Battle of Kerh(1516)

The Battle of Kerh resulted in the near annihilation of the Ottoman vanguard under the command of Çerkez Hüseyin Bey as a result of an ambush by the Safavid forces.

Battle of Kerh
Part of Ottoman–Persian wars
Date April,1516 Location Diyarbakır Result Safavid Victory
Belligerents
Safavid Empire	Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Qara Khan Ustajlu	Çerkez Hüseyin Bey † Mehmed Çelebi †

Battle

Waiting for reinforcements from Karaman and Istanbul, Mehmet Çelebi wanted to defeat the increasingly powerful Ustacalı Karahan with a game. As a result, a feint attack would be made with a cavalry of two thousand men, these troops would retreat when the Safavid forces gathered and would draw the Safavid army into the trap of the main army under the command of Bıyıklı Mehmed Pasha. İdris-i Bitlisi, on the other hand, opposed this plan. The reason was that the roads were muddy due to the season and there was a long distance between the Kerh position and Kantara, where the main army was waiting. Bıyıklı Mehmed Pasha, on the other hand, did not accept the objections and set off by giving the said forces to the command of Çerkez Hüseyin, the Sanjakbey of Harput.

Karahan, who received news of a raid through his scouts, evacuated the camp and hid them in the vicinity. The Ottoman vanguard, thinking the camp was empty, began to plunder. The Safavid army, thinking that the main army was coming from behind, allowed the Ottoman vanguards to cause serious damage to their camps. When they realized that the main army would not come and that these forces were alone, they came out of their hiding places and launched an attack. The Ottoman cavalry, which was suddenly attacked, did not show much resistance and began to flee. Idris-i Bitlisi was right and the Ottoman cavalry could not escape because of the muddy roads. When an informant named Nizamettin told Bıyıklı Mehmed Pasha that the Safavid army was defeated and fled, the Pasha returned to Diyarbakır.

A part of the Ottoman vanguard that managed to reach the Tigris tried to cross the river when they did not see any friendly soldiers around. Most of those who tried to cross drowned in the flooded river, while the rest were either killed or captured by the Safavid forces.

Related pages

Battle of Qara-Hamid
Battle of Tabriz
Battle of Chaldiran
Massacre of Ganja(1606)
Kurdish-Yazidi uprising against the Safavids