Acem Mülteciler: Kaçar Hanedanı’nda Taht Mücadelesi ve Osmanlı Devleti’ne İltica Eden İran Şehzadeleri
Kaçarlar, 1795 yılında Ağa Muhammed Han’ın tesis ettiği hâkimiyetle birlikte İran’da iktidara gelen bir Türk hanedanıydı. Yaklaşık yüz otuz yıl İran’da iktidarı elinde tutan Kaçar Hanedanı, Ağa Muhammed Han’ın vasiyeti doğrultusunda, yazılı kurala dayanmayan bir veraset sistemi uygulamaya çalıştı. Uygulanmaya çalışılan bu veraset sistemi, Feth Ali Şah’ın tahta çıkmasından sonra onun şehzadeleri arasında itirazlara neden oldu. Özellikle Veliaht Şehzade Abbas Mirza’nın ölümünden sonra sisteme karşı yükselen itirazlar, Feth Ali Şah’ın ölümüyle beraber doğrudan bir taht mücadelesine dönüştü. Mücadelede mağlup olan şehzadeler ve hanedan mensupları, İran’ı terk ederek Osmanlı Devleti’ne sığınmayı tercih etti ve bu devletin topraklarında uzun süre yaşamlarına devam etti. Bu çalışma, Kaçar Hanedanı’nda uygulanmaya çalışılan veraset sisteminin neden olduğu taht mücadelesini ve bunun sonucunda Osmanlı Devleti’ne iltica eden hanedan mensuplarının durumunu; Farsça ve Türkçe literatür ile Osmanlı arşiv belgeleri doğrultusunda ortaya koymaya çalışmaktadır.
Persian Immigrants: Struggle for the Throne in the Qajar Dynasty and the Persian Princes (Şehzades) Who Took Sanctuary in the Ottoman Empire
The Qajars were a Turkish dynasty that had came to power in Persia under the rule Agha Muhammad Khan had established in 1795. The Qajar Dynasty, held power in Persia for about 130 years and had tried to implement a succession system not based on written rules in line with the will of Agha Muhammad Khan. This succession system raised objections among his princes after Feth Ali Shah ascended the throne. After the death of Crown Prince Abbas Mirza in particular, the objections raised against the system turned into a direct struggle for the throne, resulting in the death of Feth Ali Shah. The princes and members of the dynasty who’d been defeated in the struggle preferred to leave Persia and take refuge in the Ottoman Empire, continuing their lives in Ottoman territory for a long time. This study examines the struggle for the throne this succession system that had been attempted to be implemented in the Qajar Dynasty had caused, as well as the status of the dynasty members who’d taken refuge in the Ottoman Empire as a result. The article attempts to reveal these in line with the Persian and Turkish literature and Ottoman archive documents.
The Qajars were a Turkish dynasty that had seized power in Persia in 1795 upon Agha Mohammad Khan overthrowing the Zend Dynasty and becoming the first Qajar ruler to ascend the throne with title of Shah. Agha Mohammad Khan was a member of the Qoyunlu clan of Qajars and struggled to strengthen his power in Persia by gaining the support of his own or other opposition tribes. Because he had no children, he took steps and actions to ensure that his nephew, Feth Ali, would ascend to the throne after him. The most important of these steps was the dynasty’s attempt to establish a firm succession system. Because he had no children, Agha Muhammad Khan decided which boy born from the women by his nephew Feth Ali should become successor to the throne while he was alive. Abbas Mirza, son of Asiye Hanım, who was one of Feth Ali’s wives, was a member of the Davalu tribe of Qajars and declared as the crown shahzadeh (prince) prior to the death of Agha Mohammad Khan. The aim here was to strengthen the alliance among the Turkish tribes and to put the future of the state on a solid ground.
Feth Ali Shah followed his uncle’s will when he ascended the throne with the title of shah and supported his son, Abbas Mirza, as the crown shahzadeh. However, the largest problem within the state that could disrupt the succession system was that many male children had been born of Feth Ali Shah’s harem. Some shahzadehs of the Shah criticized this system and took steps to make this felt during their father’s lifetime. The strongest name among them was Feth Ali Shah’s son Mohammad Ali Mirza (Devletşah), who was born from Feth Ali Shah’s Georgian wife Zibahçehr. Although his death at an early age and before his father seems to have interrupted this struggle, the death of Crown Shahzadeh Abbas Mirza in 1833 also before his father brought the struggle for the throne to the agenda again. First was Abbas Mirza’s brother Ali Shah (Zillü’s-Sultan), who was born from the same mother and claimed the right to be the Crown Shahzadeh. Nevertheless, Feth Ali Shah ended these disputes by choosing Mohammed Mirza, Abbas Mirza’s own son. Muhammad Mirza was declared Crown Shahzadeh in his father’s place, but his status became controversial upon Feth Ali Shah’s death in 1834. More precisely, the other shahzadehs did not recognize his status as Shah and waited for Feth Ali’s death to seize an opportunity. Shahzadeh Ali Shah and his supporters especially struggled with Mohammad Mirza to seize the throne. While only for a short while, Shahzadeh Ali Shah seized the Persian throne. However, not only the Persian bureaucrats, but also the British and Russian missions in Persia took a stand for Mohammed Mirza, the throne changed hands and passed to Mohammed Mirza.
Mohammed Mirza ascended to the throne with the title of Shah, but this struggle with the other shahzadehs forced them to take refuge elsewhere, with many Persian shahzadehs seeking asylum in the Ottoman Empire for fear of their lives. The Ottoman Empire mostly preferred to not use this situation politically, instead viewing it as a refugee influx. The empire thus used every means available to ensure the Persian shahzadehs’ safety and allowed them to continue their lives in its lands for many years. After seeking asylum, some of the Persian shahzadehs lived on Ottoman land until their death. Others were able to return to Persia after ensuring their own safety. In addition to how the succession system had formed within internal politics, how it had gone on to constitute an agenda in foreign policy also became a significant issue. Because Persia had predicted the possible future struggles for the throne, it had included some clauses in the agreements it made with Russia and the Ottoman Empire that defined whose lineage should continue the throne. This step had been taken to prevent a struggle for the throne in Persia from turning into a major occupation or civil war and had forced the shahzadehs who were defeated by the system to seek asylum elsewhere. The biggest reason why the system was unable to function fully was that the number of shahzadehs who would struggle for the throne was too large and each one was an influential ruler among in the country’ significant regions.
The scope of this study has been limited to revealing the struggles for the throne that derived from the succession system in the Qajar Dynasty and to analyzing the status of the Persian shahzadehs who’d taken refuge in the Ottoman Empire as a result of these struggles. The study aims to examine the succession system and the problems it created, to address what solutions were sought for the problems aroused, and to evaluate the results of the succession system as something that has not been discussed independently in the literature. The sources of the study mainly consist of Persian and Turkish literature and Ottoman archival documents.
