The ruler who brought the Caliphate to the Ottoman Empire: Yavuz Sultan Selim

Born in 1470 in Amasya, where his father, Sultan Bayezid II, was the sanjak bey, Selim I's mother was Ayşe Hatun, the daughter of Dulkadiroğlu Alaüddevle Bozkurt Bey.

Prince Selim, who received a good education from a young age from private tutors and numerous tutors, served as the Governor of the Trabzon Sanjak from 1487 to 1510. His administration during this period laid the foundations for his future sultanate. He closely followed developments along the border, especially Shah Ismail, who would pose a major political and religious challenge to the Ottoman Empire. He sent reports on these matters to the capital and organized several military operations.

While his son, Prince Suleiman, was born in Trabzon in 1494, his other son, Prince Salih, died while still a child.

When Prince Selim I learned that his brother Ahmed was preparing to ascend to the throne, he wrote a harshly worded letter to his father.

As his father's illness worsened and most of the viziers on the council incited the sultan to support Ahmed, he first joined his son Süleyman in Kefe, and then, accompanied by 3,000 men, joined his father in Edirne. Selim, appeased by his father Bayezid II, whom he had confronted at Çukurçayır, was granted the Sanjak of Semendire and given permission to fight the Hungarians.

Prince Selim, upon receiving news that his older brother Ahmed had been summoned to the throne, entered Edirne and then overtook his father, arriving in Çorlu. At Uğraşdere, Bayezid II's forces launched a sudden attack, forcing Prince Selim to retreat.

In Istanbul, the Janissaries openly declared their rejection of Prince Ahmed and their support for Selim. Ahmed, who had traveled as far as Üsküdar, was unable to enter the city. Meanwhile, a message of support was sent to Prince Selim, who was in Caffa. Under pressure from some pashas, ​​Bayezid II was forced to abdicate in favor of Selim. Thus, Prince Selim ascended to the throne as the ninth Ottoman ruler on April 24, 1512.

Bayezid II, who abdicated, left Istanbul for Didymoteicho and died in the village of Abalar on June 10, 1512. Sultan Selim also killed his brothers Ahmed and Korkut, who opposed him after their father's death, to ensure the survival of the sultanate.

The first target of Yavuz Sultan Selim, who ascended to the throne, was Shah Ismail, who posed a serious religious and political threat to the Ottoman Empire.

Sultan Selim set out from Edirne on March 20, 1514, for the Persian campaign. At the end of a challenging five-month campaign, he won a victory over Shah Ismail at Chaldiran on August 23, 1514. Yavuz Sultan Selim continued his campaign, entering Tabriz on September 6, where he had a sermon delivered in his name, initiating some development projects in the region, and dispatching nearly a thousand scholars and artists to Istanbul.

Sultan Selim, who spent the winter months in Amasya with his army, captured Kemah from the Safavids on May 19, 1515, and then marched on Sivas. He then eliminated the Dulkadirids, who were in league with Shah Ismail, and returned to Istanbul.

Sultan Selim, who sent Idris-i Bitlisi, one of the important scholars of the period, to the Diyarbakır region to fight against the Safavids and tried to organize the Sunni/Shafi'i tribes in the region against the Safavids, also drew the Kurdish lords to his side.

Yavuz Sultan Selim departed Istanbul for his eastern campaign on June 5, 1516. Learning that the Mamluk Sultan was collaborating with the Safavids, Selim advanced from Malatya toward Aleppo and defeated the Mamluk army led by Gansu Gavri in a battle on the Mercidabık Plain on August 24. Following the battle, Selim had Gansu Gavri's body recovered and taken to Aleppo for burial with prayers.

Yavuz Sultan Selim then decided to campaign against Egypt, first capturing Damascus and then Jerusalem. Setting out for Egypt from Gaza on January 9, 1517, Selim defeated the Mamluk army, which had regrouped at Ridaniya on January 22 after a difficult desert journey. On February 15, he entered Cairo with a magnificent ceremony and ascended the Egyptian throne at Qasr-ı Yusuf.

Following the defeat of the Mamluks at the Battle of Ridaniya, Sultan Selim dispatched the Abbasid Caliph al-Mutawakkil al-A'lallah, several prominent figures, scholars, artisans, merchants, sacred relics, and captured materials to Istanbul by navy. On his return, Sultan Selim located the tomb of Muhyiddin ibn al-Arabi in Damascus and had a mausoleum built there, along with a mosque and dervish lodge nearby.

Following this campaign, Selim transferred the caliphate to the Ottomans and became the first caliph of the empire.

After this campaign, which lasted 2 years and 1 month, Sultan Selim returned to Istanbul on 25 July 1518.

The Sultan had the navy supplied with new ships and had cannons cast for the Rhodes expedition in April 1519.

Sultan Selim, who set out for Edirne on July 18, 1519, following the plague epidemic in Istanbul, could not go further than Çorlu due to a large tumor on his back and died on September 22, 1520.

The death of Yavuz Sultan Selim was kept secret until his son Süleyman's arrival in Istanbul from Manisa. Brought to Istanbul on October 1, 1520, his body was met at the city entrance by his son and dignitaries and taken down to the Fatih Mosque. After prayers, Selim was buried in the Mirza Palace, where his mausoleum stands today. Later, his son Süleyman commissioned the construction of a mausoleum and a mosque and social complex named after him.

The eight-year reign of Yavuz Sultan Selim was a turning point in Ottoman history. Selim, particularly noted for his handling of Eastern issues and his efforts to find definitive solutions, thwarted the Safavid threat and fostered a Sunni understanding within the Ottoman Empire.

When he took over the throne, he increased the Ottoman territory, which was 2 million 375 thousand square kilometers, by more than 2.5 times in a short period of 8 years to 6 million 557 thousand square kilometers through his campaigns to the East.

Yavuz Sultan Selim's status as a unifying leader within the Islamic world led to his being referred to as "Sultan of the Caliphate." In official documents, he was also referred to as "Hadimu'l-Haremeyn," meaning "Protector of Mecca and Medina."

Although he is depicted with a harsh temperament in Western sources, Selim, whose justice is particularly highlighted in some embassy reports, made it a principle to converse with scholars and seek their and other statesmen's opinions on political matters.

It is said that Yavuz Sultan Selim was a well-read man with a keen interest in history, was fluent in Persian, and was also familiar with Arabic and the Tatar dialect. His divan, which includes his Persian poems, was published, and his Turkish poems are also found in some anthologies.