Agha of the Janissaries

[6] Except for the commander ([çorbacı]] or bölük ağa), all officers within each orta were exclusively drawn from and selected by members of the same regiment based on seniority or merit.

[7] Thus, while the Janissary Aghas could and did appoint protégės and trusted aides to commands and thereby had a measure of influence within the individual regiments, their ability to exercise direct control was limited.

This was not a problem while the Janissaries were a small force of about 1,000 troops, but prohibited any effective operational control once the corps mushroomed to 15,000 and more in the course of the 16th and 17th centuries.

[12] When the Agha was absent on campaign, his duties were carried out by his deputy, the sekban-bashi, the commander of the 34 sekban regiments, which always remained behind as garrison in the capital.

[1][12] On campaign, the Agha was preceded by a white horse-tail standard (tugh), and his attendants had the tails of their robes tucked into their girdles.