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

According to Idrīs, and some other Ottoman historians following him, it was
after the defeat of Ahmed’s forces against Nur Ali Khalifa that the prominent
commanders of the Janissary corps and sipāhi troops, alongside with the wise statesmen
in Istanbul, decided to call Prince Selim from Kefe to Istanbul. 1625 Hoca Saadeddin
follows similar line of argument. To him, the defeat of Sinan Pasha strengthened the
opposition of the Janissaries and Kapıkulu soldiers against the saltanat of Ahmed on one
hand and their support to the saltanat of Selim on the other. Putting forward the
worsening circumstances in every part of the empire, because of the civil war, they
raised their voices to bring Selim from Kefe to Istanbul in order to govern the
country. 1626 So, if we rely on the account of Idrīs, the battle between Nur Ali Khalifa and
Sinan Pasha took place before the accession of Selim on April 24, 1512.
Here, we observe two distinctive lines of narration regarding the qizilbash
movements in the Province of Rum and Ahmed’s relation with these movements. One is
originating from Kemalpaşazāde and expanded by Celalzāde by omitting certain details,
while the other traces back to Idrīs, which was followed by Hoca Saadeddin, Solakzāde,
and Müneccimbaşı.
The first line regards Ahmed’s relationship with qizilbashes and Murad’s
conversion to qizilbashism purely as a political maneuver to gain the military support of
qizilbash fighters who were already proved to be efficient during the Şahkulu rebellion
and in some other events. According to Kemalpaşazāde and Celalzāde, Sultan Murad
never converted to qizilbashism sincerely, but pretended to be a qizilbash just for the
sake of his father’s political strategy. Nevertheless, archival evidence which will be
1625 IDRS, pp. 95-6.
1626 HSE4, pp. 84-5. For a similar account also consider MNB, p. 436.
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