The first Mongol khan to become a Muslim: Who is Berke Khan?

Photo: Drawings about Berke Han are based on descriptions in period sources.

Genghis Khan divided the great Mongol Empire he founded among his four sons during his lifetime.

Although Batu remained the oldest member of the dynasty after Ögeday's death and was offered to become a great khan, he did not want to become a great khan.

Batu Khan ruled his state according to Genghi laws and Mongol-Turkish customs. He also benefited from local elements in his administration. Batu, a shamanist, generally had a tolerant approach to his family and people regarding religion during his rule. He even welcomed his brother Berke's conversion to Islam.

Berke Khan (died 1266) was a grandson of Genghis Khan and a Mongol military commander and ruler of the Golden Horde (division of the Mongol Empire) who effectively consolidated the power of the Blue Horde and White Horde from 1257 to 1266. He succeeded his brother Batu Khan of the Blue Horde (West), and was responsible for the first official establishment of Islam in a khanate of the Mongol Empire. Following the Sack of Baghdad by Hulagu Khan, his cousin and head of the Mongol Ilkhanate based in Persia, he allied with the Egyptian Mamluks against Hulagu. Berke also supported Ariq Böke against Kublai in the Toluid Civil War, but did not intervene militarily in the war because he was occupied in his own war against Hulagu and the Ilkhanate.

When Batu Khan died in 1256, his eldest son Sartak and then his younger son Ulakçı took the throne. After these two brothers died in the same year, there were no candidates left for the throne from the Batu family. After a short-term conflict, Berke, who converted to Islam in his youth, was elected as the head of the Jochi nation.

Berke, whose name means "tough" in Mongolian, was the grandson of Genghis, the son of Cuci, and the younger brother of Batu Khan.

Berke, who has almost no information about his childhood and youth in the sources, most likely acted together with his older brother Batu during this period.

Berke, who ascended to the throne in 1256, first had to deal with the internal rebellions that emerged. The Khan of the Golden Horde, who suppressed the uprisings in Galicia and the Russian Principalities in a short time, invaded Poland and Lithuania.

After these, the real big problem that awaited him was the sister state Mongol Ilkhanate ruling in Iran. Genghis Khan, his dynasty during his lifetime; said that one-third of the lands obtained during the invasions in the west should be given to the Khan in the center and one-third should be given to the Batu family. This request, which was meticulously implemented during the time of Ögeday, was neglected during the time of his successor Güyük. Commanders and administrators were appointed to Eastern Anatolia and Azerbaijan, which were normally Batu Khan's fortifications, contrary to his wishes.

Hülâgû was the brother of the Great Mongol Khan Mengü and the grandson of Genghis Khan. Around the same time that Berke came to the throne, he was assigned by his brother to invade part of today's Iran and the entire Middle East.

When Hülâgû reached the city of Gaza, he received the news of the death of his brother, the great Khan Mengü. Hülâgû, who left an army here under the command of his beloved assistant Ketboğa, in order to take part in the struggle for the throne, quickly headed towards Central Asia.

For the Great Mongol Khanate; Mengü's brothers, Kubilay and Arık Boğa, were fighting in the capital Karakorum. Berke Khan supported Arık Boğa in this struggle, and Hülâgû supported his brother Kubilay against his other brother. This fight for the throne would thus last for three years. Berke was angry with Hülâgû because of the invasion of Baghdad and the massacres. In addition to this situation, Hülâgû claimed rights over Azerbaijan. Ignoring Berke, Hülâgû declared himself as khan in Tabriz, which was under his jurisdiction. He had the tax officials and merchants of the Golden Horde Khanate in Azerbaijan massacred. Thereupon, Berke sent an embassy to warn Hülâgû. Hülâgû also had the members of this delegation killed.

Sending a message to his followers in Azerbaijan, Berke ordered them to either return to the lands of the Golden Horde or take shelter in the Mamluk lands. In those days, Sultan Baybars was on the Mamluk throne. Baybars contacted Berke, whom he heard was a Muslim, against Hülâgû. By sending valuable gifts to Berke, he was provoking him against Hülâgû.

Upon Berke's order, many Golden Horde followers in Azerbaijan took refuge in Sultan Baybars. These refugees served in various positions in the Mamluk army and palace. The tension between the Berke-Hülâgû cousins was completely broken when Kubilay, supported by Hülâgû, won the struggle for the throne of the Great Khanate.

By 1263, the Golden Horde-Ilkhanate war was inevitable. Baybars sent ambassadors to Berke, advising him that Islam came before kinship and that he should go on an expedition against Hulagu. As a result of all the events, Berke Khan gathered a large army and went on an expedition against Hulagu. Berke was encouraging his Muslim soldiers to fight with the motivation of jihad, and his non-Muslim Mongol soldiers to fight with the discourse that Hulagu had betrayed Genghis Khan. Hülâgû's army met him north of the Kur River. Berke Khan's army won the first battle that took place here. Unable to hold on, the Ilkhanid forces retreated first to Derbent and then to the Terek River.

Here, the Ilkhanid soldiers, who were defeated by a final attack by Berke's nephew Nogay, were largely drowned when the ice broke while trying to escape over the frozen Terek River. Hülâgû escaped from the battlefield. Historians report that Berke, who was visiting the battlefield, said with sadness:

May God shame Hulagu who killed the Mongols with the Mongolian sword. If we were together we could conquer the whole earth...

This victory of Berke was the third major defeat of the Mongol forces.

Hülâgû, whose armies suffered two major defeats in short succession, had to turn to a calmer policy until his death in 1265. Berke Khan also fought with Hülâgû's son Abaka after his death.

Berke's request to have a mosque built in Tabriz and Abaka's alliance with Byzantium against the Golden Horde brought the two Mongol khanates face to face again. In fact, the main reason why the conflict continued was the Azerbaijani lands that could not be shared. Here, the Ilkhanate was defeated in border conflicts in which the Khans did not participate. When Berke Khan, who gathered a large army to get a definitive result, reached the edge of the Kur River in 1266, the angel of death had already reached him. Berke Khan's body was taken to the capital Palace, as per tradition, and he was buried there. Today, only a small amount of ruins remain from the city of Saray, which Ibn Battuta praised in his travelogue.

After Berke's death, Mengü Timur, the grandson of his older brother Batu, sat on the throne of the Golden Horde. Berke Khan's death left the Golden Horde-Mamluk-Anatolian Seljuk alliance inconclusive.