The rulers of Sarhad Yezdikhan: The history of the Yezidi Lineage of Kok-agha

Abstract

The article analyses and introduces previously unknown historical and scientific documentation from the National Archives of Georgia on which it provides new insights into affairs of Khalil-agha, one of the Yezidi leaders in the Russian Empire and a sous-lieutenant (podporuchik). Among them the Russian translations of two charters issued to the ancestors of Khalil-agha by the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and the Shah of Iran, attesting to the existence of a semi-independent Yezidi principality, recognized by both the Persian and Ottoman powers, known as Ezdikhan (Yezdikhan) in eastern Anatolia from the 16th to the 18th century. Together with previous research, the discovery of these documents represents the missing link in the documented history of the Yezidis in Eastern Anatolia, which spans no less than five centuries.