country_of_citizenship shaykh haydar
Anatolia ( from Greek , '  " east " or "( sun ) rise "; in modern ), in geography known as Asia Minor ( from '  " small Asia "; in modern ), Asian ___MASK61___ , Anatolian peninsula , or Anatolian plateau , is the westernmost protrusion of Asia , which makes up the majority of modern - day ___MASK61___ . The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north , the Mediterranean Sea to the south , and the Aegean Sea to the west . The Sea of Marmara forms a connection between the Black and Aegean Seas through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits and separates Anatolia from Thrace on the European mainland . Sheikh Safi - ad - din Is ' haq Ardabili ( of Ardabil ) ( 1252  1334 ) (" Shaikh f ad - Dn Isq Ardabl "), was the Kurdish and Sunni Muslim eponym of the Safavid dynasty , founder of the Safaviyya order , and the spiritual heir and son in law of the great Sufi Murshid ( Grand Master ) Sheikh Zahed Gilani , of Lahijan in Gilan province in northern ___MASK35___ . Most of what we know about him comes from the Safvat as - safa , a hagiography written by one of his followers . Qizilbash or Kizilbash ( sometimes also " Qezelbash " or " Qazilbash ") is the label given to a wide variety of Shi ' i militant groups that flourished in ___MASK3___ , Anatolia and Kurdistan from the late 15th century onwards , some of which contributed to the foundation of the Safavid dynasty of ___MASK35___ . Shaykh Haydar or Sheikh Haydar was the successor of his father ( Shaykh Junayd ) as leader of the Safaviyya from 1460 - 1488 . Haydar maintained the policies and political ambitions initiated by his father . Under Sheikh Haydar , the Safaviyya became crystallized as a political movement with an increasingly extremist heterodox Twelver Shi ' i coloring and Haydar was viewed as a divine figure by his followers . Shaykh Haydar was responsible for instructing his followers to adopt the scarlet headgear of 12 gores commemorating The Twelve Imams , which led to them being designated by the Turkish term Qizilbash `` Red Head '' . ___MASK35___ (, also , ; ' ), also known as Persia , officially the Islamic Republic of ___MASK35___ (' ), is a sovereign state in Western Asia . It is bordered to the northwest by Armenia , the " de facto " Nagorno - Karabakh Republic , and Azerbaijan ; to the north by the Caspian Sea ; to the northeast by Turkmenistan ; to the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan ; to the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman ; and to the west by Turkey and Iraq . Comprising a land area of , it is the second - largest country in the Middle East and the 18th - largest in the world . With 82 . 8 million inhabitants , ___MASK35___ is the world ' s 17th - most - populous country . It is the only country with both a Caspian Sea and an Indian Ocean coastline . The country ' s central location in Eurasia and Western Asia , and its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz , make it of great geostrategic importance . Tehran is the country ' s capital and largest city , as well as its leading economic center . Kurdistan ( or ) ( Kurdish : ; " Homeland of the Kurds " or " Land of the Kurds "; also formerly spelled " Curdistan "; ancient name : " Corduene ") or Greater Kurdistan , is a roughly defined geo - cultural region wherein the Kurdish people form a prominent majority population , and Kurdish culture , language , and national identity have historically been based . Kurdistan roughly encompasses the northwestern Zagros and the eastern Taurus mountain ranges . Contemporary use of the term refers to four parts of Kurdistan , which include southeastern ___MASK61___ ( Northern Kurdistan ), northern ___MASK87___ ( Rojava or Western Kurdistan ), northern ___MASK54___ ( Southern Kurdistan ), and northwestern ___MASK35___ ( Eastern Kurdistan ). Some Kurdish nationalist organizations seek to create an independent nation state consisting of some or all of these areas with a Kurdish majority , while others campaign for greater autonomy within the existing national boundaries . The Safaviyya was a Sunni tariqa ( Sufi order ) founded by the Kurdish mystic Safi - ad - din Ardabili ( 1252  1334 ). It held a prominent place in the society and politics of northwestern ___MASK35___ in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries , but today it is best known for having given rise to the Safavid dynasty . While initially founded under the Shafi ' i school of Sunni Islam , later adoptions of Shi ' i concepts such as the notion of the Imamate by the children and grandchildren of Safi - ad - din Ardabili resulted in the order ultimately becoming associated with Twelverism . Sheikh Junayd ( died 1460 ) (" Shaikh Junaid ") was the son of Shaykh Ibrahim . After the death of his father , he assumed the leadership of the Safaviyya from 1447  1460 . The Safavid dynasty (" Dudmn e Safavi ") was one of the most significant ruling dynasties of ___MASK35___ , often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history . The Safavid shahs ruled over one of the so - called gunpowder empires . They ruled one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th - century Muslim conquest of ___MASK35___ , and established the Twelver school of Shia Islam as the official religion of the empire , marking one of the most important turning points in Muslim history .