Atmeydanı incident ( tr, Atmeydanı Vakası) was an uprising which occurred at the

Hippodrome of Constantinople Sultanahmet Square ( tr, Sultanahmet Meydanı) or the Hippodrome of Constantinople ( el, Ἱππόδρομος τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, Hippódromos tēs Kōnstantinoupóleōs; la, Circus Maximus Constantinopolitanus; t ...

( tr, Atmeydanı) in Istanbul, the capital of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

, in 1648.

Background

Sultan İbrahim (reigned 1640–1648) of the Ottoman Empire was dethroned on 12 August 1648. Several days later he was killed. His 6-year-old son

Mehmet IV Mehmed IV ( ota, محمد رابع, Meḥmed-i rābi; tr, IV. Mehmed; 2 January 1642 – 6 January 1693) also known as Mehmed the Hunter ( tr, Avcı Mehmed) was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1648 to 1687. He came to the throne at the a ...

(reigned 1648–1687) ascended the throne. It was a custom in the Ottoman Empire that the new sultan tip the soldiers ( tr, Culus bahşişi) when he ascended the throne. However, due to the costly Cretan War ongoing, the regents of the sultan were unable to pay the required tip. The

sipahi ''Sipahi'' ( ota, سپاهی, translit=sipâhi, label=Persian, ) were professional cavalrymen deployed by the Seljuks, and later the Ottoman Empire, including the land grant-holding (''timar'') provincial '' timarli sipahi'', which constituted ...

corps, the main cavalry units of the

Ottoman Army The military of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nun silahlı kuvvetleri) was the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire. Army The military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era covers the ...

, were especially complainant, for they were not paid soldiers.

The incident

Two months later, the

Ottoman Porte The Sublime Porte, also known as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte ( ota, باب عالی, Bāb-ı Ālī or ''Babıali'', from ar, باب, bāb, gate and , , ), was a synecdoche for the central government of the Ottoman Empire. History The name ...

, the government, decided to send sipahi units to

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

. The angry sipahis returned to

İstanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_in ...

to demand their tips along with some other rights. Some İstanbul residents also joined them. They gathered in the square named Atmeydanı, the Hippodrome from the Byzantine times, situated in front of the

Topkapı Palace The Topkapı Palace ( tr, Topkapı Sarayı; ota, طوپقپو سرايى, ṭopḳapu sarāyı, lit=cannon gate palace), or the Seraglio, is a large museum in the east of the Fatih district of Istanbul in Turkey. From the 1460s to the complet ...

. According to the Romanian historian

Nicolae Iorga Nicolae Iorga (; sometimes Neculai Iorga, Nicolas Jorga, Nicolai Jorga or Nicola Jorga, born Nicu N. Iorga;Iova, p. xxvii. 17 January 1871 – 27 November 1940) was a Romanian historian, politician, literary critic, memoirist, Albanologist, poet ...

(1871–1940),

Valide sultan #REDIRECT Valide sultan {{redirect category shell, {{R from move{{R from miscapitalization{{R unprintworthy ...

Kösem Sultan Kösem Sultan ( ota, كوسم سلطان, translit=;, 1589Baysun, M. Cavid, s.v. "Kösem Walide or Kösem Sultan" in ''The Encyclopaedia of Islam'' vol. V (1986), Brill, p. 272 " – 2 September 1651), also known as Mahpeyker SultanDouglas Arth ...

, the mother of Sultan İbrahim, secretly supported the mob. The demands became more extreme, including demands for the execution of some statesmen, although the government met most of them in the beginning. One of the negotiators sent to the scene, actually a member of the

janissary A Janissary ( ota, یڭیچری, yeŋiçeri, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops and the first modern standing army in Europe. The corps was most likely established under sultan Orhan ...

corps, was killed by the mob. Then, the janissaries loyal to the palace were charged over the sipahis. After bloody clashes, the better organized janissaries defeated the sipahis.Halil İbrahim İnal: Osmanlı Padişahları, Nokta Kitap, İstanbul, 2007, p 322

Aftermath

The sipahis were subdued. However, the janissaries gained too much power and soon began to create unrest in İstanbul. The troubled years of the Empire lasted until the beginning of

Köprülü era The Köprülü era ( tr, Köprülüler Devri) (c. 1656–1703) was a period in which the Ottoman Empire's politics were frequently dominated by a series of grand viziers from the Köprülü family. The Köprülü era is sometimes more narrowl ...

in 1656.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Atmeydani Incident 17th century in Istanbul Rebellions against the Ottoman Empire Conflicts in 1648 17th-century rebellions Military history of Istanbul 1648 in the Ottoman Empire