He proclaimed himself Khagan (Emperor), claiming legitimacy as the successor of the Golden Horde's authority over the Tatar khaganates in the Caspian-Volga region.
According to an alternative theory, the daughter of Meñli I Giray of the Crimean Khanate was another consort of Selim I known as Ayşe Hatun, consequently the stepmother of Suleiman the Magnificent.
Although he was initially refused on the ground that Rumeli sanjaks were not offered to princes, with the support of the vassal Crimean khan Meñli I Giray (who was his father-in-law), he was able to receive the sanjak of Semendire (modern Smederevo in Serbia), which, although it was technically in Rumeli, was quite far from Istanbul nevertheless.