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

Show me a small corner of hospice so that I will live there.” Selim’s answer clearly
reflects how Şahkulu’s defeat diminished the prestige of Ahmed and ended his chance
for the throne: “You were a respected prince with uncountable soldiers in your retinue.
Some unbelievers rose up nearby your province. They executed the beylerbey of your
father. If your eye of fortune was open you would have handled this problem; you would
have punished them without needing the troops from the side of your father. 1400
Otherwise, I would not feel any reluctance because of your useless body!” 1401
Consequently, it is not an exaggeration to argue that the great upheaval of
qizilbashes paradoxically presented the throne to Selim, who established his policy on
qizilbash enmity 1402 , on a silver tray. His passive attitude during the rebellion made
Prince Ahmed completely lose the military elite, especially Janissaries. 1403 As will be
delineated, Selim owes his saltanat mainly to Janissaries. It is known that janissaries had
always been inclined to Selim’s favor for he was more dynamic and warlike. But in the
absence of such an excuse – the defeat against the qizilbashes – one might think that
they would hardly dare to repel Ahmed, who was invited by the legitimate sultan,
1400 This sort of narration was evidently part of the legitimization efforts of Ottoman scholars. I would like
to remind that Selim was in quarrel with his father, even fought with his army, while Ali Pasha was
handling with the rebellion. Therefore, Selim’s accusation of Ahmed, even if it occurred, was not
convincing.
1401 ALI, p. 931. Elsewhere ALI reports Selim’s reply to the request of Ahmed as follows: “... [Your
punishment’s] bā’isi budur ki, sen taht-ı Yunan’da [Rum] sākin şehzāde ve asākir-i bī-girānla her ān alātı
har u rezme hāzır ve amāde iken Şeytan Kulı nām Hāricī gelüb karībinden geçe ve memālik-i
mahrūseden Kütahiyye’ye girüb padişah-ı ‘asrın bir beğlerbeğisini katl ide ve niçe müslümanları nehb ü
gāret ve katlile hasāret idüb sālimin ü gānimin Kızılbaş’a toğrı çekile gide, sen āna karşu varmayasın ve
havza-i hükūmeti ol makūle Hārici zararından kurtarmayasın, mücerred ‘iş u nūşinde olub, alem haraba
varduğundan ığmaz-ı ‘ayn idesin. Pes ne vechile şehzāde-i sezā ve husūsā serīr-i saltanata revā olabilür
misin? Pençe-i siyāsetden rehā buldığın takdirce bunca nüfus-ı bī-günāh zāyi’ olmağla begne’n-nās bizi
dahī hicāba düşürürsin. Đmdi evlā olan budur ki, hakkından geline ve safha-i rūzgārdan vücūdın pençesi
hakk oluna!” Âli says he heard this story from Celal-zāde Mustafa. But Celal-zāde does not include this
passage in his own history. See ALI, pp. 1069-70.
1402 As the next chapter will delineate, Selim not only represented the absolute qizilbash enmity, but,
perhaps more importantly, also gained support of the institutions of the Ottoman imperial regime against
Ahmed’s tribal allies.
1403 Compare ULCY1, p. 74.
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