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

the true religion and this battle as a holy war or cihād, which is supposed to be fulfilled
against the enemies of Islam. Kemalpaşazāde also attempts to load a religious tone on
the intentions and acts of Ottomans. To him, the Ottomans prepared themselves for the
battle psychologically and morally by praying throughout the night for the victory of the
army of Muslims. 1906
An important note for the purpose of this study, which was totally ignored by the
contemporary historians, was recorded by a seventeenth century Ottoman chronicler,
namely Hüseyin b. Ca’fer. When the Ottoman army camped on August 22 in the
Çaldıran valley, the war assembly was immediately gathered in the evening. Since the
soldiers were tired and suffering from hunger and thirst after a 1500 km march, the
majority of the viziers and grand generals suggested resting the army for one day. Only
Defterdār Pīrī Mehmed Çelebi’s 1907 idea was different. He proposed to attack the enemy
as soon as possible for there were a considerable number of Safavid sympathizers
especially among akıncıs and it was not impossible that these akıncıs could
communicate with the Shah and change their side. When the Sultan asked his idea,
Hüseyin b. Ca’fer cites, Pīrī Mehmed Çelebi said,
Heman durmayub göz açdurmayub duruşulmak ve adū’nun gözü öğrenüb
alışmadın heman uruşulmak gerekdür. Zīrā ki askerden Mihallı tā’ifesi ve sāyire,
Kızılbaşa muhibb olub anların mezhebinde olanlar bu gice Şah’ın casusları
iğvāsiyle cāyiz ki öteye gitmek ihtimāli ola veyahut cenge el ucıyla yapuşalar,
can ve gönülden cenk itmeyeler, dahī askere fütur gele. Ve andan sonra adūnun
üzerine “Allah Allah” deyüb, yürüyüb, göz açdurmayub, tokunmakda çok hal
vardur. 1908
1906 “Subha dek ol giceyi gāzilr diri tutub Hālık-ı bī-niyāza tazarru’lar idüb Cenab-ı müfettihu’l-ebvābdan
istimdād itdiler. ‘Eyyām-ı şerif mübārek’ diyu birbiriyle musāfaha kılub, isti’dād-ı esbāb-ı cihād itdiler.”
KPZ9, p. 105.
1907 At that time Pīrī Paşa was the defterdār of Rumeli. See CLZ, p. 236.
1908 Hezarfen Hüseyin b. Ca’fer, Tenkīhu’t-tevārih, manuscript, Süleymaniye Kütüphanesi, Fatih, 4301,
fol. 114a. The reader might note that one of the major discontent groups with the growing Ottoman
centralization was akıncıs of Rumlia. Hezarfen Hüseyin interestingly does not mention the Janissaries as
potential sympathizers of the Shah, whom one might well expect because of the familial resemblances
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