Two days before the elections in Greece, the Turkish Ministry of Defense chose to remember the...Inousses. With a post on twitter he referred to a minor naval incident between the Byzantine Empire and the Turkish Bey of Smyrna Çaka.
According to Turkish sources: “The Battle of the Koyun Islands (alternatively called the Battle of Oinoussa) was a medieval naval engagement in the Aegean Sea. The theater of the battle was around the Koyun Islands (Oinousses) which are a cluster of small islands between the island of Chios and Anatolia. The belligerents were the Beylik of Smyrna and the Byzantine Empire.
The Beylik of Smyrna (or beylik of Chaka) was founded by a Turkish sailor named Chaka Bey in the 11th century. Although not a member of the Seljuk house, his daughter was married to Kılıç Arslan I of the Anatolian Seljuks. He established a maritime beyliky (principality) around Smyrna and often campaigned on the Byzantine islands in the eastern Aegean.
After capturing the island of Lesbos, he planned to attack the island of Chios. There were 17 warships and 33 siege engines under his command. But when he learned of an approaching Byzantine fleet under Nikitas Kastamonitas, he decided to fight. The battle on May 19, 1090 continued into the night. Chaka was able to defeat the Byzantine fleet.
After the battle, Chaka annexed the islands of Chios and Samos."
Tzahas operated in Asia Minor in the turbulent years after the Battle of Manjikert. He was captured and imprisoned by the Byzantines while raiding Asia Minor. He was probably not under the orders of the Great Seljuk sultan, but acted independently. While imprisoned he managed to learn to speak Greek within a few months. During the reign of Nikephoros III Botaneiatis he was given some liberties and transferred to the imperial palace. In fact, he was honored by Nikiforos III with the title of the Byzantine court.
When Alexios Komnenos overthrew Nikephoros III and became emperor, Tzachas was released. His stay in Constantinople raised his ambitions to such an extent that he thought that he too could ascend the throne of the Byzantine Empire. He established his capital in Smyrna and, with the help of a Byzantine shipowner, created a war fleet. With him he managed to occupy the islands of Lesvos, Chios, Samos and Rhodes and in general to dominate the western coasts of Asia Minor. In 1090 he allied with the Pechenegs, a Turkic people living on the steppes north of the Danube for a combined siege of Constantinople. Alexios mobilized large forces to repel Jacha's fleet and destroy part of it.
