Evaluation of Importance of Erzincan Local Government in the Timurids Foreign Relations

Erzincan was one of the important cities during the Timurid period. and due to it being situated in the region among the northwest Iran, Armenia, and Anatolia, it played a major role in the political and military equations of the powerful governments of the Timurids, Ottomans, and the Turkmans. This city was always at the center of the regional big powers tug of war. However, its domestic affairs were ruled by the local puppet rulers. With the emergence and start of the conguests of Timur Gorkani, Tahrtan, the governer of Erzincan, declared subordination to Timur and tried to consolidate his position in the region. This paper seeks to answer the question, how and based on what policies, were the local rulers of Erzincan’s relations with the Timurids? To answer this question, we have used the Descriptive-Analytical method as well as the library sources. The findings show that the region of Erzincan played a determining role in the big powers’ relations during the 15th century. Timur, in addition to gaining support and unity of the local rulers of Erzincan for dominating this region and projecting his power to Anatolia and Armenia, used this region as a bulwark and fortress for protecting his main territories in Iran and Central Asia against his rivals. The Erzincan rulers, also, united with Timur to survive against the territorial policies of the Ottomans and the Turkmans, but this region came under the rule of the Turkmans and then the Ottomans after the defeat of the Timurids, and its local government disappeared.