What Was the Principality of Palu?
The Principality of Palu was a Kurdish emirate centred on the town of Palu, on the Murat River in what is now Elazığ Province in eastern Turkey. Closely related to the neighbouring Principality of Eğil — both traced their ruling house to the same ancestral lineage — Palu was one of the autonomous Kurdish principalities that survived for centuries under Ottoman suzerainty. In modern times the Palu region became famous as the home of Sheikh Said, leader of the great Kurdish revolt of 1925.
Key Takeaways
• Palu was a Kurdish principality on the Murat River, in modern Elazığ Province, eastern Turkey.
• Its ruling house was kin to that of the Principality of Eğil, both tracing descent from the same founding lineage (the Bulduqani line of Pir Mansûr).
• After the Battle of Chaldiran (1514) its ruler aligned with the Ottomans and Palu became an autonomous hereditary sanjak.
• It is recorded among the Kurdish dynasties of the Sharafnama (1597).
• The Palu region later became the home of Sheikh Said, who led the 1925 Kurdish revolt.
Quick Facts
Name: The Principality of Palu (Emirate of Palu)
Type: Kurdish principality / autonomous Ottoman hükümet sanjak
Region: Palu, on the Murat River, modern Elazığ Province, Turkey
Ruling House: A branch of the Bulduqani line (kin to the Eğil princes)
Era: Medieval origins; prominent from the late 15th–16th centuries
Notable Ruler: Cemşid Bey (aligned with the Ottomans, early 16th c.)
Overlords: Aq Qoyunlu, Safavid, then Ottoman suzerainty
Primary Source: Sharafnama of Sharaf Khan Bidlisi (1597)
Modern Legacy: Home region of Sheikh Said (1925 revolt)
Table of Contents
What Was the Principality of Palu?
A Sister of Eğil: The Ruling House
Palu and the Ottoman Settlement (1514)
An Autonomous Hereditary Sanjak
Decline and Ottoman Centralisation
Related People, Places, and Topics
References and Further Reading
Palu: The Town on the Murat
Palu sits on the banks of the Murat River — the major eastern branch of the Euphrates — in what is today Elazığ Province in eastern Turkey. The old town clusters beneath a steep rocky outcrop crowned by the ruins of Palu Castle, a fortress whose commanding position over the river crossing made the site valuable from antiquity onward.
It was here, in this strategic river town, that a Kurdish principality took shape — one of the cluster of emirates that controlled the upper Euphrates country between Diyarbakır, Harput and the Dersim highlands. The setting, like that of so many Kurdish emirates, combined a defensible citadel with command of a vital route.
A Sister of Eğil: The Ruling House
The principality of Palu was closely bound to its neighbour, the Principality of Eğil. The two shared a common dynastic origin: the ruling house of Palu was a branch of the same lineage — descended, by tradition, from the holy ancestor Pir Mansûr — that founded and ruled Eğil. In effect, Palu and Eğil were sister principalities of a single extended Kurdish family.
This kinship placed Palu within one of the older and more prestigious Kurdish dynastic traditions of the Diyarbakır region, rooted in the fusion of Sufi religious descent with tribal and territorial lordship. As the family branched, Palu emerged as a principality in its own right, ruling the Murat valley while its Eğil cousins held the country to the south.
Palu and the Ottoman Settlement (1514)
Like the other Kurdish emirates of the region, Palu passed from the orbit of the Aq Qoyunlu and the Safavids into the Ottoman sphere after the decisive Ottoman victory at Chaldiran in 1514. In the great settlement of Kurdistan brokered by the Kurdish statesman Idris Bitlisi, the ruler of Palu — recorded as Cemşid Bey — aligned with the Ottomans and was confirmed in hereditary possession of his principality.
As with Eğil and the other firmly established Kurdish dynasties, the Ottomans granted Palu autonomous status rather than folding it into their ordinary provincial system. The principality thus survived the upheavals of the early sixteenth century intact, its ruling family secured in power along the frontier of the long Ottoman–Safavid wars.
An Autonomous Hereditary Sanjak
Under the Ottomans, Palu was governed as a hereditary autonomous district — a 'hükümet' sanjak — in which the local Kurdish dynasty ruled in its own right, exempt from the standard timar system and largely free of interference from the centre. For generations the begs of Palu administered their own territory, much as their Eğil kin did to the south.
A tangible memorial of this era survives in Palu in the form of the historic mosque attributed to Cemşid Bey, a reminder that the principality's rulers were not only frontier lords but also patrons of religious and civic building in their river town.
Decline and Ottoman Centralisation
Palu's autonomy, like that of all the Kurdish principalities, was eroded and finally swept away by the centralising drive of the Ottoman state in the nineteenth century, as the Tanzimat reforms dismantled the Kurdish emirates across the empire.
