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The Ak Koyunlu or Aq Qoyunlu, also called the White Sheep Turkomans (Turkmen: Akgoýunly, Azeri: Ağqoyunlu, Turkish: Akkoyunlu, Ottoman Turkish/Template:PerB) were a Turkmen tribal federation that ruled present-day Eastern Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, northern Iraq and western Iran from 1378 to 1508.

History

According to Byzantine chronicles, the Ak Koyunlu were present in eastern Anatolia since at least 1340, and most Ak Koyunlu leaders, including the dynasty's founder, Kara Osman, married Byzantine princesses .

The White Sheep Turkomans first acquired land in 1402, when Tamerlane granted them all of Diyarbakır, in present-day Turkey. For a long time, the White Sheep Turkomans were unable to expand their territory, as the rival Black Sheep Turkomans kept them at bay. However, this changed with the rule of Uzun Hasan who defeated the Black Sheep Turkoman leader, Jahān Shāh, in 1467.

After the defeat of a Timurid leader, Abu Sai'd, Uzun Hasan 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 White Sheep Turkomans into an alliance with the Qaramanids of central Anatolia.

As early as 1464, Uzun Hassan had requested military aid from one of the Ottoman Empire's strongest enemies, Venice, however, despite Venetian promises, this aid never arrived, and as a result, Uzun Hasan was defeated by the Ottomans at Tercan in 1473, though this did not destroy the White Sheep Turkomans.

Yaqub, who reigned from 1478 to 1490, sustained the dynasty for a while longer, but following his death the White Sheep Turkomans began to destroy themselves from within, and thanks to years of infighting, they ceased to be a threat to their neighbours.

The Safavids, who were Shi'ites, began to undermine the allegiance of many White Sheep Turkomans, particularly Sunnis. The Safavids and the White Sheep Turkomans met in battle at Nakhichevan in 1501, and the Safavid leader Ismail I forced the White Sheep Turkomans to withdraw.

In his retreat from the Safavids, the White Sheep Turkoman leader Alwand destroyed an autonomous White Sheep Turkoman state in Mardin. The last White Sheep Turkoman leader, Murād, brother of Alwand, was also defeated by the same Safavid leader. Though Murād briefly established himself in Baghdad in 1508, he soon withdrew back to Diyar Bakr, signalling the end of the White Sheep Turkomans.

Governance

The leaders of Ak Koyunlu were from the Begundur or Bayandur Oghuz clan and were considered descendants of the semi-mythical founding father of the Oghuz, Oghuz Khan. The Bayandurs behaved like statesmen rather than warlords and gained the support of the merchant and feudal classes of South Caucasus (present day Republic of Azerbaijan).

With the conquest of Iran, not only did the Ak Koyunlu center of power shift eastward, but Iranian influences were soon brought to bear on their method of government and their culture . 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. 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 marakoor (stablemaster), who looked after the royal court.

In letters from the Ottomon Sultans, when addressing the the kings of Ak koyunlu, such titles as Malak al-Molook al-Iraniyyah (King of Kings of Iran), Sultan Salatin Iraniyyah(Sultan of Sultans of Iran), Shahanshah Iran Khadiv ajam (King of Kings of Iran and the Ruler of Persia), Jamshid Shawkat wa Fereydoon Raayat wa daaraa deraayat (Powerful like Jamshid, Flag of Fereydoon and Wise like Darius) have been used.

Ahmad-beg Ak Koyunlu

Amidst the struggle for power between Uzun Hassan's grandsons Baysungur (son of Yaqub) and Rustam (son of Maqsud), their cousin Ahmad-beg appeared on the stage. Ahmad-beg was the son of Uzun Hassan's eldest son Oghurlu Muhammad, who, in 1475, escaped to Ottoman Turkey. Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II received Oghurlu Muhammad with kindness and gave him his daughter, of whom Ahmad-beg was born.

According Hasan Rumlu's Ahsan al-tavarikh, in 1496-7 certain Hasan Ali Tarkhani went to Ottoman Turkey to tell Sultan Beyazid II that Azerbaijan and Persian Iraq were defenceless and suggested that Ahmad-beg, heir to that kingdom, should be sent there with Ottoman troops. Beyazid II agreed to this idea, and by May 1497 Ahmad-beg faced Rustam near Araxes and defeated him .

