Who was Ertugrul Gazi?

 Who was Ertugrul Gazi?

At the beginning of the 13th century Muslims by and large were facing a hard time. In the meantime, a new Empire started to spread on the globe when in the leadership of Genghis Khan a bloodthirsty Mongolian army attacked other areas to spread their Empire, then on one side while passing through Eastern Europe they reached Central Europe, while on the other side they proved their power in Siberia subcontinent China and Persian area very soon Mongol armies created a non-comparable history of cruelty and oppression all great empires were bowing their heads to Mongol cruelty. On the other hand, Corazon Empire conquered many areas of Khorasan, Iran, Syria and Iraq occupied by seljuk. At that time their power was at its peak. Genghis Khan named tornado moved towards Corazon Empire with his all cruelties and tore it into pieces. After the wrath of this Empire Turk tribes residing there started to migrate in search of a safe place. Most of the tribes were shepherds and Gypsy, wherever they saw greenery and water they placed their tents there and started living. Most of these tribes reached Iran and Syria while some of them migrated towards Egypt. One of these Turk tribes was named “Kayi” tribe was relatively stronger and a little bit more populated than others. This was a warrior tribe and its leader was Suleiman Shah. "Kayi" Tribe in the leadership of Suleiman Shah left his homeland Khorasan and went to Syria. On his way while crossing Euphrates River, Suleiman Shah drowned and couldn’t survive. Suleiman shah had four sons, songertakin, Gundado Ertugrul and Donedar. After the death of Suleiman Shah his tribe got separated. Songurtakin and gundadoo went to a lot with his families and companions, remainders chose Ertugrul as their leader because of his valor and bravery. Ertugrul Gazi had a brave fearless and warrior personality, he knew very well how to defend his tribe that's why he with his brother and his tribe which was consist of almost four hundred and twenty families headed towards Asia Minor and entered Seljuks Empire. At that time seljuk throne belonged to Sultan Alauddin Kekubad who was very famous because of his justice. When Ertugrul Ghazi was going to capital Konya with his tribe to seek refuge under Sultan Alauddin Kekubad on his way near Ankara. Ertugrul Ghazi saw two armies fighting with each other. Ertugrul Ghazi was familiar with none of the armies, but he whilst watching that one of them is less crowded and the other one is a huge army, he with his smallest army who were totally 420 only stood with the less crowded ones. He attacked the opponent army with these few soldiers suddenly and strongly opponent’s army got scared and thought that they might have got some help from somewhere. This army whilst it was winning lost the battle later on, it came to know that the army whom Ertugrul Ghazi helped was the army of Seljuk Sultan Alauddin Kekubad, it is not clear that the opposing army was of whom. Some say that that was the Byzantines army and many say that that was Tatari army. Sultan Alauddin Kekubad was very impressed by Ertugrul Ghazi’s bravery and his tribe was given the area of corikauk near Ankara. In its empire it was a hilly area Kayi tribe settled there. I t is said that Sultan Alauddin Kekubad had given this area to the Kayi tribe, so that the borders of this side can be protected from the attacks from Byzantine army. Sultan allowed them to conquer the areas along the border and add them to the Empire. This area was connected with the Byzantines border in a very short span of time Ertugrul impressed everyone with his bravery. After some time Sogut City was also allotted to Ertugrul Ghazi by the Sultan. The result of these victory was that many other Turkish tribes also joined Ertugrul Ghazi and accepted him as their chief, thus the power of Ertugrul Ghazi increased day by day and his influence began to be established in surrounding areas for a landlord to get such power and influence could have been matter of concern for Sultan Alauddin Kekubad ,but due to internal disorder and rebellions from state Chiefs in Asia Minor, the Seljuk Empire was at the last stage of decline although the glory of Seljuks was still prominent in Konya, but the government scope was very limited. On one side the Mongolians had occupied a large area while on the other Christian forces had reoccupied many old Byzantines provinces. Besides this many Seljuk leaders had established autonomous governments. The borders areas were usually in a state of war and there was always a threat of attack from Mongols. In such a situation instead of getting worried from the victories of Ertugrul Ghazi, Sultan had a sigh of relief so he rewarded Ertugrul Ghazi the location between yeni City and Bursa as a deputy of Alauddin Kekubad. Ertugrul Ghazi defeated a united army of Mongols and Byzantines. Sultan rewarded this city as well. Ertugrul Ghazi died at the age of 90. Halime’ hatun, wife a Ertugrul Ghazi, was the daughter of seljuk prince Ghiyas-uddin Massoud. Halima Hatun gave birth to three sons. After the death of Ertugrul Gazi, his successor was his youngest son Osman Gazi. Osman Gazi like his father was a true Muslim, brave and courageous person. He also continued the series of victories in1299 when seljuk empire was completely over. Osman Gazi announced his autonomous government in all his conquered areas; thus, the Ottoman Empire was established separately from the Seljuk Empire. So, a new empire appeared on the world map which survived for more than 600 years and which extended over three continents with an area of around 20 million square kilometers. Ertugrul Ghazi was buried in Sogut. His son Osman Gazi also built a mosque there, the current tomb of Ertugrul Ghazi was rebuilt in Sultan Abdul Hamid the second era.