Shukurov argues with Kurškanskis that Manuel had been given a yarligh by the Ilkhanite Mongols to recover Sinope, and argues further that it was done to embarrass the Golden Horde, who were the masters of the Seljuk Turks; the governor of Sinope at the time Manuel captured the port was ra’is al-bahr Shuja al-Din 'Abd al-Rahman, the Seljuk naval commander-in-chief, who had taken part in the Seljuk embassy to Batu Khan, ruler of the Golden Horde in 1253, where he received Batu's yarligh investing him with the office of na'ib.Shukurov, "Trebizond and the Seljuks", pp. 116, 122 A few years later, in October 1256, one of the three brothers who inherited the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, Kaykaus II, was defeated by Baiju and fled to sanctuary in the Nicaean Empire, moving Anatolia from the sphere the Golden Horde controlled firmly into the Ilkhanite.Shukurov, "Trebizond and the Seljuks", p. 117
