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.

In Ottoman Empire

The Kurdish emirates were tribal confederations ruled by local dynasties and maintained their own internal organisation. Both military power and bureaucratic structure were provided from local sources. Tribal mullahs were given the authority of qadi and a judicial system was established. The emirate structure, in which the dynastic family called mîr did not have full authority over the tribes and rather provided control and balance among the tribes, was a stage between the tribal and simple state structure. The existence of a hierarchy within the local dynasties in the Kurdish emirates can also be mentioned. Despite this administrative structure, which in theory allowed them to maintain their traditional administration to a large extent, the Kurdish amirs always kept the opportunity to cooperate with the Safavids when they had problems with the Ottoman administrators. Especially 16 and 17th centuries, he Ottoman-Persian wars, which became continuous in the centuries, increased the opportunity for the Kurdish emirates to use this opportunity.

The Ottoman administration, due to its new administrative understanding, reorganized the status of the emirates and increased the control of the central government, as it did in other regions. By the 19th century, although a significant part of the emirates had been abolished until the turn of the century, the Emirate of Baban, Soran, Bahdinan, Hakkâri and the Bohtan, whose center was Cizre, preserved their place in the Ottoman administrative system at the beginning of the century. However, the Kurdish emirates Selim III and Mahmud II. During the centralization process in the Mahmud era, they lost their authority to a large extent.

After the Bedir Khan Beg's revolt was suppressed and the Kurdish emirates in the region were put to an end.

List of entities

Northern Kurdistan

Name	Capital city	Duration of rule
Principality of Bohtan	Cizre	early 8th century–1847
Principality of Eğil	Eğil	1049–1864
Principality of Bitlis	Bitlis	1187–1847
Emirate of Çemişgezek	Çemişgezek	13th century–1663
Emirate of Bingöl	Bingöl	1231–1864
Emirate of Hasankeyf	Hasankeyf	1232–1524
Principality of Zirqan	Mardin, later Gürdükan, finally Ataq	1335–1835
Emirate of Hâkkari	Hâkkari	before 1380s–1847
Principality of Suleyman	–	15th century–1838
Principality of Mahmudi	–	1406–1839
Emirate of Pazooka	Eleşkirt	1499–1587
Emirate of Kilis	Kilis	–
Emirate of Şirvan	Şirvan	?–1840s
Emirate of Palu	Palu	1495–1850

Southern Kurdistan

Name	Capital city	Duration of rule
Principality of Bahdinan	Amadiya	1339–1843
Principality of Baban	Sulaymaniyah	16th century–1850
Soran Emirate	Rawanduz	before 1514–1836

Eastern Kurdistan

Name	Capital city	Duration of rule
Khoy Khanate	Khoy	1210–1799
Vassaldom of Ardalan	Sanandaj	14th century–1865/68
Principality of Mukri	Mahabad	c. 1400–c. 1800
Principality of Pinyanişi	–	1548–1823
Sarab Khanate	Sarab	after 1747—?

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

Sources

• Özcoşar, İbrahim (2019). "Osmanlı Dönemi". Kürtler. İslâm Ansiklopedisi (in Turkish). Vol. EK–2. Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı. pp. 118–121.