A Genoese commercial boat captain, conducting acts of piracy alongside commercial activity, had been able to capture Şehzade Halil, Orhan’s only son by Theodora, in 1356, abducting the young prince somewhere on the Bay of Izmit and take him over to Phocaea on the Aegean Sea, which is under Genoese rule.

Orhan, very much upset by this kidnapping, conducts talks with his brother-in-law and now sole Emperor John V Palaeologos.

As to the agreement, John V leads a naval fleet to Phocaea, pays the demanded ransom of one hundred thousand hyperpyra, and brings Halil back to Ottoman territory.

Halil will later marry Irene, a daughter of John V Palaiologos and Theodora's sister, Helena Kantakouzene.