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Manzume 72 — Şikâyet ta'n idüben itmedüñ sen

Amasya05 Editorial Board • Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk • 01 October 2026 • Updated: 14 October 2026 • 2 min reading

A reproach in two couplets to Taharten, the lords of Germiyan, Aydın and Menteşe and İsfendiyar's envoy, who fled from Bayezid to Timur and incited him against Anatolia.

Contents 4

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

Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Şikâyet ta'n idüben itmedüñ sen
Sebeb olduñ helâk oldı niçe ten

Bozulmak bünyâd itdüñ Temür'e
Niçe günehsüzler terk itdi evtan

In English

1. Was it not you who complained and reviled; you were the cause, and many bodies perished.

2. You laid the foundation of ruin with Timur; many innocent people abandoned their homelands.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The Fugitive Lords

Two questions, each with its answer, carry this part of the chapter. The first is from whom Bayezid took Malatya, Divriği and Behisni: from Turkmens and Kurds; these were not old sovereigns, the lands had fallen into their hands after Eretna. The second asks what became of those who fled from Bayezid. The answer: some went to Timur. Taharten, the lord of Germiyan, the Pretender of Aydın, the lord of Menteşe and İsfendiyar's envoy. Each went in a different guise: the lord of Germiyan escaped with his vizier from prison in the fortress of İpsala and mingled with bear-leaders and monkey-showmen; the lord of Menteşe had his hair and beard plucked and took on the guise of a wandering dervish; the lord of Aydın went as a pedlar; and Taharten went as a retainer together with İsfendiyar's envoy. They beg Timur: "O lord of the conjunction, have mercy on us." According to the author the chief instigators were Taharten and the lord of Germiyan, because one had come out of prison and the other had been parted from his family.

The Outcome of Complaint

Beginning "Şikâyet ta'n idüben", the two couplets aim their reproach squarely at these lords. It is they who complained and lamented, and in the end "niçe ten", many people, perished. The second couplet sets out the responsibility plainly: they laid the foundation of ruin with Timur, and many innocent people were forced to leave their homes. Âşıkpaşazâde does not look for the cause of the defeat at Ankara in Bayezid's mistakes alone; the instigation of the fugitive lords enters the account too. The rhyme is made with a loose likeness of sound in the words sen/ten/Temür'e/evtan.