Şahin Giray

Infobox_Monarch
name =Şahin Giray
title = Khan of the Crimean Khanate
reign = 1777–1782, 1782-1783
predecessor = Devlet IV Giray, Bahadır II Giray
royal house =Giray Dynasty
father =Ahmed Giray
mother = -
date of birth = 1746
place of birth =Edirne
date of death = 1787
place of death =Rhodes
place of burial =Rhodes
othertitles = Betrayer of Crimean Tatars|

Şahin Giray was the last Khan of Crimea. He was born in 1746 in EdirneFact|date=March 2008. 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 [http://www.hansaray.iatp.org.ua/e_geray_ist.html] .

References

* [http://www.rusya.ru/tur/index/authors/leonid_bahrevskiy/ LAST CRIMEAN KHAN in TR written by Leonid Bahrevskiy] Translated from Turkish