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Since the Ilkhanids
could not penetrate into Western and Southwestern Anatolia, the Turkmen
lords there established small states.
When the Seljuk state came to an
end, these principalities began to make efforts to expand
further.
However, Emir Çobanoğlu Demirtaş (Timurtaş) Bey, the most
famous of the Anatolian general governors of the Ilkhanate, tried to
bring Anatolia completely under the rule of the Mongols.
Although he
wanted to eliminate the Anatolian principalities that had cut or
loosened their loyalty to the Ilkhanate, he could not succeed in his
aim. The death of Demirtaş Brain gave the Anatolian principalities a
breath of fresh air.
When the Ilkhanid ruler
Ebu Said Bahadır Khan died in 1335 without leaving any children, the
Ilkhanid state began to live its last days.
Alaeddin Eretna Bey of
Turkish origin, who was the Anatolian governor of the Ilkhanids at that
time, took advantage of the battles for the reign of the Ilkhans and
founded a state with the center of Sivas (1343).
Thus, while the
Ilkhanid influence and administration, which included the eastern and
central parts of Anatolia, came to an end, a freer period of struggle
against each other was opened for the principalities in Anatolia.
In the first half of the
fourteenth century, the principalities in Anatolia were:
Karaman,
Germiyan, Menteşe, Hamit, Karesi, Aydın, Saruhan, Eşref, Candar and
Osmanoğulları. Apart from the sons of Eretna, who owned a part of
Central Anatolia, separate principalities and governments were formed in
Eastern Anatolia.
There were clashes between these principalities
because of the special interests of the principality and the issue of
establishing the Anatolian unity. Finally, the establishment of
Anatolian unity was granted to the Osmanoğulları.
Karamanoğulları
The
first established and long-lived among the Anatolian principalities is
Karamanoğulları.
Even when their principality was newly established,
having larger lands than other principalities contributed to their rapid
development, and when they got stronger, they considered themselves the
heirs of the Seljuks in terms of capturing Konya, the center of the
Seljuks.
It is not certain when
the Karamanlis, who were from the Salur or Afşar tribes of the Oghuzes,
came to Anatolia.
While there are works stating that they came to
Anatolia with Tugrul Bey and stayed here after Tugrul Bey's return,
there are also sources that record that they came to escape from the
Mongol invasion.
The exact date of the settlement of the Karamanids in
Anatolia coincides with the time of the First Alaeddin
Keykubat. Alaeddin Keykubat had settled the Karamanlides in the Ermenak
region in 1228.
The first important
historical figure of the Karamanlis is Kerimüddin Karaman. Karamanlides
attacked Konya even when Kerimüddin Karaman was at their head
(1261).
His son Mehmet Bey strengthened the Karamanlides more, took
advantage of the troubles the Seljuks were suffering from, and even had
political relations with the Egyptian sultan Beybars.
Mehmet Bey
attacked Konya and captured the city, and he declared a person named
Siyavuş, who was mentioned as Miser in Seljuk histories, as the ruler of
Seljuk (1277), but he was later defeated and killed by the Mongols.
His sons, who came after
Mehmet Bey, continued to struggle with the Mongols.
Even Emir Çoban and
his son Demirtaş Bey, the most powerful of the Anatolian governors of
the Ilkhanate, did not bow down, but they also went through very
difficult times during their governorship.
After Emir Çobanoğlu
Demirtaş Bey escaped to Egypt, the Karamanoğulları took a sigh of relief
and started to expand their country more easily. Their absolute
ownership of Konya is after Demirtaş Bey moved away from Anatolia.
The first contact
between the Ottomans and the Karamanids coincides with the time of Orhan
Bey.
Karaman ruler Alaeddin Ali Bey married Nefise Sultan, the daughter
of Ottoman ruler Murad I, and ties of kinship were established between
the two states.
It is the people of Karaman who try to benefit the most
from the ties of kinship. Despite this bond, Alaeddin Ali Bey did not
hold back from encroaching on Ottoman lands.
Alaeddin Ali Bey, who
raped his father-in-law, also fought twice with his brother-in-law,
Yıldırım Bayezit.
When Yıldırım was defeated by Bayezid in the famous
Battle of Akçay, he fled to Konya and closed himself in the city, but
Konya was captured by the Ottomans and he was killed (1398).
After
Konya, Yıldırım Bayezit also captured the town of Lârende (Karaman),
which was the former center of the Karamanids, and sent Alâeddin Ali
Bey's two sons to Bursa and took them under protection.
Thus, the
Ottomans took possession of the land of Karaman until the end of the
1402 Battle of Ankara.
When Timur returned their former lands to the Anatolian lords, Karamanoğulları also owned their country. When the Ottomans recovered, they found the Karamanoğulları as the most important enemy in Anatolia.
The struggle between the Ottomans and the Karamanoğulları continued until the reign of Fatih Sultan Mehmet.
Germiyanoğulları
is one of the strongest Anatolian principalities. Germiyan was a Turkmen tribe name and later became both a family name and a state name.
