Şehzade Bayezid

Şehzade Bayezid was an Ottoman prince as the son of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and Hurrem Sultan. After the execution of Şehzade Mustafa in 1553, Bayezid became the popular heir among the army. Throughout the 1550s, when Suleiman was already in his 60s, a protracted competition for the throne between Bayezid and his brother Selim became evident. Bayezid had fallen into disfavor with his father – who was angered by Bayezid's disobedience stemming from around the same years – as opposed to Selim. After being defeated in a battle near Konya in 1559 by Selim and Sokullu Mehmet Pasha, he fled to the neighbouring Safavid Empire, where he was lavishly received by Tahmasp I. However, in 1561, on the continuous insistence of the Sultan throughout his son's exile, and after several large payments, Tahmasp allowed Bayezid to be executed by agents of his own father.