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

his one year-old son a desperate situation but a mass of fanatically devoted disciples
with a significant capacity of organization and military power. The adoration and
heroism of Haydar’s disciples, now wrapped around child Ismail, created one of the
most romantic stories of Middle Eastern History. The fourth chapter is devoted to the
history of young Ismail and his devoted disciples: a story from a most desperate
situation to the throne of Persia. A special emphasis should be made on that the majority
of Ismail’s disciples were from Ottoman Anatolia. Hence, Ismail’s advent (hurūj) and
rise to the power created a vast excitement among Anatolian qizilbashes. This
excitement and the Ottomans’ counter measures will also be dealt within this chapter.
The fifth chapter analyzes the rebellion of Shahklu, one of the prominent Safavid
khalifas in Anatolia. Accompanied to the weakening of the Ottoman central
administration because of the illness and elder ages of Sultan Bayezid II, and
consequently of civil war among the princes, the qizilbash protest against the Ottoman
rule peaked during the years 1509 and 1513. Among the qizilbash uprisings during this
period, the most successful and the one having the most crucial outcome was, without a
doubt, the Şahkulu rebellion. On the one hand, the Şahkulu rebellion proved the military
strength of the qizilbashes, successively defeating several Ottoman armies. But yet on
the other hand, it opened up the paths to the Ottoman throne to Prince Selim, who,
having been recently defeated by an imperial army, could barely hope for this fortune.
The next chapter continues the analysis of the qizilbash factor within Ottoman
domestic politics. It delineates how Prince Selim, who had the least chance of ascending
the throne at the beginning of the struggle, masterfully gained the central institutions of
the already established Ottoman imperial regime. Selim’s policy was principally based
on two promises: he would finish the ‘qizilbash problem’ and he would (re)bring the old
7