Empire and emirate: Emirate of Erdelan A Kurdish emirate between the Ottoman and Iranian Empires

The subject of this research is the relations of the Emirate of Erdelan with the Ottoman and Iranian Empires (Safevids, Afshars, Zands and Qachars). The Emirate of Erdelan, founded in the late twelfth century, is one of the most important and influential among the Kurdish emirates. The Emirate of Erdelan, which had an independent and semi-independent presence in the Sharzor region until the middle of the sixteenth century, had a great influence in the formation of the balance in the region during the periods when the Ottomans and Safevids struggled to establish dominance in Sharzor. The Emirate of Erdelan, located on the Ottoman-Iranian border, had managed to maintain a political presence for a long time by taking advantage of its strategic position and pursuing a strategy of balance between the aforementioned empires. The emirate, which continued to dominate under the central states of Iran at the beginning of the seventeenth century, was abolished in 1867 as a result of centralization policies carried out in Iran during Qachar period. At the first part of the study, the tribal institution, which has long existed in Kurdish society, was examined in order to understand the organization of the emirate correctly, and the emirate administration that includes many tribal and tribal confederations and is considered as the upper form of the tribe was examined in the specialty of the Emirate of Erdelan. Iran-Erdelan relations were examined in the second part of the study and Ottoman-Erdelan relations in the third part on the basis of the Ottoman, Iranian and Erdelan period sources, archival documents, research works and notes of travellers. An important point that distinguishes the Emirate of Erdelan from the other Kurdish emirates is the tradition of historiography that develops in the emirate. Both Erdelan sources and Ottoman-Iranian sources were processed in the literature review of the study and the mentioned works were introduced in general terms. The main factors that make the emirs of Erdelan one of the effective local powers of the region; That they made use of the advantage of being among the Ottoman and Iranian empires, that they made use of military support of Kurdish tribal forces and that they used the natural protection provided by the Kurdish geography effectively. These are the main results of the study.