Abstract
Sayyid Luqman’s Qasida on Özdemiroglu Osman Pasha’s Campaigns into Iran
In this study the qasida written by one of the 16th century poets and shahname-guy namely Sayyid Luqman, on Özdemiroğlu Osman Pasha’s campaigns into Iran is discussed. The Murad III era (1574-1595) was one of the most intense periods of Ottoman-Safavid conflict. The Ottoman campaigns into Iran, which lasted for twelve years between1578-1590, deeply affected both empires politically and economically. In these campaigns, which started with the Ottomans’ declaration of war against Safavids, many pashas served as commanders at the head of the Ottoman army. Özdemiroğlu Osman Pasha, who effectively participated to the campaigns for six years, was one of these pashas. The successes of Osman Pasha throughout the campaigns were praised by the authors and poets of the era through various works and poems. The number of works written for Osman Pasha in this period is considerably higher than the works written for Lala Mustafa Pasha, Koca Sinan Pasha and Ferhad Pasha, who served as commanders of the army in this period too. Around ten works in prose and verse were written in the era, some of them was qasida written by the poets who did not participate to these campaigns. One of the poets who wrote qasida on behalf of Pasha is Sayyid Luqman. When Osman Pasha was appointed as the army chief while he was the grand vizier, Sayyid Luqman wrote a qasida in Turkish consisting of 46 couplets for the pasha in 991/1583. Written in a convoluted style, the qasida mainly focused on Osman Pasha's military career and his successes in the campaigns. There is also a muamma written about the name of the pasha in a few couplets of the qasida. In this article the campaigns into Iran in the Murad III era are briefly mentioned, and then the life of Özdemiroğlu Osman Pasha and the works written for him are presented. Finally the qasida by Sayyid Luqman was examined along with its text.
Keywords
Özdemiroğlu Osman Pasha, Sayyid Luqman, Ottoman-Safavid, qasida.