Last modified: 2017-12-23 by ivan sache
Keywords: Çaldıran |
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![[Flag]](../images/t/tr-65-ca.gif)
Flag of Çaldıran - Image by Tomislav Šipek, 7 April 2015
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The municipality of Çaldıran (67,329 inhabitants in 2012, 14,361 in the town proper; 15,872 ha) is located in East Anatolia, on the border with Iran.
Ivan Sache, 24 February 2016
The flag of Çaldıran (photo) is white with the municipality's emblem. "Türkiye Cumhuriyeti" means "Republic of Turkey"; "Belediyesi" means "Municipality".
Tomislav Šipek, 16 October 2017
![[Flag]](../images/t/tr-65-ca.png)
Former flag of Çaldıran - Image by Tomislav Šipek, 16 October 2017
The former flag of Çaldıran (photo) was white with the municipality's emblem. "Belediyesi" means "Municipality".
![[Flag]](../images/t/tr-65-c3.png)
Former flag of Çaldıran - Image by Tomislav Šipek, 7 April 2015
An even older flag of Çaldıran was white with the municipality's emblem. "Belediyesi" means "Municipality".
The emblem portrays Sultan Selim I (1465/1470-1520), 9th Ottoman Sultan (1512-1520). On 23 august 1514, Selim I won the Battle of Çaldıran, defeating the Safavid army led by Shah Ismail I.
Quoting Akhilesh Pillalamarri, The Diplomat, 21 August 2014:
The Battle of Chaldiran is one of the most pivotal battles in the history of the Middle East. By determining the borders and demographics of the Persian Safavid Empire and the Turkish Ottoman Empire, the Battle of Chaldiran created the contours of the modern Middle East.
The battle ended in a decisive Turkish victory, aided by their mastery of gunpowder technology. Their victory cemented permanent Ottoman rule over eastern Turkey, most of Kurdistan (except a portion that remained with the Safavids and became mostly Shia), and Iraq. The Safavids, who had depended heavily on cavalry and made minimal use of gunpowder, were shocked by their defeat, which was Ismail’s first and last defeat. He never fought another battle and spent the next ten years of his life drinking.
The most important legacy of the Battle of Chaldiran is that it led to the creation of a relatively compact, Persian-oriented, Shia nation-state on the Iranian Plateau. The defeat of the Safavids at Chaldiran prevented them from building a sprawling empire spanning much of the Middle East by denying them control over eastern Turkey and most of Iraq. This led to the border between modern Iran and Turkey and Iraq (successors of the Ottoman Empire) today, and ensured that the vast majority of the region’s Arabs and Kurds remained Sunni.
More important than the consolidation of a nation-state in Iran, the battle ensured the spread of Shia Islam within the Safavid Empire. After the battle, the Safavids aggressively promoted Shia Islam within their territories in order to consolidate and separate their empire from its Sunni neighbors. Although this lead to the Safavid Empire being surrounded by a sea of Sunni Islam, historians also believe it ensured that the empire was not absorbed by the Sunni Ottomans. To make sure that Shia Islam became irrevocably accepted by the population, Ismail made it mandatory for Shias to curse the first three Sunni Caliphs, offending Sunnis and leading to continuing antagonism between the Sunnis and Shias throughout the region.
Tomislav Šipek & Ivan Sache, 24 February 2016
