In 1430 Epirus suffered greatly from the rivalry of local rulers. One of them decided to ask for help from the Ottomans in the hope of prevailing over the others. Sultan Murad II did not hesitate; he dispatched his general, Sinan Pasha, to lay siege to Ioannina. Before the hostilities began, though, the people of Ioannina were ordered to surrender. The local nobles agreed and all residents, whether Christians or Jews, survived and secured numerous privileges. The Ottomans celebrated their new conquest by erecting a temporary wooden mosque in the Castle. They called it Fethiye Mosque (Conquest Mosque) but perhaps Surrender Mosque would be more apt.