In the mid-14th century, piracy along the
Aegean Sea and the
Marmara Sea coasts was widespread. The pirates usually kidnapped people for ransom. In 1357, they kidnapped Halil near
İzmit (ancient Nikomedia) on the Marmara coast. It is not known whether they knew the identity of their prey beforehand, but upon learning it, they escaped to
Phocaea (modern Foça) on the Aegean coast. Phocaea was a Byzantine fort recently captured from
Republic of Genoa and commanded by
Leo Kalothetos. Orhan appealed to the Byzantine emperor
Andronikos IV Palaiologos to rescue his son. He offered to cancel Byzantine debts and promised not to support the
Kantakouzenos family's claims on the Byzantine throne. Andronikos agreed and tried to rescue Halil, but Leo was reluctant and in 1358 Andronikos had to lay siege to Phocaea with a small fleet of three vessels (the expenses of which were paid by Orhan). He also called
Ilyas Bey, the ruler of
Saruhan (a small
Turkmen beylik in west
Anatolia formed after the disintegration of the
Sultanate of Rum), for a joint operation against Phocaea. However, Ilyas was playing both sides and planning to kidnap Andronikos during a hunting party. Nevertheless Andronikos was able to forestall his plans by arresting him. Without Saruhan collaboration, he lifted the siege. After the failure of the 1358 operations, Orhan came to
Scutari (modern Üsküdar) on the Asiatic shore of the
Bosporus for talks and agreed to pay 30,000
ducats as a ransom. In 1359, Halil was released. ==Aftermath==