Bektash Beg Torkman, also commonly referred to as Bektash of Kakheti (died 1615), was a

Safavid Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...

military leader, who was the first member of the

Qizilbash Qizilbash or Kizilbash ( az, Qızılbaş; ota, قزيل باش; fa, قزلباش, Qezelbāš; tr, Kızılbaş, lit=Red head ) were a diverse array of mainly Turkoman Shia militant groups that flourished in Iranian Azerbaijan, Anatolia, the ...

to govern

Kakheti Kakheti ( ka, კახეთი ''K’akheti''; ) is a region (mkhare) formed in the 1990s in eastern Georgia from the historical province of Kakheti and the small, mountainous province of Tusheti. Telavi is its capital. The region comprises eigh ...

Biography

Bektash's father was an influential

commander named Mohammad Khan Torkman, while his mother was a daughter of king

Alexander II of Kakheti Alexander II ( ka, ალექსანდრე II) (1527 – March 12, 1605) of the Bagrationi Dynasty, was a king of Kakheti in eastern Georgia from 1574 to 1605. In spite of a precarious international situation, he managed to retain relative ...

. As Alexander II was the father of

Constantine Constantine most often refers to: * Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I * Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria Constantine may also refer to: People * Constantine (name), a masculine given na ...

, and Constantine himself was married to a sister of Bektash, Bektash and Constantine were brother-in-laws as well as cousins at the same time. According to Professor Hirotake Maeda, this was part of king Abbas I (r. 1588–1629) intentions to make the Bagrationis and Qizilbash leaders related to each other by blood, and to incorporate them into Safavid elite society. A member of the "Torkman tribe", who traditionally held the governorship of

Tabriz Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the List of largest cities of Iran, sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quri Chay, Quru River valley in Iran's historic Aze ...

, Bektash was sent to Kakheti by Abbas I together with Prince Constantine and fellow Torkman tribesmen in 1604-1605. In the ensuing period in Kakheti, Constatine killed his own father Alexander II and Prince Giorgi and controlled Kakheti for a period, but the Georgians soon revolted and Constantine was killed as a result. Ten years later, when the shah himself led a punitive expedition to Georgia by which Safavid Iranian rule over eastern Georgia (

Kartli Kartli ( ka, ქართლი ) is a historical region in central-to-eastern Georgia traversed by the river Mtkvari (Kura), on which Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, is situated. Known to the Classical authors as Iberia, Kartli played a crucial role ...

, Kakheti) would be decisively cemented, Bektash was officially appointed as the first Qizilbash governor of Kakheti. In 1615, during the revolt in Georgia against the Safavid rule, Bektash was killed.

References

Sources

* 1615 deaths Year of birth unknown Safavid governors of Kakheti Iranian people of Georgian descent Iranian Turkmen people 17th-century people from Safavid Iran {{Georgia-bio-stub