Historicial and Cultural Basis of Ottoman Gaza Ideology

Abstract

This study argues that, according to historical and spiritual sources, Ottoman 'Gaza' tradition was a perfect combination of Islamic and Central Asian Turkic traditional values. Pre-Islamic Turkic motifs alplik and kahramanlık (bravery and heroism) merged into the Islamic belief after Turks' conversion the Islam, to create a sacred will to fight. Gaza ideology was a crucial importance for the formation of the Ottoman state and its importance continued through the ages without diminishing its importance. In lslamic manner, the alps of the Oguz tales became as gazis and the tales became gazavatname and menakıbnames. Large selections of verbal and scriptural literature about gazi ideology is mostly stemmed and influenced by Dede Korkut stories. Popularity of gaza literature was so great that, early Ottoman chroniclcs were mere products of gaza and heroism traditions. In this paper, relations between gaza literature and the Ottoman society will be scrutinized.