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TURKOMANS BETWEEN TWO EMPIRES: THE ... - Bilkent University

TURKOMANS BETWEEN TWO EMPIRES: THE ... - Bilkent University

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last time, during the last Karamanid attempt to regain the control of Karaman-ili in<br />

1500. 403<br />

Comment should also be made about the fact that when the civil war began<br />

within the Ottoman borders, Turgutlu always supported the candidates who diverged<br />

from traditional imperial policy of the state and were cast out by the central forces. In<br />

1423, when Küçük Mustafa rose up against Murad II, who was engaged in executing his<br />

uncle Düzmece or Fake Mustafa in the Balkans, and marched on Bursa, Turgutlu tribal<br />

forces constituted a significant portion of his army. 404 During the civil war between<br />

Bayezid II and Prince Cem, they, alongside with the Karamanid dynasty, maintained<br />

military support to Prince Cem. 405 And lastly, during the struggle between Prince Selim<br />

and Prince Ahmed in the 1510’s, Turgutlu tribal forces were one of the significant<br />

constituents of Ahmed’s army against Selim. 406<br />

One may safely think of the exemplary cases of Turgut and Varsak for other Taş-<br />

ili and Taurus tribes such as Yumlu, Ramazanoğulları, Turkomans of Teke-ili, etc.<br />

Contemporary sources suggest that during the decline of Karamanid power towards the<br />

end of the fifteenth century, Turgutlu, Varsak, and other tribes looked for another<br />

powerful ally against the Ottoman imperialism. This power turned out to be the qizilbash<br />

state of Shah Ismail. Likewise, as clearly put by strong archival evidence, which will be<br />

examined in the next chapters of this study, Turgutoğlu Musa, the leader of the tribe<br />

then, acted in accordance with directives of Shah Ismail.<br />

403<br />

See KPZ8, pp. 210-212. A detailed evaluation of this attempt will come in the next chapters.<br />

404<br />

Sümer, “Turgutlular”, p. 121.<br />

405<br />

See KPZ8, pp. 23-6.<br />

406<br />

Chapter VII will discuss this issue in detail.<br />

147

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