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

getting worse and the struggle between princes for the throne was about to appear. 1129
Ismail would have 5 golden years in which the Ottoman administration could not pursue
a determinant policy against him.
The most concrete result of the Dulkadir Campaign was the annexation of
Diyarbekir to the Safavid territories. 1130 Muhammed Han Ustaclu was appointed to the
governorship of this province as a reward for his outstanding services; he held the post
until his death in the battle of Çaldıran. 1131 But after his retirement from the Dulkadir
campaign, Ismail was not to plan any attack on the Ottomans for he had to engage in
eliminating another threat rising from the east: Tatars invaded the eastern provinces of
Ismail’s country. After annexing the Arabian Iraq in the next year 1132 Shah Ismail turned
east to meet Shaybāni Khan of the Uzbeks. 1133 Because of the new enemy Ismail
resorted to diplomacy on the western front. His ambassador arrived in Istanbul in 1508,
at the same time when Shaybānī Han’s envoy was also at the Port. 1134 The objective of
both envoys was the same: to gain the support of Bayezid II. The sultan honored both
embassies but did not take stand in favor of any. 1135 On the agenda of Ismail’s
ambassador, however, there were other issues as well. He complained about Selim’s
war-like actions in the borderlines of the two states. He stated that Ismail had always had
peaceful and respectful attitudes toward the Ottomans; he had been fighting Alauddevle,
1129 Compare TNSB, p. 247.
1130 HS, p. 583; HR, p. 116 ; AA, pp. 51-2; Aubin, “L’avènement des safavides”, p. 25.
1131 HS, p. 583; HR, p. 116 ; Şerefhan, Şerefnâme, trs. From Arabic to Turkish M. Emin Bozarslan,
Đstanbul: Hasat Yayınları, 1990, p. 471; Aubin, “L’avènement des safavides”, p. 25; Sarwar, p. 53; Roger
Savory, “The Consolidation of Safawid Power in Persia”, Der Islam, 41, 1965, p. 76. In is interesting to
note that Ismail appointed to the governorship of Diyarbakir the beg of Ustaclu tribe, whose home was
Sivas-Tokat-Amasya region, but not a beg from Shamlu tribe, whose zone of seasonal migration included
Diyarbakir.
1132 HS, p. 585; HR, pp. 127-8.
1133 HS, pp. 589-592; HR, pp. 137-50; FSH, p. 96.
1134 FSH, p. 96.
1135 FSH, p. 96.
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