KARAMAN IN THE MAMLUK SULTANATE'S POLICY (13TH-15TH CENTURIES)

Karaman, an emirate in Asia Minor, existed for more than two hundred years (in the 13th-15th centuries). Its history was connected with the political and economic interests of one of the largest Muslim states in the late Middle Ages - the Mamluk Sultanate (1250-1517). Karaman had important trade routes, especially one through Konya. Along with the strengthening of Ottomans, Karaman became a "buffer" territory dividing territories of Mamluks and Ottomans. Maintaining the balance of power between Karamanids and Ottomans played a vital role in Mamluk foreign policy. It was important for the Mamluks, on the one hand, to avoid the occupation of Karaman and its final absorption, and on the other - to keep the Karamanids from directly contradicting the political course chosen in Cairo. After gaining Karaman, the Ottomans gained control over trade routes and approached closely to the Mamluk Sultanate borders. The Ottomans completed the final submission of Karaman during the second half of the 15th century. After that, the tensions between Mamluks and Ottomans escalated and turned into open hostility and rivalry. The first Ottoman-Mamluk war (1485-1491) begun. Then, in the early 16th century, the Ottoman sultan Selim I (1512-1520) defeated the Mamluk armies in the battle of Marj Dabiq (northern Syria) and annexed the territories of the Mamluk Sultante to his Empire. The article is based on primary Arabic sources, including some letters (found in an unpublished Leiden manuscript) of Mamluk Sultan Barquq (1382-1389; 1390-1399) to the ruler of Karaman 'Ala al-Din (1381-1398).