Şahin Giray

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Şahin Giray was the last Khan of Crimea. He was born in 1746 in Edirne^{[citation needed]}. He studied in Greece and also in Venice. He reputedly spoke the Crimean Tatar language as well as Ottoman Turkish, Italian and Greek. When he was 20, his uncle Crimean Khan Qırım Giray called him back to the Crimea from his foreign school whereupon he was installed as the Commander of Nogai Horde. In 1770 Russia won a great battle against the Ottoman Empire and sought an alliance with the Crimean Khanate against the Turks. However, this proposal was strongly opposed by Selim Giray. Following this rebuke Russia launched a surprise attack on the Crimea forcing the Khan to send envoys to St. Petersburg to sue for peace. During this mission Catherine II met Şahin Giray and wrote of him:

"The Crimean Prince is the most gentle Tatar, I have ever seen. He's very talented, good-looking and writes poetry. He wants to see and learn everything."

In 1776, Şahin Giray succeeded his uncle to become Khan of Crimea. During his brief reign he embarked on a program to re-build and modernise the Crimean Khanate. These reforms centred on the economy and government infrastructure but included opening factories and moving the capital from Bakhchisaray to the important trade city of Caffa .

Eventually under enormous pressure from Russian and facing the inevitability of defeat, he agreed to a Russian offer to incorporate the khanate in to the Russian Empire. Following this he was compelled to move to St.Petersburg where he lived under house arrest. He appealed to be allowed to move to Edirne where he had spent much of his childhood. In 1787 Russia and the Ottoman Empire agreed to allow him to move to Edirne. This move was not the retirement he was expecting because the Turkish authorities saw him as a possible challenger to the imperial Ottoman throne. He was moved under arrest to Istanbul and then Rhodes where he was executed later that year.

His grandsons live in Bursa, Istanbul and other Turkish cities.

The present head of the Giray dynasty and holder of the title Khan of Crimea (in pretence) is Cezar Giray. He resides in the United Kingdom and visited the Crimea in 1995 [1].

v • d • e Khans of Crimea XV century Hacı I Giray • Hayder • Nur Devlet • Meñli I Giray XVI century Mehmed I Giray • Ğazı I Giray • Saadet I Giray • İslâm I Giray • Sahib I Giray • Devlet I Giray • Mehmed II Giray • İslâm II Giray • Saadet II Giray • Ğazı II Giray • Fetih I Giray XVII century Toqtamış Giray • Selâmet I Giray • Canibek Giray • Mehmed III Giray • İnayet Giray • Bahadır I Giray • Mehmed IV Giray • İslâm III Giray • Adil Giray • Selim I Giray • Murad Giray • Hacı II Giray • Saadet III Giray • Safa Giray • Devlet II Giray XVIII century Ğazı III Giray • Qaplan I Giray • Devlet III Giray • Saadet IV Giray • Meñli II Giray • Fetih II Giray • Selâmet II Giray • Selim II Giray • Arslan Giray • Halim Giray • Qırım Giray • Selim III Giray • Maqsud Giray • Devlet IV Giray • Qaplan II Giray • Sahib II Giray • Şahin Giray • Bahadır II Giray Khan topics: Crimean Khanate • Giray dynasty

[edit] References

• LAST CRIMEAN KHAN in TR written by Leonid Bahrevskiy Translated from Turkish