Begzada

Begzade (Kurdish), Beyzade (Turkic), and Begzadići (Slavic) are titles given within the Ottoman Empire to provisional governors and military generals who are decedents of noble households and occupy important positions within the empire. The term Beyzade often appears in western accounts of the Ottoman Empire as superiors within the society, usually men who held a lot of authority. In Eastern Europe, Balkans, Caucasus, and some parts of Anatolia and Iraqi Kurdistan the title Beyzade was given to Circassian princes who lead parts of the Ottoman conquest in these regions.

Social status

The Begzade as a caste developed in Kurdistan among some of the chief tribes and householders such as those of the Jaffs Khoshnaws and the Berwaris. 'Begzade formed the dominant class of the tribe or household. They did not intermarry with socially inferior tribespeople, however, a member of the Begzade could be part of the caste both by kinship ties to the ruling lineage and as one of their retainers. Although regarded as Kurds, the Begzade come from an ethnically mixed background as most of them have Circassian origins.