Draft:Capture of Erzincan (1514)

Capture of Erzincan refers to the Ottoman army’s entry into the city of Erzincan in July 1514, during the Chaldiran Campaign. This event is considered the first major Ottoman advance into Safavid territory.^[1]

Capture of Erzincan
Part of Battle of Chaldiran and the Ottoman–Persian Wars
Date July 1514 Location Erzincan Result Ottoman victory Ottoman troops advancing toward Erzincan entered the city unopposed after the Safavid forces withdrew.[2]
Belligerents
Ottoman Empire	Safavid Empire
Commanders and leaders
Yavuz Sultan Selim	Durmuş Khan Rumlu[3]
Strength
80,000–100,000[4]^[page needed]	unknwon

Background

The Battle of Chaldiran was fought on 23 August 1514 between the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Selim I and the Safavid Empire under Shah Ismail I, near the Chaldiran plain in northeastern Van Province. The battle resulted in a decisive Ottoman victory. Shah Ismail was forced to flee the battlefield, severely damaging his prestige. The Ottomans captured his treasury, personal belongings, and even his consort Taçlı Hanım Vidin.^{[citation needed]}

Following the battle, the victorious Ottoman forces sought further conquests and entered the Safavid capital of Tabriz on 6 September 1514.^[5] Although they later marched toward Karabakh, Sultan Selim eventually withdrew to Amasya due to a Janissary mutiny incited by discontented officials.^[6]

The Capture

In the summer of 1514, the Ottoman army reached Erzincan, finding that the Safavid forces had already evacuated the region. Thus, the city came under Ottoman control without resistance.^{[7][8][9][10]}

Erzincan under Ottoman Rule

During the Ottoman period, Erzincan remained relatively quiet except for a few rebellions in the 17th century. Due to its distance from the frontiers, it primarily served as a military waypoint until the 19th century. However, with the Russo-Turkish Wars of that century, Erzincan regained strategic importance and became a military hub. The Ottoman Fourth Army relocated its headquarters to the city as the frontier approached Erzurum.

The Armenian rebellions also affected Erzincan and its surroundings during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The city was occupied by Russian forces on 24 July 1916 during Battle of Erzincan (1916), and recaptured by the Ottomans on 26 February 1918 during the Battle of Erzincan (1918).

After coming under Ottoman control, Erzincan developed physically and demographically. According to the 1516–1518 cadastral survey, the city had 7 Muslim and 13 Christian neighborhoods. Though the number of neighborhoods remained stable in later surveys, the population steadily increased—reaching around 5,000 in 1530 and approximately 6,500 by 1591. While Muslims comprised about 55% of the population in the early 16th century, this ratio shifted in favor of Christians by the century’s end. During this period, the city housed three mosques, ten madrasas, eight zawiyas, and other religious institutions.

Erzincan continued to grow in the 17th century. Evliya Çelebi, who visited in 1647, reported that the city had around 2,000 houses and a population of approximately 10,000. A major earthquake at the end of the 18th century caused serious damage, but the city eventually recovered. By the end of the 19th century, Erzincan’s population was about 23,000, of which 15,000 were Muslims.^[11][12][13]

See also

• Erzincan
• Ottoman–Safavid relations
• Battle of Chaldiran

References

1. Uzunçarşılı, İ. H. (2003). Osmanlı Tarihi Volume II. Turkish Historical Society Publications, pp. 290–291.
2. Halil İnalcık – Devlet-i Aliyye, Vol. I, p. 115
3. Feridun M. Emecen, Yavuz Sultan Selim, Timaş Publications, 2010, pp. 177–178
4. Halil İnalcık – The Ottoman Empire: The Classical Age
5. "Capture of Tabriz (1514)" (in Turkish). 2025-07-11. Retrieved 2025-07-22.
6. Uzunçarşılı, I. H. (2003). Osmanlı Tarihi Volume II. Turkish Historical Society Publications, p. 258.
7. Uzunçarşılı, 2003, pp. 290–291.
8. Emecen, 2010, p. 177.
9. İnalcık, 2009, p. 115.
10. "ERZİNCAN". TDV Encyclopedia of Islam (in Turkish). Retrieved 2025-07-22.
11. Hoffmann, Louis-Frédéric (1890). "Le Vilayet de Trébizonde..." Le Globe. Revue genevoise de géographie. 29 (1): 236–259. doi:10.3406/globe.1890.1736. ISSN 0398-3412.
12. Çakmak, Cengiz (2023-06-23). "Talismans in Evliya Çelebi's Seyahatname". FSM Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (21): 61–85. doi:10.16947/fsmia.1318528. ISSN 2147-3153.
13. Özbay, Rahmi Deniz (2017). Economic Historiography in Turkey: Ömer Lütfi Barkan and Mustafa Akdağ. Pegem Academy Publishing. pp. 203–235. doi:10.14527/9786053187370.11 (inactive 1 August 2025). ISBN 9786053187370. Archived from the original on 3 August 2021. Retrieved 2025-07-22.

• İnbaşı, Mehmet. "The District of Erzincan (Based on the 1642 Avârız Register)." Journal of Turkic Studies, no. 25, 2009, pp. 155–178.
• Turkish Religious Foundation. "Erzincan." Encyclopedia of Islam, vol. 11, 1995, pp. 459–463.
• Sümer, Faruk. The Safavids: Their Foundation and Development. Ankara: Turkish Historical Society Publications, 2nd ed., 1992. ISBN 9751600784.
• Hammer-Purgstall, Joseph von. Great Ottoman History, Volume 4. (Trans. Mehmed Ata), Istanbul: Üçdal Publishing, 1983.
• Koç, Bekir. “The Reflections of the 1514 Chaldiran Campaign on Erzincan and Its Environs.” Erzincan University Journal of Social Sciences Institute, vol. 5, no. 2, 2012, pp. 1–22.
• Uzunçarşılı, İsmail Hakkı. Ottoman History, Volume 2: From the Conquest of Istanbul to the End of the Reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. Ankara: Turkish Historical Society Publications, 7th ed., 1988. ISBN 9751600806.
• İnalcık, Halil. The Sublime State: Studies on the Ottoman Empire – I: The Classical Period (1302–1606). Istanbul: İş Bankası Publishing, 2009. ISBN 9789944886837.