However, the Aq Qoyunlu were fended off by the Mamluks and later defeated by the Ottomans at the Battle of Otlukbeli on 11 August 1473, which rendered Kilij Arslan's ambition to topple Shah Budak unfeasible.
The Beylik of Dulkadir was founded by Zayn al-Din Qaraja (r. 1337–53), a local Turkmen lord, as a client state of the Mamluk Sultanate, in southern Anatolia and northern Syria.
During Malik Arslan's (r. 1454–65) reign, the Dulkadirids were involved in the accession wars within the Karamanids as well as a struggle against the Aq Qoyunlu ruler Uzun Hasan (r. 1453–78).
[2] On 4 December, Mehmed II appointed Shah Suwar as the wali (governor) of Bozok and Artukabad through a firman, which formerly belonged to his father, Suleiman.
Before the Mamluk forces could intervene, Shah Suwar defeated his brother near Zamantu Castle and reclaimed the throne, prompting Berdi Beg to return in April 1466.
[4] Shah Budak was a member of an army, under the command of Governor of Damascus Berdi Beg, that reached the Dulkadirid realm in September 1467.
In Turnadağ, near Göksun, on 4 October 1467, Shah Suwar led an unexpected attack, capturing Berdi Beg and killing several Mamluk commanders.
[7] One last expedition by Yashbak took back much of the lands the Mamluk Sultanate had lost to Shah Suwar, whose support from the Ottomans dwindled, prompting him to seclude himself in Zamantu Castle in inner Anatolia.
Yashbak approached Zamantu on 22 May 1472, and following a series of failed negotiations based on Shah Suwar's conditions to surrender, he was finally caught and fettered.
Shortly after Shah Suwar's hanging in 1472, Uzun Hasan installed Pir Ahmed and Kasım in the Karamanid realm and made an effort to facilitate arms trade through the Republic of Venice.
His army, under the command of Bektashoghlu Umar Beg and Kilij Arslan, was part of the vanguard forces that passed through the Ottoman or Dulkadirid domains.
[9] Aq Qoyunlu forces thus penetrated the Ottoman realm and reached the Karamanid lands, ransacking Tokat along the way, whereas Uzun Hasan struck from the east and seized Kahta and Gerger, demanding that Shah Budak submit.
In response to Shah Budak's call for Mamluk aid, an Egyptian army led by Yashbak repelled the Aq Qoyunlu forces, who had taken control of Malatya, to the opposite side of the Euphrates.
Mehmed II strove to enthrone Bozkurt after he received an unfriendly response from Qaitbay when he brought up his earlier promise of leaving his realm to the Ottomans in exchange for their help against Shah Suwar.
The Ottoman forces led by Bayezid's kapıcıbaşı fled to Sis, where they were massacred by the city's Mamluk governor, Sakalsizoghlu Yusuf, who sent their heads to Cairo, where Qaitbay organized a game of jereed to be played with them.
[13] Mehmed II allowed Bozkurt a larger army under his command, which finally defeated Shah Budak near the Çiğnem Stream, though contemporary historians did not disclose the date of the encounter between the brothers.
[12] In 1485, the governor of Damascus, Kachmas, liberated Shah Budak without the sultan's permission and granted him horses, money, and an honorary robe, deploying him to the Damascene army.
Although not detailed by the Syrian historian Ibn Tulun, Kachmas likely intended to use Shah Budak to overthrow Ala al-Dawla Bozkurt, whose relation with the Mamluks had taken a bad turn.
He declared Shah Budak to be the legitimate ruler of Dulkadir by granting him a diploma and providing him with the assistance of Hiziroghlu Mehmed Pasha and Mihaloghlu Iskender Bey, the sanjak-beys of Little Rum (Amasya and Sivas) and Kayseri, respectively.