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

other. It was rumored that after this fight, Yahya Pehlivan and Dev Ali died. 1643 The rest
of qizilbashes moved eastward. In his report dated May 17, 1512, Sultan Musa, the son
of Prince Mahmud, the governor of Kastamonu, reported this event to Selim as follows,
... Murad Beg ki ol eşirrayı cem’ idüb Artuğak (قا غﺗرا ) nām mevzie varmışlar
idi. Đttifak Murad Beg cānibinden Kara Đskender Beg Alāüddevle üzerine
Pehlivan Yahya ve Dev Ali bunlara muhalefet idüb biz Şah Đsmail’e giderüz
deyū ayru baş çeküb iki taraf birbirlerine girüb şaha gideriz diyenler tarafından
haylı sofu kırılub ve Yahya ve Dev Ali’nin başı kesilüb bāki varan eşirra dahī
gelüb Kara Đskender cānibine tābi olmuşlar ve andan sonra Alāüddevle Beg’in
güveyisi Murad Han bir bir cānibden buluşub bir mikdar sofu kırmış fi’l-cümle
bu ahvāl ma’lumumuz olduğu üzere i’lām olundu. ...” 1644
As clearly seen in this document, Kara Iskender had not been slain by troops of
Ahmed. After killing Pehlevan Yahya and Dev Ali, Kara Iskender subdued the other
qizilbash group as well. But what happened to the qizilbashes under the leadership of
Kara Iskender and Murad after this disagreement is not clear in the document.
According to Sutan Musa, although Kara Iskender was in favor of going to Dulkadir
territories, Murad Han, the son-in-law of Alāüddevle Beg, attacked the qizilbash group
and killed a number of them just after their internal fight. Thus it would not be wrong to
assume that they, with Prince Murad, consequently set off for Iran.
Independent from Kara Iskender and Murad, there were other local qizilbash
uprisings as well. For example, Kürd Halid Beg 1645 rose up in the name of the shah and
plundered some of the towns of Karahisar, such as Suşehri, Akşehir, and Şaphāne. In the
1643 ULCY2, p. 130.
1644 TSA, document E 2667, published in ULCY2, p. 132.
1645 Kürd Halid was one of the Kürd begs who adhered to the qizilbash movement. An archival document
accounts him among qizilbash begs, along with Lala Beg, Bayram Beg, Hacı Rüstem etc., moving under
the direction of Shah Ismail. (See TSA, document E 7620. The full tranascribed text and facsimile copy of
this document are published in Jean-Louis Bacqué-Grammont, “Deux rapports sur Şāh Isma’il et les
Özbeks (Études Turco-Safavides, X)”, Quand le crible était dans la paille :hommage à Pertev Naili
Boratav, Paris, 1978, pp. 68-73.) He had been active in the Province of Rum during the Shahkulu rebellion
as well. After Ismail’s defeat in Çaldıran, however, he wanted to change sides demanding refugee from
Selim. Nevertheless, he was put to death with his one hundred and fifty men. See “The Battle of Çaldıran”
in this study.
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