Meñli I Giray (1445-1515)

Meñli I Giray (I Meñli Geray) (1445–1515), also spelled as Mengli I Giray, was a khan of the Crimean Khanate (1466, 1469–1475, 1478–1515) and the sixth son of the khanate founder Haci I Giray.

He ascended the throne in 1466 for some months, then was deposed by his brother Nur Devlet. He was restored to the throne in January 1469, but lost power again in March 1475 as a result of a rebellion of rival brothers and nobility. In 1475, he was captured by the Ottomans in Caffa and delivered to Istanbul. After being forced to recognize Ottoman suzerainty over the Crimean Khanate, he was returned to the throne of Crimea in 1478. He made a great contribution to the development of Crimean Tatar statehood. He founded the fortress of Özü. In 1502, Meñli I defeated the last khan of the Golden Horde and took control over its capital Saray. He proclaimed himself Khagan (Emperor), claiming to be the successor of the Golden Horde's authority over the Turkic khanates of Caspian-Volga region.

Meñli I Giray was buried in the Dürbe (mausoleum) of Salaçıq in Bakhchisaray. In that city, he commissioned Zıncırlı medrese in Salaçıq (1500), Dürbe of Haci I Giray in Salaçıq (1501), and Demir Qapı portal in the Bakhchisaray Palace (by Aloisio the New) (1503).