After the death of

Ertuğrul Ertuğrul or Ertuğrul Gazi ( ota, ارطغرل, Erṭoġrıl; tk, ; died ) was a 13th century bey, who was the father of Osman I. Little is known about Ertuğrul's life. According to Ottoman tradition, he was the son of Suleyman Shah, the ...

's father, the

Oghuz Turkic The Oghuz languages are a sub-branch of the Turkic language family, spoken by approximately 108 million people. The three languages with the largest number of speakers are Turkish, Azerbaijani and Turkmen, which, combined, account for more t ...

Kayı tribe was divided when Ertuğrul's elder brothers, Gündoğdu Bey and Sungurtekin Bey, decided to migrate to

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

, while Ertuğrul and his younger brother Dündar wanted to migrate to

Söğüt Söğüt (, ; Greek: Θηβάσιον or Θηβάσιο, ''Thêbásion'') is a town and district in Bilecik Province, Turkey. It is in the Marmara region in the north-west of the country, with an area of , bordering Bilecik to the west, Gölpaz ...

Sungur Tekin and Gündoğdu

The only information existing about the lives of Ertuğrul's elder brothers is about what they did before the division of the

Kayı tribe Kayı can refer to: * Kayı (tribe) The Kayı or Kayi tribe (Middle Turkic: قَيِغْ ''qayïγ'' or simply ''qayig''; tr, Kayı boyu, tk, Gaýy taýpasy) were an Oghuz Turkic people and a sub-branch of the Bozok tribal federation. In hi ...

Biographies

Sungurtekin ( ota, سنقوردكن) worked as a spy for the Seljuks in Ögedai's army and passed on the information he got but was possibly killed when he was caught. However, according to the latest findings, he returned to the tribe. Gündoğdu Bey ' ( ota, كونطوغدى) took part in the Battle of Yassıçemen where he fought alongside his brother, Ertuğrul, and Sultan Alaaddin Keykubad I of the Sultanate of Rum. After this, Ertuğrul clothed Gündoğdu with something called ''Hilat'', an armour worn after victory. It is unknown whether Gündoğdu Bey's mother was actually

Hayme Hatun Hayme Hatun ( ota, حائمہ خاتون), also known as Hayma Ana. (Mother Hayma), was the grandmother of Osman I, founder of the Ottoman Empire and the mother of Ertuğrul Gazi, Gündoğdu and the leader of the Kayı clan of the Oghuz Turks ...

as some historians suggest that Hayme Ana was the second wife of

Suleyman Shah Suleyman Shah ( ota, سلیمان شاه; Modern tr, Süleyman Şah) was, according to Ottoman tradition, the son of Kaya Alp and the father of Ertuğrul, who was the father of Osman I, the founder of the Ottoman Empire. Early Ottoman genealo ...

Gündüz Alp Gündüz Alp was the likely father of Ertuğrul (13th century) and grandfather of Osman I, the founder of the Ottoman Dynasty. According to some sources, the name of one of the sons of Ertuğrul was also Gündüz Alp, and thus the brother of Osma ...

Division of the tribe

There isn't much information about the older brothers of

, however, one of the things that they are known for is that they migrated to Ahlat rather than

, which was where Ertuğrul migrated from

Sivas Sivas (Latin and Greek: ''Sebastia'', ''Sebastea'', Σεβάστεια, Σεβαστή, ) is a city in central Turkey and the seat of Sivas Province. The city, which lies at an elevation of in the broad valley of the Kızılırmak river, is ...

. Most of the tribe wanted to migrate to Central Asia, their homeland, and therefore, 1000 people migrated to Central Asia with the older brothers, and 400 people migrated with the younger brothers. According to sources,

was with

in this migration. The reason why Ertuğrul and Dündar decided to migrate to Söğüt was either that they wanted to escape the Mongol onslaught, what the Turkmen tribes had been doing for decades, or that they wanted to populate the area gifted to Ertuğrul by Keykubad I with Oghuz Turks.

Aftermath

Gündoğdu Bey and Sungurtekin Bey lived unremarkably quiet lives and only verbal accounts of them were told by different people through time. Hence, they were forgotten about as time passed and they were said to not be "paid attention to" as a punishment for not migrating with Ertuğrul. Not mentioned in Mongol records, it was also said that they were attacked in a great Mongol invasion where they suffered big losses. As they silently disappeared from history, not even their graves could be found till this day.

In modern days

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

, the Kayı tribe is one of the main divisions of the Geklen Turkmens living in the Balkan Region and consists of the following clans: ''adnakel, ak kel, alatelpek, bagly, barak, burkaz, ganjyk, gapan, garabalkan, garawul, garagol, garagul, garadaşly, garakel, garga, garyşmaz'' and others. The Kayı are also a clan among the Bayat Turkmens of the

Lebap Region Lebap Region ( tk, Lebap welaýaty/Лебап велаяты from the Persian ''Lab-e āb'') is one of the regions of Turkmenistan. It is in the northeast of the country, bordering Afghanistan, Uzbekistan along the Amu Darya. Its capital is ...

. The Kayıs in Turkmenistan probably migrated with Gündoğdu Bey and Sungurtekin Bey and thus it is very likely that they indeed survived after their migration to Central Asia.

In popular culture

In the Turkish TV series, ''Diriliş: Ertuğrul'' and its sequel, '' Kuruluş: Osman'', Sungurtekin Gazi is played by the Turkish actor Sezgin Erdemir. In '' Diriliş: Ertuğrul'', Gündoğdu Bey was portrayed by the Turkish actor Kaan Taşaner. The Kayı were also divided in the series.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Division of the Kayi tribe 13th-century people from the Ottoman Empire Oghuz Turks