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

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

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was over and the tranquility was procured, then bringing Ahmed to the throne was<br />

easy. 1539 Nevertheless, Ahmed did not agree on this plan. 1540 On realizing that nothing<br />

but the throne would calm his son, Bayezid II decided to abdicate in favor of Prince<br />

Ahmed, 1541 who was then called to Istanbul. 1542<br />

Ahmed moved with his army possibly from Eskişehir to Istanbul. Taking<br />

advantage of the Şahkulu rebellion, Ahmed had already gathered Anatolian soldiers<br />

under his command. But his most trusted troops consisted of post-Karamanid tribal<br />

forces of Taş-ili region such as Turgut and Varsak tribes. 1543 Upon invitation to Istanbul,<br />

Ahmed dispatched edicts to leaders of these tribes to join him with their forces. In one of<br />

these edicts, for example, he informs Musa Beg and Ahmed Beg, who were the leaders<br />

of Turgut-oğlu tribe, that he would rally to Istanbul and orders them to join his forces<br />

with their warrior-men. 1544<br />

1539<br />

KPZ8b, p. 59. CLZ recites a similar account. See CLZ, pp. 140-1. For parallel accounts also see<br />

HSE4, p. 70; ANMB, p. 231; MNB, pp. 432-3.<br />

1540<br />

HSE describes Ahmed’s refusal of this plan because of his insufficiency in politics. See HSE4, pp. 74-<br />

75. Also see ANMB, p. 232.<br />

1541<br />

See IDRS, pp. 93-4. Vakayi-i Sultan Bāyezid ve Selim Han records, “... be’delyevm seccāde-i ibadet<br />

üzre tesbih ve zikre meşgul olmak tedārikinde oldum. Bi-hamdillah evlād-ı emcādımın üçü bile sezāvār-ı<br />

serīr-i serverī ve lāyık-ı mesned-i kayzeridir. Lākin Ahmed Han’ımın kesret-i evlādı olub ve sinn ü sāl<br />

ciheti ile cümleden mukaddem olmağın imdi iktiza hasebiyle anı izhar tedārikinde olasız ki şimdiden girū<br />

padişahınız oldur. Bu hususta ihmal itmeyesiz. ...” Cited and quoted in TNSB, p. 287, footnote 168. Also<br />

consider ANMB, pp. 232-3; HSE4, pp. 72-73.<br />

1542<br />

According to CLZ, Bayezid II said that “Rıza ve muradım maksūd ise benim padişahlık itmeğe<br />

mecālim kalmadı. Đhtiyarımla saltanatı oğlum Ahmed’e virdim. Min ba’d padişahınuz oldur tedārikün<br />

eylen!”. See CLZ, p. 141. In one of his letters dated early Cemāzi I, 917 (early August, 1511) Ahmed<br />

orders the leader of Turgutlu tribe to join him since he will go to Istanbul. ULCY2, p. 119. Also consider<br />

ANMB, pp. 251-2; MNB, p. 433.<br />

1543<br />

See, for example, TSA, document E 2667.<br />

1544<br />

“....El-hāletü hāzihī emr-i āli ile Âsitāne-i saadete teveccüh edüb sizin gelmeniz lābüd ve lāzım<br />

olmağın....karındaşınız oğullarıyla ve akvām ve etba’ ve size müte’allik yarar ādemleriniz ile te’hir ve<br />

tevakkuf etmeyüb isti’cal gelüb ordı-yı hümāyunuma mülāki olasız....” Quoted in ULCY2, p. 119. Uluçay<br />

says that he quoted this passage from the document E 2667 of TSA. In addition, throughout his work,<br />

Uluçay refers to and recites passages from this document in some other contexts as well. Nonetheless, the<br />

content of the aforementioned passage is clearly different from Uluçay’s quotations. It seems that during<br />

his study in TSA, a number of documents were catalogued under the same number, which is not an<br />

unusual practice in this archive, but later they were given different numbers. For the time being, however,<br />

the document catalogued as E 2667 is a report of Mir-ālem Mustafa, obviously a spy of Prince Selim, on<br />

the situation and military strength of Prince Ahmed. The situation depicted in the document strongly<br />

451

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