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

not the Ottomans. This being the case, Selim attacked him and robbed him of artillery.
The ambassador asked for the restitution of the stolen armaments. As Fisher puts, “…the
request was tactfully ignored, but the ambassador was laden with gifts and departed with
peace and friendship expressed between Ismail and Bayezid.” 1136 In the next few years
the relation between the two was relatively quiet and seemingly friendly. It was
primarily because of that Ismail engaged in the annexation of the rest of Iran and Iraq,
and in war with the Tatars while Bayezid II was occupied with health problems and
internal troubles.
On the other hand, Ismail wished to maintain an alliance with Venice against
their common enemy, the Ottomans. His envoy arrived in Venice the following year. 1137
His object was to secure artillery and to consolidate the cooperation against the
Ottomans. But Venice was in no position to attract the anger of the sultan for she was
occupied with the Italian wars. 1138 Thus Ismail’s ambassador could not obtain any
concrete benefit but only a warm reception and a few valuable presents. Leonardo
Loredano, the head of the government, sent a letter to Ismail. He expressed their
gladness because of his hostile attitude towards the Ottomans. But he also stated that
they were not in a relaxed state and could not break the peace with Bayezid II, at least
for the time being. 1139
1136
FSH, p. 96.
1137
FSH, p. 96; Allouche, p. 101. Tansel states, Ismail’s envoy arrived in Venice in 1508.
1138
FSH, pp. 96-97.
1139
See 16. Asırda Yazılmış Grekçe Anonim Osmanlı Tarihi, ed. Şerif Baştav, Ankara: Ankara
Üniversitesi Basımevi, 1973, p. 179; TNSB, pp. 245-46.
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