Jelali revolts

Celali revolts (Turkish: Celalî ayaklanmaları), were a series of rebellions in Anatolia of irregular troops led by provincial administrations known as celalî, against the authority of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th and 17th centuries. They arose partly as an effort to attain tax privileges. The first revolt termed as such occurred in 1519, during sultan Selim I's reign, near Tokat under the leadership of Celâl, an Alevi preacher, and the name of the chief rebel was later used by Ottoman histories to define other uprisings of similar nature. Major Celali revolts occurred in 1526–28, 1595–1610, 1654–55, and 1658–59. Although the ethnic factor in these rebellions comply with the general Ottoman pattern of intermixtures, they can be safely described as having a largely Turkic base, especially in relation to the semi-nomadic or nomadic Turkmen clans that had taken part in the building of the empire with their Ottoman kinsmen, and saw themselves increasingly distanced from the power base, the central authority relying more on the devşirme system and corps. These rebellions are the largest and longest lasting in the history of the Ottoman Empire, had a serious impact on the levying and collecting of the taxes and taken a heavy toll for its Turkmen inhabitants.

The distinguishing characteristic of the revolts was that although they initially started out as a civil unrest in reaction against deteriorating living conditions, in time rebellious groups turned out against the people to be oppressors claiming land from common people, and such caused the continuation of the revolts to be against them. The major uprisings involved the sekbans (irregular troops of musketeers) and sipahis (cavalrymen maintained by land grants). The rebellions were not attempts to overthrow the Ottoman government but were reactions to a social and economic crisis stemming from a number of factors: a depreciation of the currency, heavy taxation, a decline in the devşirme system by admission of Muslims into the army, and an increase in the number and dominance of the janissaries (sultan's household troops) both in the capital Constantinople and in the provinces.

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