Page 21 - Journal of Asian History_Neat

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62 SAlJlI OZDAJIAK

of Luristun and of tho Ifuwaizah marches, near Khuzistan, also gave
their allegianco to tho Ottomans.21 Also in December 1634 thcro came to
1
Baghdad from tho sheikhs of Katif and of tho Bahrayn envoys bearing
messages of welcome to the Sultan.23 Whatever their feelings might
havo been, all theso small states needed protection from or allies i
against tho Portuguese.
Is
In Basra it was not until 1538 that tho namo of tho Sultan appeared i
on tho coinage and was read in tho Khutba, i.o., the Friday prayer.
Basra roceived the titular status of an eyalet (or beylerbeylik), and •i
Rashid ibn Mogamis was confirmed in his position at Basra.24 Ho was

expected to obey tho orders of tho Pasha of Baghdad and to maintain
the shari’a law. Not much information is available about his rule at ^
Basra after this time. Rashid was succeeded by his son Man’i. Man’i,
however, by tho decision of tho council of local notables (icma'-i vildyet * ys
mu^&veresi) at Basra was forced to yield his position to Yahya, the
a
sheikh of the Banu Aman.15 Yahya aligned himself with Sayyid Amin-
a notable who had separated from his tribe, the Banu Mushasha, and
-*3
had received from Sultan Suleyman tho town and district of Zakiyya,
a place of some strategic importance on the bank of the Euphrates. J
These two chieftains turned, in 1545, against Hurrem Bey whom the .
Pasha of Baghdad had sent to build a fort which would control the 'Vj*
region of Zakiyya.28 In the end Sayyid Amir was overcome, Zakiyya
came under direct Turkish control and thus the road to Basra was a
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open. Sheikh Yahya of Basra fell into further disfavor with the Otto­ A
mans when, in 1546, he ignored an order from the Sultan to return 1
certain refugees to Baghdad, who had fled to Basra from central Iraq.
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11 S. H. Longrigg, Four Centuries of Modem Iraq, (Oxford, 1925), p. 25. . V
x* Even the vizier Sharaf al-Din of Hormuz sent a letter to Sultan Suleyman •X
asking him to send help against his Portuguese masters (cf. L. Ribeiro, “Em
to mo do primeiro cerco de Diu“, in Studia, XHI-XIY, (Lisboa, 1964), pp.
s
102—103. 1
14 «<
M&h-i mezburun yirmi yedinci gunu divan-i humayunda namua-i salt ana t •4
muktozasinca ziyafet olunub ve takbil-i rikab-i humayun-i padi^ahi Lie mu^erref
olub Basra hukumeti eyalet unvamyla kendiye inayet olunub . . .“ (Pecevi
Tarih, Istanbul, 1238/1866 A. D., I, p. 207). 4
*4 Rustem Pa§a, op.cit., fol. 239 v. • V
M Ibid-» f°l- 240 v; see also the letter of Luis Falc&o, the govemador of Hor­
muz, dated 10 January 1546, to the governor of India. Luis Falcao obtained his
information through a certain merchant, whose name is not given in the letter
(cf. Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tom bo, Casa Forte. Cartas de Ormuz a D.
Jodo de Castro, fol. 38r). ^ :y1
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