Photo: Zeynel Cebeci, CC BY-SA 4.0

Manzume 111 — Bu âdem hayra şerre mazhar oldı

Amasya05 Editorial Board • Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk • 01 October 2026 • Updated: 14 October 2026 • 3 min reading

The last three couplets of the chapter: the Kızılkocaoğulları used to call in the lords of Dulkadır and Karaöylük, and with their removal Amasya found peace.

Contents 4

1Original Ottoman Turkish Text
2In English
3Literary and Historical Commentary
4Bibliography

Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Bu âdem hayra şerre mazhar oldı
Cihân ma'mûr vîrân âdemlen oldı

Benüm senüñ diyen ol âdemîler
Benüm didügi bu anlar ne oldı

Ve bu kârhânede çok iş olupdur
İşi hôd söylenür işçi ne olur

In English

1. This man became the manifestation of good and of evil; the world was both built up and ruined by man.

2. Those men who say "mine, yours": what became of the things he called "mine".

3. In this workshop many works have been done; the work itself is spoken of, what of the worker.

Literary and Historical Commentary

An Answer and a Verdict

The answer to the question "was there sin in these men?" comes in the last part of the chapter. The editors note here that the word "question" is missing from the text, and from the other editions too; that is, the question was asked in the previous sentence and the answer follows directly. At that time there were Hasan Beg of Dulkadır and Hâbil, son of Karaöylük; the Kızılkocaoğulları would from time to time send word to them, "Come and make a move on this province," and they did as they pleased. The author gives his verdict: "In short, once these men of Kızılkoca were dealt with in this way, from that time to this day that province has been in safety and security." That is, the district of Amasya and Tokat remained secure from the removal of the Kızılkocaoğulları down to the author's own day.

The Worker of the World

After this bloody but "peace-bringing" outcome the gaze turns to the double nature of man: man is the manifestation of both good and evil; the world is both built up and ruined by him. The second couplet repeats a familiar question: what became of what those who said "mine, yours" called "mine". In the third the world is imagined as a "kârhâne", a workshop: much work has been done here; the work itself is spoken of, but no one asks what became of the worker. The workshop couplet is like a subtle reservation hinting that the work Yörgüç did, the security established in the district of Amasya, will be remembered while its price, the four hundred who suffocated, will be forgotten. For Yörgüç Paşa's place in the history of the Amasya district see the page Yörgüç Paşa.