13.-15. Yüzyıllarda Anadolu’da Ahilik: Kurumsallaşma, Toplumsal Yapı ve İdeoloji

Abstract

With the conquest of Anatolia by the Turks and the beginning of the process of Islamization and Turkification, Akhi nicknamed persons and their monotheisms began to appear almost everywhere in the region. The famous traveler Ibn Battuta, who traveled to Anatolia at the beginning of the 14th century, has often been received the hospitality of the Akhis, has been accommodated in his tekke and has given extensive information about the Akhis in his works. Having an active role in the socio-cultural, economic, and even political life of Anatolia in the 13th-15th century, the Akhis, even in a weak level, were able to protect their existence. The Akhis and the organization they belong to (Akhism) attracted the attention of researchers especially in the last century, and many different and sometimes contradictory views have been put forward about them. This study is an attempt to evaluate the researches related to the subject critically by taking advantage of the main sources related to the subject and to get an idea about the authority of the Anatolian Akhism. In the first part of this work, which is composed of four chapters, the philosophy of futuwwa is examined, by taking into consedration its origins, its historical development and its relation with the Akhism. In addition, attempts have been made to identify the Akhis in the non-Anatolian Middle Ages Islamic world. In the second chapter, the Akhi organization in Anatolia was subjected to a historical inquiry by discussing its entrance to Anatolia and its historical development with an account of the thesis that it was a Turkish institution.