VILLAGES ESTABLISHED BY DERVISHES AS “ŞENLENDİRİCİ” IN RURAL AREA OF AKSARAY IN THE XVI. CENTURY

This study focuses on the villages established under the leadership of dervishes in the Aksaray district of the Karaman province, while the activities of dervishes who later arrived and established zawiyas were not considered. To trace the formation and development processes of dervish-zawiya-centered settlements, which were one of the tools of Ottoman settlement policies, tahrir (tax register) and waqf (foundation) registers were used as primary sources. The qualitative research method of document analysis was employed as the main approach. The aim of this study is to understand and examine the characteristics of the villages that emerged around dervishes and the zawiyas they established, the development trajectory of these villages, whether there are any determining factors for villages that grew or shrank, and whether it is possible to form an opinion about the religious and mystical tendencies of the dervishes based on the titles they held. Additionally, the study seeks to explore the nature of the connections between central and provincial administrators, as well as the property relations in the lands where dervishes settled and established zawiyas. Essentially, all these questions and issues are entangled within the triad of dervish-zaviye-village. In the general district, the number of villages ranged between 111, 117, and 438 depending on the period. Among these, 10 villages were established under the leadership of dervishes, some in the early centuries, some at the beginning, and some in the last quarter of the century. These villages were located at the foothills of Hasan Dağı and Ekecik Dağı, indicating that the settlement process continued. It was observed that factors such as the size of the dervish community, the functionality of the zawiyas, and the magnitude of the waqf income had a partial impact on the development trajectories of these villages within the century. The presence of titles such as abdal, baba, dede, fakih, and hoca within the same dervish communities led to the conclusion that in the context of Aksaray, the Sunni-Heterodox dichotomy had not yet become apparent, or these titles were used by both groups. The donations and endowments given by central and provincial administrators, such as the Padishah, Hanım Sultan, Şehzade (prince), paşa, and bey, were interpreted as a recognition of groups performing significant tasks for the state and society. It was inferred that some dervishes who held lands traced their roots back to the time of the Karamanoğulları and were the local elites of their era.