through God's eyes. Otman Baba's beliefs extended beyond the spiritual, as he disapproved of Turks speaking Persian and Arabic instead of their native tongue. Otman Baba maintained that "the Oghuz language is the father of all languages" and the "only way to stay in the alien, unknown lands". Legacy Categorized by Markoff as a dervish branch of the Muslim Alevi (Alians), Qizilbash, and Shi'ites, the Baba'is have preserved their traditions in Bulgaria through the cult of Otman Baba. In Nova Zagora, the Kizilbash venerate the life of Otman Baba, considering him a local Shi'ite saint and regarding his tekke as their primary holy place in Bulgaria. According to Gramatikova, the vilâyetname of Otman Baba is a canonical text in Bulgaria's Muslim community. Cult complex Although Otman Baba had rejected Mehmed II's offers to build him a tekke, the mystic's followers developed a cult complex around his grave, located at the southeastern part of the Hızırilyas hill in the Haskovo-region village of Teketo. Evliya Çelebi reported a cloister near the Maden dere riverbank and credited Sultan Bayezid II for the construction of the tekke, which included a heptagonal refectory, shaped like a dervish cap and associated with the yediler (cult of the seven). Architectural historian Stephen Lewis also proposes the yediler symbolism of the seven-sided refectory—the türbe (mausoleum)—which he classifies as an early sixteenth-century Ottoman funerary monument, observing its domed structure and ashlar masonry. Gramatikova notes, however, that in 1492 Sultan Bayezid II blamed Otman Baba's followers in Thrace for an assassination attempt on him and ordered their exile to Asia Minor. Nevertheless, the complex became a pilgrimage site for Otman Baba's followers, Muslim locals, and the Romani—who, according to Ottoman documents, have venerated the türbe since at least 1568. Bulgarian scholar Markoff attributes the continued prominence of Otman Baba's cult complex among Bulgarian miracle-seekers to its museum status during communism and protection during the Revival Process. References Footnotes Bibliography Sufi saints from the Ottoman Empire Alevism 1478 deaths 1370s births Islam in Bulgaria Muslims from the Ottoman Empire Ottoman Sufis Turkish Sufis