The cause of the Chaldaran war

Shah Ismail I gained power in the military and political arena with the joining of Turkmen Sufis, most of whom lived in Anatolia and Syria. In fact, a large part of Qazalbash tribes lived in Anatolia before joining Shah Ismail, and after the migration of the main tribes, a large part of them also lived in Anatolia. Among the Anatolian people who remained in their lands, they followed or were inclined to the Safavid Sufi Shiism.. The Safavid Sufism Propagation Organization continuously through its regular networks and by caliphs, fathers, etc … They encouraged the disciples to join the perfect guru of the sect, who was Shah Ismail.

Safavids following cultural activity and organization during two centuries (Based on Sufi and Shiite teachings) They were able to with the support of their following tribes (Qezalbash) to establish the Safavid government in Iran and following ideological pressures on the Alawites in the Ottoman Empire, the Safavids formed a strong military force by gathering and sheltering them and especially the Yeni Cheri forces.. The gaining power of an independent Shia religious and fanatical government in Iran worried the Ottoman Empire, which was planning to attack Europe from the eastern borders, and therefore started a campaign towards Iran.. This war started and ended in Chaldaran plain.

Shah Ismail himself was well aware of this and in a letter to the Ottoman Sultan, he revealed to him that many people living in the Ottoman lands were his followers.. Undoubtedly, the continuation of the Sunni rule of the Ottomans without restricting or destroying this process would have been completely problematic. According to some historians, if Shah Ismail had won the Chaldran War, Shah Ismail would have gained power beyond Timur, and without a doubt, the process of expansion of Safavid Shiism in the empire. It wiped out Osmani, who was just at the beginning of his career, from the history page. All these things provide the necessary motivation for a decisive and inevitable confrontation for both sides. But for this decisive battle, there were other reasons that only accelerated it..

After the death of Sultan Bayezid, Shah Ismail declared Selim's request for the extradition of Bayezid III as against chivalry by sheltering the cousin of the claimant and rival of Sultan Salim. Shortly before the start of the war, Sultan Salim massacred Shiites in the Ottoman territory and killed others. Those who were not killed were burned and exiled to European colonies.

After Ismail united with the king of Hungary and the Mamluks in Egypt and planned to attack the Ottomans, Sultan Selim I (918-926 AH. ق) who is one of the most powerful and conquering sultans of the Ottoman family, thought of confronting him. On the other hand, Shah Qoli, the caliph Shah Ismail and the head of Teklu tribe, massacred more than 15 thousand of the people of Sunnah in Asia Minor and looted their property.. Mohammad Khan Stajlu, the ruler of Diyar Bakr, one of the caliphs of Shah Ismail, sent a threatening letter and a sword and a handful of women's clothes to encourage him to fight.. In this letter, he wrote that if you go to war, put your sword on your belt, or else dress in women's clothes, and don't speak to a man after this..

Also, Noor Ali Khalifa, the ruler of Arzanjan and the head and people of Dhul-Qadr dynasty in Anatolia were also disciples of Sheikh Ismail.. In this way, if Sultan Selim was slow to move, the Ottoman government would definitely be laid soon. But the great Ottoman sultan identified all the Anatolian Safavids and then killed more than 40 thousand of them.. And it heats those whose guilt was not proven so that they can be identified. After that, Sultan Salim left for Tabriz, the Safavid capital.