An investigation on “Alevi City” which takes place in Divanu Lugati’t Turk

Abstract

In Dîvânu Lugâti’t-Türk which was written in XI. century by Kâsgarlı Mahmud, the name of a city “Beldetü’l ‘Aleviyye” appears. “Beldetü’l ‘Aleviyye” which can be translated as “Alevi City” has great importance in Kâsgarlı Mahmud’s map. However, there is no research and explanation on this city. The present study tries to investigate the location of the “Alevi City”, the geographical location coincides in today’s map, the civilizations that has lived in it, and the origin of the name of the city. The study is composed of following sections: introduction, methodology, the location of “Alevi City”, its history and conclusion. In the introduction part, the concepts relating to the subject of the study was explained and in the methodology part, the methods used in the present study was explained. The identification of geographical location of “Alevi City” is our third section. The following geographical features exists aroUnd Alevi City: In the North Cafu city, in the West Kadınlar city, in the Northeast Cabarka, in the South East Beşbalık, in the South West İli River. Under the fourth title, the expansion of Islam in Central Asia, the existence of Arabs in Central Asia, relations with China and, nationalities lived in Alevi City, historical events that affected the geographical location, and immigrations it was exposed to was dealt with according to the framework of Hodja Ahmed-i Yesevi. In the conclusion, part contains the evaluation that we reached on the base of our hypothesis about the Alevi City. We believe that the study is important since it deals with an important topic that has not been discussed until now and it presents new information related to the concept of Alevism.