Man of the Türkoman nomads from Bursa

Costume of a popular militia warrior from the Marmara Region. 19th & early 20th century.
Related to the dresses of Zeybek and Başıbozuk.

Zeybeks (or Zeibeks), were irregular militia and guerrilla fighters living in the Aegean Region of the Ottoman Empire from late 17th to early 20th centuries, generally of Turkic Yörük origins. Being a zeybek was generally a family tradition. Their leaders were regional celebrities, wearing the honorific title of ‘Efe’. The Zeybek costume and general appearance are well documented, due to the many photographs they had taken of themselves in the second half of the 19th century.

Başıbozuk (or bashi-bazouk; literally ‘damaged head’, meaning ‘free headed’, ‘leaderless’, ‘disorderly’) was an irregular soldier of the Ottoman army. They were particularly noted for their chronic lack of discipline.
Their appearance is well known to, not primarily through photographs, but through 19th century paintings (from Hamdi Bey, among others).

The weapons the warrior on this picture carries are: a ‘yatağan’ (short forward curved sabre), a ‘tabanca’ (single shot handgun) and a ‘kama’ (straight dagger). Not counting these weapons, this costume numbers up to twelve items. Three pieces of weaponry is an honest average; on old photographs one can often see them holding a second handgun and a rifle (‘tüfek’) too.

Note: The museum’s labeling as ‘nomad’ is somewhat misleading since all Turcoman groups in the Bursa region settled in villages before 1750; some of their annual festivals go even back to 1350, such as the Karakeçeli ‘Hıdırellez Şenlikleri’ of the Sorgun village, near Keles.

Correspondent: J.M.Criel, Antwerpen.
Sources: The Kavak Collection of Anatolian Costumes, Antwerpen/Belgium ;
‘Images d’Empire’ – The origins of photography in Turkey (Istanbul Fransız Kültür Merkezi).
‘Les costumes populaires de la Turquie’ (Hamdi Bey, 1873) & Website of ‘yoremguncel.com’.