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

māh gibi felek-i rif’atda iken nāgāh cāh-ı feleke düşen a’yān dergāh-ı
āsümān-iştibāhında gene ‘izzet-ü cāh bulup tururlardı. Bāb-ı sa’ādetme’ābı
merci’-i erbāb-ı tabl u ‘alem oldı. Dīvān-ı keyvān-mekānı
mecma’-ı eshāb-ı tīğ u kalem oldı. Ordu-yı hümāyūnına, ki serçeşme-i
cūy-ı zaferdi, her boydan şehirden ve köyden hayl ü haşem seyl gibi akdı.
Kahr-ı ateşiyle dehr serkeşlerini yakdı ve kulub-ı a’dā-yı bed-rāye bīm ü
be’s ve havf ü hirās bırakdı. Seylāb-ı tūfān-bārān-ı hadengi kūhistān-ı
Gürcistan’ı garka virdi. Havā-yı gazāyı pür-tāb iden bārika-i bark-ı tīğ-ı
mīğ-rengi şarka irdi. 1412
Kemalpaşazāde states that all these events occurred in the same year that
Mihaloğlı Ali Beg died, which is recorded by him as 905/1499. Thus, if we rely on
Kemalpaşazāde, Selim closely observed the developments in Iran and responded
effectively just after or concurrently to Ismail’s coming to the power. 1413 Some archival
evidence confirms this fact. In evāhir-i Zilkāde 906 (8-17 June 1501) an imperial decree
was sent to Selim. In this decree, after appreciating his endeavor for informing the
central government on the developments pertaining to sufis of Ardabil and Shirvan,
Selim was ordered to assign skilful spies in order to collect further true and trusty
information regarding to the activities of sufis; and he was ordered to report all the news
to the central government. 1414
What Selim did was not only protecting former Akkoyunlu begs but also
pursuing an offensive policy as well. With the help of newly joined begs he attacked
former Akkoyunlu lands which was then under Ismail’s rule. Kemalpaşazāde states that
he seized some of these fortresses adjacent to Ottoman Province of Trabzon through
1412 KPZ8a, pp. 232-3.
1413 KPZ8a, p. 233. We know that KPZ was, like other contemporary Ottoman historians, took pro-Selim
stand and designed his Selimnāme mostly to legitimize Selim’s unusual practices. Thus he does not
hesitate to disguise and distort historical facts. Even so, it is safer to use his above-mentioned account for
he wrote eight defter of his Tevārih during the reign of Bayezid II. See KPZ8a, p. XXIX; KPZ10, p.
XXIII.
1414 See document 4 in Appendix I.
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