The Battle of Chaldiran

Compiled By: Syed Ali Shahbaz
On 2nd of the Islamic month of Rajab in 920AH, the Battle of Chaldiran took place between the Ottoman and the Safavid Empires, in which Sultan Selim who was on the verge of defeat and contemplating flight, unexpectedly found victory as Shah Ismail’s forces suddenly gave way after brave resistance. The Turks, who were afraid of the growing influence of the Iranians in Anatolia and Syria, succeeded in checking Shah Ismail’s advance in what is now Turkey, but withdrew from Tabriz and retreated on hearing news of reorganization of the famous Qizilbash Corps by the Iranians. This was the first of the many battles between the two sides that continued intermittently for almost two-and-a-half centuries.
On 2nd of the Islamic month of Rajab in 1144 AH, a treaty was signed after wars between the Ottoman and Safavid Empires, according to which the Turks withdrew from western border areas of Iran and the Iranians regained sovereignty over Azerbaijan and parts of the Caucasus.
On 7th of the Islamic month of Rajab in 986 AH, the Battle of Jıldır was fought in northeast Anatolia as the initial armed encounter of the 12-year war between the Ottomans and the Safavids for control of the Caucasus, thus ending the 23-year Peace of Amasya, two years after the death of Shah Tahmasb I of Iran and four years after the death of the Turkish sultan, Sulaiman – the two signatories to the peace treaty. These inter-Muslim hostilities were started by Murad III, who resenting the growing inclination of the Turkish tribes of Anatolia towards the school of the Prophet's Ahl al-Bayt, made a pact with France, stopped the Ottoman push into Europe, and massacred thousands of Shi'ite Muslims in his dominions. Although the Ottomans defeated the Persian army, seized Tiflis, the capital of Georgia from Iran, and went on to occupy Daghestan's capital Derbend on the Caspian Sea, their victories were temporary, as these areas were later liberated by Shah Abbas I.
On 4th of the Islamic month of Rajab in 987AH, the Ottomans, after seizing Daghestan and some northern parts of Azerbaijan in a surprise attack, set up naval bases on the shores of the Caspian, with the aim of dominating this inland sea, similar to their sway in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. The timely counterattack by the Safavid Empire, however, thwarted Ottoman designs, as Daghestan and Azerbaijan's Shirwan region, along with most of the Caucasus, returned to the control of Iran.