Emirate of Çemişgezek

Emirate of Çemişgezek (Kurdish: Mîrektiya Melkîşî, 13th century–1663)[1] was a hereditary and autonomous Kurdish emirate existing from the 13th century to 1663,[1] centered around Çemişgezek including Mazgirt, Pertek and Sağman.[2] The emirate was populated by both Muslims and non-Muslims,[3] and moreover had a significant Kurdish Alevi population which flourished and expanded due to the secured self-governance under Ottoman rule, despite Ottoman antagonism towards the minority.[4] Beside Kurds, the emirate had a Bozulus population.[5] According to Sharafnama, the 12–13th-century rulers of the emirate were of Turkic origin.[6]: 24 

History

During the Mongol invasion and that of Qara Yusuf of the Qara Qoyunlu, the region around Çemişgezek remained under the control of the Kurdish Malkishi tribe who claimed descent from the Abbasids. When the Aq Qoyunlu under Uzun Hasan entered Kurdistan, the Malkishi tribe was a target since they had been faithful to the Qara Qoyunlu and the Kharbandalu Turkmens were thus sent to Çemişgezek to fight the Kurds. However, the Malkishi resisted successfully. After this, the Malkishi submitted themselves to Ismail I of the Safavids who replaced their leader with an Safavid governor.[7] The Kurdish-Turkmen rivalry over land worsened as Qizilbash dominance increased with the appointment of the Turkmen Qizilbash Khan Muhammad Ustajalu to Diyarbakir which pushed the Kurdish lords of Çemişgezek and other areas to revolt, just before the arrival of the Ottomans.[8]

In the summer of 1515, Idris Bitlisi had, on behalf of the Ottoman Empire, mobilized a Kurdish army including from Çemişgezek to fight the Aq Qoyunlu[8] and the Safavids to recapture Diyarbakir. The Kurdish army was joined by Ottoman troops from Amasya marching together towards Diyarbakir and succeeded in capturing the city by mid-September same year. The army subsequently went on to capture Mardin, and crushed the Qizilbash in Kızıltepe in 1516. The Kurds played a crucial role in the victory and were rewarded richly by Bıyıklı Mehmed Pasha who would become the first governor of Diyarbekir Eyalet and fostered good relations with the Kurds in the region. Diyarbekir Eyalet would include the Emirate of Çemişgezek.[9] The Emirate of Çemişgezek was one of only two Kurdish emirates mentioned in a defter in 1518, the other being Çermik.[10]

Kurdish historian Sharafkhan Bidlisi wrote in Sharafnama that the ruler of Çemişgezek Haji Rustem Beg supported Ismail I in the early 1500s which he was executed for by the Ottoman Empire. Haci Rustem Beg was the last strong ruler of the emirate and the Ottomans appointed a governor to rule the emirate after his death. The Ottoman Sultan Selim I handed over the emirate to Pir Huseyin, the son of Haci Rustem Beg, after he had given his formal submission to the Sultan. After the death of Pir Huseyin, his sixteen sons fought each other which meant that Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent had to intervene. The Sultan moreover incorporated the revenue of Çemişgezek town, the poll-tax of non-Muslims (haraç), the sheep tax (adet-i ağnam) and the entire revenue of the villages that looked promising into the imperial domains. The remaining timar and ziamet were divided between each son and the land thus remained hereditary. In 1597, by the time Bidlisi wrote Sharafnama, the family was still in control over the region.[11]

In 1663, the emirate was abolished and Çemişgezek town was made into a muqata'ah administered by a governor (voivod).[12]

See also

Notes
  1. Ünal (1999), pp. 262–263.
  2. van Bruinessen & Boeschoten (1988), p. 20.
  3. Uzun (2017), p. 261.
  4. Gezik (2021), pp. 565–566.
  5. Ünal (1999), p. 305.
  6. Aydin, Suavi (2020), "A Survey of the Roots and History of Kurdish Alevism: What are the Divergences and Convergences between Kurdish Alevi Groups in Turkey?", Kurdish Studies, CEEOL, 8 (1): 17–42, doi:10.33182/ks.v8i1.551, S2CID 219734521
  7. Houtsma (1993), p. 1144.
  8. Atmaca (2021), p. 46.
  9. van Bruinessen & Boeschoten (1988), p. 16.
  10. van Bruinessen & Boeschoten (1988), p. 17-18.
  11. van Bruinessen & Boeschoten (1988), pp. 17–21.
  12. Ünal (1999), p. 263.

Bibliography
  • Atmaca, Metin (2021), "Negotiating Political Power in the Early Modern Middle East: Kurdish Emirates between the Ottoman Empire and Iranian Dynasties (Sixteenth to Nineteenth Centuries)", in Bozarslan, Hamit (ed.), Cambridge History of the Kurds, Cambridge University Press
  • Gezik, Erdal (2021), "The Kurdish Alevis: The Followers of the Path of Truth", in Bozarslan, Hamit (ed.), The Cambridge History of the Kurds, Cambridge University Press, doi:10.1017/9781108623711.026
  • Houtsma, M. Th. (1993), E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936, Brill Publishers
  • Uzun, Celalettin (2017), Osmanlı Döneminde Çemişgezek Şehri (in Turkish), vol. 28, Firat University Social Studies Journal
  • Ünal, Mehmet Ali (1999), XVI. yüzyılda Çemişgezek sancağı (in Turkish), Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi
  • van Bruinessen, Martin; Boeschoten, Hendrik (1988), Evliya Çelebi in Diyarbekir, Brill Publishers, ISBN 9004081658
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