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

communication with the other side, a modus vivendi was established between local
governors and sufis.
But still the preventive measures of the Ottoman administration must have
seriously reduced the mass flow from Anatolian tribes to the Shah’s territory as Ismail
sent a letter to Bayezid requesting the permission of his disciples to visit their shaykh.
The sultan said in his answer that the motive of many of these pilgrims for going to the
Tekke of Ardabil was not the desire to fulfill a pious duty, but to escape from the
obligation of military service; many of them using pilgrimage to Ardabil and visiting
‘the friends of God’ 1019 as a pretext to abandon the country. But he still expresses his
warm sentiment for receiving Ismail’s letter, which he (Bayezid II) deemed a sign of
friendly relationship between the two states. Thus Bayezid refused Ismail’s request in a
polite and diplomatic manner. 1020 The dates of these letters are not specified in Münşeāt.
However, they are placed just after the fetih-nāme (letter of conquest) of Moton and
Coron. Since these cities were conquered in 1501, the correspondence under scrutiny
must be dated in or after 1501. 1021 Ottoman chronicles also report Bayezid II’s refusal of
Ismail’s request. Hoca Saadeddin says, for example, after the deportation of Ardabil
sufis in Teke region, the passage of qizilbashes through borders was strictly banned.
Upon the prohibition of the sultan, Ismail wrote a letter bagging him to permit his
disciples to visit himself. 1022 The above mentioned deportation occurred in 1502. Thus,
1019 Bayezid II uses this term for Safavid shaykhs.
1020 Feridun Bey, I, pp. 338-39. Also see BRW, p. 68; Efendiyev, “Sultan II. Bayezid ve Şah Đsmail”, p.
93; Jean-Louis Bacqué-Grammont, Les Ottomans, les Safavides et leurs voisins, Istanbul, 1987, pp. 19-20.
1021 It is well-known that Feridun Bey follows a chronological order in organizing his work.
1022 “....Bu maksatla kapıya nāme gönderip zavallılığını ortaya koydu. Atalarının dostları için Acem
diyarına geçiş izni tanınması ricasında bulundu ise de sözüne değer verilip dileği yerine getirilmedi.”
HSE3, p. 346.
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