YAVUZ SULTAN SELİM HAN

Father: Sultan II. Bayezid
Mother: Ayşe Hatun
Date of Birth: 1470
Accession to the Throne : April 25, 1512
Death: September 21, 1520

He was born in 875 A.H. (1470 A.D.). the year when his grandfather ascended the throne in 918 A.H., when he was forty-four. His father, Bayezid II. was at that time the Governor of Amasya.

At first he made his father abdicate in his favor, the he fought with his brothers who oppressed him. About this time the Şafavid State had been established in neighboring Iran and Azerbaijan. Selim the Grim. realizing the danger that was threatening the Empire, immediately marched towards Shah Ismail and gravely defeated him in the battle of Çaldıran. After that, on the mountain of Turna, he defeated Alauddevle, the ruler of the Dulkadirs and put an end to the principality. He then returned to Istanbul, and the next year he marched his armies to the lands of the Sultan of Egypt. In Mercidabık, he overcame Kansu Gavri and had many of the Circassian princes executed. After spending the winter there, he proceeded to Egypt and defeating the Mamluk Sultan Tumanbay in the battle of Ridaniye, captured the city of Cairo. He had attained success in the target he set himself, when he became a Caliph, an honor that it was his fortune to possess among Ottoman sultans.

Selim II was a man of great courage and martial prowess. Like a lion he was destined to rule the world. He governed his people with justice. He mixed with his Iiberality that was boundless. He was generous with the "ulufe" of the Janissaries and also rewarded them amply for their services. He had invented the Taylesanlı Selimi turban (a type of turban with the end of the wrap or cloth hanging down), and he used to wear this above a handsome headgear, a mücevveze in red velvet similar to the one the Janissaries wore. His attire, moreover, was identical to that of the gazis.