Sultan
Mustafa I gave Avedis eighty gold pieces as a bequest, in addition to officially recognizing the surname Zilciyan or Zildjian, meaning "Son of a Cymbal Maker" or "Family of Cymbalsmiths" in Armenian (with
zil being Turkish for "cymbal",
ci meaning "maker", and
ian being the Armenian suffix meaning "son of").
[12] In 1623 the Sultan granted him permission to leave the palace to start his own business in the Armenian sector of Constantinople, called
Psamatia.
[13][14]
Zildjian's shop manufactured cymbals for the
mehter, Ottoman military bands consisting of wind and percussion instruments, which belonged to the
Janissaries. Mehter ensembles, which were known in the West primarily for playing in battle, also performed courtly music for Ottoman rulers.
[9][15][16] The Zildjians also produced instruments for Greek and Armenian churches, Sufi
dervishes, and belly dancers of the
Ottoman harem, who wore finger cymbals.
[9].