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

Another aspect of Selim-Ismail struggle was that Selim not only pillaged and
occasionally captured territories of Ismail but also seriously damaged the connection
between the shah and his Anatolian disciples. Since he either controlled or threatened
the principal region through which the communication and transportation between the
shah and his disciples performed, his activities created great annoyance in the court of
Ismail. An anonymous Ottoman historian points out this dimension of Selim’s activities
in Persian frontiers:
Zikr olan tāife-i tāğiye Şehriyār-ı kāmkārun vufūr-ı şecā’atinden şol derece
mergūb olub leşker-i zafer-peykerinden öyle mağlūb düşmüşdi ki; diyār-ı
Rūm’un ekser Etrāki bā-vücūd ol fırka-i ehl-i ilhād ve işrākile mesūb iken baş
kaldurub ol cānibe nigāh itmek kat’a mümkin değül idi. Zīrā defa’atle dest-i tīğhūn
āsāminden şerbet-i intikām içmişlerdi. Ve nice kerre ol erbāb-ı dalāliyle har
ü kıtal olub meydān-ı ma’reke seyl-i hūnile Ceyhūn misal bir vechile seylān
eylemişdi ki hubāb-ı hūn o fırkanun ferekinde külāh-ı mezellet cāy-gāhlarından
fark olmazdı. Hazret-i Şehriyār-ı nām-dārun ol eşrār-ı bed-girdārile vesāyir melel
ü küffāriyle bunca eyyām harb ü kıtāl üzere oldığından şimşīr-i mihr-i tenvīri
eş’ası mecmū’ āfāka ziyā-bahş olub āyine-i tiğ-i cihāngīrde sūret-i feth ü zafer
dāyimā cilveger idi. 1444
7.1.4. Gazā on Georgia
Selim’s campaigns, however, were not limited to qizilbash territories; he launched raids
on Georgia for several times as well. 1445 The exact number and the date of these raids are
not clear in the sources. Şükrī records in his Selimnāme that Prince Selim invaded
Georgia three times and each time returned with countless booty. 1446 He does not
specify, however, the dates of these raids. Kemalpaşazāde, on the other hand, mentions
Selim’s two raids on Georgia. In the first place he refers to these raids only in one
sentence while explaining how Selim turned Trabzon into the shelter of warrior-gāzis
1444 ANMB, pp. 161-2.
1445 HSE4, p. 5.
1446 SKB, p. 65; YSF, p. 24.
426