With the division of the Danishmendid domains, the sultanate of Iconium gradually emerged as the major power in Asia Minor. This ascendancy of the house of Kutlumush was accompanied by a corresponding decline in Byzantium's Anatolian fortunes. The final failure of the Byzantine attempts to reconquer Anatolia and the establishment of the Seljuks as the dominant Anatolian power coincided with the reigns of Manuel Komnenos (1143-80) and Kilidj II Arslan (1155-92). That this would be the final issue was not at all evident in the early years of the reigns of the two men, for with the death of Mas'ud and the accession of Kilidj II Arslan, there was dynastic strife complicated by the intervention of the Danishmendid Yaghibasan. Manuel, inasmuch as he inherited the situation from his father John, was in a much stronger position, a state of affairs reflected in the successful character of Manuel's campaigns and policies up until his distraction with and absorption in European affairs. This is brought out clearly by his early success in chasing the Turkmens from the regions of Melangeia and in the rebuilding of the fortifications with a view to making the Bithynian borders safe from their raids. Much more spectacular was the campaign of 1146 when, as a result of the Turkish capture of Pracana in Cilicia and Turkish raids into the Thracesian theme, Manuel decided to attack Iconium itself. He defeated the forces of the sultan successively at Acrounos, Calograias Bounos and Philonelium. Manuel burned the latter city and released the Greeks who had been held captive there for years. Then the imperial armies marched to the Seljuk capital itself where they desecrated the Muslim cemeteries outside the walls. The arrival of Muslim reinforcements from the Danishmendids, however, forced Manuel to lift the siege and to retire to Choma via the road alongside Lake Pougouse. As Choma was considered to be well within the Byzantine boundaries, Manuel was startled by the unannounced presence of the tents of the Turkmens of a certain Rama. They were chased out and Manuel made his way to Bithynia, settled the Greeks from Philomelium and built the fortress of Pylae. Upon the approach of the Second Crusade, both Manuel and Mas'ud concluded a treaty (1147) by which Pracana and other places were returned to the Byzantines.
The Crusaders found Anatolia difficult terrain in spite of Manuel's recent conquest of Melangeia. Even though Conrad and the Germans were able to advance as far as Melangeia without incident from the Turks, they were defeated at Bathys by the Turkish chief Mamplanes and eventually forced to retire to Nicaea. Louis VII led the French by a more westerly route toward Attaleia and thus avoided these more dangerous areas. Nevertheless, as they entered the Maeander valley and progressed toward Laodiceia, they were severely harassed by the Turks and Attaleia itself had hostile Turkmens in the environs.
In another region the Armenian Thoros had begun to enter the cities held by the Byzantines in Cilicia, having succeeded at tarsus and Mopsuestia by 1152. Mas'ud, at the prompting of Manuel, invaded Cilicia and attacked Thoros in 1153 and again in 1154 but he was defeated. With the death of Mas'ud in 1155, Thoros was free from this quarter. Mas'ud's successor, Kilidj II Arslan, went so far as to take the cities of Pannoura and Sibyla from the Byzantines in 1157, but with the making of peace between Manuel and Kilidj II Arslan in 1158, the emperor turned to Cilicia to settle accounts with Thoros. The emperor's eastern march in this year was highly successful. En route he defeated the Turkmens in Little Phyrgia and once in Cilicia he took the cities of Cistramon, Anazarba, Longinias, tarsus and Tili.
Despite the treaty of 1158, from 1159 to 1161 Manuel was on a campaign against the Turkmens in western Asia Minor. On its return from the Cilician and Syrian campaign, Manuel's army had been attacked by the Turkmens in the neighborhood of Borylaeum and it is no doubt as a result of this he appeared in the valleys of the Tembris and Bathys near Cotyaeum in 1159, driving out large numbers of the nomads with their animals. In 1160-61 setting out from Philadelphia he plundered the regions of Sarapata Mylonos, regions considered to be the domain of the emir Solymas. His campaigns must have been ineffectual, for when he retired the Turks came in the van of the withdrawing army, captured the town of Philetas and killed and enslaved large numbers of the inhabitants of Laodiceia. In late 1161, after suffering defeat at the hands of another Byzantine Army, Kilidj II Arslan once more concluded a peace treaty with Manuel. Inasmuch as the Byzantines were actively supporting the intrigues of his enemies and as Kilidj II Arslan had suffered defeat at the hands of Yaghibasan in 1160 and had been forced to relinquish Albistan, the sultan did not feel sufficiently secure with the new Byzantine treaty of 1161. For this reason in 1162 he made his celebrated journey to Constantinople where he was lavishly received by Manuel and here he succeeded in putting an end to the Byzantine diplomatic intrigues. This date marks the turning point in the rise of the fortune of Kilidj II Arslan and the reversal of Byzantine success on the Asia Minor front, for Manuel, given a false sense of security, became increasingly involved in western affairs with a consequent neglect of the Turkish problem. Kilidj II Arslan was left free to deal with his brother Shahinshah and with the Danishmendids. The death of the last capable Danishmendid, Yaghibasan, in 1164, further eased his task and emboldened the sultan to conquer the regions of Albistan, Darende, Geduk, the Tohma River in 1165. Four years later he took Caesareia, Tzamandus, Ankara and Gangra.
The manipulations of Nur al-Din kept the Danishmendids in a degree of power. The majority of Turkish forces were involved in fights and maneuvers against other Turkish forces. A state of affairs that seemed, due to influence from the east, to carry on indefinetly.
At this time there was little happening on the Turco-Byzantine border. A recent appearance of Turkish nomands in the cities of the Phrygian Pentapolis in search of pasture for their livestock was quickly driven away. Laodiceia, in 1171 was sacked by the Turks and most of its inhabitants and livestock were carried away. These small incursions were not enough to attract the interests of the Emperor Manuel from his grandoise Western schemes. Kilidj II Arslan used this opportunity to subdue all his Turkish opponents.