Aq Qoyunlu
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Aq Qoyunlu
?? ???????
13781501
The Aq Qoyunlu confederation at its greatest extent
Capital Diyarbakir 1453 1471
Tabriz1468 January 6, 1478
Languages Azerbaijani(poetry)[a][1]
Arabic
Persian
Kurdish
Religion Sunni Islam[2]
Government Monarchy
Ruler
13781435 Kara Yuluk Osman
15011501 Murad ibn Ya'qub
Historical era Medieval
Established 1378
Disestablished 1501
Preceded by Succeeded by
Kara Koyunlu
Safavid dynasty
Today part of Azerbaijan
Iran
Turkey
Iraq
Syria
Armenia
Pakistan
Georgia
Russia
The Aq Qoyunlu or Ak Koyunlu, also called the White Sheep Turkomans
(Persian ??? ????????? Aq Quyunlu; Turkish Ak Koyunlu), was a Persianate[3]
Sunni[2] Oghuz Turkic tribal federation that ruled present-day Azerbaijan, Armenia,
Eastern Turkey, part of Iran, and northern Iraq from 1378 to 1501.[4]
Part of a series on the
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Contents [hide]
1 History
2 Governance
3 Aq Qoyunlu Ahmed Bey
4 See also
5 Notes
6 References
7 Sources
History[edit]
According to chronicles from the Byzantine Empire, the Aq Qoyunlu are first
attested in the district of Bayburt south of the Pontic mountains from at least the
1340s,[5] and most of their leaders, including the dynasty's founder, Qara Osman,
[6] married Byzantine princesses.[7]
The Aq Qoyunlu Turkomans first acquired land in 1402, when Timur granted them all
of Diyar Bakr in present-day Turkey. For a long time, the Aq Qoyunlu were unable to
expand their territory, as the rival Kara Koyunlu or Black Sheep Turkomans kept
them at bay. However, this changed with the rule of Uzun Hassan, who defeated the
Black Sheep Turkoman leader Jahan Shah in 1467.
After the defeat of a Timurid leader, Abu Sa'id, Uzun Hassan was able to take
Baghdad along with territories around the Persian Gulf. He expanded into Iran as
far east as Khorasan. However, around this time, the Ottoman Empire sought to
expand eastwards, a serious threat that forced the Aq Qoyunlu into an alliance with
the Karamanids of central Anatolia.
As early as 1464, Uzun Hassan had requested military aid from one of the Ottoman
Empire's strongest enemies, Venice. Despite Venetian promises, this aid never
arrived and, as a result, Uzun Hassan was defeated by the Ottomans at the Battle of
Otlukbeli in 1473,[8] though this did not destroy the Aq Qoyunlu.
When Uzun Hassan died early in 1478, he was succeeded by his son Khalil Mirza, but
the latter was defeated by a confederation under his younger brother Ya'qub at the
Battle of Khoy in July.[9]
Ya'qub, who reigned from 1478 to 1490, sustained the dynasty for a while longer.
However, during the first four years of his reign there were seven pretenders to
the throne who had to be put down.[10] Following Ya'qub's death, civil war again
erupted, the Aq Qoyunlus destroyed themselves from within, and they ceased to be a
threat to their neighbors.
Historical Hasankeyf in Aq Qoyunlu territory.
The early Safavids, who were followers of the Safaviyya religious order, began to
undermine the allegiance of the Aq Qoyunlu. The Safavids and the Aq Qoyunlu met in
battle in the city of Nakhchivan in 1501 and the Safavid leader Ismail I forced the
Aq Qoyunlu to withdraw.[11]
In his retreat from the Safavids, the Aq Qoyunlu leader Alwand destroyed an
autonomous state of the Aq Qoyunlu in Mardin. The last Aq Qoyunlu leader, Murad,
brother of Alwand, was also defeated by the same Safavid leader. Though Murad
briefly established himself in Baghdad in 1501, he soon withdrew back to Diyar
Bakr, signaling the end of the Aq Qoyunlu rule.
Governance[edit]
The leaders of Aq Qoyunlu were from the Begundur or Bayandur clan of the Oghuz
Turks[12] and were considered descendants of the semi-mythical founding father of
the Oghuz, Oghuz Khan.[13] The Bayandurs behaved like statesmen rather than
warlords and gained the support of the merchant and feudal classes of Transcaucasia
(present day Azerbaijan).[13]
With the conquest of Iran, not only did the Aq Qoyunlu center of power shift
eastward, but Iranian influences were soon brought to bear on their method of
government and their culture.[14] In the Iranian provinces Uzun Hassan maintained
the preexisting administrative system along with its officials, whose families had
in some cases served under different dynasties for several generations.[15] There
were only four top civil posts, all held by Iranians, in Uzun Hassan's time those
of the vizier, who headed the great council (divan); the mostawfi al-mamalek, who
was in charge of the financial administration; the mohrdar, who affixed the state
seal; and the marakur stable master, who looked after the royal court.[14]
In letters from the Ottoman Sultans, when addressing the kings of Aq Qoyunlu, such
titles as Arabic ??? ?????? ??????????? King of Iranian Kings,
Arabic ????? ???????? ??????????? Sultan of Iranian Sultans,
Persian ??????? ????? ???? ????? Shahanshah-e Iran Khadiv-e Ajam Shahanshah of Iran
and Ruler of Persia, Jamshid shawkat va Fereydun rayat va Dara derayat Powerful
like Jamshid, flag of Fereydun and wise like Darius have been used.[16] Uzun Hassan
also held the title Padishah-i Iran Padishah of Iran,[17] which was re-adopted
again in the Safavid times through his distaff grandson Ismail I, founder of the
Safavid Empire.
Aq Qoyunlu Ahmed Bey[edit]
Aq Qoyunlu Castle in Diyr-i Bekir.
Amidst the struggle for power between Uzun Hassan's grandsons Baysungur (son of
Yaqub) and Rustam (son of Maqsud), their cousin Ahmed Bey appeared on the stage.
Ahmed Bey was the son of Uzun Hassan's eldest son Ugurlu Muhammad, who, in 1475,
escaped to the Ottoman Empire, where the sultan, Mehmed the Conqueror, received
Ugurlu Muhammad with kindness and gave him his daughter in marriage, of whom Ahmed
Bey was born.[18]
According to Hasan Rumlu's Ahsan al-tavarikh, in 1496-7, Hasan Ali Tarkhani went to
the Ottoman Empire to tell Sultan Bayezid II that Azerbaijan and Persian Iraq were
defenceless and suggested that Ahmed Bey, heir to that kingdom, should be sent
there with Ottoman troops. Beyazid agreed to this idea, and by May 1497 Ahmad Bey
faced Rustam near Araxes and defeated him.[18]
See also[edit]
List of rulers of Aq Qoyunlu
Turkmen invasions of Georgia
Diarbakriya, the most important primary source about the dynasty.
Notes[edit]
Jump up ^ ...and dedicated it to the Aqqoyunlu Sultan Ya?qub (r. 1478-90), who
himself wrote poetry in Azeri Turkish. [1]
References[edit]
^ Jump up to a b
