Şehzade Bayezid was an Ottoman prince as the son of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and his legal wifeHurrem 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.
Background
Bayezid born in 1525 in Constantinople during the reign of his father, Suleiman the Magnificent. His mother was Hurrem, an Orthodox priest's daughter, who was the sultan's concubine in that time. At the time of his birth, Bayezid had three elder full-brothers, Mehmed, Abdullah, and Selim. He also had one elder half-brother Mustafa and later one younger full-brother, Cihangir. In 1533 or 1534, breaking a two-century-old tradition, his father freed and legally wed his mother. As a court rule, şehzades were appointed to govern a province in order to gain administrative experience. Bayezid became the governor of Kütahya. However, during his father's 12th campaign to Nakhchivan in 1553, he was assigned to rule in Edirne in the absence of his father. During the campaign, Şehzade Mustafa, Suleiman’s eldest son and the popular heir to the throne, was executed upon the sultan’s order. The news of the execution caused unrest in all parts of the empire and an impostor claiming to be the executed Mustafa rebelled against Suleiman in Rumelia. Although the rebellion was subdued by a vizier, Suleiman suspected that his son Bayezid was deliberately slow to react.
Competition for the Throne
Suleiman had five sons who lived to reach adulthood. His second son, Mehmed, had died of smallpox in 1543. After the execution of Mustafa and the death of Cihangir in 1553, only two princes were left to be the potential claimant to throne: Bayezid and Selim. Bayezid was the governor of Kütahya and Selim was the governor of Manisa, two cities at almost equal distance from Istanbul, the capital. Suleiman was in his 60s, and the competition between the two brothers over the throne was evident. Suleiman scolded his sons and decided to change their places of duty. Bayezid was assigned to rule Amasya and Selim to Konya, both provinces being further from Constantinople but still equidistant. Selim was quick to obey and promptly moved to Konya, but to the dismay of his father, Bayezid obeyed only after much hesitation. Angered, Suleiman accused Bayezid of being a rebel and supported his elder son Selim against Bayezid. Selim, in collaboration with Sokollu Mehmet Pasha and with additional help from his father's army, defeated his brother in a civil war at Konya in May 1559.
Refuge in the Safavid Empire
Bayezid returned to Amasya and escaped to the Safavid Empire with his sons and a small army. According to journalist and historian researcher Murat Bardakçı, Sokullu Mehmet Pasha sent an army after Bayezid, which was defeated by Bayezid's forces. In the autumn of 1559, he reached the Safavid town of Yerevan, where he was received with great respect by its governor. Some time later, he reached Tabriz, where he was welcomed by Shah Tahmasp I. Although Tahmasp I initially wholeheartedly and lavishly welcomed Bayezid, including giving magnificent parties in his honour, he later jailed him on the request of Sultan Suleiman. Both Suleiman and Selim sent envoys to Persia to persuade the shah to execute Bayezid. For the coming one and half year in fact, embassies would continue to travel between Istanbul and Qazvin. On 16 July, what would be the last of the Ottoman embassies would arrive, whose formal task, like the previous embassies, was to try return Bayezid to Istanbul. As stated by Prof. Colin P. Mitchell, this included Khusrau Pasha, Sinan Pasha, Ali Aqa Chavush Bashi, and a retinue of two hundred officials. In the letter that was given with the embassy, Suleiman also declared his readiness to reconfirm the Treaty of Amasya and to begin a new era of Ottoman–Safavid relations. Suleiman, throughout the embassies, also gave Tahmasp numerous gifts. He also agreed with Tahmasp's demand to pay him for handing Bayezid over. Finally, on 25 September 1561, Bayezid and his four sons were handed over by Tahmasp and executed in the environs of the Safavid capital Qazvin by the Ottoman executioner, Ali Aqa Chavush Bashi, through the way of garrotting.
Family
Bayezid had nine children. All of them were issue of different mothers, except Şehzade Osman and Şehzade Mahmud who were full brothers. Şehzade Orhan was his eldest child. ;Sons Bayezid had five sons:
