Ḳarāmān Beg's emergence coincides with the defeat of the Sultanate of Rum by the Mongol Empire in 1256 and the tension between Kaykaus I and his rival brother Kilij Arslan IV, which allowed local lords living along the boundaries of the state to exercise some autonomy.
Some time before 1256, Karaman Bey officially succeeded his father (who had already left him the effective power several years prior in order to pursue a life in seclusion).
Although the points of detail can probably never be determined, it can be accepted that Karaman started life as a woodcutter and timber merchant who brought supplies from the western Taurus to the little town of Laranda.
He fought against the Armenians on the Isaurian-Cilician borders to such extent that King Hethum I (1226-1269) had to place himself voluntarily under the sovereignty of the great Khan, in order to protect his kingdom from Mamluks and Seljuks (1244).
In 1261, on the pretext of supporting Kaykaus II who had fled to Constantinople as a result of the intrigues of the chancellor Pervâne, Karaman Bey and his two brothers, Zeynül-Hac and Bunsuz, marched toward Konya, the capital of Seljuqs, with 20,000 men.
According to the Armenian chroniclers, in one of the battles against king Hethum at the fort Meniaum (probably Mennan near Ermenek) his brother Buñsuz and his brother-in-law were killed (information which is in contradiction to other sources that say that Buñluz who was amir djandar in Konya was jailed after the death of Karaman), and he himself was wounded and died shortly after, about 1262.
He was buried in Balkusan (now a village in Ermenek district of Karaman Province) [3] His children were freed by Pervane Muin al-Din Sulaymab upon Sultan Kilidj Arslan IV's death in 1265, except his second son, Ali Beg who remained as hostage in Kayseri.