Berkuk transformed the Mameluke Sultanate that got worn out with the internal civil turmoils into a centralised state while his rival, Tamburlaine was occupied with Toktamis and his other rival, Bayezid was occupied with the Hungarians and the Crusades in the west. He had much reinforced the Mameluke organisation some elements of which were adopted by the Ottomans. However, despite all the capabilities of Berkuk who was not unfamiliar with the Turkish national sense had been involved in the struggles against the Turkish emirs in order to empower the Circassians of the same kind with him. These struggles constituted a disadvantage for the future of the Mameluke Sultanate; and the discrimination resulting from the competition between the Turks and Circassian people undermined the foundation of the state. Essentially, the Circassian groups that seemed to have established superiority over the Turks did not represent the Mameluke Sultanate in a worthy manner.
Berkuk had put an end to the existence of the Turks on the basis of the organisation in order to open a new horizon for the Circassian people. However, upon the death of Berkuk, these Circassian people remained weak and helpless against the new political and economical depressions that occurred. As a result, in the period of his son Ferec (died in 1412) who replaced him, the Ottomans started to capture the cities in the Southern Anatolia and the Damascus was invaded by Tamburlaine. Pursuant to Ferec who was killed in Damascus, the country was in great confusion (1412). Excluding El-Melîkü'l-müeyyed (1412-1421) and Tatar (1421) who were enthroned pursuant to Ferec, one of the greatest rulers among the Mameluke Sultans is Barsbay (1422-1438). Barsbay had particularly fought with Cânî Bey es-Sûfî who made propaganda about him. He captured Cyprus with the military expeditions in the years of 1424-26 and took the King Janus as prisoner. He followed a new trade policy, and established monopoly on some goods. However, these precautions caused the discontinuation of the commerce. As a matter of fact, the cities in Egypt and Syria were nearly emptied due to this reason.
Pursuant to Barsbay who died of an illness in the year of 1438, he was followed by Çakmak (died in 1453), Aynal (1453-1461), Hoşkadem (1461-1467), Kayıtbay (1468-1495) and finally Kansuh el-Gûrî (1501-1516). All these sultans completed their periods with the attempts of competition with the Ottomans, the protection of Dulkadir and Ramazanogullari principalities, and the establishment of relations with Cyprus and Akkoyunlu State. Kansu had friendly relations with the Ottomans. However, He supported the Shiite Shah Ismail against Yavuz Sultan Selim who was involved in a war in Iran and this support was disadvantageous to him. He fell down from his horse and died in the war that took place in Merc Dabik (24th August 1516). Pursuant to Merc Dabik War, Tumanbay was declared as the Mameluke Sultan (November 1516) through the efforts of some Mameluke staff officers that could ran away to Egypt. However, he was defeated in the war that took place in Ridaniye and the Mameluke military encampment was seized by the Ottomans (23rd January 1517). Tumanbay was caught and hanged in the wall of Züveyle in Cairo. Therefore, the Mameluke Sultanate that survived for two hundreds and sixty-seven years was abolished (13th April 1517).
Before his return to Istanbul, Selim had sent some of the sons of the ruler in Cairo and the Caliph III. el-Mütevekkil ale'llâh Muhammed and his relatives, some of the influential scholars, sheikhs and beys, most of the important architects, engineers, merchants and artists of Egypt to Istanbul by maritime lines. Meanwhile, the books related with the history and organisation of the Mameluke Sultanate were also consigned, and Kansuh el-Gûrî's son, Muhammed was also sent to the capital city.
We have observed that the Turkish language diffused in the entire Middle-East including Syria and Egypt through a sudden and great development in the century XIV; and that most of the authors had written their works in this language that substituted Arabian and Farsi languages; and they dedicated their works to the Turkish beys or governors and rulers. Particularly in the period of Mameluke Sultan, el-Melikü'z-Zâhir Seyfeddin Berkuk, Turkish language had gradually become much more important. It is interesting that even the legal issues(=kaza/jurisdiction) were stated in Turkish language. As a matter of fact, Berkuk who spoke in Turkish with the Hanafi Muslim judges in the legal affairs had ordered for the translation of several works into this language. Besides, the Mameluke regents (=governors) had had Turkish works written in their names or translated into this language. Kemal-oğlu İsmail, wrote the first Ferah-Nâme in the name of Mîr Gâzî who was the Regent of Tripoli-Damascus in the year of 1387; and Berke Fakih wrote his work titled as Kitâb İrşâdu'l-mülûk ve's-selâtin to one of the Mameluke Regents named as Seyfeddin Becmân and his work titled as Manzûme (Poem) to the name of Altubuga el-Çobânî.
On the other hand, ed-Darir who had written the work of Türkçe Yüz Hadîs (One Hundred Prophet's Sayings in Turkish) translated the work titled as Futûhu'ş-Şam that was written by Vakidi in the name of Aleppo Regent, Colpan in the year of 1393. Upon the demand of Tolu Bey, ed-Darir had written a Turkish work about the art of quiver. As a result, Seyf Sarâyî translated Sa'dî's famous work titled as Gülistan into Turkish in the name of one of the Mameluke emirs. He had also written a work in Turkish language titled as Münyetü'l-guzât in the name of Demür Bey and Kitâb baytaru'l-vâzıh was translated into Turkish language. In Egypt where Turkish was spoken in the year of 1421I a Turkish book was written about the canon jurisprudence in Islam (Kitâb fi'l-fıkıh bi-lisâni't-Turkî).
In the centuries XV and XVI, Turkish language survived its existence as the official language of the state. Until the period of Kansuh Guri, the Mameluke Sultans had had the works translated into Turkish in their names, and some of them had personally written Turkish works and poems in the Ottoman style. Barsbay had translated one of the Ayni's (died in 1451) works titled as Ikdu'l-Cumân into Turkish language. Moreover, Ayni would read his Arabian work in Turkish language to him. While Kansuh had been the governor of Malatya, he had written poems in the Ottoman Turkish style, and sent Turkish letters to Bayezid. In his period, Ibrahim Gülseni went to Egypt and wrote Turkish booklets. Turkish language that was spoken in Egypt and Syria has survived until the recent years.
The End
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