Turan Shah: Saladin’s Brother and the Conquest of Yemen
Saladin’s elder brother led the Ayyubid expedition to Yemen in 1174. This biography explains the campaign, its aftermath and the namesakes often confused with him.
Read article →Kurdish History Journal
Kurdish States
Articles filed under Kurdish States.
Al-Ashraf Musa of Homs: The Last Ayyubid Prince
The last Ayyubid prince of Homs navigated family rivalry, Mongol invasion and Mamluk supremacy. A sourced account of his interrupted reign and local legacy.
Read article →Will Kurdistan Become a Country? Autonomy, Recognition and Possible Paths
Kurdish independence is a possible political outcome, but no reliable timetable or probability makes it inevitable. Iraq’s federal region, the 2017 referendum and the different regional trajectories explain what would need to change.
Read article →The Republic of Ararat: Xoybûn, Rebel Government and the Frontier
The Republic of Ararat was a Kurdish independence project associated with the rebellion around Mount Ararat. Its history involves local fighters, an exile organisation, Armenian partners and a frontier that shaped both resistance and defeat.
Read article →Kingdom of Kurdistan, 1922–1924: Government, Newspapers and Conflict
Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji’s royal government in Sulaimani combined a cabinet, Kurdish newspapers and postage stamps with an unstable struggle over authority in British-administered Iraq.
Read article →Soran Emirate: Khanzad, Rawanduz and Muhammad Pasha
Soran was a Kurdish principality associated with Rawanduz. Its history includes Khanzad’s authority, Muhammad Pasha’s expansion, violence against neighbouring communities and Ottoman centralisation.
Read article →The Bohtan Emirate: Cizre, Kurdish Literature and the Crisis of 1847
Bohtan, also written Botan, was a Kurdish principality centred on Cizre on the Tigris. Its history joins hereditary local government, Ottoman imperial relationships and Kurdish literary culture with the violent expansion and defeat of Bedirhan Bey’s rule.
Read article →The Bradost Emirate: Frontier Rule and the Siege of Dimdim
Bradost’s changing alliances and the siege of 1609–1610 reshaped the Urmia frontier. Its principality continued after the catastrophe.
Read article →The Palu Emirate: Hereditary Rule, Waqfs and Ottoman Transformation
Palu was a Kurdish emirate centred on the Murat River in today’s Elazığ Province. Its history joins hereditary government to religious endowments, court writing and struggles over agricultural land. These connections explain how local institutions operated within the Ottoman Empire and how they changed.
Read article →The Mahmudi Emirate: Hoşap Castle, Yazidi Origins and Ottoman Frontier Rule
The Mahmudî were Kurdish hereditary rulers associated with Hoşap, or Xoşab, southeast of Lake Van. Their history combines changing imperial alliances, a Yazidi background, Sunni religious patronage and the fortress that preserves their name in the landscape.
Read article →Bahdinan Emirate: Amêdî, Qubahan and Ottoman Rule
Bahdinan was a Kurdish emirate centred on Amêdî. Its history connects hereditary government, religious communities, manuscript learning and nineteenth-century Ottoman centralisation.
Read article →The Mukriyan Emirate: Rulers, Mahabad’s Red Mosque and a Kurdish Cultural Region
Mukriyan’s history includes a Kurdish ruling house, changing imperial allegiances and the growth of Savojbolagh, now Mahabad. Its political history and continuing linguistic identity can be traced through studies, a mosque inscription and archival records.
Read article →The Ayyubids of Hasankeyf: Rule, Libraries and the Question of an End Date
Hasankeyf preserved an Ayyubid principality after the loss of Egypt and Syria. Its rulers supported buildings and libraries; the principality’s fall and later local family rule require separate chronologies.
Read article →The Donboli of Khoy: Kurdish Origins, Frontier Government and Historical Writing
The Donboli were a Kurdish-origin tribal and ruling family associated with Khoy, Salmas and Tabriz. Their history combines service to successive states, periods of practical autonomy, commercial connections and Persian-language historical writing.
Read article →Çemişgezek Emirate: Pir Hüseyin, Communities and Ottoman Rule
Çemişgezek’s ruling house governed part of the Dersim highlands. Sixteenth-century records reveal changing alliances, negotiated privileges, rural communities and the division of its territory.
Read article →Kilis and the Janbulads: Ottoman Governors, Urban Patronage and Ali Pasha’s Revolt
The Kurdish Janbulad, or Canbolat, family built power in Kilis through Ottoman service, hereditary district government and urban patronage. Ali Pasha’s revolt of 1606–1607 was a later rupture in that relationship, followed by defeat, renewed appointments and exile.
Read article →The Zakarids (Mkhargrdzeli): Power, Patronage and Kurdish Ancestry
The Zakarids were a Christian noble family prominent in Armenian lands and Georgian royal service around 1200. Medieval accounts of Kurdish ancestry belong alongside their Armenian and Georgian affiliations, not in place of them.
Read article →The Principality of Eğil: Family Tradition and Ottoman Records
Eğil’s Kurdish principality is known through dynastic pedigrees, Ottoman administrative records and manuscript histories. Reading these sources together reveals both hereditary authority and its practical limits.
Read article →The Baban Dynasty: Frontier Politics, Sulaymaniyah and Sorani Poetry
The Baban rulers linked local government, imperial negotiation and urban patronage. Their history explains Sulaymaniyah’s development and an important setting for the rise of literary Sorani.
Read article →The Ardalan Dynasty: Frontier Government, Sanandaj and Literary Patronage
The Ardalan rulers governed a Kurdish frontier principality whose autonomy ended under the Qajars in 1867–68.
Read article →The Hazaraspids: Atabegs of Greater Lorestan
The Hazaraspids, also called the Fazluya dynasty and the atabegs of Greater Lorestan, governed a changing territory in southwestern Iran. Their seat was Idhaj, associated with modern Izeh. Their history connects Kurdish dynastic origins, the communities of the Zagros and negotiations with Salghurid, Mongol, Muzaffarid and Timurid rulers. Sources preserve substantial uncertainty about several reigns.
Read article →The Rawwadid Dynasty: Tabriz, Coins and Changing Power
The Rawwadids ruled from Tabriz in medieval Azerbaijan. Coins, travel writing and later histories reveal a Kurdish ruling house whose chronology and connections require careful reconstruction.
Read article →The Ayyubid Dynasty: Saladin, Regional Rule and Cultural Legacy
The Ayyubids ruled through a network of family principalities centred on Egypt and Syria. Their history includes conquest, negotiated settlements, religious foundations and branches that survived the Egyptian sultanate.
Read article →The Annazids: Hulwan, Divided Rule and the Seljuk Advance
The Annazids were a Kurdish ruling family whose power developed around Hulwan in the late tenth century. Their history follows several competing branches, shifting alliances and the Seljuk advance, rather than a single kingdom with fixed borders and an uninterrupted succession.
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