Ottoman Interregnum
civil war in the early 15th century Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Interregnum, or Ottoman Civil War, (Turkish: Fetret devri, lit. 'Interregnum period') was a civil war in the Ottoman realm between the sons of the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I following their father's defeat and capture by Timur in the Battle of Ankara on 28 July 1402. Although Timur confirmed Mehmed Çelebi as sultan, Mehmed's brothers (İsa Çelebi, Musa Çelebi, Süleyman Çelebi, and later Mustafa Çelebi) refused to recognize his authority, each claiming the throne for himself, which resulted in civil war. The Interregnum would last a little under 11 years and culminate in the Battle of Çamurlu on 5 July 1413, when Mehmed Çelebi emerged as victor, crowned himself Sultan Mehmed I, and restored the empire.
Civil war
İsa and Mehmed
Civil war broke out among the sons of Sultan Bayezid I upon his death in 1403. His oldest son, Süleyman, with his capital at Edirne, ruled the recently conquered Second Bulgarian Empire, all of Thrace, Macedonia, and northern Greece. The second son, İsa Çelebi, established himself as an independent ruler at Bursa, and Mehmed formed a kingdom at Amasya. War broke out between Mehmed and İsa, and following the Battles of Ermeni-beli and of Ulubad (March–May 1403), İsa fled to Constantinople, and Mehmed occupied Bursa. The subsequent battle at Karasi between Mehmed and İsa resulted in Mehmed's victory and Isa fleeing to Karaman. İsa was later killed in a bath by agents of Mehmed.
Süleyman enters civil war
Meanwhile, the other surviving son of Bayezid, Musa Çelebi, who was captured at the Battle of Ankara, was released by Timur into the custody of Yakub of Germiyan.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q726261. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1402, 1413 and 1403.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ottoman Interregnum” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.