Bingöl emirate (1231-1864) or Suveydi Emirate[1] was an Kurdish emirate reigning in Bingöl region between 1231 and 1864.[2] [3] [4]
Kurdish historian Sharafkhan Bidlisi wrote a myth that the Emirs of Bingöl came from the Barmakids family and that they ruled Bingöl since the caliphate of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid.[5]
In the 12th century, after the collapse of the Ayyubid Empire, the Emirate of Bingöl was established, then known under the name of Çapakçur.[6] The Bingöl principality, was a vassal to the Mongols, Aq Qoyunlu and Kara Koyunlu respectively, but it preserved its existence in this turbulent period..[7] After defeating the Azerbaijani dominated Tabriz; it organized expeditions to Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia on 1508. The expeditions were directed towards Mosul, Mardin and Diyarbekir. Later the Safavids succeeded in capturing Capakçur, although they also aimed to take over the administrative center of Hançuk. This was prevented by troops of the Bingöl Emir Abdal Bey.[8] The Emir died shortly after the war and his successor was not able to protect Hançuk, and after the Battle of Caldiran in 1514, the Emirs of Bingöl were subject to the Ottoman Empire[9] [10] After the death of Abdal Bey, the lands of the emirate were divided into regions as Genç and Bingöl, which came under the control of Palu Emirate in the early 17th century, was ended by the Ottoman's in 1864.The rulers of the principality were exiled to the city of Harput.[11]
Isfahan Bey is one of the gentlemen of Suveydi, after the death of his father between 1514 and 1549. He reigned for a long time and then left many works as a legacy. Unfortunately, only some of these historical monuments have survived to the present day.[12]
Information about the emirate of Bingöl is limited between the 13th and 15th centuries.