BELGRADE FETIHNAMAH OF SA’YÎ MUSTAFA ÇELEBİ

This fetihnamah, which is written by Sa’yî Mustafa Çelebi who is known to live in the early 16th century, narrates the Belgrade expedition of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in 1521. The historiography of Sa’yî is mentioned in the sources yet no documentation has been achieved to confirm this so far. This work, which is considered to belong to Sa’yî, verifies the accuracy of the information provided about his historiography. Furthermore, the imaginary and artful style of Sa’yî as stated in the tezkire (biographic works which deal with the poets and their poems) can be seen in his Fetihnamah. Verse-prose mixed, it has an ornamental language. There are many Arabic and Persian words and phrases used in prose parts which are written in sadjh (rhymed pros and there are also Arabic and Persian poems interspersed throughout the work. Sa’yî, who has added an acrostic poem for the Magnificent at the end of the work, aims to praise the sultan more as well as narrating what happens during the expedition. What is narrated is accurate historically. This provides the document to be evaluated as both literary and historical text. Sa'yî can be said to stand out in terms of style and to be read. Suleymannamah which is attributed to Sinan Çavuş, Seyyid Muradî or Matrakçı Nasuh, or some verse parts in so-known work Tarih-i Feth-i Şikloş bear a one-to-one resemblance to the fetihnamah of Sa’yî. In this work, an overview information about Sa’yî is given, the Belgrade Fetihnamah is examined in details. In the end, the text of Fetihnamah is transcribed into the Latin alphabet and presented for the use of researchers.