Diplomacy Between Center and Periphery in the Eurasian Imperial System (9th-10th Century): Case of Hexi Region

Öz

Since ancient times, various state concepts and structures have been established in the Eurasian geography, ranging from settled agricultural empires to mobile and global steppe nomadic empires. In addition to comprehensive empires that created centres of attraction, such as the Turkic Khaganates and the Chinese Dynasties, regional tribes, city-states, and provincial administrations with a high degree of autonomy due to their distance from the centre were other administrative elements. The fundamental motivation that unites all political structures, large or small, in the Eurasian geography and forces them to interact with each other is the Silk Road. In the 2nd century BC, the bipolar Silk Road Imperial system became evident with the policies of the Xiongnu/Hsiung-nu/Hun Empire in Central Asia and the Han Dynasty in China. The imperial system, which remained valid until the 10th-11th centuries AD, standardized the methods and terminology of peace, war, treaties, and political relations along the Silk Road and continued its existence through diplomatic procedures and institutions. In this study, the methods, execution, and types of diplomacy of the Silk Road diplomacy in the example of the Hexi/Gansu (河西) region in the 9th-10th centuries will be examined through the Dunhuang manuscripts. Instead of large empires, it is aimed to highlight the groups that are the main contractors of the Silk Road trade. However, their presence is faint in the Silk Road literature, focusing on how diplomacy was operated and implemented by local powers in the Hexi region, both among themselves and in their relations with major political powers.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Hexi
• Dunhuang
• Shazhou
• Uighur
• Gansu

Avrasya İmparatorluk Sisteminde Kansu (Hexi) Bölgesi Örneğinde Merkez-Çevre Diplomasisi (IX- X. Yüzyıl )

Öz

Avrasya coğrafyasında, antik dönemlerden beri yerleşik tarım imparatorluğundan, hareketli ve cihanşümul bozkır konar-göçer imparatorluklarına uzanan çeşitlilikte devlet konseptleri ve yapıları yerleşik hale gelmiştir. Türk Kağanlıkları ve Çin Hanedanlıkları gibi çekim merkezi yaratan büyük imparatorluklar yanı sıra bölgesel kabileler, şehir devletleri, merkezden uzaklığı nedeniyle özerklik derecesi yüksek eyalet yönetimleri diğer idare unsurlarıdır. Avrasya coğrafyasındaki büyük yahut küçük bütün siyasi yapıları birleştiren ve birbirleriyle etkileşime girmeye mecbur bırakan temel motivasyonlardan ve önemli etmenlerden biri ise İpek Yolu’dur. M.Ö. II. yüzyılda İç Asya’da Hun, Çin’de ise Han Hanedanı’nın politikalarıyla belirginleşen iki kutuplu İpek Yolu İmparatorluk sistemi ortaya çıkmıştır. Bu dönemden M.S. X-XI. yüzyıla kadar geçerliliğini sürdüren imparatorluk sistemi, İpek Yolu boyunca barışın, savaşın, antlaşmaların siyasi münasebetlerin icra şekillerini, terminolojisini belirlemiş, diplomatik usuller ve kurumlar yoluyla bu sistem varlığını sürdürmüştür. Bu çalışmada, IX-X. yüzyılda Hexi/Gansu bölgesi örneğinde İpek Yolu diplomasisinin usulleri, icra sureti ve diplomasi tipleri Dunhuang elyazmaları üzerinden irdelenecektir. Cesametli imparatorluklar yerine Hexi (河西) bölgesindeki yerel güçlerin hem kendi aralarında hem de büyük siyasi güçlerle münasebetinde diplomasinin işletilme ve uygulama biçimlerine odaklanılarak İpek Yolu literatüründe varlığı soluk olan ancak İpek Yolu ticaretinin ana yüklenicisi grupların belirginleştirilmesi amaçlanmıştır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Hexi
• Dunhuang
• Shazhou
• Uygur
• Gansu.

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