Abstract

With the death of Genghis Khan, the great empire he founded was shared among his sons. Chagatai Khan established dominance in almost all the regions of East and West Turkistan. Chagatai Khanate has a cosmopolitan structure in terms of religious diversity. Chagatai Khan pursued a policy of exploitation in order to consolidate his dominance in these regions. In 1326, Tarmashirin Khan became the ruler of Chagatai Khanate and took the name Alaeddin after converting to Islam. With Tarmashirin's adoption of Islam, trade and political relations between Islamic countries and Chagatai Khanate developed. The fact that Tarmashirin had good relations with Islamic countries was not welcomed by some sections of the Mongolian traditions and customs and they announced their allegiance to his uncle's son Buzun. The traditional Mongolian lords in Yedisu and Dzungaria who wanted to revive the Chagatai Khanate, dethroned Tarmashirin and killed him. The turmoil and instability following the killing of Tarmashirin Khan led all the way to the collapse of the khanate. As a result of the lack of political unity, the Chagatai nation was divided into two. One was the settled Transoxiana, the majority of which was Muslim, and the other was Mongolia, which maintained its equestrian-nomadic culture, adhering to Mongolian traditions and customs.

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