Ikhtiyar al-Din Ai-Taq was an influential amir in western Khurasan following the decline of the Seljuks, and the ruler of Gurgan and Dihistan from 1161 until 1165.
In Nishapur another of Sanjar's former ghulams, Mu'ayyid al-Din Ai-Aba, had taken power and had gained control of a significant portion of Khurasan.
[2] Ai-Taq received military assistance from Shah Ghazi Rustam, the Bavandid ruler of Tabaristan.
[4] This enabled him to establish himself in Gurgan and Dihistan, where he acknowledged the suzerainty of Il-Arslan.
[5] Unfortunately for him, however, he eventually lost the support of the shah, and a Khwarezmid army expelled him from Dihistan in 1165.