Ala al-Dawla Bozkurt Beg (; 1428 – 13 June 1515) was the ruler of Dulkadir in southern and central Anatolia from late 1480 until his death. Championed by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II (), Bozkurt ousted his brother Shah Budak () and claimed the throne.
Bozkurt secured the Mamluk Sultanate's recognition of his rule in February 1481, and after Mehmed II's death, intended to follow a policy of friendly relations with both the Ottomans and the Mamluks despite growing animosity. Early into his reign, Bozkurt assisted Mehmed's successor Bayezid II () in pursuing his rival claimant brother Cem Sultan, who was harbored by the Mamluks. Amidst Cem Sultan's pursuit, Bozkurt besieged the Mamluk-controlled city of Malatya, prompting a Mamluk offensive against him and the Ottomans. Although the Mamluks were overpowered in a series of engagements in early to mid-1484, Bozkurt's forces suffered a major defeat at Malatya in September.
In 1485, the Mamluk Sultan Qaitbay () sought to isolate Bozkurt politically by proposing a truce with Bayezid II with the mediation of Caliph al-Mutawakkil II. Before the talks could come to fruition, Qaitbay dispatched his army to confront Bozkurt. Ottoman forces captured several key cities in Cilicia but were defeated by the Mamluks in March 1485 after Bozkurt failed to support the Ottomans as promised, leading to restored Mamluk control. Bozkurt's shifting allegiances caused further Ottoman–Mamluk clashes, including another Ottoman defeat in early 1486 due to Bozkurt's delayed aid. Bozkurt ultimately avoided any direct involvement in the conflict, relaying several requests for peace to Qaitbay, who dismissed all.
After escaping a Mamluk prison, Bozkurt's brother Shah Budak found safety under the Ottoman sultan. To punish Bozkurt for his disloyalty, the Ottomans gave their support Shah Budak, who had escaped Mamluk custody. However, Bozkurt misled much of the Ottoman supporting forces, and a portion of the commanders who favored Bozkurt deserted Shah Budak, leading to his defeat and escape to Mamluk Egypt.
After Shah Budak's defeat, Bozkurt followed a policy of neutrality in the context of Ottoman–Mamluk relations but covertly acted against the Ottomans when he saw fit. In 1490, the Mamluk army under Uzbek mobilized and ransacked parts of Anatolia, following Bozkurt's advice. Mediation by a Hafsid delegation at the Ottoman throne resulted in a truce, while Bozkurt secured a pardon from the Ottomans. Following Qaitbay's death in 1492, Bozkurt supported the rebel Akbirdi and sheltered him despite objections from the Mamluks. After Akbirdi's forces suffered defeats near Aintab in 1498, resulting in the deaths of two of Bozkurt's sons, Bozkurt briefly intensified his support. Reconciled with the Mamluks in 1499, Bozkurt withdrew his backing for Akbirdi, who soon died after another failed rebellion.
Bozkurt antagonized the Safavid ruler Ismail I (), who conquered vast portions of modern-day Iran. Bozkurt declined Ismail's wish to marry his daughter and instead gave his support to the Aq Qoyunlu and made an effort to expand to the east, temporarily seizing various towns such as Urfa and Diyarbekir. Dulkadirid rule in the region did not last long as Bozkurt suffered multiple major defeats at the hands of Ismail's commander, Mohammad Khan Ustajlu. Despite this, Bozkurt eventually established peaceful relations with Ismail. This facilitated the new Ottoman sultan Selim I () to make plans to replace Bozkurt with his nephew Ali as Bozkurt gave support to Ismail, Selim's enemy. After overpowering Ismail at the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514, Selim changed his focus to the Dulkadirids. Bozkurt was killed at the Battle of Turnadağ and was succeeded by Ali.
