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Since the second half of the 19th century, the question of the earliest Turkish coins struck in Muslim-Turkish Anatolia confused the numismatists, historians and researchers working on this subject. In fact, although analytical and critical studies on the subject are very limited, many of them remain at the cataloguing level. Moreover, the fact that the historians working in the Medieval Ages did not pay enough attention to the numismatic science, the medieval archaeology discipline was not sufficiently developed, and the museum and field studies were shallow and limited, it has made it difficult to reach new findings and bring new interpretations. In this study, we will focus on some copper coins not previously included in local and foreign coin catalogues or academic studies and produced by the Saltuqid (Saltukogullan) and Mengujekid (Mengticekogullan) Beyliks who were respectively established in Erzurum and Erzincan. Among these, two very rare copper coins belonging to Diya al-Din al-Muzaffar Ghazi (518-526 / 1124-1132), are candidates for being one of the earliest coins to be struck by the Turks in Anatolia in the light of the available evidence. Besides severe military struggles the Turks gave to become permanent in the new territory, the 12th century is the era they ensure that Anatolia is Turkiye (Turkey) by establishing socio-economic and administrative structures. In this century in which changes and transformations took place, interactions in the multicultural climate of the geography have also become inevitable. These coins, which are subject to the study, besides providing important materials to researchers working on the region and period, show that the Turkmen bey s started to mint coins in their new lands before known, and also how the Saltuqid and Mengujekid meliks pragmatically use materials that are inherited or passed on to them in the region. |
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