Urban network and urban models in Anatolia during Seljuk Period

Türklerin; göçebe ve yerleşik yaşama dair tüm kültürleri ile birlikte; IX. yüzyılda başlayan ve yaklaşık 200 yıl süren Orta Asya’dan Anadolu’ya göç hareketi sürecinin Anadolu coğrafyası üzerindeki siyasal ürünü Anadolu Selçuklu Devleti’nin kurulması biçiminde olmuştur. Bu süreçte, gerek Bizans egemenliğinden devralınan ya da yeniden kurulan Anadolu kentlerinin gerekse kentler dizgesinin oluşturduğu yerleşme sisteminin mekânsal ve işlevsel açıdan yeniden örgütlendiği söylenebilir. Bu araştırmanın amacı; Türklerin Selçuklu Devleti’nin kurulması ile Anadolu yerleşim zincirine eklemlendiği XI.–XIII. yüzyıllarda, Orta Asya ve İran coğrafyasından taşıdıkları ya da aktardıkları yerleşim geleneklerinin, Anadolu’da devraldıkları Bizans yerleşim kültürü altyapısı üzerindeki kültürel birlikteliğinin mekânsal ürünlerini irdelemektir. Burada “mekânsal ürünler” kavramı ile anlatılmak istenen, Anadolu’da Selçuklu döneminde örgütlenen savunma sistemi, üretim–dağıtım organizasyonları, sosyal–kültürel yapılanmalar ve toprak kullanım politikalarının, yerleşme sistemi ve kentsel mekân organizasyonları ya da kent modelleri üzerindeki yansımalarıdır. Selçuklu dönemi Anadolu yerleşim kültürünün ortaya konabilmesi için, araştırmanın kaynak ve yöntemine ilişkin olarak, özgün yazılı kaynakların arkeolojik ve mimari kalıtlar eşliğinde irdelenmesi ve elde edilen bulguların harita ve planlar üzerine aktarılmasına dayanan bir izlence benimsenmiştir. Bu izlence kapsamında, Selçuklu dönemi yerleşme sisteminin ve mekân yansımaları olarak kent modellerinin tanımlanabileceği düşünülmektedir. Araştırmanın zaman  dizgisi; Selçuklu dönemi yerleşme sisteminin arka plânını oluşturan Anadolu Selçuklu Devleti siyasal–yönetsel egemenlik düzeninin Anadolu yerleşme sistemini biçimlendirmeye başladığı XI. yüzyıl sonu ile Selçuklu egemenlik düzeninin sona erdiği ve çok parçalı siyasal  yapılanmalar dönemi olarak tanımlanan Türk Beyliklerinin oluşmaya başladığı XIII. yüzyıl sonu arasındaki dönem olarak tanımlanmıştır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Anadolu, Selçuklu, yerleşme sistemi, kent modelleri.The empires as the social, cultural, economic and political forces like the Hittites, Helens, Romans and following the Byzantines, organized the urban network and transportation systems in Anatolia as called Asia Minor of which Anatolian Seljuk State constitutes a major part. The Anatolian Seljuk State was not only a tribal confederation comprised of Turcoman nomadic groups or subgroups from Central Asia and Iran, but also the synthesis of the Christian-Byzantine social, cultural, economic institutions with the synthesis of the social and cultural values which were based on the sedentary or nomadic life styles of Turks transferring from Central Asia and Iran to Anatolia. So the founding Seljuk State has been importance in the urban history of Anatolia because of being the first Turkish-Islamic colonization and urbanization process in Anatolia. As a result of the founding the Seljuk State, Turks participated in settlement pattern of Anatolia in the 11th Century. In this process, the Seljuks re-organized but also the urban network not only the towns taken from Byzantine in Anatolia in terms of spatial and functional. It is considered that urban network and its spatial elements as the towns were organized in a hierarchical order in terms of the functional and spatial identities in the urban network. And also, spatial background of urban network and urban models as the spatial organizations were based on the land use policies and settlements practices transferring from the traditions of Turkish-Islamic States in Central Asia and Iran to Anatolia. The aim of this study is to examine the spatial reflections of the settlement practices of Turks upon the Anatolian geography during Seljuk period. Within this scope, the meaning of the concept of "the spatial reflections" is the impacts of the systems of defense, production-distribution systems, social-cultural organizations and land use policies on urban network and urban models or urban spatial organizations in Anatolia. In order to establish the settlement culture of Anatolia during Seljuk period, in terms of research source and its methodology, it is considered that the use of original historic and manuscript sources should be supported with their spatial dimension. Within this of the study framework, it is also considered that, the urban network and the urban spatial organizations of the Seljuk period are defined by using the maps and tables based on the manuscript sources and archaeological or architectural ruins of that period. The chronological sequence of this study was determined as the period from the end of 11th century, which the political, administrative sovereignty system of Anatolian Seljuk State began to form the background of the urban network of Seljuk period and Anatolian settlement system, to the end of 13th century, defined as the period of multi-political foundations during which the Seljuk sovereignty system ended and the "Turkish Beyliks" began to form. Within the context of the chronology mentioned above, in terms of historical geography and political-administrative conditions and settlement inheritance taken over, the spatial framework of this study was determined as the geography where during the Turkicization-Islamization process the Turkish domination was effective. During this period the southeastern parts of Anatolian geography was left outside of the spatial framework of the research due to the consideration of these regions as the hinterland of Arabic-Islamic culture. In order to put forward the settlement process of Turks in the Anatolian geography in terms of the charging political-military conditions and dynamic social-cultural formations, it is necessary to discuss the source and methodology at first. In accordance, the original sources related to the period and the methodology to be used was determined. Therefore, the urban network and urban models forming the spatial organization of the Anatolian-Turkish towns, which are considered to have been original in the Turkish-Islamic settlement process during the Seljuk period, are explained through the analysis of the spatial and demographic knowledge of the towns. Keywords: Anatolia, Seljuk, urban network, urban models