It refers to the city-state in a specific period and the beylik which developed around there, at times under the Karamanid dynasty.

Before the influence of the Karamanid dynasty, Henry II of Jerusalem made an unsuccessful attempt to invade the city in 1291.

The Ottoman general Gedik Ahmed Pasha's victory against Kasim Bey and the Karamanids also happened in Alaiye.

During this period no major state existed in Anatolia, following the defeat of the Seljuq Sultanate of Rûm by the Mongol Empire at the Battle of Köse Dag.

Following minor Christian incursions in the region in 1371, Badr ad-Din Mahmud Bey, an emir of the Karamanids built a mosque and medrese in 1373–1374 in the city.