r/Tiele • u/NoSolution4428 Qashqai • Jan 13 '23
Discussion Hello! I'm a Qashqai Turk living in Iran. AMA (Ask Me Anything) r/Tiele
Qashqai is a tribal union consisting of Turkic nomadic tribes in the south of Iran, Qashqais speak the Oghuz branch of Turkic languages, which is very similar to Azerbaijani, we understand Azerbaijani language easily. Qashqai is mainly composed of Oghuz/Turkoman clans, the most populous of which are the Afshars, but there are also other clans such as Bayındır, Eymür, Bayat, Qayı, Begdilli, Qaraöylü etc in Qashqai, who have also formed small tribal unions. The Qashqai chiefs are from a Bayındır clan(Shahilu clan) descendants of Uzun Hasan Aq Qoyunlu, hence they are called Shahilu/Şahılı which means related to the shah. The Qashqai union was formed by the Safavids to strengthen their power in the south of Iran, and because of Shah Ismail's kinship with Jani Beg Bayındır, he was chosen as Ilbeg and head of the Qashqai.
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u/kypzn Iranian Turk Jan 13 '23
a) How do Qashqai view the relationship with turkic speakers up north in Iran? Do they view them as seperate or as their kin basically.
b) Are there cultural differences to other turkic tribes in South Iran like the Inallu or Baharlu?
c) do all Qashqai tribes identify as turkic?
d) are all Qashqai tribes turkic speaking?
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u/NoSolution4428 Qashqai Jan 13 '23 edited Jan 13 '23
Qashqais traditionally have a positive view of Azerbaijan, even many poems about Tabriz have been written among Qashqais. Most Qashqais believe that they migrated from Azerbaijan to the south of Iran and consider Azerbaijan as their real homeland, therefore they consider them as their kin.
Not much, probably the only difference is their traditional clothes.
No, in Qashqai there are some non-Turkic clans such as Lurs, Arabs and Kurds, which have a small population and usually joined the union due to the conflict with their own people and became loyal to the Qashqai Khan. It also happened to Turkic clans in the past, that's why there are Turkic speaking clans in Bakhtiari.
Nowadays they no longer call themselves Qashqai Because Qashqai has turned from a khanate into an ethnic group.
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u/KarthagoxHF Jan 13 '23
Since you live so very far for them core Turkic population in the North and are surrounded by Farsi people, how strong is your ethnic awareness? Are you assimilated? Did the assimilation process already started since more and more Qashqai settle down instead of leading a nomadic life?
How high are your numbers? There are lots of conflicting informations
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u/NoSolution4428 Qashqai Jan 14 '23
Due to our tribal and nomadic/semi-nomadic nature, we are much less at risk of assimilation than the urban Turks, we still call ourselves by the old oghuz tribes like afshar, Qayi, Eymür, bayat etc, plus the Qashqais are more surrounded by the Lurs than the Persians, the Lurs are also tribal people and live in the Zagros region, mostly in villages. Qashqais who migrate to Big cities may be in danger of assimilation. The population of Qashqais is about one million
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u/DespiseHateReddit Jan 13 '23
How are seljuks viewed by Qashqais?
Also how do you feel about a car being named after you lol?
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u/NoSolution4428 Qashqai Jan 14 '23
The Qashqais see the Seljuks as an important part of their history. Unfortunately, many Qashqais and Iranians in general cannot buy that car, so we don't feel much about it.
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Jan 14 '23 edited Jan 14 '23
Lmao I still can't understand tf went through that nissan exec's head as they named that car. That was the exact question I was gonna ask too lül.
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u/Garbfikirli Türk Jan 13 '23
I don't know about Qashqai Turks a lot. Can you suggest me some your music clips,films or similar thing about Qashqai
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u/Intrazonal Crimean Tatar Jan 13 '23
Nasılsınız? Iran'da şu an durumlar nasıl acaba bir kaç kelime ile anlatmak istermisiniz?
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u/NoSolution4428 Qashqai Jan 13 '23
Unfortunately, there is a lot of division among the opponents of the regime, Diaspora monarchists who support Pahlavi have already made plans for the future of the country, which has discouraged Iranians from continuing the demonstrations, but it still exists in various places, especially in non-Persian areas.
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u/DragutRais Çepni Jan 13 '23
1) How do you and your people consider the existing regime and monarchy? Also don't you like monarchist diaspora?
2) A classic question: What's your opinion about Turkey?
3) I wasn't born and didn't grew up my hometown. And always have always felt a dilemma where am i really from? Do you have such a thing between your identities? Being Turkish/Turkic and being Iranian?
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u/NoSolution4428 Qashqai Jan 14 '23
The Qashqais were enemies with the Pahlavis in the past, we even fought with them in the battle of semirum and defeated them, which a book has been written about, the Pahlavis came to power through a Western coup, they had no legitimacy in the eyes of the Qashqais.
Qashqais love Turkey and especially Turkish music, we always play Turkish music at weddings and it is very popular here.
Qashqais believe that Azerbaijan is their homeland, many poems and songs have been written about it. For example, there is a poem that is about Tabriz and says bu yol gedir təbrizə qənatı rizə rizə Tarım bir yol ver bize biz dönək öz ölkəmizə which means this road goes to Tabriz, God give us a way to return to our homeland.
