Mehmed of Dulkadir
After his father, Ghars al-Din Khalil (r. 1353–1386), died, Mehmed repudiated the reign of his uncle, Shaban Suli (r. 1386–1398) and clashed with him on several occasions, relying on the support of the Mamluk Sultanate that ruled Egypt and Syria.
Sponsored by Barquq, Mehmed defeated his ruling uncle with the aid of the Mamluk governor of Sis, forcing Suli to flee to Develi in the summer of 1389.
In this struggle, Mehmed continued to support Barquq, and along with his uncle, Sarim al-Din Ibrahim, marched on the governor of Besni, Toman Timur, who was the brother of Mintash.
[4] Upon the murder of Shaban Suli in 1398, his son Sadaqa inherited the throne and traveled to the Mamluk court in Cairo to receive the manshūr (diploma of investiture).
Mehmed likely sought help from the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I (r. 1389–1402), who had recently established control over the lands located to the north of the Dulkadirids and formerly under the sovereignty of Kadi Burhan al-Din (r. 1381–1398).
[1] Contrary to his uncle, Suli, Mehmed was fiercely against Timur, a Turco-Mongol leader who was, at the time, conquering vast portions of West Asia.
After besieging the Ottoman-ruled city of Sivas in inner Anatolia in 1400, Timur attempted to ransack Elbistan in response to an earlier robbery by the Turkmens, who escaped to the mountains when he arrived.
During his return from the Syrian campaign in early 1401, Timur ordered an offensive on the transhumant Dulkadir nomads occupying a kishlak (winter pasture) near Tadmur in central Syria and caught up to 200 thousand sheep.
[9] In November 1411, Mehmed was granted control of Aintab as a reward for his support of al-Mu'ayyad Shaykh (r. 1412–21), who would triumph in claiming the Mamluk throne initially occupied by an-Nasir Faraj (r. 1399–1412).
[1] Mehmed's brother Ala al-Din Ali was previously made the city's governor by the Mamluks in July 1402 as an appreciation for his part in the restoration of an-Nasir Faraj's authority in Aleppo.
He appointed his brother Ali as the governor of Marash and participated in the Mamluk campaign against the Karamanids in 1419, which earned him the city of Kayseri in April the same year.
Mehmed shortly sent his wife Khadija Khatun there on a diplomatic mission that succeeded in allowing Fayyaz's return to his former position in Marash but also ensured the continuation of Suleiman's tenure in Kayseri, which Ibrahim II of Karaman was trying to obtain control of by negotiating with the Mamluks.
[1] The Ghadiriyya Madrasa was built around November–December 1432, and the construction was overseen by Mehmed's wife and "legally constituted agent" (wakīla) Misr Khatun, details on whose exact identity are unclear.
Modern historian Refet Yinanç listed an additional daughter named Misr; however, Margaret Venzke laid doubt to this noting that a waqf (endowment) identified her as the son of Suleiman (therefore Mehmed's granddaughter).
