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TURKS AND PORTUGUESE IN THE PERSIAN UUUK

led tho Ottomans to begin this war against the Satavids. Thu desire
to wm a more elVective control over the important trade routes-e.g.,
the “silk route »i running from Tabriz to Erzurum, Tokat and Bursa,17
and the “spice route” extending from Basra to Baghdad and Aleppo13—
must be counted no doubt among the reasons for the campaign. On
the political and military sides the occupation of Iraq can be viewed as

a logical complement to the Ottoman conquest of Syria and Egypt in
151G—1517. There existed in the eastern frontiers in Asia Minor a
"i continuing friction between pro-Safavid Shi’i elements and the Otto­

f man frontier authorities.19 The extension of Ottoman control in
Eastern Asia Minor to such areas as Erzurum and Lake Van must have
seemed to Sultan Suleyman and his viziers eminently necessary. The
immediate pretext for war was tho desertion to the Safavids of the
V
5 Kurdish chieftain Sharaf Khan of Bitlis and the accession to the Otto­
mans of an important Safavid frontier beg, Ulama Khan, who now
entered the Ottoman service. To settle the Turco-Safavid problem,
Qr i
and also having in mind a campaign against Baghdad, the Ottoman
Grand Vizier, Ibrahim Pasha, first took Tabriz in July 1534.10 In
i! September Sultan Suleyman joined the Grand Vizier. After a difficult
v
march from Tabriz, in December the Ottomans entered Baghdad
I whence Tekeli Khan, the Safavid commander had fled. This campaign
g gave to the Ottomans possession of the region around Erzurum and
I
t also of northern and central Iraq. As yet their influence did not extend
to the regions of Basra and Lahsa.
3 During his stay at Baghdad (December 1534-April 1535) the
i Sultan received the submission of Rashid ibn Megamis. He sent his
% son Man’i to the Sultan with the keys of Basra and with a fulsome
assurance of his loyalty.11 The local chieftains of Jezayir, of Garraf,

:
:
■•is 17 Cf. H. Inalcik, in EI*t s.v. Bursa; also his paper “The Ottoman Economic
is ’ Mind and Aspects of tho Ottoman Economy,” in M.A. Cook (ed.), Studies in the
Economic History of the Middle East, (London, 1970), pp. 209 fF.
u A. H. Lybyer, “The Ottoman Turks and the Routes of Oriental Trade,”
in English Historical Review, LXX, (London, 1915), pp. 577-583.
l* I. H. Uzunsar^ih, Osmanh Tarihi, I-IY, (Ankara, 1949), II, pp. 336fF; J.
von Hammer, Histoire de VEmpire Ottoman, trans. J. J. Hellert, V, (Paris 1820)
pp. 202 fF. ’
^ 10 On tho campaign of Ibrahim Pasha see T. Gokbilgin, “Arz vo Raporlorina
Gore Ibrahim Pa^a'nin Irakeyn Seferindeki Ilk Tedbirleri
ve Futuhati,” in
Belleten, XXI, (Ankara, 1957), pp. 449ff.
,l Rustem Pa§a( ?), Tevdrih-i Al-i Osmari, University Library, Istanbul MS
nu. 2438, fol. 205r.