Colonial Turkish Dervish

Colonizer Turkish Dervishes were enterprising Sufi caravan leaders and gazi-oriented communities who, during the foundation and expansion period of the Osmanli, revitalized and developed barren, desolate, and dangerous frontier lands (arazi-i mevât) through their own labor, under a decentralized system of autonomy and state support. Through the zaviyes they established, they voluntarily ensured road safety, military defense, economic production, and cultural/religious integration.

^{Geyikli Baba (Yapay Zekâ ile Oluşturulmuştur)}

The concept was introduced into scholarly literature for the first time by Ömer Lütfi Barkan, through analysis of archival documents and land survey registers. Barkan developed this theory to refute Western historians’ claims (e.g., Gibbons) that the rapid transformation of the Ottoman state into a major empire could be explained by Byzantine influence or random developments.^【1】

The emergence of colonizer dervishes is directly linked to the massive migration of Turkmen nomadic groups fleeing the Mongol Invasion in the 13th century, who moved through Central Asia and Horasan into Anatolia. These large population movements caused congestion and social unrest along the borders of the Seljuk administrative structure. Indeed, the tensions generated by this uncontrolled power materialized in the Babai Revolt, which shook the Seljuk state.^【2】

The redirection of this accumulated population energy toward the western frontiers (the frontier principalities) in Anatolia under Mongol pressure prevented deep social upheaval within the interior and created a dynamic potential for expansion along the Byzantine borders. During this process, dervishes functioned not merely as religious mystics but as proactive colonial leaders who organized migration routes, led their tribes, and directed the movement of masses.

The most distinctive colonization method of the dervishes was establishing zaviyes on barren, desolate, wild, and designated “mevât” (dead/empty) lands, often on mountain slopes or in abandoned settlements. Unlike urban tekkes sustained by charitable donations, these structures were designed as fully self-sufficient economic production centers.

• Land Reclamation and Agriculture: The dervishes cleared rocky and brush-covered areas (“opening land with the axe”) to make the soil arable. In addition to cereal cultivation, they established orchards, olive groves, chestnut plantations, and rose gardens, applying advanced agricultural techniques.
• Water and Technical Infrastructure: They laid irrigation canals, dug water wells, and constructed mills using their own resources. These mills became critical economic hubs for surrounding villages.
• Animal Husbandry and Farm Organization: Some large zaviyes operated as extensive agricultural estates (malikânes) with vast pastures, summer and winter grazing lands. Large herds of livestock were raised, and cooperative laborers were employed within the production system.^【3】

This productive structure of the dervishes was supported by the state through tax exemptions and land ownership grants (mülknameler).^【4】 Over time, the populations that gathered around the dervishes formed the nuclei of new villages and towns.

The zaviyes of colonizer dervishes served as de facto public order posts in frontier regions or dangerous mountain passes (derbends) where central state authority was weak. Dervishes constructed rest stations where travelers, merchants, and transporters could safely rest, and in return for these strategic services, they received administrative and financial privileges.

Zaviyes established in passes in Sivas, Karaman, and Rumelia known as “mahûf” (dangerous) or “harami yatağı” (bandit lairs) helped secure the region and facilitated settlement. In cases of theft or unrest, dervishes and zaviye keepers were held directly responsible for regional security and subjected to derbend regulations.^【5】

In newly settled territories, especially in Rumelia, dervishes carried out a systematic program of religious and cultural integration. Through mystical teachings—such as Bektashism—that were distant from rigid dogma and instead flexible, tolerant, and attuned to local beliefs, they facilitated contact between non-Muslim populations and Islam.

