Sökmen (also called Muineddin Sokman, Muʿīn ad-Dīn Soqman or Soqman ibn Ortoq) was a Turkmen

bey Bey ( ota, بك, beğ, script=Arab, tr, bey, az, bəy, tk, beg, uz, бек, kz, би/бек, tt-Cyrl, бәк, translit=bäk, cjs, пий/пек, sq, beu/bej, sh, beg, fa, بیگ, beyg/, tg, бек, ar, بك, bak, gr, μπέης) is ...

of the

Seljuk Empire The Great Seljuk Empire, or the Seljuk Empire was a high medieval, culturally Turko-Persian, Sunni Muslim empire, founded and ruled by the Qïnïq branch of Oghuz Turks. It spanned a total area of from Anatolia and the Levant in the west to ...

in the early 12th century.

Origin

His father was

Artuk Art UK is a cultural, education charity in the United Kingdom, previously known as the Public Catalogue Foundation. Since 2003, it has digitised more than 220,000 paintings by more than 40,000 artists and is now expanding the digital collection t ...

, a commander in the

. He supported

Tutush I Abu Sa'id Taj al-Dawla Tutush (; died 25 February 1095) or Tutush I, was the Seljuk emir of Damascus from 1078 to 1092, and sultan of Damascus from 1092 to 1094. Years under Malik Shah Tutush was a brother of the Seljuk sultan Malik-Shah I. In 1 ...

, a member of the Seljukid house whose province was Greater Syria. Tutush appointed him as the governor of

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. After his death in 1091, Sökmen and his brother Ilghazi became the co-governors of the city. However, Sökmen lost his position when Jerusalem was taken by the Fatimids in 1098. Sökmen abandoned the city and moved to north.

In Anatolia and Syria

Even before the loss of Jerusalem, Sökmen spent much of his time in

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...

and Syria. After Tutush's death in 1095, Sökmen took service with

Ridwan of Aleppo Ridwan), though he is commonly referred to as ''Ridwan'' ( ar, رضوان), which is also romanised as ''Radwan'' or ''Rudwan''. ( – 10 December 1113) was a Seljuk emir of Aleppo from 1095 until his death. Ridwan was born to the Seljuk pri ...

, Tutush's son. Sökmen made use of the fight between Ridwan and his brother Duqaq to a gain a territory of his own around

Suruç Suruç (, ku, Pirsûs, script=Latn, ''Sruḡ'') is a rural district and city of Şanlıurfa Province of Turkey, on a plain near the Syrian border southwest of the city of Urfa. History In antiquity the Sumerians built a settlement in the area. ...

(now a district center in

Şanlıurfa Province Şanlıurfa Province ( tr, Şanlıurfa ili; ku, Parêzgeha Rihayê) or simply Urfa Province is a province in southeastern Turkey. The city of Şanlıurfa is the capital of the province which bears its name. The population is 1,845,667 (2014). The ...

of Turkey). In 1098, the Seljuk Empire formed an army under the command of Kerbogha of Musul to assist Yağısıyan during the siege of Antioch. Sökmen took part in this army. But the campaign was a failure and the army arrived a few days after Aleppo surrendered. In 1101, Baldwin I of Jerusalem captured Suruç.

Sökmen’s beylik

Kerbogha died in 1102 and during the ensuing struggle to control Mosul, Musul, Sökmen supported Musa, the viceroy of Musul. For his services, Musa granted the city Hasankeyf to Sökmen. Sökmen founded a small Anatolian beylik, beylik around Hasankeyf. This beylik is now considered one of the three Arkukid beyliks. (The other two were İlghazi's Mardin beylik and Harput beylik.) The Hasankeyf beylik survived through 1231. After being a bey, he supported his brother Ilghazi who had recently been dismissed from his post as a Seljukid shihna in Baghdad. In 1104, in the battle of Harran he defeated a Crusader army. In this battle he took Baldwin II of Jerusalem and Joscelin I, Count of Edessa, Joscelin I captive.

Death

Toghtekin, the ruler of Damascus asked Sökmen to support him against the Crusaders. Sökmen agreed; but on the way to Damascus, at al-Qaryatayn, he died of a pertussis in October 1104.Güray

Citations

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sokmen of Artukids 11th-century births 1104 deaths Artuqids Turkic rulers Medieval Jerusalem Muslims of the First Crusade Hasankeyf District Deaths from whooping cough Government officials of the Seljuk Empire 11th-century Turkic people