion. It cannot be expected that the religion 
 practised by these scattered and possibly heterogeneous communities is identical. 
 But in the present vague state of our knowledge it would be worse than useless to 
 attempt a more exact classification. 
 
 Itis atleast fairly clear that the Kyzylbash . religionjrom Mardin and Erzeroum 
 to Smyrna is identical in its main lines and an offshoot of S hia Islam containing 
 considerable elements of Christianity, wit.h_ananimistic basis, according to Grenard's 
 information, and that the Bektashi, the only dervish order in Turkey openly professing 
 the Shia faith, form a sort of hierarchy among a large proportion of the Kyzylbash 
 populations. The inherence of the Bektashi, whatever its origin, is explained by the 
 fiction that the tribal saints of the various Kyzylbash villages were " brothers," 
 " companions " or " disciples " of Hadji Bektash. 5 
 
 Von Luschan has already established the important point 6 that the similarities 
 of religion between the " Kyzylbash " group (including " Bektash " and " Takh- 
 tadji ") in Anatolia coincide with anthropological similarities which connect this 
 group also with the North Syrian and North Mesopotamian heterodox sects (Yezidi, 
 Nosairi, etc.), with the Armenians, with certain types of Anatolian Greek, and with 
 the Hittites. 
 
 The locality in which this anthropological type is most frequent is the moun- 
 tainous " bridge-land " which lies between the fertile countries of Anatolia, Persia, 
 Mesopotamia and Syria. This " bridge-land " has never been civilized, though it 
 hasTbeen penetratecTat various times by missionaries, religious, political and military : 
 in particular, being the old border-land between Turkey and Persia, it was naturally 
 the resort of Persian emissaries during the long wars of the two nations. The result 
 of the presumed religious propaganda carried on from the side of Persia among still 
 pagan nomads, Kurdish and Turkish, possibly also among Armenian Christians, 7 is 
 a patchwork of religious compromises, of which the outwardly predominating 
 elements are Shia Islam and Armenian Christianity, among a people of marked 
 physical homogeneity. 
 
 A certain proportion of these peoples has migrated westwards, as probably in 
 other directions, either from natural causes or under the pressure of the artificial 
 transplantation, which was carried out in the sixteenth century by the Ottoman 
 
 1 Geog. Journ., vi (1884), 313. 
 
 * J. R. Anthr. Inst., xx (1890), 270. 
 
 8 Reisen in Lykien, ii, 202. 
 
 4 Durch Syrien, 394. 
 
 5 See B.S.A., xx (1913-14), 98 and xxi (1914-16), 96. 
 ■ J. R. Anthr. Inst., xli (1911), 241 f. 
 
 7 Or the conversion of the latter may be attributed to the persecution of already converted 
 Kurds and Turks. 
 
342 F. W. Hasluck. — Heterodox Tribes of Asia Minor. 
 
 government 1 as a means of breaking up the solidarity of border-tribes known to be 
 Shia in religion and consequently in sympathy with Persia. The emigration process 
 may have gone on for centuries, the emigrants from the mountainous " bridge- 
 land " sometimes amalgamating with the men of the plains under the influence of a 
 prevalent civilisation, wometlmea k§§piag thamtelvsi aloof owing to religious or 
 other differences. The " bridge-land " type, when found in the west, may thus 
 represent immigrations of widely different date, ranging from remote antiquity to 
 comparatively modern times. , 
 
 1 Cf. Belon, Observations de Plusieurs Singularity, iii, cap. xii. 
 
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