Âşıkî, Manzume 165: Hasan kim kendüyi key er sanurdı

Manzume 165 — Hasan kim kendüyi key er sanurdı

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

Five couplets on the "Çıtak", in the chapter where at Otlukbeli Uzun Hasan cries "bring the grey horse" and flees, and later bids his kin never again speak the Ottomans' name.

Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Hasan kim kendüyi key er sanurdı
Çagatay'da 'Acemde uz anılırdı

Ve hem dirdi Çıtakla bulışayum
Çürük i'tikâdına inanurdı

Buluşdı hem Çıtak bir biñ göründi
Öñince kaçuban ha tolınurdı

Dahı añdurmaz ol Hasan Çıtag'ı
Çıtak añılsa Hasan utanurdı

Çıtak urdı Hasan başına yumruk
Ve ger kurtılsa bilüñ uslanurdı

In English

1. Hasan, who thought himself a great warrior, was named a master in Chaghatay and in Persia.

2. And he used to say, "Let me meet the Çıtak"; he trusted in his rotten belief.

3. He met the Çıtak, and (the Çıtak) showed himself once; he would run and wheel away before him.

4. That Hasan no longer lets the Çıtak be named; if the Çıtak were named, Hasan would be ashamed.

5. The Çıtak struck a blow on Hasan's head; know that if he escaped he would mend his ways.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Bring the Grey Horse

The great battle between the Conqueror and Uzun Hasan that followed the earlier rout is the matter of the hundred and fiftieth chapter. On the seventh day, a Wednesday, the two armies meet. Opposite Prince Mustafa's wing stands Uzun Hasan's son Zeynel, opposite Prince Bayezid's wing Ogurlu Mehmed, and opposite the sovereign Hasan-ı Dırâz, that is Uzun Hasan. Zeynel's head is cut off. Seeing how things stand, Uzun Hasan calls for his grey horse; the horse is made ready and the flight begins. Before the gazis the Turkmens lose their wits. Pîr Ahmed of Karaman is at Uzun Hasan's side too; on seeing the janissaries he finds flight better than anything. Uzun Hasan makes for Tabriz, and the lord of Karaman falls in beside him. On seeing them the janissaries shout: "Ho, luckless, treacherous Turkmens, before an arrow was shot or a sword swung, why did you take to flight?" At the end of the chapter it is told that Uzun Hasan was content to have saved his head and charged his kin, "let them never again speak the names of the House of Osman." The date is 878 (1473).

Çıtak

The key word of the verse is "Çıtak". From the context of the edition it appears to be a scornful name the Turkmens gave the Ottoman soldiery. The author takes this name from Uzun Hasan's mouth and turns it against him. Hasan thought himself a warrior, was named a master in Chaghatay and Persia, and trusted in his rotten belief, saying, "Let me meet the Çıtak". But when the Çıtak showed himself once, he ran from him. The fourth couplet is directly linked with the charge in the prose: Hasan no longer lets the Çıtak's name be spoken, and if it is spoken he is ashamed. The last ends with coarse humour: the Çıtak has struck a blow on Hasan's head; if he escapes, perhaps he will mend his ways. This verse is one of the liveliest pieces of mockery in the work and carries the elation on the Ottoman side at the victory of Otlukbeli. The refrain in "-urdı/-ırdı" (sanurdı, anılırdı, inanurdı, tolınurdı, utanurdı, uslanurdı) is a past tense that recounts Hasan's former ways.