Safa Giray of Crimea (крым. Safa Geray, صفا كرای; 1637–1703) was briefly khan of the
Crimean Khanate (1691–92), between the second and third reigns of his cousin
Selim I Giray
Selim I Giray, Selim Khan Girai ( crh, I Selim Geray, tr, 1. Selim Giray) was four times khan of the Crimean Khanate in the period from 1671 to 1704. During this time Crimean khans were regularly appointed and replaced by the Ottomans. The ma ...
. His father was Safa Giray (died 1637), one of the many sons of khan
Selâmet I Giray
Selâmet I Giray (1558–1610, reigned 1608–1610) was a khan of the Crimean Khanate. His early life was more complex than his 2-year reign. Most of his life involved dynastic conflicts with his brothers and nephews.
Family
All subsequent Crimea ...
.
In 1691 Selim I resigned and was replaced by
Saadet III Giray
Saadet III Giray (reigned 1691, lived 1645–1695, крым. III Saadet Geray, ٣سعادت كراى;) was briefly khan of the Crimean Khanate between the second and third reigns of Selim I Giray. Oddly, he did not visit Crimea during his reig ...
who, after less than year, was removed by the Turks for military incompetence and replaced by Safa (December 1691). As
kalga and nureddin he retained
Devlet Devlet is the Turkish word for "state", a borrowing from Arabic ''dawla'' (دولة) via Persian ''dowlat'' (دولت). It has also been used as a given name. It may refer to:
*Devlet Bahçeli (born 1948), Turkish politician and chairman of the fa ...
and Shahin Giray. He quickly became unpopular. He was accused of drunkenness, extortion, trading in soap and fish and tax farming. When the Ottomans called him to fight the Habsburgs most of the beys refused to go with him and the few who did gradually drifted away. The Crimeans requested that Selim I be restored, which was done. (October 1692). Safa settled on the isle of Rhodes, where he continued to trade. In 1703 he died in
Karnobat in modern Bulgaria and was buried in the courtyard of the local mosque.
Sources
*Henry Hoyle Howorth, ''History of the Mongols'', 1880, Part 2, p. 565
*Олекса Гайворонский «Созвездие Гераев». Симферополь, 2003.
*In the absence of a proper source in English, this is mostly extracted from the Russian Wikipedia which apparently follows Gaivoronsky. Howorth is old and has only one paragraph.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Giray, Safa of Crimea
Crimean Khans
1637 births
1703 deaths