Ottoman's volunteers force

 whose are the bashi bazouk?

were troops in irregular light infantry battalions who volunteered for campaigns and received pay throughout. Many Turkish peasants and farmers, who made up the majority of the recruits, enlisted because it was a simple but risky method to make money. The Ottomans widened the pool of potential recruits later in the 16th century to include Muslims from all Ottoman provinces. According to legend, the Azaps were initially enlisted as marines in the fourteenth century and later developed into light infantry archers. During Ottoman incursions into the Balkans, the Azaps also assumed the role of garrison troops.

They grew into a labor force; dug roads, built bridges, guarded settlements and routes. During the 16th century they took on the tasks of sapping enemy walls and transporting supplies like ammunition. Armed with maces, sabers, polearms, most famously with bows and in rarer instances crossbows and later guns. Later on in the 16th century an average of 1 man per 20-30 households would enlist into the Azaps, armed primarily with matchlocks and sabers. Despite their important role as garrison troops and marines they still made up the numerical core of the Ottoman empire’s land forces. They are often seen fighting alongside the Yaya-Piade and the elite Janissaries. By the end of the 16th century they essentially disappeared but a branch of this irregular light infantry corps is said to have lived on as the infamous Bashi-Bazouk.