The hereditary rule of the Palu begs gave way to direct Ottoman administration, and the principality ceased to exist as an autonomous power. Its territory was absorbed into the regular provincial structure, ending centuries of self-rule by the Kurdish lords of the Murat.
Palu and Sheikh Said
In the twentieth century the Palu region returned dramatically to the centre of Kurdish history. It was the home of Sheikh Said, the influential religious leader who in 1925 led the first great Kurdish revolt against the new Turkish Republic — the Sheikh Said rebellion, which sought to defend Kurdish and Islamic identity against the centralising secular state.
That a region once ruled by an autonomous Kurdish principality should, centuries later, become a cradle of modern Kurdish resistance gives Palu a striking continuity. The same upper-Euphrates country that had sheltered a hereditary emirate became, in the modern era, a byword for Kurdish defiance.
Timeline
Medieval period — A branch of the Bulduqani line (the family of Pir Mansûr) establishes the principality of Palu; exact founding date uncertain. 15th c. — Palu is a recognised Kurdish principality on the Murat, alongside its sister emirate of Eğil. 1514 — After Chaldiran, the Palu ruler (recorded as Cemşid Bey) aligns with the Ottomans. Early 16th c. — Palu is confirmed as an autonomous hereditary (hükümet) sanjak under Ottoman suzerainty. 1597 — Palu is recorded in Sharaf Khan Bidlisi's Sharafnama. 19th c. — Ottoman centralisation ends the principality's autonomy. 1925 — The Palu region is a centre of the Sheikh Said revolt against the Turkish Republic.
Rulers and Key Figures
The principality was ruled by a hereditary line of Kurdish begs, a branch of the same family that ruled Eğil. The best-attested figure is Cemşid Bey, the ruler who brought Palu into the Ottoman fold after 1514 and is remembered as a builder in the town. The fuller succession of the Palu begs is only partially preserved, and the names and dates of individual rulers — especially before the sixteenth century — should be treated with caution. In the modern era the region's most famous son was Sheikh Said, the leader of the 1925 revolt.
Debates and Uncertainties
As with the other Kurdish principalities of the upper Euphrates, the early history of Palu is documented only partially. Its precise founding date is uncertain, and the detailed genealogy of its ruling house — though clearly linked to the Bulduqani line of Eğil — rests largely on tradition and the testimony of the Sharafnama. Care should also be taken not to conflate the medieval principality with the modern district of Palu, nor to read the later Sheikh Said episode back onto the emirate itself.
Place in Kurdish History
Palu exemplifies the dense web of related Kurdish principalities that governed the upper Euphrates and Diyarbakır country for centuries. Together with its sister emirate of Eğil and the older Marwanid tradition of the region, it represents the long continuity of Kurdish self-rule along the Murat and Tigris.
Its history also draws a remarkable line from the medieval emirates to the modern Kurdish national story: from an autonomous Bulduqani principality, to an Ottoman hükümet sanjak, to the homeland of one of the most famous Kurdish revolts of the twentieth century. Few small emirates connect the deep and recent Kurdish past so directly.
Related People, Places, and Topics
Explore related history on Kurdish-History.com: the Principality of Eğil, Sheikh Said and the 1925 revolt, Idris Bitlisi, the Marwanids of Diyar Bakr, and the fall of the Kurdish emirates.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where was the Principality of Palu?
Palu lay on the Murat River in what is now Elazığ Province in eastern Turkey, centred on the town of Palu beneath its hilltop castle.
Was Palu related to the Principality of Eğil?
Yes. The ruling house of Palu was a branch of the same Kurdish lineage — descended by tradition from Pir Mansûr — that ruled the neighbouring Principality of Eğil. The two were effectively sister principalities.
Was Palu Kurdish?
Yes. Palu was a Kurdish principality, ruled by a hereditary Kurdish dynasty and recorded among the Kurdish houses of the Sharafnama.
What was Palu's relationship with the Ottomans?
After the Battle of Chaldiran (1514), Palu's ruler aligned with the Ottomans and the principality became an autonomous hereditary (hükümet) sanjak, governing itself under its own begs until the nineteenth century.
What is the connection between Palu and Sheikh Said?
The Palu region was the home of Sheikh Said, the religious leader who led the great Kurdish revolt of 1925 against the Turkish Republic — giving the area a major place in modern Kurdish history.
What ended the Principality of Palu?
Ottoman centralisation in the nineteenth century ended its autonomy, as the hereditary Kurdish emirates were dismantled and replaced by direct administration.
References and Further Reading
Sharaf Khan Bidlisi, Sharafnama (1597) — records Palu among the Kurdish principalities.
Studies of the Kurdish emirates of the upper Euphrates and Diyarbakır region.
Historical literature on Palu, its castle, and the Sheikh Said revolt of 1925.
Kurdish-History.com — related reading on the Principality of Eğil and Sheikh Said.