They are originally from the Kipchak Turks. Şemsuddin
Il Deniz who had been assigned in the service of the Iraq Seljuk State in the period of
Sultan Mes'ud and gradually promoted to high degrees in the offices of the state due to
his power had protected Erevan and Shirvan environs against the Georgian and Abhaza
attacks while he was the general governor of Azerbaijan. Since the year of 1146, he
started to dominate this region that had been connected to the Seljuk State in the
beginning and established a dynasty. He married the widow wife of Sultan Tugrul II and
thus, he was involved within the Seljuk family. The centre of Il Deniz was the city of
Tabriz. The cities of Nachicevan and Gence were also connected to this principality. II Deniz was called as
"atabek-i azam" (great tutor) in the period of Sultan Arslan-shah. One of his
two sons, Cihan Pehlivan was the "chief clerk" of the state, and Kizil Arslan
Osman was the minister of army. Pursuant to the death of Il-Deniz (1175), Cihan Pehlivan
became the most powerful man of both Azerbaijan, and the Iraq Seljuk Sultanate. He bore
the title of "Hakan-ı Acem" (Farsi Khan). Nearly 60-70 slaves of him
established dominion and control in the entire country. Then, his brother Osman declared
himself as the "Sultan of Iraq" (1191). His son, Ebu Bekir had expanded his
influence extending to Hamedan and even Isfahan towards the year of 1200.However, Ozbek
who was the tutor of Azerbaijan had to be submissive to Harzemshah State in the year of
1211. Upon the capture of Tabriz by Celaleddin Harzemshah (1225), this tutor principality
came to an end. Pursuant to this collapse, the country was invaded by the Mongolians.
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