The Zawiya and The Tomb of Emre Sultan in Afyonkarahisar

Abstract

The zawiya and the tomb of Emre Sultan at Döğer of İhsaniye/Afyon country which is located in the southeast of the lake Emre fed by Döğer brook and is in the vicinity of the world famous Phrygian rock monuments. It has been continuously used as a worshipping and religious centre since the time of the Phrygians up to 19th century. The village of Emre Sultan, whose existence was confirmed by the documents in the archive and the traces of the buildings, has the same name as the nearby lake. The town itself perished in 1781 due to the bad attitude of Bekir Pasha against the town people who was the officer in charge of Karahisar. Not only the village people but also the zawiya of Emre Sultan was badly influenced because of these turmoils. Officer in charge Bekir Pasha blamed the village people of having illegal religious practices and had eleven of them beheaded and had their heads sent to Istanbul. When an upheaval broke he ordered all the village people to be put into the zawiya and burnt them alive. By doing so he destroyed the village and destroyed parts of the zawiya as well. According to the archive documents Zawiya used to belong to heterodox believes from the very beginning and related with the Bektashi order in the period of the Mehmed II. The aim of this article is to contribute the Turkish period archaeology in Anatolia by using of the documents from the archives and the existing architectural pieces of the village of Emre Sultan. It was intended to introduce a much neglected zawiya and tomb which are most probably from the end of 14. century to the scholarly world.