7
Iranian geography are also considered as Iranian Turks. Iran
Turks are evocative of Turks who lived in the Iranian
geography and founded their own states in the era B.C. In
this period, Kayanis, which founded a powerful state in the
aforementioned region in 2500-1900 B.C., are shown as first
representatives of Iranian Turks.
Kayanis were succeeded by
Medes, Scythians/Sakas, Cimmerians and Huns (Mehmet
Bayraktar, “Bilinmeyen Bir Türk Ulusu Keyaniler,” Ahmet
Yesevi
Uluslararası
Türk-Kazak
Üniversitesi,
III.
Uluslararası Türkoloji Kongresi, 18-20 May, 2009
Türkistan-Kazakistan, Bildiriler, Türkistan 2009, p.509). As
Herodotus stated, Cimmerians in Caucasia and Scythians
who followed the coastal line of the Caspian Sea entered
Medes lands in Azerbaijan and Iran through Derbent-Temir
Kapig (Iron Gate) gateway. There are valuable information
in modern cuneiform Assyrian scripts about activities of
Cimmerians and Scythians in Urartu lands. Assyrians
referred to Cimmerians as “Gimirrai” and to Scythians as
“İskuze/Asquzai”. There was a serious conflict between
Cimmerians and Assyrians over eastern Anatolian lands in
this period. Cimmerians and Medes cooperated against their
common enemy Assyrian State (Taner Tarhan, ibid, p.606,
607). Cimmerians and Scythians who arrived in the Caucasia
and North of the Black Sea as a result of the migrations in
the period B.C., formed alliances with and occasionally
fought against political establishments in Asia Minor,
Anatolia and consecutively Iran.
While Sassanid State lost their influence in Iranian
geography during Omayyads’ period, Islam spread quickly
in this region. After Omayyads lost political power,
Abbasids took over. Leaving aside some short periods until
the 20th century, around a thousand years of Turkish
dominance persisted after Ghaznavids dominated the Iranian
geography in the 10th century. Ghaznavids were defeated
against Seljuks in the Battle of Dandanaqan in1040 and
Great Seljuk State took control over the Iranian geography.
Today there are twenty six political establishments in the
lands occupied by the Great Seljuk State. Having been
defeated by the Qara Khitai in 1141, dissolution of Great
Seljuks began and during this period many Turkic
seigniories emerged all around the large empire lands. After
a period of power struggle between these Turkic seigniories,
8
Khwarazmian
Turkic
State
dominated
the
Iranian
geography. In the first quarter of the 13th century, Mongol
Turkic Empire became the dominating power and took
possession of the region from China to
the north of the Black
Sea. Grandson of Genghis Khan, Hulagu Khan founded
Ilkhanate in the Iranian geography. Ilkhanate was dissolved
politically in the mid-19th century. Centered in present-day
Iran and Western Turkistan, Timurid State which was
founded by Timur ruled as the dominant power in the region
until the mid-15th century. After this date, the new
sovereign
state became Kara Koyunlu Turkoman State which was
founded in Southeastern Anatolia. Their dominance was
brought to an end by Ak Koyunlu Turkoman State which
was centered in Diyarbakır. They were diminished after
being defeated in the Battle of Otlukbeli (1471) by Ottomans
who were striving to unite seigniories in Anatolia. Their
founding members who included Turkomans (from Antalya,
Maraş, Amasya and Tokat region), however, moved to Iran
from Anatolia and founded Safavid State which was led by
Shah Ismail and reigned over Iran shortly afterwards. Turkic
world was powerful in this period and included the Eurasia,
the
Ottoman
State,
Central
Anatolia
(while
the
Mediterranean, the Aegean, the Black Sea and the Red Sea
were Turkic lakes), Central Europe, the North of the Black
Sea, Caucasia, the Middle East and the Northern Africa.
Similarly, Safavids were located in Iran and Caucasia as
well as Shaybanids in Turkistan and Mughals in Indian
Peninsula. However, conflict among the aforementioned
Turkic states never ceased and the
golden age of Turks came
to a halt steadily in the following centuries.
Iran Turks were influential in the region in the new
age and the modern age as much as they were in prehistoric
times and the medieval ages. As a matter of fact, Turkish
sovereignty in Iran was assumed by Afshar Turks, a tribe
from Oghuz Turks, in 1736. After Nader Shah’s death,
political sovereignty passed onto Zand dynasty from Lur
origin for a short period of time. However, Aga Mohammad
Khan, one of the Qajar Turks, enabled a Turkish dynasty to
take control over Iran once again. He made Tehran state
capital, brought stability to the country as well as peace and
prosperity. As Iran was going through difficult times in the
19th century, it became a center of power struggle between