Turahanoğlu Ömer Bey
| Turahanoğlu Ömer Bey | |
|---|---|
| Allegiance | Ottoman Empire |
| Years of service | ca. 1444–1480s |
| Wars and campaigns | Byzantine-Ottoman Wars, Ottoman–Venetian War (1463–1479) |
| Relations |
Turahan Bey (father) Turahanoğlu Ahmed Bey (brother) |
Turahanoğlu Ömer Bey (Greek: Ὀμάρης or Ἀμάρης;fl. 1435–1484) was an Ottoman general and governor. The son of the famed Turahan Bey, he was active chiefly in southern Greece: he fought in the Morea against both the Byzantines in the 1440s and 1450s and against the Venetians in the 1460s, while in 1456, he conquered the Latin Duchy of Athens. He also fought in Albania, north-east Italy, Wallachia and Anatolia.
Ömer was the son of the prominent akıncı leader and governor of Thessaly, Turahan Bey, and grandson of Pasha Yiğit Bey, the conqueror of Skopje. He had a brother, Ahmed Bey, and two sons, Hasan and Idris, the latter of whom was a notable poet and translator of Persian poetry.
The exact date of Ömer's birth is unknown; as a young man, he was presented to the Byzantine envoy George Sphrantzes in 1435, and by 1444 he was old enough to assume his father's duties as uç beyi ("marcher-lord") of Thessaly during Turahan's temporary disgrace. In the same year, Ömer led a raid against the Duchy of Athens, which was falling under the influence of the energetic Byzantine prince Constantine Palaiologos, the ruler of the Despotate of the Morea. This display of force, coupled with the decisive Ottoman victory in the Battle of Varna, convinced the Duke of Athens, Nerio II Acciaioli, to revert to his Ottoman allegiance. Ömer also participated in the retaliatory campaign of Sultan Murad II against Palaiologos in late 1446. The Ottomans breached the Hexamilion wall and devastated the Morea, forcing the despots to become Ottoman vassals. In 1449, as Constantine Palaiologos became the new Byzantine emperor and left the Morea, his brothers Demetrios Palaiologos and Thomas Palaiologos began to quarrel about their share of the rule of the Despotate. Eventually the dispute was settled through the mediation of Constantine and Ömer, who used the opportunity to completely demolish the Hexamilion.
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