Late Middle Ages · Middle East · Politics

1470

Black Sheep Turkmen Overthrown

1470

The Aq Qoyunlu White Sheep Turkmen under Uzun Hasan crushed their Qara Qoyunlu rivals and established a confederation stretching from eastern Anatolia to western Iran. Uzun Hasan's court at Tabriz became a center of Persian-Turkic high culture and a diplomatic partner of Venice against the Ottomans. Uzun Hasan's alliance with Venice against the Ottomans demonstrated how deeply Turkmen Iran was integrated into Mediterranean diplomacy.