History of Greater Iran
Pre-IslamicBCE / BC Prehistory Kura–Araxes culture c. 3400 – c. 2000 Helmand culture/Jiroft culture 3300-2200 Proto-Elamite civilization 3200–2800 Elamite dynasties 2800–550 Lullubi/Zamua 3100-675 Marhaši 2550-2020 Bactria–Margiana Complex 2400–1700 Gutian Dynasty 2141-2050 Avestan period c. 1500 BCE – 500 BCE Kingdom of Mannai 10th–7th century Neo-Assyrian Empire 911–609 Urartu 860–590 Median Empire 728–550 Scythian Kingdom 652–625 Achaemenid Empire 550–330 Ancient kingdom of Armenia 331 BCE – 428 CE Seleucid Empire 330–150 Caucasian Iberia c. 302 BCE – 580 CE Greco-Bactrian Kingdom 250–125 Parthian Empire 248 BCE–224 CE Caucasian Albania 2nd century BCE – 8th century CE Roman Empire 27 BCE – 330 CE CE / AD Kushan Empire 30–275 Sasanian Empire 224–651 Afrighid dynasty 305–995 Hephthalite Empire 425–557 Kabul Shahi kingdom 565–879 Dabuyid dynasty 642–760 Bagratid Armenia 880s – 1045 Alania 8th/9th century – 1238 / 9 Kingdom of Georgia 1008–1490
Islamic Rashidun Caliphate 637–651 Umayyad Caliphate 661–750 Abbasid Caliphate 750–1258 Shirvanshah 799–1607 Tahirid dynasty 821–873 Dulafid dynasty 840–897 Zaydis of Tabaristan 864–928 Saffarid dynasty 861–1003 Samanid Empire 819–999 Sajid dynasty 889/90–929 Ziyarid dynasty 928–1043 Buyid dynasty 934–1055 Sallarid dynasty 941–1062 Ghaznavid Empire 975–1187 Ghurid dynasty pre-879 – 1215 Seljuk Empire 1037–1194 Khwarazmian dynasty 1077–1231 Sultanate of Rum 1077–1307 Salghurids 1148–1282 Ilkhanate 1256–1353 Kart dynasty 1231–1389 Ottoman Empire 1299–1923 Muzaffarid dynasty 1314–1393 Chupanid dynasty 1337–1357 Jalairid Sultanate 1339–1432 Timurid Empire 1370–1507 Qara Qoyunlu Turcomans 1407–1468 Aq Qoyunlu Turcomans 1378–1508 Safavid Empire 1501–1722 Mughal Empire 1526–1857 Hotak dynasty 1722–1729 Afsharid Iran 1736–1750 Zand dynasty 1750–1794 Durrani Empire 1794–1826 Qajar Iran 1794–1925
v t e

See also

• Rulers of Ak Koyunlu

Sources

• Bosworth, Clifford. The New Islamic Dynasties, 1996.
• Morby, John. Oxford Dynasties of the World, 2002.

References

1. Robert MacHenry. The New Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1993, ISBN 0852295715, p. 184
2. C.E. Bosworth and R. Bulliet. The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual , Columbia University Press, 1996, ISBN 0231107145, p. 275
3. ^ Charles van der Leeuw. Azerbaijan: A Quest of Identity, a Short History, Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 0312219032, p. 81
4. ^ Encyclopedia Iranica. "Akkoyunlu" by Rosemarie Quiring-Zoche
5. Jean Aubin. "Etudes Safavides: Shah Ismail I et les notables de l'Iraq Persan", JESHO 2, 1959, pp. 37-81
6. Seyyed Ali Mua’yyad Sabeti, “Asnaad o Naameh-aayeh Tarikhi az Avael Dorrehaayeh Eslali taa Avakher ‘Ahd Shah Ismail Safavi”(historical sources and letters from the beginning of the Islamic era till the end of the era of Shah Ismail Safavi), Tehran , Ketabkhaayeh Tahoori, 1366. pages 193, 274, 315, 330, 332, 422 and 430. See also: Abdul Hussein Navai, Asnaad o Mokatebaat Tarikhi Iran (Historical sources and letters of Iran), Tehran , Bongaah Tarjomeh and Nashr-e-Ketab, 2536, pages 578,657, 701-702 and 707
7. ^ Vladimir Minorsky. "The Aq-qoyunlu and Land Reforms (Turkmenica, 11)", Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 17, No. 3. (1955), p. 458

v t e History of Anatolia

• 1378 establishments
• 1508 disestablishments
• History of the Turkic people
• Historical Turkic states
• Oghuz Turks
• Muslim dynasties
• Muslim history
• History of the Middle East
• History of Iran
• Former countries in Asia