Babak Khorramdin

Arab Bābak Khurramdîn in , Pāpak Khorremî in Persan, Azeri Babek el-Khurremi in , Babek Hürremdin in Turkish, was one of the chiefs of the movement of the Khurramites ( the merry religion ), having lived between 795 (or 798 according to other sources) and January 838.

The movement of the Khurramites was a movement of independence located on the Azeri territory (left Iranian called in Turkish: Azerbaijani Güney Azerbaycan ( southernmost Azerbaïdjan ) and ) which fought against the caliphate Abbasside.

History

Its beginnings

In 755, Abû Muslim, which had been the spearhead of the Abbasids for their takeover, was assassinated by Al-Mansûr. The inhabitants of Khorasan in particular felt this assassination like the negation of their role in the inversion of the omeyyades. This caused many revolts and in return an increasingly hard repression.

Insurrection

Witness of the pressures which his people underwent, Bâbak joined the movement of the Khurramiya. The caliph Al-Mu' tasim designated a Persian general of origin, named Afchîn, to go to fight against Bâbak. Afchîn had the responsibility for the Arménie and Azerbaïdjan. Afchîn had the first success against an army of Bâbak and it sent the heads of one hundred enemy officers to the caliph. Afchîn moved then towards Ardebil and remained one month there. It establishes a fortified camp at the entry from the processions leading to the fortress from Bâbak and waited without anything to make of other. He imagined a stratagem to encourage Bâbak to leave his cutting off. He stated that a transport of the pay its soldiers would leave Ardebil a day given. He left free the entry of the Bâbak processions left the fortress for seizes this money and fell into a ambush. Bâbak could flee. During the winter Afchîn in vain tried to circumvent ravel them driving with the reference mark of Bâbak, while passing by the heights snow and the cold paralyzed its troops. In spring Afchîn accepted reinforcements as men and materials.

Bâbak had then the idea to require the support of the emperor of Byzance. This one entered to shift in Cilicie and taken again the town of Tarsus. Al-Mu' tasim then called upon the towns of Mosul, Samarra, Baghdad and of all the Iraq, It joins together an army of one hundred thousand men to take again the territory of Tarsus.

In spite of the risks, Afchîn went up the processions and managed to put the seat in front of the fortress of Bâbak. After many skirmishes and attempts at attack the fortress always held. Bâbak ends however up requiring to speak with Afchîn. He leaving his/her son as hostage it asked to remain in the fortress until grace of the caliph to him is granted by a sealed letter. Bâbak benefitted from the night to flee with some men. The grace of the caliph arrived ten days later.

In its Bâbak escape was betrayed by one of its former partisans. It was taken and given to the caliph to be carried out immediately.

This period of 816 with 837, during which Bâbak carried out the revolt, was very important for the conservation of the language and the Persian culture.

Its execution

Bâbak was carried out on January 4th 838 with Samarra One went to seek Bâbak, and one brought it to the palate assembled on an elephant, so that the people could see it. The caliph then made him cut the hands and the feet by surgeons, open the belly and cut the throat. The mutilated body was hung with the gibet, in Samarra, and the head, after being walked in all the cities of Iraq, sent in the Khorasan, where `Abd Allah Ben Tâhir made it also expose in all the cities; it was then planted on a post, with Nichapour. The brother of Bâbak, was sent to Baghdad, where the governor, made it carry out same manière.

A nationalist historical figure and debates

These last years there is a debate on the ethnic origins of Bâbak, even if to want to reduce an historical figure to a modern nationality goes against any objective concept. Certain nationalists Turkish want to make of Bâbak an Azeri . The Iranian S retain the opinion best established than it was Persian and than at the time of Bâbak the Turks had not reached the Azerbaïdjan yet.

From the Turkish point of view, the name of Bâbak would not prove its Persian origins because it would not be its true name. The name of some of its lieutenants for example Tarkhan would be Turkish, but Azra would be Arab, which shows obviously that this movement was interethnic and was a protest movement and of claim for freedom against the capacity of the caliphs. The presence of Moslems in this movement would seem to confirm this assertion.

Every year on June 30th a gathering takes place in the fortress of Bâbak with Kalayber, to celebrate the birthday of the birth of Bâbak. This festival takes the form of a claim of cultural recognition of the Azeri which form the greatest ethnic minority of Iran. The current Iranian authorities, repress these demonstrations considered as claims of independences supported by the nationalist parties Turkish.

From the Iranian point of view, Bâbak is a purely Iranian name. The Turks colonized Azerbaïdjan only several centuries later. Moreover Bâbak was a Zoroastrien and no source mentions Bâbak like a Turk.

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