Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Bu İslâm bucagında küfr i zulmet
Amasrı olmış-ıdı dâr-ı zillet
Velî bir burka'ı kalmışdı ancak
Getüre han anı kim dege nevbet
Bu han zulmete varsa nûr ider bil
'Âşıkî Hakka şükr it câna minnet
In English
1. In this corner of Islam (there was) unbelief and darkness; Amasra had become a dwelling of abasement.
2. But only one veil of it remained; let the khan bring it, so that its turn may come.
3. Know that if this khan goes into darkness he makes it light; Âşıkî, give thanks to God, (and know) gratitude with your soul.
Literary and Historical Commentary
The Buyer Is Generous
The taking of Amasra, in the hundred and thirty-first chapter, begins with the sovereign ordering Mahmud Paşa to make ready; the paşa fits out ships, puts able men aboard and sends them to Amasra, while the sovereign marches by land by way of Bolu. İsfendiyaroğlu İsmail Beg goes down to Sinop and, on hearing that the sovereign has reached Amasra, sends fine gifts. The ships enter the harbour and drop anchor. The liveliest place in the chapter is the tekfur's speech to his own men. The author gives his thinking through an image of trade: "the buyer is very generous if he sells; and if he does not sell, he will take it by force." The tekfur reckons up for his men that if they do not give up the fortress their wives and daughters will be enslaved and their necks struck with their own swords, and says, "it is better to give this fortress up kindly." The infidels agree; the tekfur comes to the sovereign with the keys of the fortress. The sovereign sends some of the notables with their goods to Constantinople and enslaves none of them. The people of a fortress on the frontier of Wallachia are brought to Amasra, the great church is made a mosque, the sermon is read and a kadı is appointed.
The Last Piece
In the couplets Amasra is a dark corner left in the Islamic lands of the Black Sea coast. "Burka'" in the second couplet is a face veil: the whole face of the coast has been uncovered, only one veil remains, and the khan has come to lift it. The last couplet turns to the image of light: if this khan goes into darkness, he turns it into light. He reminds himself to give thanks to God. The last couplet of the previous verse had announced this campaign: "And the khan has his mind on Amasra too." Thus the two verses are linked. In the edition the name Amasra appears in the form "Amasrı"; it should not be confused with Amasya. Zulmet, zillet, nevbet and minnet share the rhyme in "-et".
Bibliography
- Âşık Paşazade, Osmanoğulları'nın Tarihi, ed. Kemal Yavuz, M. A. Yekta Saraç, Istanbul: K Kitaplığı, 2003, p. 503 (transliterated text, bâb 131).
