Battle of Qarahamid (1510)

The Battle of Qarahamid, also spelled Karahamid, was a battle in the Ottoman-Persian Wars in 1510 fought between the Ottoman Empire and the Safavid Persian Empire. The battle ended in a Safavid victory.^[4]

The clash at Qarahamid occurred during the early stages of the Ottoman–Safavid War (1514–1555), as Sultan Selim I of the Ottoman Empire launched campaigns to suppress the influence of the Shia Safavid Empire led by Shah Ismail I. The conflict was rooted in both sectarian rivalry and territorial ambitions in eastern Anatolia and the Caucasus.

Upon returning to the Safavid capital Tabriz following the completion of his campaigns in Khorasan and Turkestan in Central Asia,^[5] Shah Ismail received a new letter from the ruler of the Safavid-held fortress city of Diyarbakır, Muhammad Khan Ustacli. In this letter, Muhammad Khan informed the Shah about the troubles that Shahzadeh Selim, son of the Ottoman Sultan Sultan Bayezid, was causing along the western borders of the Safavid Empire.^[6][7][8]

In 1510, near the village of Qarahamid, an Ottoman army of around 30,000 men, commanded by Selim I and Mustafa Pasha, engaged a significantly smaller Safavid force of approximately 10,000–12,000 under the leadership of Karahan Ustajli. Despite their numerical disadvantage, the Safavids achieved a decisive victory, forcing the Ottomans to retreat after almost 15 days of skirmishing.

According to Muhammad Khan, Prince Selim gathered a large army and attacked the Qarahamid fortress with Mustafa Pasha. Muhammad Khan Ustajli was indisposed with illness, sending Gara Khan, his brother, to meet the Ottoman troops with a force of between 10,000 and 12,000 thousand men.

Upon meeting, Gara Khan is said to have dealt a major blow to the Ottoman army. According to sources who learned that Gara Khan had crossed the border, the sultan's troops were forced to return after failing to achieve their intentions.^[1]

Battle lasted 15 days. Shah Ismail was furious at the news of the Ottoman incursion and in a letter he sent to Muhammad Khan stated that if Prince Selim attacked the Safavid borders again, he would send Selim send him a personal message. Shah Ismail reportedly sent a strongly worded letter warning of retaliation if the Ottomans attacked again. However, Shah Ismail also considered it appropriate to write a separate letter directly to the Ottoman sultan. The letter and valuable gifts were given to Suleiman Yasawul, who would act as envoy to the Sublime Porte and deliver the letter and gifts to the Ottoman Sultan. The gifts included part of the booty taken from Abulkhair Khan, a piece of Genghis Khan's banner, and the blood-stained throne of Abulkhair Khan.^[3]

The outcome at Qarahamid temporarily halted Ottoman expansion in the region. Shah Ismail reportedly reprimanded frontier commanders and reinforced the Safavid Empire's eastern defenses. Although the battle did not shift the broader strategic landscape, it was an early warning of future large-scale conflicts between the two empires, particularly the decisive Battle of Chaldiran in 1514, in which Selim would emerge victorious.

The Battle of Qarahamid was an important precursor to later, more consequential engagements between the Ottoman and Safavid Empires. It revealed the effectiveness of Safavid cavalry tactics and highlighted vulnerabilities in Selim’s eastern operations. The lessons learned here would influence Selim’s approach in later campaigns and underscore the volatility of Ottoman–Safavid relations throughout the 16th century.