Dr. İdris Kardaş
Barbaros, whose real name was Hızır Reis, was given the nickname Hayreddin, meaning “the good of the religion,” by Yavuz Sultan Selim himself. The Preveza Naval Victory he won against the Crusader Fleet in 1538 solidified Turkish dominance in the Mediterranean. September 27, the day this victory was won, is still celebrated today as Turkish Naval Forces Day.
Barbaros is the architect who transformed the Ottoman Empire from a mere land empire into a global naval power. Today, the historical legitimacy and DNA of Turkey’s ‘Blue Homeland’ geopolitical doctrine, which it pursues in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean, are directly based on Barbaros’s maps and conquests.
The tomb of the conqueror of the seas, Barbaros Hayreddin Pasha, is in Beşiktaş. During the Ottoman Empire, the Captains of the Sea and the Ottoman Navy would always anchor in Beşiktaş Bay before setting out on campaigns in the Black Sea or the Mediterranean.
The ships would line up in front of Barbaros Hayreddin Pasha’s tomb, and the sailors would climb the masts (perform çimariva) to recite prayers for the great founding admiral and salute him before setting sail. The personnel would stand at attention, motionless, without blinking their eyes.
Unfortunately, this centuries-old tradition was completely removed from the military calendar after the proclamation of the Republic, and for years, navy ships would simply pass by Beşiktaş as if on a routine voyage.
That is, until President Erdoğan’s directive brought this tradition back officially after the Blue Homeland Exercise in 2019.
Now, after every major exercise, Turkish warships enter the Bosphorus and salute Barbaros’s tomb in the authentic çimariva manner. You may recall that during the 100th anniversary ceremony of the Republic, the massive fleet of 100 ships, led by the TCG Anadolu, saluted President Erdoğan himself with this historic çimariva formation as they passed through the Bosphorus.
The Janissaries and Mehteran (Ottoman military band) welcoming world leaders coming to Türkiye for the NATO Summit were discussed, written about, and depicted extensively. However, these were not just elements considered visual shows; they never were. There is a much deeper mentality underlying them.
Let’s examine it together.
With the proclamation of the Republic, Türkiye experienced a rupture with its past, its history, its alphabet, its Mehter, its Hagia Sophia, and many other traditions. Consequently, a great void and an identity crisis were experienced. There are already many works and books on this subject. I also write about it from time to time, but today our focus is different. Today, let’s look at which traditions have re-entered our lives and history with President Erdoğan’s understanding of revival.
To avoid making the article too long, I will only mention a few.
One of the traditions that impressed me the most is the revival of the ceremony of opening the Hırka-i Saadet (the Holy Mantle of the Prophet) located in the Chamber of Sacred Relics in Topkapı Palace on the 15th day of the month of Ramadan during the Ottoman period. For the ceremony, calligraphers would specially prepare small pieces of fine muslin or handkerchiefs called “Destimal,” which had verses or poems (eulogies) praising our Prophet written on them.
The Sultan and state dignitaries would not touch the Prophet’s mantle directly; they would symbolically kiss and smell it by placing these handkerchiefs on it.
When the ceremony ended, these handkerchiefs would be gifted to the statesmen, who would bequeath that these sacred handkerchiefs be placed on their faces and buried with them when they died.
This most private and highest state-religion ritual of the Ottomans, which was shelved in 1922 with the Republic, was personally restarted by President Erdoğan in the Chamber of Sacred Relics in Topkapı Palace.
For this ritual, first initiated in 2017, President Erdoğan also goes to Topkapı Palace on the 15th day of Ramadan, personally opens the golden sarcophagus where the Mantle of the Prophet is kept, recites prayers, and begins distributing the destimal used to the participants.
Similarly, before the Hırka-i Saadet was opened for visitation in the middle of the Ottoman Ramadan, the room where the mantle was kept and the golden sarcophagus would be wiped with pure rose water brought from Isparta and Damascus, along with special scents, under the presidency of the Sultan.
President Erdoğan also revived this tradition. Before the Sacred Relics and Hırka-i Şerif programs he attends, that room and the sarcophagus in Topkapı Palace are washed with specially produced, pure rose water brought from Isparta and cleansed with incense, true to the original. President Erdoğan personally supervises and accompanies this cleansing process, re-implementing it at the state level.
Another example comes from the army.
Previously, in the military protocol, the flag handover ceremonies within the army were conducted only over modern Turkish Armed Forces regimental flags. The old Ottoman regimental flag culture and its delivery to the army with a ceremony at the level of the head of state is, in my opinion, one of the most original steps of President Erdoğan’s “tradition-building” strategy.
The flag in question is the standard of the 57th Infantry Regiment, which has a 129-year history and was one of the most elite units of the Ottoman Empire, almost all of whom were martyred in the Battle of Gallipoli.
After the war, this legendary banner had become a static museum object, preserved in military museums, mentioned in history books, but with no active role in the army protocol.
Starting from the 2010s, President Erdoğan brought this valuable banner out of the museum and transformed it into a living army ritual during the Gallipoli Naval Victory ceremonies.
In these ceremonies, in front of hundreds of thousands of people, President Erdoğan began personally kissing the 57th Regiment Banner three times, placing it on his forehead, and handing it over to the Minister of National Defense.
