Hakkari

Hakkari was a Kurdish mountain emirate south of Lake Van, centred on the fortress of Çölemerik. Its ruling family founded the emirate in the fourteenth century under Izz al-Din Shir.

Shir shifted allegiance between Timurids and Kara Koyunlu until his death in 1423. His descendant Asad al-Din Zarin Cang returned from Egypt and stormed the family castles on a Saturday, giving the restored Shambo dynasty its name. His son was killed by Aq Qoyunlu ruler Yaqub in 1491; in the early nineteenth century Soran reduced Hakkari to vassalage.