Religious Attitude of the Great Mongol Khans (Chinggis, Ögödei Güyüg and Möngke Period); [Büyük Moğol Hanlarında Dinî Müsamaha (Cengiz, Ögedey, Göyük ve Möngke Dönemi)]

The Great Mongol Khans were leaders who played an essential role in establishing and expanding the Mongol Empire. These leaders tried to keep the religious elements within the empire together since its establishment. Of course, in addition to the Mongol Khans’ attitudes, the period’s political conditions also greatly affected this. The Mongol Khans also took shape according to the political atmosphere of the period from the establishment and shaped their religious practices within this framework. Religious life during the Mongol Khan period presented a very colourful appearance. This situation caused the religious situation during the Mongol period to be quite complex and to change in the historical process. Although shamanist beliefs were widespread in the early Mongol periods, as the Mongols expanded their borders, they also tolerated the religions in the lands they “conquered” and accepted some elements of these religions. Due to theMongols’vast geography and the fact that they included different cultures, many religions, such as Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity, became widespread, and the Mongol Khans generally did not interfere with these religions and sometimes even protected them. The Mongols have encouraged religious tolerance and respected different beliefs since their founder, Chinggis Khan. Chinggis Khan had people of different religions as advisors in his administration, allowing them to practice their religion freely. This led to tolerance of Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, and other beliefs during the reign of Chinggis Khan’s successors. This policy facilitated trade and interaction between different peoples within the Mongol Empire and played an active role in gaining the loyalty of various ethnic and religious groups under their rule. Thus, people of other religions could rise to important positions within the empire. However, this tolerance policy differed in every period and place, and some Mongol khans could be more oppressive. In addition, religious attitudes during the Mongol khan period varied depending on political and strategic goals. Therefore, since the religious attitudes of theMongol khans changed over time, it may not be easy to talk about a general religious attitude. In this study, the religious attitudes of the Mongolian Khans in the period from Chinggis Khan to Möngke are examined, and information is given about which religions the Mongolian Khans had and what kind of relationship they had.