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

According to ‘Āli, the qizilbashes moved toward the province of Rūm because
they wanted to go to the realm of the Shah. 1343 Şahkulu arrived in Beyşehir on June
17. 1344 Then he proceeded to Kayseri. 1345 Ali Pasha could learn only after two days that
Şahkulu had fled from Kızılkaya. 1346 He was so enthusiastic to finish the rebellion as
soon as possible and underestimated the power of Şahkulu that he left most of his
Fenāyi ve Dellāk Đbrahim demekle ma’rūf mezhepsiz mülhidler ve müfsidler ve kafirūn-ı eşeddler şehzāde
hazretlerini bilkülliye idlāl edüb tarīkden ve tabiatden çıkardılar. Hatta bir derecedir ki ankaribüz-zaman
mahzulin ve mel’uneyn kızılbaş cemaatının hazelehumullahı taalā ve şehzadenin ittifakları bunun üzerine
olmuşdur ki şehzāde anlara yahud anlar şehzadeye mülākat olalar. Zamīr-i münīr-i cihān-āranuza mestūr
olmayub bir dürlü dahi mülāhaza buyurulmıya öyle olsa sultanım hazretlerine vācib ve lāzımdır ki bu
maslahatı sāyir mühim mesāliha kıyas etmeyüb cemi’ mesālihden akdem ve ehemm bilüm ta’cil ale’t-ta’cil
devlet-ü saadetle bu canibe gelüb her ne tarīk def-ü ref mümkün ise def etmeğe ikdām oluna. Billahil azīm
memleket-i Karaman heman elden çıkmışdır. Bir an ve bir lahza tevakkuf cā’iz değildir. Şöylece mülāhaza
buyurula: bāki garāyibin ve fesadın nihāyeti yokdur. Đnşaallah anlar dahī hāk-i pāy-ı şerefinize mahfī
olmıya. Bāki sultanım hazretlerin hāk-i pāy-ı şeriflerine il’ām hācet değildir. Ömrü devlet bāki ba’d.
Abdüküm el-muhlīs Haydar el-fakīr.” (TSA, document E. 5590. The back side of this
document reads ‘Haydar Paşa’dan gelen mektup’, the letter came from Haydar Pasha. Most part of the
document is published in ULCY1, p. 69.)
On the other hand, the grand vizier Ali Pasha also wrote a letter reporting the situation of the prince when
he was on the way to suppress the Şahkulu rebellion. Ali Pasha writes, the prince is yet in our side. But it
seems that he feels discomfort because of Ahmed’s arrival in Eskisehir. It must be because of that, he
called all of his kapı kulu soldiers, who was then with Haydar Pasha, and all of the Karaman troops to his
retinue. Ali Pasha refers to the letter of Haydar Pasha quoted above and repeats the ‘evil-intentions’ of the
prince. He also points out that the prince freed two captives, who were captured from the qizilbash army
and sent o him. At the end of his letter, Ali Pasha informs the sultan that he sent Haydar Pasha to Konya in
order to inspect the situation of the prince more closely and he asks to the sultan how to behave regarding
Şehinşah. (TSA, document, 6352. The facsimile copy of this document is published in TNSB, p. 228.)
Indeed, Şehinşah’s link with the qizilbash movement was already established before the Şahkulu rebellion.
Three letters from the Mamluk governor of Aleppo, Hayır Bey, clearly reveals his cooperation with Shah
Ismail. In his letters Hayır Bey informs the Porte on the correspondence of the prince with Ismail and
Ustaçlıoğlu Muhammed, one of the leading generals of Ismail and the governor of Diyarbakır. Learning
from his letters, in 1510, Mamay Bey, the governor of Divriği, detained three messengers, one carrying a
letter of Sahah Ismail, second carrying a letter of Ustaçlıoğlu Muhammed, and third carrying a letter of
Prince Şehinşah. These three messengers were sent to Hayır Bey with their letters. Hayır Bey dispatched
the messenger of the prince and three letters to the Porte through Prince Ahmed. (TSA, document E 5594.
The facsimile copies of these letters are published in TNSB, p 240. See also TNSB, p. 239.) But Şehinşah
left the political arena soon after. He died on July 2, 1511, in the same day that Ali Pasha was killed. See
ULCY2, p. 123; KPZ8b, p. 55; ANMB, pp. 230-31; HSE4, p. 69; SLZ, p. 457.
1343
“...Karaman cānibine doğrı inmişler ve çekilüb ‘Âsitān-ı Şāh-ı kerem’ diyū diyār-ı Rūm’a vusūl
bulmuşlar.” ALI, p. 929.
1344
TSA, document E. 2667, partly published in ULCY1, pp. 71-2, footnote 24. According to Uluçay’s
interpretation of this document, which is a letter of Ahmed, Ali Pasha arrived Kızılkaya on Rebī 18, 917.
This interpretation seems, however, not reasonable for two days later Şahkulu was in Alaşehir.
1345
MNB, p. 431.
1346
HSE4, p. 61; TNSB, p. 255; MNB, p. 431.
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