Career
There is some controversy about his actual place of birth possibly having been around Diyarbekir (modern Diyarbakır). He wrote a major Ottoman literary work in Persian, named Hasht Bihisht, which begun in 1502 and covered the reign of the first eight Ottoman rulers. Like his father, Idris Bitlisi began his career in the Akkoyunlu court, in the service of Yakup Bey, son of Uzun Hasan.
Later, he attracted the attention of the Ottoman sultan Selim I and served under him for much of the rest of his life.
He joined Selim I in his campaigns against the Mamluks and the Safavids. Bitlisi assisted the sultan in establishing an Ottoman administration in Egypt, now the Egypt Eyalet (province) of the Ottoman Empire, after its conquest in 1517.
He was appointed to numerous administrative positions of significant responsibility including Kazasker (district supreme administrative judge) of Diyarbekir and Arabia. Bitlisi was instrumental in the incorporation of the territories of Urfa and Mosul into the Ottoman Empire without a war, and of Mardin after a long siege.
Bitlisi wrote extensively towards the end of his life.
His best known work is "Selim Şahname", an epic history of Selim I"s reign.