Shahrizor Eyalet

Shahrizor Eyalet (Arabic: إيالة شهرزور, Ottoman Turkish: ایالت شهر زور, romanized: Eyālet-i Šehr-i Zōr) was a semi-independent eyalet in Ottoman Iraq (hıtta-i Irakiyye), covering the area of present-day Iraqi Kurdistan.

History

When the Ottoman Empire conquered the region in 1554, they decided to leave the government of the region to Kurdish leaders, so it was not incorporated directly into the Ottoman administrative system. The governors were members of Kurdish clans, and only rarely were there Ottoman garrisons in the province.

However, archival records from the 16th century onwards indicate that localities commonly associated with Shahrizor, including İmadiye, Erbil, Kerkük, and Zâho, were, at various times, listed as sanjaks within the Baghdad Eyalet. Ottoman administrative registers from 1558–1576 and 1573–1587 enumerate these settlements as subordinate districts of Baghdad. During the period of Mamluk rule in Iraq (1704–1831), Shahrizor was administered as one of the three eyalets under the authority of the Mamluk pashas, alongside Basra and Baghdad.

Dominance of the Baban Emirate

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the eyalet came to be dominated by the Baban clan. The members of this clan were able to maintain their rule by guaranteeing the security of the Ottoman Empire's volatile border with Iran in exchange of almost full autonomy. The Sanjak of Baban, which included the town of Kirkuk, was named after the family.

The Baban considered the Kurdish princes of Ardalan, who controlled the Iranian portions of Kurdistan, to be their natural rivals, and in 1694 Sulayman Beg Baban invaded Iran and defeated the mir of Ardalan.