Selim Ier    ( Yavuz Sultan Selim Han ) dit  “ Cruel the ” ou  “ Terrible the ”     (in Turkish: yavuz , inflexible ; severe ; cruel )     (born the October 10th 1470 with Amasya - died the September 20th 1520 with Constantinople)     was the 11th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and the first to carry the title of Caliph (starting from 1517). It succeeded his father Bayezid II.

It had four girls and a son named Suleyman , more known under the name of Soliman the Magnificent the, which succeeded to him its death.

Biography

Named by his/her father Bayezid II, Governor of Trébizonde, Selim make profitable this function to be familiarized with the Administration and to conduct some victorious military campaigns. Very close to the Janissary S of which it adopts the costume partially, it is regarded as frugal and sparing, very religious and brutal. It organized an effective network of Espionnage in all the country and the adjoining countries.

It makes the Conquête of part of the Georgia, corresponding to the Province S of Kars, Erzurum, and Artvin, whose Population was converted with the Islam (1508).

Seizure of power

The following year, Selim enters in rebellion against his/her father, whom it ends up forcing with the Abdication with the assistance of the janissaries in 1512. It kills his brothers and nephews to eliminate very claiming with the throne. It gives the proof of its intransigence while carrying out in front of their men, two officers having shown signs of insubordination.

Unification of Anatolia

It did not break peace with the Christian powers, on the other hand in the east the Iranian Safavides constituted a danger to the Ottoman Empire. Ismaïl Ier diffused the Chiisme that Selim regarded as a horrible heresy. The goal of Selim was to eliminate Safavides and to thus restore the unit of the Moslems. April 23rd, 1514 it left towards Sinop and left a detachment of 40  there; 000 soldiers and left to shift towards Iran with the remainder the army is 100  000 soldiers. The army of Ismaïl included/understood it also 100  000 men but was much less better equipped and especially the Othoman artillery was much higher. The battle took place with Tchaldiran (Turkish: Çaldiran in the province of Van) on August 23rd 1514. The Othomans left victorious. The Shah could escape. Selim made massacre 40  000 Shiites, considered as Heretic S in his States. Severe measures of repression of the Shiism were taken and the historians Turkish say that they were “effective”. He had also imagined to remove the Turkish ground from all the Christians, but he was dissuaded from it.

Erzincan and Bayburt was invaded and the fortress of Kemah (close to Erzincan) was taken. Selim continued its projection and entered Tabriz. All Anatolia is passed under the Othoman domination. September 15th 1514, Selim was withdrawn from Tabriz to move towards the Karabakh (Karabağ), but he preferred to fold up himself on Amasya to spend the winter there.

In June 1515, Selim wanted to abolish the beylik of Dulkadir (Dulkadiroglu), the bey refused there although it was the large maternal father of Selim. Its opposition was swept at the time of the battle of the Mount Turna (Turnadağ in the province of Kahraman Maraş) on June 12th, 1515.

War against Safavides

Safavides were combined with the Mamelouks of Cairo. While learning that Selim left at once to shift towards the Egypt (June 1516). August 27th the citadel of Antep (today Gaziantep in Turkey) went like that of Besni (in the province of Adiyaman).

The battle take place with Marj-Dabiq (Turkish: Mercidabik, Arabic: مرجدابيق marj dābīq, meadows sticky ) with the surroundings of Alep (Syria). Two years exactly after the battle of Tchadiran, they are this time the Mamelukes who are crushed by the superiority of the Othoman armies. The Sultan Mameluke Qânsûh Al-Ghûri is killed and the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutawakkil III is made prisoner. Selim entered Alep on August 28th 1517. The day following the prayers were known as on its behalf, the informant caliph. A campaign flash makes him take Syria and the Lebanon, it crosses the desert of the the Sinai in 13 days. It beat once again the Mamelukes around the Cairo on January 24th, 1517. The last sultan Mameluke is carried out on April 13rd. July 6th Mecque and Médine were Othoman territories. Caliph Al-Mutawakkil abdicated in favor of his father Al-Mustamsik. This last gave in the hands of Selim the badges of the capacity califal. Selim sent to Istanbul the crowned objects (Turkish: Emanat-ı Mukaddes) the sword, the dress, the standard and of the teeth of the prophet and transformed Istanbul into center of the caliphate. This proclamation obviously violated the Arab tradition and several Hadith S which stipulates that the caliph must always be a member of the tribe mecquoise Quraych.

It still remained in Cairo for 8 months and returned to Istanbul on June 25th 1518.

On the seas

Selim was satisfied to support the brothers Barberousse Arudj then Khayr AD-DIN in their providing ships. About 1518, Khayr AD-DIN Barberousse had then the idea to be completely combined with the Ottoman Empire. It made allegiance with the sultan Selim Yavuz who gave him titrates it of pasha and beylerbey with a troop of 2  000 men provided with artillery then even of 4  000 volunteers having the statute of janissaries. The Turkish domination on the Algeria and the Tunisia will be complete only under the reign of Soliman.

Selim Yavuz died the September 20th 1520 of a cancer at fifty years whereas it prepared a forwarding against the island of Rhodes. His/her son Soliman the Magnificent the succeeded to him.

External bonds