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Principality of Bitlis

A culturally Persianate Kurdish principality centred on Bitlis south-west of Lake Van, ruled by the Rojaki-descended dynasty of the historian Sharaf Khan Bidlisi; a long-lived autonomous emirate finally abolished by the Ottomans in 1847.

Abolished by the Ottoman Empire in 1847 under the Tanzimat centralization that ended the autonomous Kurdish emirates.

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Further reading

• The Sharafnama, or the History of the Kurdish Nation, 1597 Sharaf Khan Bidlisi (trans. M. R. Izady) · 1597 (trans. 2005)

  The classic primary history written by Bitlis's own ruling dynasty; foundational for the emirate's own account of itself.

• Agha, Shaikh and State Martin van Bruinessen · 1978

  Places Bitlis among the autonomous Kurdish emirates and their suppression.

Sources

• Wikipedia, 'Principality of Bitlis' (Q878818), lead verified via MediaWiki API — Rojaki Kurdish principality at Bitlis, sanity-checked.
• Internet Archive scan of 'The Sharafnama' (1597, Sharaf Khan Bidlisi) — confirms the emirate's own dynastic historiography exists and is the standard primary source.