Early into his reign, Bozkurt assisted Mehmed's successor Bayezid II (r. 1481–1512) in pursuing his rival claimant brother Cem Sultan, who was harbored by the Mamluks.

Bozkurt declined Ismail's wish to marry his daughter and instead gave his support to the Aq Qoyunlu and made an effort to expand to the east, temporarily seizing various towns such as Urfa and Diyarbekir.

Dulkadirid rule in the region did not last long as Bozkurt suffered multiple major defeats at the hands of Ismail's commander, Mohammad Khan Ustajlu.

The Beylik of Dulkadir was founded in southern Anatolia and northern Syria by Zayn al-Din Qaraja (r. 1337–53), a local Turkmen lord, as a client state of the Mamluk Sultanate.

With the reigns of Bozkurt's grandfather, Mehmed (r. 1399–1442), and father, Suleiman (r. 1442–54), the Dulkadirids attempted to forge amicable relations both with the Ottoman state and the Mamluk Sultanate.

[3] In 1467, Bozkurt arranged his daughter Ayshe Hatun's marriage to Bayezid, the son and future successor of Mehmed II (r. 1444–46, 1451–81) of the Ottoman Empire.

[6] Mehmed II strove to enthrone Bozkurt after Qaitbay (r. 1468–96) dismissed his earlier promise of leaving the Mamluk Sultanate to the Ottomans in exchange for their help against Shah Suwar.

The Ottoman forces led by Bayezid's kapıcıbaşı (chief palace gatekeeper) fled to Sis, where they were executed by the city's Mamluk governor, Sakalsizoghlu Yusuf, and their heads were used in a game of jereed (horseback javelin-throwing) in Cairo.

[7] Mehmed II allowed Bozkurt a larger army under his command, which finally defeated and dethroned Shah Budak near the Çiğnem Stream on an unknown date.

[12] Following Cem's escape, a population of Muslims and Christians from Karaman, then governed by Bayezid's son Abdullah, migrated to the Dulkadirid domains, causing a dispute over tax jurisdiction with the Ottomans.

[13] As the Mamluk forces were stationed around Aleppo, the Ottoman–Dulkadirid alliance additionally faced threats by the offensive led by the Ramadanid warlord Eflatun Beg from the Cilician Plain and the nearby rebellion of the chieftain Turgudoghlu Mahmud Pasha.

[21] While scholars agree that Bozkurt's wavering allegiance in 1485 was the cause of the Ottoman–Mamluk clashes, this conventional view belittles Bayezid's contribution to the conflict according to historian Cihan Yüksel.

When Davud Pasha marched on the Turgud and Varsak tribes in the region of Taşeli, Bozkurt reversed his decision and met with him in Kocakale, on the Anti-Taurus Mountains.

He convinced Davud Pasha to pursue the Karamanid prince Mahmud, who had indirectly helped the Mamluks by inciting the tribes in the region to rebel.

When Mahmud escaped to Aleppo and the seasonal conditions worsened, Davud Pasha went to Vize, where the Ottoman sultan resided, and Bozkurt returned to Marash.

Ali Pasha restored the fortress in Adana and was preparing to return to Constantinople, when the news of incoming Mamluk forces from Aleppo arrived.

On the other hand, due to his sympathy for Bozkurt, Mehmed Pasha was purposefully late to the skirmish, which left Shah Budak unassisted apart from about 1000 Ottoman troops under Iskender Bey.

When the Ottoman troops appeared close to the city, Uzbek halted the siege and returned south after ransacking Niğde, Ereğli, and Karaman, while Bozkurt retreated to his own country.

Although Mamay claimed that Qaitbay did not consent to Uzbek's prior actions, this failed to appease an irate Bayezid, who mistreated the Dulkadirid ambassador.

[27] After Qaitbay's death in 1492, dawatdar (head of the chancery) Akbirdi led an unsuccessful insurrection in Cairo and in its aftermath went to Syria with hopes of carving out a new state for himself.

Despite Dulkadirid support, Akbirdi fled east of the Euphrates after a major defeat near Aintab in May 1498, where Aynal and two of Bozkurt's sons were killed by the Mamluk forces.

Distraught by his sons' deaths, Bozkurt allowed a larger portion of the Dulkadirid army under Akbirdi's command in an attempt to seize Aleppo in October the same year.

The same year, Bozkurt's son Shahruh assisted the Ottomans in extinguishing a revolt by the Varsak and Turgud tribes in response to changes in taxation.

In June 1503, Ismail defeated the last Aq Qoyunlu ruler, Sultan Murad, in Hamadan, forcing him to ultimately flee to Baghdad.

When Ismail appeared in Baghdad, both Murad and the Aq Qoyunlu governor of Arab Iraq, Barik Beg Purnak, escaped to Marash.

Bozkurt married his daughter Benlu to Sultan Murad and assisted him in the restoration of his rule over Baghdad in the spring of 1504 when Ismail was occupied with his campaign in Mazandaran in northern Iran.

The Mamluk Sultan Qansuh al-Ghawri ordered their display on the Bab Zuweila gate of Cairo Citadel, both as a source of pride and as a message to the Ottomans that he was able to defeat their common foe.

When Selim requested him to take part in his campaign against the Safavids in Chaldiran by calling upon their shared adherence to Sunni Islam, Bozkurt declined, pointing out his advanced age.

[39] In November 1514, returning from a victory against the Safavids at Chaldiran, Selim appointed Ali as the sanjak-bey of Kayseri, on the border with the Dulkadirid domains, in preparation for eliminating Bozkurt.

These included: In Marash: In Elbistan: In Aintab: Bozkurt was married to his paternal uncle Rustam Beg's daughter Shamsa Khatun (died 1509).