Uzyn Hasan was defeated by the famous Padişah of the Ottoman Empire, Soltan Fatih Soltan Mehmet in the Otlukbeli War in 1473. Şah Ismail, who succeeded in uniting the Türkmens living in Eastern Anatolia, Azerbaijan and the surrounding areas, founded the Safavid State, thus putting an end to the Akgoýunly State.

The Akgoýunlys were the people who maintained the traditions of the old Türkmens. Uzyn Hasan chose for the flag of the Akgoýunly State the symbol that had been used before by the Bayindir tribe.

SAFAVID Türkmen STATE

At the beginning of the 16^th century after the Akgoýunly State, a new Türkmen dynasty came to power in Iran. The Safavid people were the Türkmens who had migrated to Iran from Anatolia. There were several reasons for the migration of Türkmens. The Akgoýunly people who lived in Erdebil belonged to the higher religious elite of the Safavids; the Garagoýunly people returned back to Iran because they could not stand for this. The Türkmens migrated group by group because of the effects of the Safavids’ religious beliefs. The founders of the Safavid State, like the founders of the Ottoman Empire were Türkmens by origin. The mother of Şah Ismail, the founder of the State established in 1502, was the daughter of the Akgoýunly ruler.

Iran, Eastern Khorasan, Iraq, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Daghestan, Türkmenistan, the Eastern coasts of the Arab Peninsula and Eastern Anatolia all lay inside the borders of the Safavid State. The period of Şah Abbas’ governance was the