Recapture of Bitlis
This article may meet Wikipedia's criteria for speedy deletion as an article which plainly indicates that the subject was invented/coined/discovered by the article's creator or someone they know personally, and does not credibly indicate why its subject is important or significant. The criterion does not apply to any article that makes any credible claim of significance or importance even if the claim is not supported by a reliable source or does not satisfy Wikipedia's notability guidelines. See CSD A11.
If this article does not meet the criteria for speedy deletion, or you intend to fix it, please remove this notice, but do not remove this notice from pages that you have created yourself. If you created this page and you disagree with the given reason for deletion, you can click the button below and leave a message explaining why you believe it should not be deleted. You can also visit the talk page to check if you have received a response to your message. This article may be deleted at any time if it unquestionably meets the speedy deletion criteria, or if an explanation posted to the talk page is found to be insufficient. Note to page author: you have not edited the article talk page yet. If you wish to contest this speedy deletion, clicking the button above will allow you to leave a talk page message explaining why you think this article should not be deleted. If you have already posted to the talk page but this message is still showing up, try purging the page cache. This page was last edited by Sinjarist (contribs | logs) at 20:50, 3 September 2026 (UTC) (2 seconds ago) |
| Recapture of Bitlis | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Campaign of the Two Iraqs / Ottoman–Safavid War (1532–1555) | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Ottoman Empire | Safavid Empire | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| • Grand Vizier Ibrahim Pasha | • Sharaf Khan † | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
Ottoman Vanguard Force • ~30,000 Troops |
Bitlis Garrison & Safavid Reinforcements • ~10,000 Troops | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Light |
Heavy • Sharaf Khan killed in action | ||||||
The Recapture of Bitlis in late 1533 was the opening engagement of the landmark Campaign of the Two Iraqs. The fortress city, historically a buffer state between empires, had fallen under Safavid alignment when its local Kurdish ruler, Sharaf Khan, defected from the Ottoman Empire to pledge allegiance to Shah Tahmasp I.
Recognizing the strategic threat to the eastern frontier, Sultan Suleiman I dispatched Grand Vizier Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha at the head of a massive advance guard. Ibrahim Pasha rapidly marched into eastern Anatolia, cornering the defector forces before main Safavid reinforcements could arrive from the Persian interior.
The engagement resulted in a swift, decisive Ottoman victory. The defending lines were broken, and Sharaf Khan was killed during the fighting. The victory successfully re-secured Bitlis under direct Ottoman rule, clearing the vital northern mountain passes and establishing a secure staging ground for Ibrahim Pasha's subsequent march toward the Safavid capital of Tabriz.