Throughout the history of the Republic, military banners featuring the three crescents, the phrase of Tawhid, and verses—seen as symbols of the empire—were completely kept out of official state ceremonies by the old regime.
With President Erdoğan’s step, the feeling that the army is not only the legitimate heir of the republic but also of the Ottoman military tradition was symbolically restored. Just like the Çimariva salute to Barbaros Pasha, a history was revived with a military ritual.
Of course, the opening of Hagia Sophia and the rituals during its opening also carry the meaning of reviving tradition in this sense.
On the opening day, the tradition of “Ascending the Pulpit with a Sword,” which had not been practiced for over a hundred years, was implemented at the state level on this meaningful day. Additionally, green Islamic banners symbolizing conquest and sovereignty were hung on the mosque’s minbar. These were practices that directly revived the Ottoman “Feth-i Mübin” (Clear Victory) law and the forgotten interior mosque state protocol.
For instance, another tradition—the guild organization (Ahi brotherhood) forming the economic and social backbone of the Ottoman and Seljuk empires—had remained merely a local festival in the Republic’s protocol.
However, during this period, the Ahi celebrations held in Kırşehir were placed directly under the auspices of the Presidency. President Erdoğan personally participated in the protocol, implementing the “Şed Kuşanma” (girding the belt) ritual—symbolizing the transition from apprenticeship to mastery in the traditional trades hierarchy and loyalty to the state—at the level of the head of state, and he himself symbolically wore this belt.
Another example: The vehicles of foreign heads of state entering the premises of the Presidential Complex are now escorted by mounted cavalry carrying Turkish flags and the flags of the guest country, symbolizing the traditional Turkish cavalry unit. This is a direct integration into modern protocol of the Ottoman tradition of ambassadors being met by Sipahis and mounted guards and brought to the palace courtyard.
In the Ottoman Empire, before Ramadan every year, the Surre Procession, carrying the gifts, gold, and specially embroidered Kaaba covers that the Sultan would send to the people of Mecca and Medina (the Two Holy Sanctuaries) and the holy lands, would be bid farewell with prayers from the palace. This state ceremony had also completely faded into history.
During President Erdoğan’s tenure, this tradition was institutionally revived through the “Surre Procession Tradition and Sacred Relics” ceremonies under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and the Presidency. The “state’s salute of allegiance to the Two Holy Sanctuaries and the sacred” was symbolically re-added to the official calendar with authentic rituals, prayers, and exhibitions in Topkapı Palace.
Let’s continue with another military tradition.
In the Ottoman military organization, there were green military banners with verses representing conquest and Islam, carried in front of the army heading to the front. In the modern army structure, this tradition continued only in the form of modern designs for regimental flags.
Before and during the cross-border military operations (Euphrates Shield, Olive Branch) carried out towards Syria, historical military banners embroidered with conquest verses and copies of the Quran were personally presented by the President to some commanders of special forces units and operational headquarters. The ceremonial logic conducted with the name of war and operation is a direct adaptation of the Ottoman rituals for sending off the “Ordu-yı Humayun” (Imperial Army) to campaign.
And finally, the Mehteran…
Nevbet was the military music ritual played at certain times of the day and at state ceremonies in Islamic and Turkish states (Seljuk and Ottoman), symbolizing the ruler’s sovereignty, independence, and the power of the state.
The tradition of playing only Western-style military band marches at welcome ceremonies at the Presidential Complex and on national holidays, such as the NATO welcome, was relaxed.
The massive Historical Turkish Music Ensemble and Mehteran, established under the Presidency, began to revive the tradition of “Striking the Nevbet” in the official state protocol. The nevbet tradition is now performed as a declaration of state sovereignty during the entry of foreign leaders into the Complex or during official reception hours.
The Mehter, which so deeply influenced Western music and inspired musicians like Mozart and Beethoven, had long been seen as a symbol of the old era, banned, ignored, and forgotten.
There are many such practices that revive traditions and sometimes build tradition with objects of high symbolic value from the past.
If these practices are read as a frozen traditionalism that copies the past as it is, the issue becomes oversimplified. On the contrary, we are talking about a conscious revival of tradition, aesthetically designed with modern mass media, belonging to today’s world. A frigate saluting Barbaros Pasha possessing the latest technology of the new age but giving the salute in the Ottoman tradition is the most perfect summary of this revival.
The radical Westernization moves of the early Republican period had shelved the Ottoman and Seljuk state rituals accumulated over centuries by declaring them old and invalid at once. The revival movements carried out by President Erdoğan are an effort to bridge the distance opened in social and institutional memory with symbolic bridges, rather than creating an invented past.
President Erdoğan is trying to ensure that the people and the state establish a genuine connection with their own roots. This cannot be read as Ottomanism or bringing back the Ottomans, as some claim; these discussions are meaningless. The goal of these efforts is to add historical and spiritual depth and legitimacy to modern republican leadership—that is, to entrench the republic.
Undoubtedly, alongside the infrastructure and superstructure, the defense industry, President Erdoğan’s greatest legacy to a modernized Türkiye is these moves of entrenchment, the efforts to revive tradition. Let us recognize its value today, for our children will feel its impact much more profoundly in the future.
Source: Habertürk.com
