El Temür


El Temür was a Kipchak officer who was behind the coup d'état that installed Tugh Temür as the Yuan emperor in the capital Khanbaliq in 1328. The restorationists at Khanbaliq won the War of the Two Capitals under the leadership of Tugh Temür and El Temür. After the surrender of Shangdu, Tugh Temür abdicated in favour of his brother Kusala who was backed by Chagatai Khan Eljigidey and announced Khanbaliq's intent to welcome him. However, Kusala suddenly died only four days after a banquet with Tugh Temür, supposedly killed with poison by El Temür, who purged pro-Kusala officials and brought power to warlords, whose despotic rule marked the decline of the Yuan dynasty.
His daughter, Danashiri married Toghon Temür and bore him a son but he died when he was a child. El Temür also had a son, Tangqishi, who was also an officer.
El Temür became ill and died in 1333 and his children were subsequently murdered by former co-conspirator Bayan in 1335.
El Temür is the grandson of Yuan general Tutuha.

In popular culture