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

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Bayezid was so old and ill that he could not lead the army against the great perils of the<br />

empire. So he had to leave the throne in order to save the future of the empire. There<br />

were three candidates for this heavy mission. His failures against qizilbash movements<br />

clearly showed that Ahmed was insufficient in strength of sword and capacity to govern<br />

the empire. 1586 Korkud’s candidacy could not be considered seriously since he had no<br />

son. Thus, as rephrased by Idrīs from the words of the Janissaries, the only merited<br />

candidate was Selim and the Jannisarries would not accept any other princes as their<br />

sultan. 1587<br />

7.2.2. Prince Ahmed, the Ruler of Anatolia<br />

Kemalpaşazāde records that all begs of Anatolia and Rumelia subdued to the new sultan<br />

except his brother Ahmed. As indicated above, Ahmed had already begun to move as an<br />

independent ruler in Anatolia during the last days of his father. 1588 Thus, he did not<br />

recognize the suzerainty of Selim and continued to rule Anatolia. As Kemalpaşazāde<br />

notes, the main portion of his military power came from Turkoman tribes of the post-<br />

Karaman region, such as Karaman-oğlu, Ramazan-oğlu, Turgut-oğlu and Varsak, which<br />

1586 See ANMH, p. 63.<br />

1587 IDRS, pp. 97-98. Vakayi-i Sultan Bāyezid ve Selim Han also vividly describe how the Janissaries<br />

surrounded the palace and forced Bāyezid to abdicate in favor of his son Selim. Some of their words<br />

during the conversation with the legitimate sultan were, “… ittiler ki padişahımuz alilü’l-mīzaç olub<br />

Devlet-i Aliyye bir şehriyār-ı cedīde muhtaç idüğü azhar mine’ş-şemsdir. Lā-cerem şehzādelerden birine<br />

teslim-i saltanat tahmin ve mukaddema tāyin olunmuş idi. Đmdi biz Sultan Selim’den gayrisini kabul<br />

itmezüz bu gūne bu maslahat görülmeyince buradan dönüp gitmezüz. …” Quoted in TNSB, p. 304,<br />

footnote 268. For similar lines of argumentation of the Janissaries also see ANMH, pp. 60-61; SLZ1, pp.<br />

466-7.<br />

1588 ULCY partly published some degrees of Ahmed in which he was described as the sultan of the time.<br />

One of them, issued in Bursa in early June 1512 to the alaybey of Biga, reads, “… Sultan-ı selātin-i zaman<br />

Ahmed Han ezallahu teāla hazretleri avātıf-ı hüsrevānelerinden bu kullarına Anadolu beglerbegliğini<br />

sadaka ve ihsan buyurdular ...” TSA, document E 5876, published in ULCY2, p. 132. ULCY mentions<br />

some other similar degrees of Ahmed as well.<br />

461

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