The Battle of Otlukbeli (1473)

Having defeated the Qara Qoyunlu, Uzun Hasan came face to face with the Ottomans in the west. He sought to protect the Karamanid beylik and allied with Venice, whose envoys were at his court in Tabriz. In 1472 Aq Qoyunlu and Karamanid forces entered Ottoman lands, and Uzun Hasan demanded Cappadocia and Trebizond.

In 1473 Mehmed the Conqueror marched east with a large army. On 1 August the Aq Qoyunlu prevailed on the Euphrates and an Ottoman commander was killed. On 11 August 1473 the main battle was fought on the plain of Otlukbeli (Başkent) near Erzincan. Ottoman guns and Janissaries stopped the charges of the Aq Qoyunlu cavalry, Uzun Hasan's son Zeynal fell, and the Aq Qoyunlu army withdrew.

Mehmed did not pursue Uzun Hasan but returned to Istanbul. Otlukbeli ended Aq Qoyunlu plans to expand into Anatolia, and the Ottomans secured Karaman; the Aq Qoyunlu state lived on in the east for another thirty years. The battle was another heavy consequence of rivalry between Turkic states.