Gülnar Hatun (aka Büyük Ece, c. 731-769) was a semi legendary Turkic woman. (Hatun is actually a title meaning "lady".) Very little is known for certain about her.

Life

She was born in 731 to Yahşi and his wife Duru. According to unsourced claims the family descended from a branch of Göktürk family. Her family was in the Dörtkuyu village close to

Merv Merv (, ', ; ), also known as the Merve Oasis, was a major Iranian peoples, Iranian city in Central Asia, on the historical Silk Road, near today's Mary, Turkmenistan. Human settlements on the site of Merv existed from the 3rd millennium& ...

, what is now in

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

. Merv was under

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...

rule and the

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic of Turkey * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic lang ...

in Merv were fighting against forced proselytising. Both Gülnar's and her fiancé Yirbağı's fathers were killed by Umayyad general

Nasr ibn Sayyar Naṣr ibn Sayyār al-Lāythi al-Kināni (; 663 – 9 December 748) was an Arab general and the last Umayyad governor of Khurasan in 738–748. Nasr played a distinguished role in the wars against the Turgesh, although he failed to decisively co ...

during the reign of Caliph

Marwan II Marwan ibn Muhammad ibn Marwan (; – 6 August 750), commonly known as Marwan II, was the fourteenth and last caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 744 until his death. His reign was dominated by a Third Fitna, civil war, and he was the l ...

. Although Umayyads were replaced by the

Abbasids The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 CE), from whom the dynasty takes i ...

in 750, during the early years of the Abbasid rule Abbasid policy was not much different than that of the Umayyad. After Yırbağı was also killed, Gülnar with a large partisan group escaped to

Al-'Awasim ''Al-ʿAwāṣim'' (, "the defences, fortifications"; sing. ''al-ʿāṣimah'', , "protectress") was the Arabic term used to refer to the Muslim side of the frontier zone between the Byzantine Empire and the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates in Cil ...

, a buffer region between the Abbasid and the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

s, what is now in south

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. In al Awasim, Gülnar began fighting against Abbasids and in 769 she too was killed during a clash around Gülek Pass (Cilician Gates of the antiquity).

Legacy

In 1950 the Turkmen town Hanaypazar in

Mersin Province Mersin Province (), formerly İçel Province (), is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality in southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast between Antalya Province, A ...

was renamed

Gülnar Gülnar is a municipality and district of Mersin Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,416 km2, and its population is 27,889 (2022). It is south-west of the city of Mersin. Geography The town of Gülnar is inland on a plain high in the Taurus Mo ...

. Now Gülnar is a district center. According to one view the town (now neighborhood of Gülnar)

Büyükeceli Büyükeceli is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Gülnar, Mersin Province, Turkey. Its population is 2,529 (2022). Before the 2013 reorganisation, it was a town (''belde''). Geography Büyükeceli had been founded on the sou ...

was also named after Gülnar Hatun (also known as Büyük Ece).Saadet Bilir's page

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hatun, Gulnar 730s births 769 deaths Gülnar District Turkic people Women in medieval European warfare Women in war in West Asia