Âşıkî, Manzume 23: Didi Orhan ki yagmadur bu kal'a

Manzume 23 — Didi Orhan ki yagmadur bu kal'a

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

The tekfur of Karatekin refuses Orhan's offer "give me this fortress" and his stronghold is sacked; six couplets follow, each ending with the word "kal'a", fortress.

Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Didi Orhan ki yagmadur bu kal'a
Dürişüñ kim ide bu kal'a kal'a

Çü kal'a kıl 'ala fursat bizümdür
Revâdur gāziler dürişe kal'a

Hemân-dem yıkdılar kal'a kapusın
Bozıldı sanki Hayber adlu kal'a

Cemî'i mâlını gāziler aldı
Ganîmet kenzi-y-imiş bil bu kal'a

Tekürin tutdılar kızını bile
Melek menziline beñzedi kal'a

Esîr ü hûb u nâzük nâzenînler
Gāzileri neye irürdi kal'a

In English

1. Orhan said: this fortress is booty; fight, that it may tear the fortress apart.

2. The chance against the fortress is ours; it is right that the gazis should fight the fortress.

3. At once they broke down the gate of the fortress; it was as if the fortress called Khaybar was overthrown.

4. The gazis took all its wealth; know that this fortress was a treasury of booty.

5. They seized its tekfur together with his daughter; the fortress was like a dwelling of angels.

6. Captives, beauties, delicate darlings: to what did the fortress bring the gazis.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Karatekin

Orhan first turns against Karaçepüş, where the fortress is taken by a stratagem. The Turks pretend to flee, the tekfur comes out of the fortress after them, the men in ambush seize the gate and the tekfur is caught. The fortress of Absuyı is taken by agreement; Karaçepüş is given to Konur Alp, Absuyı to Akça Koca. Then Orhan marches on Karatekin and sends word to its lord: if he hands over the fortress, Orhan will leave him in place and only the name will be Orhan's; "my aim is İznik", he says. When the tekfur refuses, Orhan tells the gazis, "It is the zeal of Islam; we must march and sack this fortress." After the verse it is told that the tekfur was cut to pieces, that his daughter was sent to Osman with much wealth, and that Orhan bought the captives and left them in the fortress.

A Poem Built on One Word

All six couplets end with "kal'a"; in the first couplet the word comes twice, and the doubling "kal'a kal'a" stands for tearing the fortress apart. The refrain doubles as a pun: "kal'" in Arabic means to uproot, to tear out. Khaybar in the third couplet is the fortress whose gate 'Ali is said to have torn off, one of the best-known comparisons in conquest narratives. The fifth and sixth couplets pass to the booty: the fortress resembling "a dwelling of angels" refers to the beautiful captives taken from it. Gazâ poetry does not hide its delight in booty, and these last lines speak in exactly that voice.