Karasids

The Karasids were a Turkoman dynasty in northwestern Anatolia, centred on Balıkesir. After Karasi Bey died around 1328, the beylik split between Demir Khan at Balıkesir and Yakhshi Khan around Pergamon, ruler in 1337.

A succession quarrel brought Ottoman intervention: Prince Dursun fled to Orhan and offered him the Karasid towns. Ottoman forces occupied Balıkesir between 1335 and 1349, absorbing the beylik. Its sailors and shipyards entered Ottoman service and supported the first Ottoman crossings into the Balkans.