With Kizzuwatna he adopted a different tactic. Instead of
attempting to subdue it by force, he made a treaty of alliance
with its king Isputahsu. Diplomacy rather than military action was
used to win Kizzuwatna to his side, and Telipinu’s treaty-partner
retained his independence.
The relationship which Telipinu initiated with the southern
state was a carefully calculated one. The kingdom of Kizzuwatna
had very likely been created under Hurrian influence, and we know
that in later years at least it contained a substantial Hurrian
population. It may already have had a strong Hurrian alignment
when Telipinu ascended the Hittite throne, and Hittite aggression
against it would very likely have brought forces of the Hurrian
kingdom of Mittani directly into the conflict. To avoid this,
Telipinu persuaded the Kizzuwatnan king to form an alliance with
him, and at least remain benevolently neutral in any forthcoming
conflict between Hatti and Mittani. Let me emphasise here that the
conclusion of the treaty marks a major new development in the
history of the Hittite kingdom–the use of diplomacy instead of
force to secure the kingdom’s safety and to spread and maintain its
influence. We’ll see more examples in later periods.
On this occasion, however, the Hittite–Kizzuwatnan accord
failed to provide a permanent solution to the problems of securing
Hatti’s southeastern frontier. Despite Telipinu’s treaty, Kizzuwat-
na’s later kingsfluctuated in their loyalties between Hatti and
Mittani, using their bargaining power to play off one kingdom
against the other. In this way, they secured their state against an
aggressive takeover by either of its powerful neighbours: an attack
by one upon it would almost certainly bring the other into the
conflict in support of it. Even so, by the time Tudhaliya became
king, Kizzuwatna wasfirmly in the Mittanian camp. That was a
serious problem, for a Mittanian-aligned Kizzuwatna deprived the
Hittites of their main routes into Syria, and gave the Mittanian king
a‘soft underbelly’for launching an invasion of Hittite territory.
Tudhaliya’s response to this problem was to follow Telipinu’s
example – he persuaded the current Kizzuwatnan king
Sunashshura to shift his allegiance to Hatti. How he managed to
do it–by threats or by more positive inducements–we simply do
58 WARRIORS OF ANATOLIA