Research Information System
3rd conference “Ottoman Archaeology in Romania, Iasi, Romania, 5 - 06 June 2026, pp.5, (Summary Text)
Sarı
Saltuk is regarded as a heterodox Sufi dervish and warrior
who is believed to have played a significant role in the Turkification of the
Balkans and particularly in the Islamization of the Kipchak Turks and Tatars.
Although the extant historical sources concur that he lived during the
thirteenth century, the legends and hagiographical narratives constructed
around his charismatic persona have largely eclipsed the historical realities
of his life and identity. In Balkan folk tradition, Sarı Saltuk is portrayed as a heroic figure who
slays a dragon and he has been identified with various Christian saints,
particularly Saint Nicholas. Owing to this
syncretic structure, he came to be venerated as a sacred figure by both Muslim
and Christian communities.
Sources record that Sarı Saltuk led the Turkmen groups who were
settled in the Dobruja region in 1262 by Michael
VIII Palaiologos together with the Seljuk Sultan İzzeddin Keykavus II. Sarı Saltuk died in 1293
in Babadağ, a place whose name derives
from the combination of the Turkish words baba (‘father’ or ‘saintly
elder’) and dağ (‘mountain’), referring to the locality in which he
resided. Before his death, Sarı Saltuk is
said to have requested that seven coffins be prepared for his burial. Today,
dozens of tombs and shrines attributed to him are dispersed across Türkiye, Romania,
Bulgaria, Kosovo,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, and Albania.
The tomb of Sarı Saltuk in Babadağ, where he is believed to
have died, was reportedly discovered by the Sultan Bayezid II during the Akkerman
(Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi) campaign in 1484 following a revelatory dream, after
which a mausoleum and külliye complex were constructed on the site. The
divinely inspired discovery of Sarı Saltuk’s grave bears resemblance to other
instances in Ottoman history in which tombs identified through metaphysical
signs during military campaigns served to provide religious legitimacy for
military expeditions and to strengthen the morale of the army. This study aims
to examine the discovery of Sarı Saltuk’s grave and the construction of his
mausoleum within the broader framework of cultic discoveries shaped by
religious and political motivations in the Ottoman history.