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

success emerged. Nonetheless, none of these uprisings had big aspirations such as
Shahkulu and Nur Ali Khalifa.
Indeed, after Çaldıran, Ismail completely lost his hope to gain a military success
against the Ottoman army and so did the Anatolian qizilbashes. As a matter of fact,
Ismail never intended to confront with the Ottomans again on the battlefield. However,
he did not totally abandon his offensive policy; he continued to agitate the qizilbashes
living on the Ottoman territories. 1999 Archival evidence clearly shows, for example, that
the uprising of Şah Veli b. Celal, known as Celāli uprising, was fulfilled under the
direction and auspice of Shah Ismail. 2000
A contemporary archival report provides fairly detailed information on the Celalī
uprising. 2001 The report is undated but its content clearly reveals that it was written
shortly before the break up of Shah Veli b. Celal’s uprising in 1520. The anonymous
reporter, who was evidently a spy or a local officer, states that after interrogating a
certain Dervish Zaifiye from the village of Eymir of Zile, it is learned that a man called
Shaykh Celal founded a tekke in the village of Sizir 2002 in the the sanjak of Veys Beg 2003 ,
son of Şehsuvaroğlu Ali Beg of Dulkadir. After Shaykh Celal’s death, his son Shah Veli
succeeded his father’s post, i.e. the shaykdom of the tekke. While Sultan Selim was in
Egypt (1516-7), Shah Veli paid homage to Shah Ismail. Upon his return from Iran, he
1999 See Jean-Louis Bacqué-Grammont, “Etudes Turco-Safavides, III. Notes et documents sur la revolte de
Şah Veli b. Şeyh Celal”, Archivum Ottomanicum, VII, 1982, p. 25.
2000 See TSA, document E 2044.
2001 The document is housed in TSA, document E 2044; its full transcribed text and facsimile copy, as well
as their French translations are published in Jean-Louis Bacqué-Grammont, “Etudes Turco-Safavides, III.
Notes et documents sur la revolte de Sah Veli b. Seyh Celal”, Archivum Ottomanicum, VII, 1982, pp. 17-
22.
2002 A village within the boundaries of contemporary Sivas.
2003 This was the province of Bozok.
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