Upon the dissolution of the Ilkhanate, he aligned himself with the Jalayirid leader Hasan Buzurg, who eventually left Anatolia for Eretna to govern when he returned east to clash with the rival Chobanids and other Mongol lords.

After half a century, the death of the seventh Ilkhan, Ghazan (r. 1295–1304), marked the height of the state, and while his brother Öljaitü (r. 1304–1316) was capable of maintaining the empire, his conversion to Shiism sped up the impending fall and civil war in the region.

[3] Of Uyghur stock,[4] Eretna was born to Jafar[5] or Taiju Bakhshi, a trusted follower of the second Ilkhanid ruler Abaqa Khan (r. 1265–82), and his wife Tükälti.

[8] The growing influence of Chupan, a Mongol general, who Eretna was likely serving at the time,[3] prompted various commanders such as Qurumushi and Irinjin to conspire a revolt.

[11] Eretna migrated to Anatolia following his brothers' deaths[12] and the appointment of his new master Timurtash as the Ilkhanid governor of the region by Abu Sa'id[3] and his father, Chupan.

[17] With Abu Sa'id's death in 1335, the Ilkhanid period practically came to an end, leaving in its wake continuous wars between several warlords from princely houses, namely the Chobanids and the Jalayirids.

[2] Back west, Eretna came under the suzerainty of the Jalayirid viceroy of Anatolia, Hasan Buzurg[3] but had already established his supremacy in the region to a considerable degree.

[17] Hasan Buzurg left Eretna as his deputy in Anatolia when he departed east to oppose the Oirat chieftain Ali Padshah's attempt to occupy the Ilkhanid throne.

[28] After the battle and Hasan Kuchak's death, Eretna assumed the title sultan without any backlash, circulated coins in his name once more, and formally declared sovereignty as part of the khutbah (sermon).

[29] He faced a reduced number of threats to his rule in this period: Despite the intentions of the new Chobanid ruler Malek Ashraf (r. 1343–57) to wage a war against him, such an expedition never came to be.

The Dulkadirid ruler Qaraja's focus in pillaging the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia and tensions with the Mamluk emirs also made an attack from the south unlikely.

[3] He promoted and reinforced the sharia law in his domains and showed an effort to respect and sustain the ulama, sayyids, and sheikhs (Islamic dignitaries).

[35] Eretna benefited from the support of the significant population of Mongol tribes in Central Anatolia (referred to as Qara Tatars in sources) in asserting his rule.

[36] When he stopped referring to an overlord after 1341–2 and issued his own coins, he utilized the Uyghur script, which was also used for Mongolian,[1] to underline the Mongol heritage he sought to represent.

[38] Eretna was still not totally successful in the long run, as his descendants would be evicted from the throne by Kadi Burhan al-Din (r. 1381–98), who highlighted his maternal Seljuk descent but also depended on the military support of some of the Mongol tribes.

One such text was a short Persian tafsir (exegesis) in al-As'ila wa'l-Ajwiba by Aqsara'i commissioned by the Eretnid emir of Amasya, Sayf al-Din Shadgeldi (died 1381).

The oldest son,[41] Sheikh Hasan was the governor of Sivas[33] and died in December 1347[33] or January 1348[40] due to sickness shortly after he wed an Artuqid princess.

[40] Eretna's successor and youngest son, Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad I was born to Isfahan Shah Khatun, who was a relative of the Jalayirid ruler Hasan Buzurg.