Background The Beylik of Dulkadir was founded in southern Anatolia and northern Syria by Zayn al-Din Qaraja (), a local Turkmen lord, as a client state of the Mamluk Sultanate. Qaraja eventually rebelled against the Mamluks and was executed in 1353. The conflict between the Dulkadirids and the Mamluks persisted during the successive rule of Qaraja's sons Ghars al-Din Khalil () and Shaban Suli (), who were both assassinated on the orders of the Mamluk Sultan Barquq (). With the reigns of Bozkurt's grandfather, Mehmed (), and father, Suleiman (), the Dulkadirids attempted to forge amicable relations both with the Ottoman state and the Mamluk Sultanate.
The death of Malik Arslan (), Bozkurt's brother, marked the start of an era of struggle between his other brothers. Shah Budak () initially claimed the throne with Mamluk support. Shortly after, he was forced out of the throne by the Ottoman-backed Shah Suwar (). Throughout his reign, Shah Suwar was involved in a persistent dispute with the Mamluks. Emboldened by his victories, he considerably expanded his territory. The Ottomans eventually withdrew their support as they disapproved of his disloyalty and continuous conflict with their southern neighbors. The Mamluks recovered their previous losses, captured Shah Suwar and executed him, reinstating Shah Budak as the head of the Dulkadirid state.
Early life Bozkurt was born to Suleiman Beg in 1428. In 1467, Bozkurt arranged his daughter Ayshe Hatun's marriage to Bayezid, the son and future successor of Mehmed II () of the Ottoman Empire. After the marriage, Bozkurt lived with his son-in-law but returned to his homeland a short while after. Bozkurt momentarily found refuge in the Ottoman realm following the defeat of Shah Suwar by the hostile Mamluks in 1472.
In 1479, Bozkurt raided the region around Sivas, eliciting a counter-attack by Mihaloghlu Ali Bey, the local sanjak-bey (provincial governor), who captured Bozkurt's wife and son. In retaliation, Bozkurt pursued Ali Bey near Çiğnem Stream with a supporting force of a thousand cavalry he received from Shah Budak, forcing Ali Bey to flee to a nearby fortress. Afraid of the repercussions of his animosity with an Ottoman official, Bozkurt traveled to Constantinople to appeal to Mehmed II. The latter, wishing to restore the Ottoman influence over the Dulkadirids, made Bozkurt the sanjak-bey of Chirmen and awarded him a robe of honour. Mehmed II strove to enthrone Bozkurt after Qaitbay () dismissed his earlier promise of leaving the Mamluk Sultanate to the Ottomans in exchange for their help against Shah Suwar. On the other hand, the Mamluks were in a vulnerable position following their defeat by the Aq Qoyunlu ruler Yaqub () in Ruha in November 1480. Mehmed II thus granted Bozkurt the sanjak of Kırşehir.
Bozkurt marched on Shah Budak with auxiliary Ottoman forces. He initially faced a defeat as some of the Turkmens under him switched sides. The Ottoman forces led by Bayezid's (chief palace gatekeeper) fled to Sis, where they were executed by the city's Mamluk governor, Sakalsizoghlu Yusuf, and their heads were used in a game of jereed (horseback javelin-throwing) in Cairo. Mehmed II allowed Bozkurt a larger army under his command, which finally defeated and dethroned Shah Budak near the Çiğnem Stream on an unknown date. In March 1480, Shah Budak requested to enter the Mamluk territory near Aleppo. Local scholar Ibn Tulun recorded Shah Budak's arrival in Damascus on 14 February 1481, who lastly reached Egypt. Uzbek, the Mamluk governor of Damascus, who was in the region tasked with countering the fall of Ruha, did not assist Shah Budak in restoring him to his throne, and instead imprisoned him at the Citadel of Damascus.
