Mersiye

The Fratricide (The Execution of shahzadeh /prince) is one of the most dramatic and most con-troversial issues in Ottoman history. Throughout history, many Turkish states have been weak-ened and some of them have been destroyed due to throne strug-gles. During these struggles, the army was worn out and many soldiers were lost. Sul-tan Mehmed, the Conqueror, had to take precautions for his period because similar problems were experienced during the first years of the Ottoman State. With the fa-mous Organisation Law (Teşkilat Kanunnamesi) legalized by the Conqueror, "The Fratricide is acceptable for the World Order." From Sultan Mehmed's period to the reign of Sultan Ahmed I, almost every sultan applied this painful prescription "for the sur-vival of the state". During this period, 61 princes were killed, 22 of them were mur-dered be-cause of their rebellion; but others were killed just based on this law. There-fore, the weakening of the state was prevented as a result of the struggles for the throne and the lives of many inno-cent people who would die in these struggles were saved. Dîvân poets have expressed their viewpoints by writing poems on almost eve-ry subject, and they have expressed their opinions about events or persons with their praises or satires. However, they preferred to remain silent in the face of this difficult situation for the continuity of the state. It must have been unpleasant to examine this issue, which is very difficult for the dynasty. On the other hand, it requires courage to comment on the subject that the scholars permitted and the sultan gave a royal de-cree. These hesitations of the artists who could perform their arts with the rewards and patron-age of the state officials, especially the sultans, were reasonable. The biggest exception to this silence is the execution of Shahzadeh Mustafa. The murder of the young shahzadeh in 1553 by order of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent was met with great sorrow by the people and the sol-diers. As a result of this sad event that happened during Kanûnî's Nakhchivan military expedi-tion the Army revolt. The discharge of Rüstem Pasha, who was considered as the perpetrator of the incident, soothed the soldiers. However, the pain of murder of the shahzadeh loved by the Janissaries and accepted as the heir of the Kanûnî, was not forgotten for many years. As a sign of this sadness, many dirges were written by poets. Immediately after the execution, Taşlıcalı Yahya wrote his famous elegy. This poem, which is the most famous of the elegies that were written for Shahzadeh Mustafa, contains very harsh criticisms about the Kanûnî, Hürrem Sultan and Grand Vizier Rüstem Pasha. When the sultan did not punish Taşlıcalı Yahya, other elegies were also written for Shahza-deh Mustafa by other poets. In this study, three dirges that were written for Shahza-deh Mustafa by Sirâcî who was one of the 16th-century poets, will be ana-lyzed. Six-teen dirges, written for the dead shahzadeh, have been identified in various studies until today. With these three elegies belong to Siracî, this number will reach nineteen elegies. The aim of this study should not be seen only as revealing the number of elegies written for Shahzadeh Mustafa. Because these dirges are both literary poems and historical documents that reflect the opinion of the people on this very important and very sad event in Ottoman history. Besides, in this study, it will be discussed that why the execution of the Shahzadeh Mustafa created that many reactions among the people, soldiers, and poets based on the poems of Sirâcî.