At the request of Qvarqvare III’s son Kaikhosro, the Ottoman Empire invaded Imereti.

By orders of the Ottoman Sultan the Kurdish beylerbey of Erzurum, Musa Pasha, was sent to Samtskhe with 22,000 men to conquer the surrounding area.

Ottoman army equipped by European cannons besieged the Georgian-garrisoned fortress of Oltisi (now Oltu, Turkey).

Georgians unexpectedly annihilated remaining Ottoman garrison and later pursued main army which was decisively defeated at the battle of Karagak, Musa Paşa was himself killed in fighting.

The Ottomans returned in force two years later, and moved into the principality of Samtskhe, where Bagrat and his ally Luarsab I of Kartli suffered a bitter defeat at the Battle of Sokhoista in 1545.