1472
Tokat and Kıreli, 1472
After Mehmed takes Konya and Larende in 1468, the Karaman princes Pir Ahmed and his brother Kasım flee to Uzun Hasan. Uzun Hasan makes an alliance with Venice, which is at war with Mehmed, and keeps in touch with the Knights of Rhodes and the king of Cyprus. In 1472 his cousin Yusuf Bayandur, Amir Beg of the Mawsillu tribe, Kızıl Ahmed of the Candar family and the Karaman princes ride into the Ottoman lands and sack Tokat.
The castle of Tokat on its ridge above the townWikimedia Commons, Amardarouich, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Tokat Kale.jpg)
The raiders go on into Karaman, where Pir Ahmed takes back the town of Karaman (then Larende) and becomes bey again. Mehmed's son Mustafa, the governor at Konya, and Gedik Ahmed Pasha meet them at Kıreli near Lake Beyşehir on 14 August 1472 and defeat them. Pir Ahmed flees once more, and Gedik Ahmed Pasha sends his family to Constantinople.
Lake Beyşehir from the southWikimedia Commons, Calistemon, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Lake Beyşehir seen from the south, April 2024 01.jpg)
Uzun Hasan now turns against the Mamluks as well. In November 1472 his son Uğurlu Mehmed attacks the Mamluk fortress of Birecik on the Euphrates, but he withdraws when the Mamluk emir Yashbak min Mahdi marches against him. Through the winter Mehmed prepares a campaign against Uzun Hasan, and, against his habit of keeping his plans secret, he writes to Uzun Hasan that he will march against him in the spring.
Sources
- Abu Bakr Tihrani, Kitab-i Diyarbakriyya (late 15th century).
- Aşıkpaşazade, Tevârîh-i Âl-i Osmân (late 15th century).
- Mehmed Neşri, Kitâb-ı Cihan-nümâ (late 15th century).
- İsmail Hakkı Uzunçarşılı, Anadolu Beylikleri ve Akkoyunlu, Karakoyunlu Devletleri (1937).
- Franz Babinger, Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time (1978).
- John E. Woods, The Aqquyunlu: Clan, Confederation, Empire (2nd ed., 1999).
- Faruk Sümer, “Karamanoğulları”, in TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 24 (2001).
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