Upon the demand of the Idyll Bulgarians that were called as Saqâlibe (singular form: Saqlab) in the Arabian resources, Abbasi Caliph sent them the qualified people to teach the religion of Islam and to construct mosques and pulpits. Ibn Fadlan who had participated in the committee sent wrote down his observations in the course of this journey. (The other branch of Bulgarians that passed through the north of the Black Sea and came down to the Balkans adopted the Christianity in the year of 863 and they became Slavs. Those that live in Bulgaria are from this branch.) In the dialect of the Bulgarian Turks in Tataristan, there are very beautiful Turkish words that have been sued for centuries. The words used are bulme (compartment) instead of oda (room), baş gün (first day) instead of pazartesi (Monday), ürmücek uyası (spider's pink) instead of örümcek ağı (spider's web), aşkazan (kettle of food) instead of mide (stomach), etc. It is beyond doubt that the Muslims that use the northern dialect of Turkish language in Tataristan are Turks. The word of "Tatar" is a label that identifies their identity for them. In the course of time, the word of "Tataristan" should be changed with the term of "Kipchakistan". On the other hand, the real Tatars have been observed in Anatolia until the fifteenth century. When the Mongolians defeated the Anatolian Seljuk State in Kösedag War in the year of 1243, Anatolia was invaded by the Mongolians (Tatars).
Upon the collapse of the Seljuk State, several bey principalities emerged. Among these principalities, the Ottoman Principality was the most sincere one in respect of the fidelity to the Islamic values. While the other principalities had fought with each other, the Ottomans attempted their activities for conquests against the Byzantine and Europe. They became an important state within a short period and the fourth ruler, Yildirim Bayezid captured the environs of Sivas and Tokat from the Tatar tribes.
There were some groups known as Tatar (Mongolian) tribes in Anatolia. They were called as the crew of Kara Tatar (Black Tatar). They were the tribes sent by Jenghiz Khan Empire (by the Mongolians) to Anatolia in order to supervise the Seljuk State. They were called as the peregrine people and settled in the regions of Kayseri and Sivas.Yildirim had protected the aforesaid group (Kara Tatar), and he did not collect taxes from them. He only got the advantage of the war capabilities of this group in the course of a war and he had used them in his army in nearly all wars.
Afterwards, when Tamburlaine invaded Anatolia, Tamburlaine promised that special privileges of exemption would be granted to the beys of Kara Tatar group. Thus, he provided their support and they were on the side of Tamburlaine against Yildirim. While Tamburlaine withdrew from Anatolia, he did not want this group to stay in this region and he forcibly exiled them back to the Asian steppe lands.
Yildirim's son, Celebi Mehemmed had seen three thousands and five hundreds of tents within the environs of Iskilip. Then, he learned that they were the "clan of Minnet Bey from Tatar leaders of bandits". Upon this news, he ordered for the settlement of all these people within the environs of Filibe in the Balkans. Today, the places where these Tatars had settled is called as "Tatar Bazaar".
Therefore, it is obvious that if the Mongolian (Tatar) domination would have continued in Anatolia and if the Ottoman State or any other strong political establishment would not have been founded, those living in Anatolia would probably be called as "Tatars" like those living in the northern regions of the Black Sea due to the Mongolian dynasties that rule them. Accordingly, this word would be the political label of these people, rather than an ethnical word. Similarly, like in Gok Horde and in the other khanates established pursuant to this state, the dominant Mongolian (Tatar) dynasty and those who were from Mongolian origin would have become Turks in Anatolia. On the other hand, the identification of this tribe called as "Tatar" was used as "Mongolian" pursuant to the period of Jenghiz Khan. The term of Mongolian became established in Mongolia and Central Asia; but this term has not ever become widespread in the western regions of the Mongolian Empire.
Afterwards, we have observed that all the Turkish peoples in Russia and Europe excluding the Ottomans were called as "Tatars". As it is known, the mother tongue of a person is the most important element that indicates his lineage and origin. If there is a difference in speech and pronunciation in the usage of the language, this difference is called as "accent" or "pronunciation" such as Erzurum accent, Kayseri pronunciation, etc. When this difference is reflected in the literature, it is called as "dialect". There are various classifications of the Turkish dialects; they are considered as dialects with their most significant lines:
1- Anatolian Dialect that we call as "Turkish Language" (Oguz Dialect, Western Dialect, Ottoman Dialect).
2- Azerbaijani Dialect: Its greatest representative: the famous poet Fuzulî.
3- Turkish in Turkestan (Chagatai language, Hakanî Dialect, today's Uzbek language). Its greatest poet:: Ali Şir Nevâi
4- Northern Dialect spoken by Crimean and Kazan Turks that is also called as Tatar language (Istanbul Turkish was spoken in Yalıboyu in Crimea, and Tatar language was spoken in the north and central regions.)
Conclusion: The word of "Tatar" had been used instead of the word of "Mongolian" in the thirteenth century. Tatars (Mongolians) had captured China, Turkestan, Iran, Anatolia, Iraq, Syria, Siberia, Russia, Eastern Europe, Crimea and Poland in the thirteenth century.In those times, the descendants of the Gokturk, Huns, Pecenek, Kipchak and Bulgarian Turks lived in the north of the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea. When Tatars (Mongolians) captured all of these regions in the thirteenth century, there were new Turkish groups that came from Turkestan in their armies that accomplished these invasions. The crowded Turkish groups that had settled in the north of the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea in the past and that came from the Mongolian army lived under the domination of the Mongolians. The Turks that had lived in the north of the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea under the Mongolian (Tatar) domination were called as "Tatar" as a political label.
Nowadays, the Muslims that live in the north of the Black Sea and in Russia and speak with the northern Turkish that is called as "Tatar language" are the descendants of the people stated above. As a conclusion, the word of "Tatar" is not a term that indicates the lineage in the twentieth century. In other words, it is not an ethnical term. It is a term that indicates the historical identity. It is just like that every person living under the domination of Ottomans was "Ottoman", and submissive to "Ottomans", the citizen of Ottomans; all the people that were Armenian, Jews, Greek, Arabians, Circassians, Georgians, Albanians, etc. were "Ottomans". The northern Turks living under the Tatar (Mongolian) domination were Tatars in the same way. In brief, the Russian Muslims that are called as "Tatar" in the twentieth century are not Mongolians. They are the Turks whose ancestors had lived under the Mongolian (Tatar) domination and who had provided the Mongolians to become Turks.
The End
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