The Germiyan tribe, who founded the principality, first settled around Malatya for a while, then came to the Kütahya and Denizli regions.
It is not known exactly when they settled in Kütahya. It is seen that the Germiyans have had strong influences in Kütahya since 1283.
Ali-şir Bey, one of the first chiefs of the Germiyans, and his son Yakup Bey were among the Emirs of the Seljuks.
Yakup Bey is the founder of the principality. Yakup Bey, who took the title of « Germiyan Sultan », greatly strengthened his principality, and the force he sent under the command of Aydınoğlu Mehmet Bey to fight the Byzantines descended to the Aegean coasts and captured Ayasluğ and Birgi.
Mehmet Bey, who succeeded Yakup Bey after his death, captured the surroundings of Simav lake from the Byzantines. When Mehmet Bey passed away, the Aydınoğulları principality, which was subject to the Germiyans, was separated.
The Germiyan ruler, the son of Mehmet Bey and known as Süleyman Şah or Şah Çelebi, wanted to make an agreement with his neighbor Ottomans, since he was subjected to pressure from the Karamanoğulları.
For this purpose, he gave his daughter Devlet Hatun to Yıldırım Bayezid, the son of Murad I, and established a kinship bond. As her daughter's dowry, she left Tavsanli, Simav, Emed with the centers of Kütahya to the Ottomans and she withdrew to the town of Kula.
When Sultan Murat was martyred in the First Battle of Kosovo, Karamanoğulları and Germiyans, who ruled that the Ottomans would be shaken, tried to encroach on the Ottoman lands.
Meanwhile, the second Germiyan ruler, Yakup Bey, started to take back the lands that were previously abandoned as a dowry, but Bayezid Yakup Bey, who grew up in Anatolia like Yıldırım, was captured and imprisoned in the İpsala castle in Rumelia and captured the entire Germiyan country (1390).
Yakup Bey, who stayed in Ipsala for nine years, was able to find a way to escape in 1399. He first went to Syria and then to Timur by sea.
After the Battle of Ankara, Yakup Bey, like other Anatolian beys, acquired his land, which had passed into the hands of the Ottomans, with the order and permission of Timur.
He recognized Timur's high dominance, had money cut in his name, got on well with the second Yakup Bey, his nephew Çelebi Mehmet and later Murat the Second.
Since he has no sons, he bequeathed his hometown to the Ottomans. Thus, with his death in 1428, the Germiyan principality came to an end and its lands were transferred to the Ottomans.
Karesi Principality was
one
of the principalities established in Western Anatolia and its center
was Balıkesir. Karesi Bey and his father Kalem Bey were the founders of
the principality.
Kalem Bey is one of the grandchildren of Melik
Danishmend Gazi. When the Anatolian Seljuks finally gave way to the
Danishmends, the members of this family entered the service of the
Seljuks and took command of the border in the border areas.
When the
Seljuks were about to collapse, Karesi Bey, one of the extreme
commanders, founded the principality called by his name.
Karesi principality had
lands extending to Edremit and Çanakkale together with Balıkesir and its
surroundings.
They also had a navy. Although the date of death of
Karesi Bey, a contemporary of Osman Gazi, is not certain, it is certain
that he died between 1325 and 1330.
It is understood that with his
death, the Karesi principality was divided between his two
sons. Demirhan Bey ruled Balıkesir and its environs, and Yahşi Bey ruled
over Bergama and its environs.
Yahşi Bey sent soldiers to Gallipoli
with the navy twice in 1341 and 1342, but was unsuccessful and
eventually had to make an agreement with the emperor Kantakouzenos.
It
is understood that some of the lands of Demirhan Bey, who was neighbor
to the Ottomans, passed to the Ottomans and that Süleyman Bey, who is
likely to be Demirhan's son, held on for a while around Çanakkale.
Ottoman chronicles
describe the transfer of the lands of the principality to the Ottomans
with the sons of Karesi Bey in a different way.
According to Ottoman
sources; Karesi Bey's son, Aclân Bey, got on well with Aclân Bey, Osman
and Orhan Veterans, and sent his son Dursun Bey to Orhan Bey. When Aclân
Bey died in 1335 or 1337, his eldest son succeeded him.
Since Demirhan
Bey, the eldest son of Aclân Bey, was an incompetent and bad-tempered
man, the people wanted the reign of Dursun Bey through a famous figure,
Hacı İl Bey.
Thereupon, Dursun Bey applied to Orhan Gazi and demanded
help and promised that all places except the center Balikesir would be
left to the Ottomans in return for the help.
Demirhan Bey fled to
Bergama when Orhan Bey took Dursun Bey and marched on Balıkesir.
Orhan
Gazi sent Dursun Bey to Bergama together with Hacı II Bey. However, in
front of Bergama, Dursun Bey died with an arrow shot from the castle,
and Demirhan Bey was captured and brought to Bursa.
Thus, the Karesi
Principality was finally found. Although there are few dates for the end
of the principality, the last Karesi lands must have joined the
Ottomans between 1345 and 1354.
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