Though the Safavids eventually reconquered Mesopotamia and Eastern Anatolia under the reign of Abbas the Great (r. 1588–1629), they would be permanently ceded to the Ottomans by the 1639 Treaty of Zuhab.

[18] After their victory, Ottoman forces marched deeper into Persia, briefly occupying the Safavid capital, Tabriz, and thoroughly looting the Persian imperial treasury.

[5][6] The battle is one of major historical importance because it not only negated the idea that the murshid of the Qizilbash was infallible,[22] but also led Kurdish chiefs to assert their authority and switch their allegiance from the Safavids to the Ottomans.

[23][24] After Selim I's successful struggle against his brothers for the throne of the Ottoman Empire, he was free to turn his attention to the internal unrest he believed was stirred up by the Qizilbash, a Twelver Shi'i warrior-dervish group who had sided with other members of the dynasty against him and had been semi-officially supported by Bayezid II.

Selim secured a jurist opinion that described Isma'il and the Qizilbash as "unbelievers and heretics," enabling him to undertake extreme measures on his way eastward to pacify the country.

[25]: 104  Selim accused Ismail of departing from the faith:[25]: 105 ... you have subjected the upright community of Muhammad... to your devious will [and] undermined the firm foundation of the faith; you have unfurled the banner of oppression in the cause of aggression [and] no longer uphold the commandments and prohibitions of the Divine Law; you have incited your abominable Shii faction to unsanctified sexual union and the shedding of innocent blood.Before Selim started his campaign, he ordered the execution of some 40,000 Qizilbash in Anatolia "as punishment for their rebellious behaviour.

[11] Selim sent the following letter to Ismail, which outlined both Selim's claim to the caliphate and Ismail's heresy:[26] This missive which is stamped with the seal of victory and which is, like inspiration descending from the heavens, witness to the verse "We never chastise until We send forth a Messenger" [Quran XVII] has been graciously issued by our most glorious majesty-we who are the Caliph of God Most High in this world, far and wide; the proof of the verse "And what profits men abides in the earth" [Quran XIII] the Solomon of Splendor, the Alexander of eminence; haloed in victory, Faridun triumphant; slayer of the wicked and the infidel, guardian of the noble and the pious; the warrior in the Path, the defender of the Faith; the champion, the conqueror; the lion, son and grandson of the lion; standard-bearer of justice and righteousness, Sultan Selim Shah, son of Sultan Bayezid, son of Sultan Muhammad Khan–and is addressed to the ruler of the kingdom of the Persians, the possessor of the land of tyranny and perversion, the captain of the vicious, the chief of the malicious, the usurping Darius of the time, the malevolent Zahhak of the age, the peer of Cain, Prince Ismail.When Selim started his march east, the Khanate of Bukhara invaded the Safavids in the east.

From then on, firearms were made an integral part of the Persian armies, and Ismail's son, Tahmasp I, deployed cannons in subsequent battles.

[37] The Mamluk Sultanate refused to send messengers to congratulate Selim after the battle and prohibited celebrating the Ottoman military victory.

[38] The site of the battle is near Gal Ashaqi, a village around 6 km west of the town of Siah Cheshmeh, south of Maku, north of Qarah Zia ol Din.