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

Amasya 12.000 men under Prince Ahmed were ready. 1122 Fisher argues, however, that
they were ordered not to come to blows with Ismail’s forces. 1123 He also calls attention
to the point that Bayezid was not desirous to engage in an open clash with the shah’s
army. It was not because Ismail’s military power surpassed that of the Ottomans, but
because of the fact that considerable numbers of soldiers in Ottoman troops were not
willing to battle with the shah.
Bayezid greatly feared the Sofi because of the nearness of his army and even
more because of the great number of Ottomans, both soldiers and civilians, who
were deserting the Porte and joining the Sofis. In fact, one of Bayezid’s sons
wrote to Istanbul that it would be impossible to form an army against the Sofi if
the sultan did not come in person. 1124
Nevertheless, Ismail was not yet ready to encounter with powerful Ottomans.
Hearing that a great Ottoman army was approaching, Ismail raised the siege and
retreated back towards the river Fırat. Hoca Saadeddin records, Ismail thought that his
actions created mistrust in the minds of the sultan of Rum. Upon the suggestion of
Necm-i Geylāni, who was his vizier and counselor, he retired to Persia. 1125 Alauddevle’s
forces followed Ismail until they crossed the river; but they could not continue
further. 1126
1122 FSH, p. 95, footnote 41.
1123 FSH, p. 95.
1124 FSH, p. 95. Fisher recites this account from Deposition of Priamo Malipiero dated August 24, 1507.
The he explains his comment, “It appears that, without the presence of the sultan, the power of Ismail’s
attraction in the way of Bektashi ideology, generosity, and common Turkish customs, was more than the
Ottoman timarjis, janissaries, and Anatolian Turkish feudatories could withstand.” His account, however,
needs further revision for we do not know exactly the nature of relations between Bektashis and Ismail
during that time.
1125 HSE3, p. 351. Also regard SLZ1, p. 432. An anonymous history of the period Byezid II and Selim I
(Vakāyi-i Sultan Bāyezit ve Selim Han, Topkapı Sarayı Kütüphanesi, 1416 ) confirms this idea: “Sultān-ı
Rūm’un hatırına şüphe hutūr itmesün içün veziri olan Şeyh Necm-i Geylāni’nin tedbiri ile taraf-ı āhardan
Acem diyārına doğru çekilüb gitti.” Re-cited in TNSB, pp. 245-45, footnote, 93. A Venetian travel
account gives the date of the retreat of Ismail as the middle of November, 1507. See “The Travels of a
Merchant in Persia”, in NIT, p. 197. Caterino Zeno gives the same date stating Ismail remained there from
the twenty-ninth of July to the middle of November. See Caterino Zeno, “Travels in Persia”, in NIT, p. 54.
1126 KPZ8a, p. 259.
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