During this process, dervishes sometimes continued the cults and sacred sites of local Christian saints under an Islamic framework (creating mutual pilgrimage sites), accelerating social assimilation. Official records also document non-Muslim subjects and captives serving in zaviyes for years, who, under the influence of this mystical atmosphere, converted to Islam and entered the dervish hierarchy.^【6】

During the foundation period of the Ottoman state, active dervishes were recorded in contemporary sources under various names and Sufi orders:

• Ahiyân-ı Rûm (Anatolian Ahi): A military-economic organization that established zaviyes not only in cities but also in rural areas, settled the land, and formed kinship and political alliances with state founders such as Sheikh Edebali.
• Abdâlân-ı Rûm (Horasan Dervishes): Groups typically bearing titles such as “baba” and “dede,” characterized by a militant-dervish nature who personally joined campaigns alongside the sultans (e.g., Geyikli Baba, Abdal Murad).
• Gaziyân-ı Rûm (Alp Dervishes): Warriors who combined the pre-Islamic “Alp” title with the Islamic conquest ideology, embodying both military and dervish identities.
• Bâciyân-ı Rûm (Anatolian Baci): A women-led Sufi organization mentioned in Anatolian and Balkan zaviye records under names such as “Hacı Bacı” and “Sume Bacı,” engaged in religious and social activities.

Originally a fully civilian, dynamic, productive, and enterprising institution, colonizer dervishhood underwent transformation as the Ottoman state evolved into a centralized empire. With the strengthening of state authority, the autonomous sphere of the dervishes was restricted; zaviye leadership became a state-appointed bureaucratic position (me’muriyet).

Over time, the abuse of charitable endowments, decline in agricultural output, and the loss of the dervishes’ productive identity led to their transformation into a parasitic (tufeylî) class. As a result, tekkes lost their early dynamism and entered a process of decline.^【7】

Based on official archival records (population and land survey registers) and early chronicles, numerous dervishes and sheikhs who personally led colonization efforts in Anatolia and newly conquered Rumelian territories are documented:

• Sheikh Edebali: The father-in-law of Osman Gazi, this prominent Ahi leader was renowned for his vast hospitality and constant influx of guests. His kinship alliance with Osman Bey during the founding period represented the first major political-social coalition between dervishes and military elements.^【8】
• Kumral Dede (or Dervish Durgud): A disciple of Sheikh Edebali, this dervish requested a village from Osman Gazi after delivering the news of his future sultanate. As Osman could not yet issue a formal land grant, he gave Kumral Dede his father’s sword as a token; this sword was later venerated as a sacred relic by subsequent generations.^【9】
• Geyikli Baba: A dervish who settled with his followers in the countryside near Keşiş Dağı (Uludağ) in the İnegöl region and was believed to befriend deer. A disciple of Baba İlyas and from the Seyyid Ebû Elvan order, he refused the estates and properties offered by Sultan Orhan and instead requested only enough land—“from that hill over there”—to serve as the courtyard for his dervishes.^【10】
• Es-seyyid Ali (Kızıl Sultan / Kızıl Delü): A dervish who accompanied the gazis during the conquest and Turkification of Rumelia. He and his followers protected the Kızıl Delü Derbend, which included burial grounds such as Tatarlık and Tatar Viranı, transforming it into a large derbend village of 58 Muslim and 23 non-Muslim households through the establishment of security.^【11】
• Sheikh Hacı İsmail: He arrived in the Lârende (Karaman) district with his community and founded a village bearing his name. By the reign of Yavuz Sultan Selim, the village’s population had grown to include 95 adult males. Sheikh İsmail and his successors acted as influential tribal/community leaders, jointly managing summer pastures and grazing lands with local Turkmen clans, ensuring security, and enjoying tax exemptions.^【12】
• Hüseyin Dede: Hüseyin Dede and his five sons migrated from Anatolia and settled in a village under Şumnu. They served travelers from the zaviye they built, engaged directly in agriculture, and continued paying the öşr tax on their harvests to the regional sipahi, just like other villagers.^【13】
• Sume Bacı (Od Yakan Baba Tekke): A “salîha,” “bakire,” and “ehl-i velayet” woman dervish who managed the Od Yakan Baba Tekke within the Kütahya waqf system. Like her predecessors Hacı Bacı and Hundi Hacı, she revitalized this center and ensured that the farms, mills, and vineyards she acquired for the tekke would not be looted by her relatives after her death by formally registering them as waqf properties funded by Muslim donations, not her own money.^【14】