Kürsat

Kürşat may refer to:

See also

Kürşat (hero)

Kürşat is a Turkish male name based on a historical character. He is the idealized character of a real person whose name was given as Chie shih shuai (Ashina Jiesheshuai) in the 7th-century Chinese chronicles.

Jiesheshuai event

Eastern Turkic Khaganate collapsed in 630 and most of Turkic tribal leaders accepted the suzerainty of Tang China. Tang emperor Taizong tried to subjugate the Turkic tribes by offering posts to Turkic princes. Jiesheshuai of the Ashina house, was appointed as a general. However in 639, he staged a coup to arrest the emperor. He was planning to buy the freedom of Turks and to enthrone Holohu, his nephew as the khagan of Turks. However he couldn't succeed and was executed. Although the plot was unsuccessful, Taizong worried about the closeness of the Turkic tribes which were settled in the area south of Yellow River and changed the policy of Turkic settlement.

Kürşat in literature

In old Turkic, kür means "arrow" or "ambitious".Şad (shad) was the title of a clan leader of the royal blood. Şads were assistants of the khagan (emperor) or yabgu (ruler of the west portion of the empire). Thus Kür-şat (or Kür-şad) was a compound name. It was popularized by Turkish author Nihal Atsız. Atsız told about the Jiesheshuai event and the name Kürşat to his colleague (later opponent) Sabahattin Ali who in 1936 wrote a play named Esirler (Captives) based on Jiesheshuai. But it was not an epic play and Kürşat was portrayed as a desperate lover. Nihal Atsız criticized the play and decided to use the name in one of his novels.

Ashina Jiesheshuai

Ashina Jieshe'er (Chinese: 阿史那結社爾 / Chinese: 阿史那结社尔Pinyin: āshǐnà jiēshèěr, Wade-Giles: ashihna chieh-she-erh, Middle Chinese: (Guanyun) [ʔɑʃi̯ə˥nɑ˩ kiet.ʑi̯a˥nʑi̯e˥]) or Ashina Jiesheshuai (Chinese: Chinese: 阿史那結社率 / Chinese: 阿史那结社率,Pinyin: āshǐnà jiēshèshuai, Wade-Giles: ashihna chieh-she-shuai, Middle Chinese (Guangyun) [ʔɑʃi̯ə˥nɑ˩ kiet.ʑi̯a˥ʃi̯ue̯t], b: ?- d. summer 639 ) was a member of the Turkic noble family Ashina clan of Eastern Turkic khaganate and general (Zhonglangjang) of the Tang Dynasty.

Background

He is one of Shibi Khan's sons and the younger brother of Ashina Shibobi (Chinese: 阿史那什钵苾), who was vassal khagan of Tang dynasty and used the title of Tölis Khan (Chinese: 突利可汗).

Tang China defeated The Eastern Turkic khaganate and the khaganate became the vassal of Tang China in 630. During this period some Turkic nobles were enrolled in Chinese army. Ashina Jiesheshuai was among these nobles. He was planning to assassinate Taizong.

Jiucheng Palace raid

By summer 639, as Ashina Jiesheshuai had not been favored by the Tang Dynasty's Emperor Taizong (because he had falsely accused his brother Ashina Shibobi of treason, which Emperor Taizong found despicable), he formed a conspiracy with Ashina Shibobi's son Ashina Hexiangu (Chinese: 阿史那賀暹鶻) to assassinate Emperor Taizong at his summer palace, Jiucheng Palace (九成宮, in modern Linyou County, Shaanxi). They had planned to wait for Li Zhi the Prince of Jin to depart from the palace in the morning and use that opportunity to attack the palace. On the day they planned, May 19, however, Li Zhi did not leave the palace due to a storm and immediately afterwards heavy rainfall. Ashina Jiesheshuai attacked the palace anyway, engaging the palace guards, but the guards was supported by troops who came outside. Ashina Jiesheshuai and his comrades stole some 20 horses from the stable. They fled to the north, but were caught by pursuers near the Wei River and killed. Ashina Hexiangu was exiled to Lingbiao.