SULTAN SELIM THE EXCELLENT

(1470 - 1520 )

Sultan Selim Han was tall, broad shouldered, thick boned, round headed, ruddy cheeked frowning eyebrowed and long moustached.He was austere and brave, and therefore he was very fond of fighting. He was educated and brought up very well.

poems were as splendid as great poets: He also had vast knowledge on politics and culture However he was fond of fights, he was rather sensitive in daily life.
On his mobilization to Iran, he put to flight the armies of Shah Ismail, and the both wives of Shah Ismail were taken as prisoners of war. The treasury and the famous golden throne of the Shah at the camp were also taken. The Ottoman forces under the command of the Sultan Selim the Excellent occupied Persia to Tebriz, which was the capital city at that time. It was matchless to win such a triumph after arriving at the battlefield covering 2500 kms on foot.
He subjected Adana, Ghaziantep, Khatai. Ourpha, Diyar-i Bekir, Mardin, Siirt, Moush. Bingoel, Bitlis, Tounjeli to the Ottomans: moreover, the Dulkadir Principality, Mousoul, Kerkuk, and Erbil were captured. He also conquered the Mohammedan Sovereignity of Ayyubids. In 1516. he waged war on Egypt. On the 27th of July, he annexed the Principality of Ramazanoghlou to the Empire. On the 24th of August, he wared with the Egyptian Mamelukes at Merdjidabik and routed their armies. On the 28th of August, he occupied Aleppo. The last Khaliph transferred Califate to the Sultan Selim. On the 29th of August in 1516, all the holy relics of His Exalted Highness Mohammad Mustafa (May Allah commend and salute him: were brought to Islambol. Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine were conquered completely.
He succeeded to accomplish to do something dangerous whose risk had never been able to be ventured by any other emperors till that time. and he got across the large Desert of Sinai in thirteen days. In the First World War, with modern technological means they were able to cross it in eleven days (taken from the Turkish History. by Yilmaz Oztuna published by Hayat Magazine). Sultan Selim the Excellent defeated the Mamelukes at Ridaniye on the 22nd of January in 1517, and conquered Cairo. The Excellent carried the coffin of the Sultan of the Mamelukes on his shoulders personally at his funeral ceremony. The modest emperor, Selim Ghazi, would eat only one kind of dish on every meal, and use wooden plates. On the 22nd of September in 1520, he died of a boil abscess called "aslan penchesi„(the foot of lion). He was reading the Surah of "Yasin-ee Sheriff" in Qur'an in the last moments of his worldly life. After the burial service had been performed by his son, Solyman (Suleiman) the Legislator, his holy corpse was interred into the mausoleum in the mosque-yard (May Allah have mercy on his soul! n
The Ottoman territories, which were 2.375.000 km/sqs before his sultanate, had been widened to 6.557.000 km/sqs during his era, and those great victories were accomplished in four years.
Sheikh Imam Akhmed Kastalanee, Emir Bukharee and Reisii'l-Khattativn Sheikh Hamdoullah. were the noted personalities of the reigning era of the Sultan Selim the Excellent.
He had only one son. Soloman the Magnificent a:d he had four daughters whose names were Haridje Sultana. Fatima Sultana, Hafsa Sultana.