[4][1] Gökböri, whose name means "Blue-wolf" in Old Turkic, was the son of Zain ad-Din Ali Kutchek, the Emir of Erbil (known as Arbela in contemporary Arab usage).

However, the atabeg of Erbil, Kaimaz, deposed Gökböri in favour of his younger brother, Zain ad-Din Yusuf.

Gökböri, exiled from his city, eventually took service with the Zengid prince Saif ad-Din Ghazi ibn Maudud of Mosul.

[5][6][7] During the decade from 1164, Saladin, originally a subject of Nur ad-Din the Zengid ruler of Syria, had made himself master of Egypt.

Saladin was ambitious to unite Egypt and Syria under his own rule, and was asserting a level of independence that his titular master, Nur ad-Din, could not accept.

Saladin had been repulsed from Beirut and was marching on Aleppo when Gökböri visited him with an invitation to cross the Euphrates into the Jazira, where he was assured he would be welcomed.

Saladin became gravely ill during this campaign, but was nursed back to health in Gökböri's castle at Harran.

[12][13] Following the conquest of Northern Syria and the Jazira, Saladin added Edessa (Urfa) and Samsat to Gökböri's lands.

Saladin's secretary, the historian Imad ad-Din al-Isfahani, described him as: "... the audacious, the hero of well thought out projects, the lion who heads straight for the target, the most reliable and firmest chief.

Ibn Khallikan describes how Gökböri and Saladin's nephew stood firm when the rest of the army was fleeing.

He was a devout Sunni Muslim and built extensively in his domains for both the spiritual and corporeal needs of his subjects, creating a religious college, the Dar al-Hadith al-Muzaffariya (founded in 1198), sufi convents (khanqah), a travellers' inn and a number of establishments for the blind, orphans and widows.

This has been seen by later commentators as representing a level of syncretism with pre-Islamic, traditional, Turkish practices called Siğir and Shölen.

[23] The long reign of Gökböri in Erbil, which became a thriving centre of Sunni learning, was largely due to his highly developed political acumen and judicious choice of alliances.

Later in his reign he used alliance with al-Muazzam of Damascus as a counterbalance to the threats of al-Malik al-Ashraf and Badr al-Din Lu'lu'.