Reign First Ottoman–Mamluk War Aiming to gain recognition, Bozkurt sent one of his sons to the Mamluk capital of Cairo and granted the Mamluks various towns and fortresses in northern Syria. In February 1481, Bozkurt asked Uzbek to transmit his wish to receive a (diploma) and a robe of honour from Qaitbay. In April, Bozkurt reached Aleppo but did not enter the city preempting his fears of getting captured by the Mamluks. There, Janibak Habib al-Inali, sent there by Uzbek, gave Bozkurt a robe signifying Qaitbay's approval of Mamluk patronage over the Dulkadirids.
The next month, Mehmed II died unexpectedly, possibly amidst the preparations for a campaign against the Mamluk Sultanate. Bozkurt attempted to simultaneously maintain amicable relations with the Mamluks and with the new Ottoman sultan, Bayezid II (). Amidst the revolt initiated by his claimant brother Cem Sultan, Bayezid II requested Bozkurt to find Cem in early March 1482, who potentially passed through Bozkurt's realm. Bozkurt was unsuccessful in catching Cem, who managed to escape to the Mamluks in Egypt. Cem later returned to Anatolia and allied himself with Kasim Beg, last ruler of the Karamanids (), to overthrow Bayezid II. Bozkurt started pursuing him once again in June 1482, accompanied by Iskender Pasha. Bozkurt met with Bayezid II in Laranda, informing him of the failure to restrain Cem, who found refuge with the Knights of Rhodes. Bozkurt thus returned to his country in July. Following Cem's escape, a population of Muslims and Christians from Karaman, then governed by Bayezid's son Abdullah, migrated to the Dulkadirid domains, causing a dispute over tax jurisdiction with the Ottomans. It is known that Bayezid II intervened in the issue; the exact outcome is unknown but presumably preserved peace between the two sides.
Bozkurt laid siege to the Mamluk-held city of Malatya in July 1483 in response to Mamluk harboring of Cem Sultan, either encouraged by Bayezid or intending to incite Bayezid into engaging with his southern neighbor. With their long-time northern frontier in jeopardy, the Mamluks sent an army, including 500 Royal Mamluks, to the region in August. As the Mamluk forces were stationed around Aleppo, the Ottoman–Dulkadirid alliance additionally faced threats by the offensive led by the Ramadanid warlord Eflatun Beg from the Cilician Plain and the nearby rebellion of the chieftain Turgudoghlu Mahmud Pasha. The Mamluks penetrated the Dulkadirid lands devastating parts of the country and its fields. Bozkurt evacuated Elbistan, the capital, secluding his family and army in the mountains and calling for support from Bayezid's son Ahmed. Bayezid backed Bozkurt with an army led by Yakub Pasha and Turkmen tribes loyal to the Ottomans. Contemporary Mamluk historian Ibn Iyas described this decision as "the first move by the Ottomans against the [Mamluk] sultan's country", while another contemporary writer, the Ottoman historian Kemalpaşazade, characterized this as "the onset of hostility and the beginning of enmity". Near Elbistan in February or March, the first clashes between the Ottoman and Mamluk forces resulted in major casualties and defeat of the latter.
Qaitbay mobilized the military in Egypt, which marched north in May or June 1484. Among its ranks were 500 Royal Mamluks, the future Mamluk sultan Qansuh al-Ghawri () as the newly appointed (), and (chief arms bearer) Temeruz al-Shamsi as its leader. The force was joined by local Bedouins near Ramla. Bozkurt demanded help from Bayezid II. The Ottoman sultan tasked Yakub Pasha to deal with the Mamluks, who had pillaged Marash and were approaching Elbistan. Sometime between 24 August and 21 September 1484, a bloody battle took place near the fortress of Hirman, to the north of Elbistan, resulting in an Ottoman–Dulkadirid victory. Waradbash, the governor of Aleppo, was beheaded by Bozkurt, Almas, the governor of Safed, died in battle, and Aynal and Korkmaz, the governors of Tripoli and Tarsus, respectively, were both captured. Amidst the skirmishes the same year Bozkurt blinded Shah Budak's son Shahqubad Feyyaz.