Provinces of the Imperial State of the Demir Qoyunlu
While not being a strict federal system, and being, at best, an authoritarian monarchy, the Qoyunlu do pay some heed to local governance. In 1746, in the reign of Yaqub II, many of the minorities on the fringes of the Imperial State rose up in revolt, in particular the Armenians, Ukrainians, and the Pashtuns. To placate them, Yaqub was forced to grant them some degree of regional autonomy. In fact, Yaqub and his court went one step further and granted autonomy to many of the ethnic groups on the fringes of the Empire, with governors appointed from Mashhad to run them.
The benefits of local rule were somewhat great, and the fringes such as Balochistan, Hayastan, Pashtunistan and Kipchakistan gained some measure of prosperity. Originally, the Turkish regions of the Imperial state were still administered from Mashhad. However, in 1828 the weak emperor Jahangir III rose to the throne. Jahangir, in contrast to his more illustrious ancestor, was more interested in wine, women and song than ruling, and delegated much of government to his Imperial Viziers, led by Musa Seyrami. Seeing the drain that direct administration was putting on the central government, Musa created several more majority Turkish provinces, as well as reformatting the vassal Khwarezmid shahdom into a province of its own. The Far North was still directly ruled by the Padishah, however, in 1883, with the mineral wealth of the region being discovered and exploitation and settlement increasing, the two Territories of Great Sibir and Great Yakut were established, with local centres of government to facilitate their exploitation.
1. Turkestan: the central province of the Imperial State, containing the capital of Mashhad. Almost entirely Turkic.
2. Tadjikstan: populated by ethnic Tadjiks.
3. Almakistan: populated by the Almaks and the Hazara
4. Pashtunistan: populated mostly by Pashtuns.
5. Balochistan: evenly split between the Baluchs and the remaining Persians.
6. Persia: despite its name, almost entirely Turkic
7. Arabistan: mostly Arab
8. Hwarezm: Almost entirely turkish. A separate province due to the Khwarezmid vassalage to the Demir Qoyunlu, the governor takes the title "Shah of Hwarezm" as an honorific.
9. Azeristan: Majority Azeri population, many Turks and Persians.
10. Hayastan: Populated by Armenians
11. Yorgistan: Populated by mostly by Georgians, some Armenians, and Azeris
12. Cheyistan: Populated mostly by Chechnyans.
13. Kipchakistan: Populated by Kipchaks
14. Kalmykistan: Populated mostly by Turkic Tartars, some Tartars and Kalmyks who give it its name.
15. Yukaristan: Populated by Ukrainians and Turkic Tartars
16. Gökçe: Entirely Turkic, this province was named after Jahangir III's favourite concubine.
17. Russistan: Most populated of the Demir Qoyunlu's northern territories. Mostly populated by Russians, Uralians, and Turks.
18. Yuralistan: Populated almost entirely by Turkics, a few Uralians.
19. Territory of the Great Sibir: entirely Turkic peoples looking for mineral wealth, a few nomadic Tartar tribes.
20. Territory of the Great Yakut: entirely Turkic peoples looking for mineral wealth, a few nomadic Yakut tribes.