Abstract:

Since the first half of the 15th century there is no agreement between historians, linguists, ethnographs, etc. on the meaning and etimology of the term Ahriyan/Ahiryan found in the Ottoman sources. There are various opinions about the term Ahriyan derived from terms such as Ahridos, Agarenos-Agaryan, Agrianes, Ahreios, Aharayan, Ayran, Ahiyan (Ahians). In these, the view comes from the term Agarenos-Agaryan used in the Muslim and Turkish sense as a disappointing status in the Middle Ages Greek and ancient Bulgaria. The word Ahriyan was used in various meanings in the 15th and 17th centuries' Ottoman sources in Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as in Istanbul and Trabzon. Although the term Ahriyan was used to identify the mutters in early periods, in other contemporary Ottoman sources, it was often used in negative contexts, such as Muslim, mutters, mutters, mutters weak, reversed, ignorant, foolish, unreliable. However, the term Ahriyan has become a status that only expresses the contemplates over time. On the other hand, the Rodop Pomak also described themselves as Ahriyan, and they were also called Ahriyan by Christian Bulgarian neighbors. The journey of Evliya Çelebi, which gathers its more than four decades of travel, is one of the most important sources of the Ottoman culture history. The observations of Evliya Çelebi keep light on many topics about the Ottoman social and daily life. In this article, after examining the appearance of the term Ahriyan in the Ottoman sources, the fields of use and meanings, we will discuss in what sense, where it is used in the Evliya Çelebi Travel and evaluate the comments on the meaning of the term Evliya Çelebi. In addition, after reviewing the opinions in literature about the meaning and etimology of the term Ahriyan, we will try to explain the origin of the term.

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