Kurdish emirates

The Kurdish chiefdoms or principalities were several semi-independent entities which existed during the 16th to 19th centuries during the state of continuous warfare between the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Iran.^[1] The Kurdish principalities were almost always divided and entered into rivalries against each other.^[1] The demarcation of borders between the Safavid Shah Safi and the Ottoman caliph Sultan Murad IV in 1639 effectively divided Kurdistan between the two empires.^[1]

The eyalet of Diyarbakir was the center of the major and minor Kurdish chiefdoms. However, other Kurdish emirates existed outside of Diyarbakir.^[2][3]

Policy during the Ottoman-Persian Wars

The Ottomans gave the Kurds self-rule during the Ottoman-Persian wars, to ensure that the Kurds remain on the Ottoman side. After the Treaty of Erzurum in 1823 the Persian threat was reduced & the Ottomans brought the Kurdish chiefdoms under direct control.^[4]

List

Major emirates

• Ardalan
• Bahdinan
• Baban
• Bitlis
• Bohtan
• Bradost
• Donboli
• Hakkari
• Emirate of Hasankeyf
• Kilis
• Mokryan
• Pazooka
• Soran

Minor emirates

• Çemişgezek
• Suveydi
• Zirqan (Zeyrek)

See also

• Vassal and tributary states of the Ottoman Empire
• List of Kurdish dynasties and countries
• Ayyubids
• Shaddadids
• Islamic Emirate of Byara
• Prince-Bishopric of Montenegro
• Mount Lebanon Emirate

Notes

1. KurdishGlobe- Kurdish Nationalism in Mam u Zin of Ahmad-î Khânî -- (Part XII) Archived 2012-03-25 at the Wayback Machine
2. Kurdish notables and the Ottoman state: evolving identities, competing ..., p. 49, at Google Books By Hakan Özoğlu
3. "The Formation of Ottoman Kurdistan: Social, Economic and Political Developments in Ottoman Kurdistan before the Nineteenth Century (1514–1800)". The Formation of Ottoman Kurdistan: Social, Economic and Political Developments in Ottoman Kurdistan before the Nineteenth Century (1514–1800) (Chapter 2) - The Political Economy of the Kurds of Turkey. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Core. 2017. pp. 64–92. doi:10.1017/9781316848579.005. ISBN 9781107181236.
4. "The Ottoman conquest of Dyarbekir and the administrative organization of the province in the 16th and 17th centuries" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2023-08-14.

References

• Evli̇ya Çelebi̇ in Diyarbekir: the relevant section of The seyahatname, p. 19, at Google Books By Evli̇ya Çelebi̇, Martin van Bruinessen, Hendrik Boeschoten