Key Facts
- Duration
- c. 1300 – 1663
- Founder
- Malik Shah (13th century)
- Core territory
- Çemişgezek, Mazgirt, Pertek, Sağman
- Ottoman integration
- Ocaklık (hereditary) status granted by Selim I, c. 1514–20
- Population composition
- Kurdish tribes (Shiite) and a slight majority of Armenians
Imperial Zenith Metrics
Historical Trajectory
Phase I: Rise
A certain Malik Shah is credited with founding the emirate around Çemişgezek in the 13th century, though the early record is sparse. Following the Mongol invasions, the principality endured contested occupation by the Aq Qoyunlu and Qara Qoyunlu Turkmen confederacies, initially aligning with the Qara Qoyunlu. Despite this, Emir Sheikh Hasan later cultivated friendly ties with the Aq Qoyunlu during the second half of the 15th century.
Phase II: Zenith
At its height the emirate controlled Çemişgezek and surrounding districts including Mazgirt, Pertek, and Sağman in eastern Anatolia. The region sustained a mixed population of Kurdish and Armenian communities. Sheikh Hasan's diplomatic flexibility—shifting alliances between rival Turkmen powers—allowed the dynasty to preserve autonomy through a volatile period of competing regional hegemonies during the 14th and 15th centuries.
Phase III: Decline
Sheikh Hasan's grandson Hajji Rustam submitted to the Safavid Shah Ismail I but, after the Safavid defeat at Chaldiran in 1514, sought Ottoman pardon; Selim I executed him. His son Pir Husayn secured hereditary ocaklık status from the Ottomans. Succession disputes among Pir Husayn's heirs fragmented the emirate's territory into separate sanjaks governed by dynastic branches, until the principality dissolved entirely by 1663.
Notable Imperial Reigns
Selected rulers mapping the empire’s trajectory