DOI: https://doi.org/10.36719/2663-4619/127/180-200
Ümit Akın 
Bandırma Onyedi Eylül University
Turkey
uakin@bandirma.edu.tr
Halil İbrahim Ertürk
Bilecik Şeyh Edebali University
Turkey
halil.erturk@bilecik.edu.tr
Ottoman–Turkestan Relations Between The 16th and 20th Centuries in the Light of Archive Documents and Influency of the Caliphate
Abstract
The Ottoman Empire became a major player in the Islamic world, particularly after gaining control of Istanbul in 1453. With the transfer of the Caliphate to the Ottomans in 1517, the Ottomans added the role of religious leadership to their political power. Turkestan, on the other hand, is a region that has been ruled by various Turkic Khanates and is notable for its strong Islamic culture. This region was never directly under Ottoman political rule in history. Nevertheless, Ottoman-Turkestan relations developed around the axes of religion and culture. This study aims to examine the religious, political, and cultural dimensions of the relations established between the Ottoman Empire and the Turkestan Khanates between the 16th and 20th centuries and to determine the influence of the Caliphate during the period in question. Within the scope of this study, the archival documents published by the General Directorate of State Archives of the Republic of Turkey in 2004 were scanned, and the correspondence between the Ottoman Empire and the Turkestan Khanates was identified. Based on these documents, an attempt has been made to reveal the political, economic, religious, and cultural relations between the Ottoman Empire and Turkestan and the influence of the Caliphate in this context.
Keywords: Ottoman Empire, Turkestan, archival documents, international relations, Caliphate