Ermeni Kaynaklarında Sultan Melikşah İmajı ve Türk Hâkimiyet Telakkisi
The Image of Sultan Melikşah and the Turkish Sovereignty Concept in the Armenian Sources

Summary/Abstract: In the historical sources of the Armenians, who were the closest witnesses of the Turkish incursions and the first interlocutors of the Turks, in the process of the conquest and Islamization of Anatolia, we encounter a very negative Turkish/Muslim image, particularly on Seljuks. In the literature, which has been formed in a long period, there is content full of attacks, insults, and slanders in a personal, national and religious sense; the events and the sultans, who were the perpetrators of the events are portrayed very badly, until Melikşah who represent of the great age of the Seljuk state. Since this time period represents the establishment and rise of the state, the most intense conflicts in the direction of conquest occurred in this phase, and this situation negatively affected the image of Tuğrul Bey, and Alp Arslan reflected in the sources. However, with the martyrdom of Alp Arslan, the language of Armenian sources changes positively; Melikşah appears as an ideal statesman, a benevolent father, and a merciful protector. This change of attitude of the writers is due to the structural difference between the aforementioned sultans and the Melikşah period. It is understandable that there are significant differences in the language of expression between the turbulent period when the conquest movements were most intense and the prosperous environment that spread all over the subjects of the Melikşah period, which inherited a strong state from his father, Alp Arslan. The Turkish Sovereignty Concept and the Father Figure in the records about Melikşah draw attention especially. From this point of view, the study aims to explain the image of Sultan Melikşah in the Armenian writer’s records by comparing them with Islamic sources.

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