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

to be right, Ismail decided to return to Gilan. At that moment one of his men informed
Ismail about a war-lord, who refuted the Ottoman rule and had good profession in the art
of war: “Ol adem eyder: ‘Karaman Oğlu henüz vefat eyledi. Üç serdar ile bahadır bin
erleri vardır. Muttasıl erbabı cenkdir [sic], Osman Oğluna tâbi olmadılar. Eğer
gelirlerse dünyada anın gibi asker olmaz. Birisi kırk bine yetişir. Serdarlarına Pir
Bayram dirler.’” Then Ismail sent a letter to Bayram Beg and Kökezoğlu, who received
it in Tekür Yaylağı. Şikâri’s account runs,
Mektup yazub Meges ile Karamanoğlu askerine gönderdi, gelüb Tekür
Yaylağında bulub, Pir Bayram’a ve Kökez’e mektubu virdi. Açub okudu,
dimişki: “Senki Pir Bayram’sın! Đşittim, şahınız vefat itmiş, .... kalmamış, Osman
Oğluna tabî olmamışsız. Lütf idüb gelüb bana asker olasız, size küllî riayet
iderim.” Pir Bayram beylerle müşavere idüb Aceme gitmesin makul gördüler.
Bin erle Kökez, altı bin erle Pir Bayram kalkub, Şahı Acem’e [sic] gelüb, Şah
bunlara azim riayet idüb, varub Tebriz’i Şah’a alıvirdiler. Horasan cenginde
Kökez’i ve Bayram’ı ahz idüb helak itdiler. 907
Şikâri’s account evidently includes a number of historical errors, thus can not be
used mot à mot as history; a careful criticism of this account is necessary. 908 Besides all
its deficiencies, however, the very strong point in his account is that it clearly reflects
one of the fundamental changes in the political scene of Anatolia in the second half of
the fifteenth century: the traditional Turko-Mongolian political system of tribal
confederation, which clamped around the Karaman dynasty, failed and totally dissolved
against the developing bureaucratic empire of the Ottomans. Still more valuable point of
Şikâri’s account for the purpose of the present study is that following the dissolution of
the tribal confederation as an effective political and military power, some actors of this
907 Şikârî, pp. 207-208. Bayram Beg Qaramanlu was killed during the battle against Uzbeks in Gujdavān, a
city in Tranxoxiana, in 1512. See HS, p. 598. Şikârî interestingly does not mention Rüstem Beg
Qaramanlu.
908 Whether the story recited here is true or not, it surely indicates some historical facts; as will be
discussed in the next chapter, the connection between Shah Ismail and Qaramanlu tribes of Anatolia is
envisaged by archival evidence.
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