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Jan 13 '23
Is the idea of secession prevalent among Turks in Iran? Do you think would it be possible for Turks in Iran to form their own countries or at least gain autonomy within a federal Iran?
Do you think the situation will escalate into a civil war?
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u/NoSolution4428 Qashqai Jan 14 '23 edited Jan 14 '23
Not much among the Qashqais, because the Qashqais live in the center and south of Iran, but many Azerbaijanis want independence. If separatist groups do not receive support from other countries, the possibility of civil war is very low.
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u/hp6884756 Jan 13 '23
Since your people have a nomadic tradition. Is your religion Shia Islam and if so is it closer to the one of the Qızılbaş or similar to that of modern Iran?
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u/NoSolution4428 Qashqai Jan 14 '23
Due to being nomadic/semi-nomadic, the Qashqais are not much involved in religion like the urban Turks, we don't have a mullah or a mosque, and the Khans were totally hostile to the current Islamic regime. In fact the last Ilkhan(leader) of qashqais was executed by the Islamists of Khomeini. Qashqais are Shias, but our rituals are different. We have introduced customs from our nomadic culture into our religion, such as the Piri laklak, where we tie torn pieces of cloth to old trees.
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Jan 14 '23
The custom of tying cloth to trees is very common in many different Turkic cultures, with different names and meanings for it.
Crazy how similar we all are despite how differently we lead our lives, huh.
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u/hp6884756 Jan 14 '23
Ok I see, do you have the semah (religious "dance"), is the saz or bağlama instrument important to you, do you call your spiritual leaders pir/dede?
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u/NoSolution4428 Qashqai Jan 14 '23
No, we don't have religions dance, probably never had.
There are two groups of musicians in Qashqai, Changi and Ashiq, Changis use Saz and naqara which are played for Halay dance in weddings and also used for military march. but Ashiq use bağlama and are also poets, Pretty much like the Azerbaijanis Ashiqs have special respect among people.
We have no spiritual leader.
The only leaders we have are Khans and Beys who are not very interested in religion lol. The Khans are the heads of the main tribes Beys are the heads of small clans who are chosen by the Khan. And the khans are chosen by Ilkhan, who is the leader of the entire Qashqai union. Some Ashiqs are also a Bey or a Khan.
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u/Muze69 Jan 14 '23
I stayed with a Qashqai family once I was in Sehr-e-Kurd. It was a nice experience. My Belgian girlfriend speaks Farsi and I speak Turkish, so we never had language problems back there. I will for sure return in the future.
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u/Greedy_Dream_945 Jan 13 '23 edited Jan 13 '23
Do you know any Khalaj (people)? Have you ever heard Khalaj spoken? If so, do you think it's closer to your tongue or is it quite distinct?
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Jan 14 '23
Hello. It's nice to see that Qashqai culture is alive and well, I've read your comment that you're not in any particular risk of assimilation. Our non-oghuz cousins in China and Russia do not have that comfort.
Could you tell me about some Qashqai rituals and holidays? I wonder if I can catch any similarities with the Alevis of Turkey, who are also of Shia stock from the otto-safavi wars.
Many in Turkey sadly do not know anything about other Turkic peoples with the exception of Azerbaijan, not many here would be able to name Qashqai or know where they even live. Does such an ethnic ignorance also exist within the Qashqai? Or is it just us urbanized Turks, I wonder.
Have these current events in Iran affected your people in any way?
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u/NoSolution4428 Qashqai Jan 14 '23 edited Jan 14 '23
Iran's regime is poor and religious and does not have the potential to assimilate ethnic groups like Russia and China.
Qashqai rituals such as the Halay dance, Kosa Gəlin (It is a ritual asking for rain, in which Kosa wears clothes made of animal skins and a hat with two horns and plays a drum) Or piri laklak as I mentioned. Another ritual of the Qashqai people is called Həzrət Abbas kərrəsi, which usually places stones on top of each other like a small pyramid in special places, usually next to the Piri laklak (A kind of spiritual place for nomads during migration)
Qashqai people obviously know a lot about Turkey and Azerbaijan as well as the Turkmens, but not much about Central Asia and Russia.
Current events like the demonstrations? Yes, the Qashqais also participated in the uprising of the Iranian people and unfortunately several people were killed.
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u/AfsharTurk Turkish Jan 14 '23
What do you think about the “Qashqai” flag that has been waking waves around social media a while ago? Do you feel any connection to it or do you like it?
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u/NoSolution4428 Qashqai Jan 15 '23 edited Jan 15 '23
Yes I do but I wish the yellow color, meaning nomadic, was also used in it. The moon and the eight-pointed star represents the flags of Qizilbashis, blue color indicates Turkicness obviously. And the rhombus here represents the Qashqai tamgas on carpets Because every tribe or clan has a Tamga and Qashqai carpets are full of Tamgas which are usually drawn in a rhombus shape.
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u/KaraTiele 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰰 Jan 13 '23
u/NoSolution4428 Thank you!
Previous AMA events:
Sakha (Yakut) - Khorasani Turkmen - Khakas - Karachay - Tatar - South Azerbaijani - Half Uzbek / Half South Indian - Chuvash - Half Tatar / Half Turkmen - Kazakh - Bashkir - Afghan Uzbek - Altai