Editing Shah Rukh (section)

===War with the Qara Qoyunlu===
[[File:Contemporary portrait of Shah Rukh, painted in his lifetime in 1435-36, by commission of his son Ibrahim Sultan.jpg|thumb|Contemporary portrait of Shah Rukh, painted in his lifetime in 1435-36, by commission of his son [[Ibrahim Sultan (Timurid)|Ibrahim Sultan]].<ref name="Sims"/>]]
The new emperor began his reign by launching expeditions against regions which had begun to break away during the war of succession. [[Fars province|Fars]], which was held by Shah Rukh's nephew [[Bayqara Mirza I|Bayqara]], was taken in 1414. Two years later [[Kerman Province|Kirman]], which had been ruled as an independent kingdom by Sultan Uwais Barlas since 1408, was also subdued. The area under Shah Rukh's rule continued to be extended and consolidated over the following years, either through voluntary subjugation by minor rulers or through alliances. By 1420, the eastern portion of Timur's empire, as well as central and southern Persia, had been brought under Shah Rukh's rule.<ref>{{harvtxt|Jackson|Lockhart|1986|pp=101–2}}</ref>

However, despite Shah Rukh's successes, the western portion of the empire, including [[Azerbaijan]] and [[Mesopotamia]], remained out of his control. These were held by [[Qara Yusuf]] of the [[Qara Qoyunlu]] (Black Sheep Turkoman), who had defeated and killed Shah Rukh's brother [[Miran Shah]] several years previously. With the conquests of several prominent cities such as [[Baghdad]], [[Qazvin]] and [[Diyarbakır]], the Qara Qoyunlu had established themselves as dangerous neighbours to the Timurids.<ref name=Jacksonp102>{{harvtxt|Jackson|Lockhart|1986|p=102}}</ref>
This threat was one which remained unresolved for decades. Shah Rukh made many attempts to pacify his western border, both through political and military means (having launched three campaigns against Azerbaijan), none of which proved entirely successful.<ref name=Jacksonp102/>

Qara Yusuf died during the first of the campaigns in November 1420, which ended in the Timurid capture of Azerbaijan and Armenia. However, less than a year later Shah Rukh was forced to face off a rebellion by the late Turkoman prince's sons.<ref name=Jacksonp102/> One of these sons, [[Qara Iskander]], continued his attempts to reassert Turkoman authority over the following years, necessitating the second campaign in 1429. This too resulted in a Timurid victory and the installation of a Qara Qoyunlu prince, [[Abu Said (Kara Koyunlu)|Abu Said]], as a puppet ruler. However, Qara Iskander reoccupied the city of [[Tabriz]] two years later and had Abu Said executed.<ref name=Jacksonp102/>

This action prompted the third and final campaign in 1434, in which Qara Iskander was once more forced to flee. He was later assassinated by his son Qubad in the fortress of [[Alinja Tower|Alinja]]. Although this campaign did not result in a final resolution of the Turkoman issue, it did achieve stability in the region for the remainder of Shah Rukh's reign with the installation of Qara Iskander's less bellicose brother [[Jahan Shah]] as the Turkoman ruler.<ref name=Jacksonp103>{{harvtxt|Jackson|Lockhart|1986|p=103}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Minorsky|first=Vladimir|author-link=Vladimir Minorsky|title=Medieval Iran and its neighbours|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2pttAAAAMAAJ|volume=1|year=1931|publisher=Variorum Reprints|isbn=978-0-86078-114-1|page=176}}</ref>