Küçük Mustafa was an Ottoman

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 prince who fought for the throne in 1422. The epithet Küçük means little (young). It was used by the Ottoman chroniclers to distinguish him from his uncle Mustafa Çelebi

Mustafa Çelebi

Mustafa Çelebi, also called Düzmece Mustafa was an Ottoman prince who struggled for throne in the early years of the fifteenth century - Background :...

 who also fought for the throne.

Background

Mustafa was the second son of Mehmet I. In the early years of the Ottoman Empire all princes were required to work as provincial (sanjak

Sanjak

Sanjaks were administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire. Sanjak, and the variant spellings sandjak, sanjaq, and sinjaq, are English transliterations of the Turkish word sancak, meaning district, banner, or flag...

 ) governors as a part of their training. Young princes were accompainied by experienced statesmen. Mustafa's sanjak was Hamideli (roughly modern Isparta

Isparta

Isparta is a city in western Turkey and the provincial capital of the Isparta Province. The city's population is 222,556 and elevation from sea level is 1035 m. Another name of the city is "City of Roses"....

 in Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

) . But after the death of his father, feeling unsecure, he escaped to Karamnid territory. (Karaman was a rival Turkish state in Anatolia

Anatolia

Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...

, the Asiatic portion of the empire). In Karaman he was encouraged by an Ottoman pasha named Şaraptar İlyas to rebel against the new sultan Murat II, his elder brother.

The rebellion

Murat was occupied with the rebellion of his uncle Mustafa Çelebi . After defeating Mustafa Çelebi, Murat laid a siege to Byzantine

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

 capital Constantinople (modern İstanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

) to punish Byzantine Empire which had supported Mustafa Çelebi. Küçük Mustafa saw his chance to rebel. Supported with troops from Karaman he began capturing Anatolian territory of the Ottoman Empire. Byzantine Emperor seeing this rebellion as a chance to relief, also supported the rebellion. Although unsuccessful in the siege of Bursa the co capital of the empire, he captured İznik

Iznik

İznik is a city in Turkey which is primarily known as the site of the First and Second Councils of Nicaea, the first and seventh Ecumenical councils in the early history of the Church, the Nicene Creed, and as the capital city of the Empire of Nicaea...

(Nicaea of the antiquity) another important city in the Anatolia.

End of the rebellion

After hearing the news of the rebellion, Murat lifted the siege to Constantinople and returned to Anatolia. He also correspoded with İlyas secretly. İlyas changed side and İznik was easily captured by Murat's forces. Although Mustafa tried to escape, he was soon arrested and then executed.