Ottoman Kurdistan refers to areas of Kurdistan which were part of the Ottoman Empire. During the Ottoman Empire's peak they controlled all of modern-day Turkish Kurdistan, Iraqi Kurdistan, and Syrian Kurdistan, as well as a small part of Iranian Kurdistan. The term "Kurdistan" was used regularly by Ottoman officials to refer to its regions where Kurds made up a majority, and was included on many maps. [1]
Most of Ottoman Kurdistan was previously controlled by the Safavids. The Kurds were an oppressed minority in the Safavid Empire and had a long conflict with them. The Kurds, unlike Persians and Azerbaijanis, did not use firearms often and only used swords. [2] Many of the Kurdish population in the Safavid Empire that ok the borders of the Ottoman Empire was forcefully deported to other parts of Iran or killed. As the Ottomans advanced deeper into the Safavid regions, all Kurdish regions of Safavid Southeastern Anatolia were subjected to terrible plunder and deportation actions due to the fear of Kurdish cooperation with the Ottomans. These are began under Tahmasb I's reign. Between 1534 and 1535, Tahmasp began the systematic destruction of old Kurdish cities and their countryside using its scroasted land policy against its Ottoman arch rivals. Tahmasp ordered the destruction of crops and settlements of all sizes while withdrawing from the Ottoman army. [3] The Safavid and Kurdish conflicts continued until the Kurds under Idris Bitlisî managed to help the Ottomans capture Eastern Anatolia and northern Iraq and a small part of Western Iran. [4] [5]
In 1514, during the Battle of Chaldiran, the Kurds collaborated with the Ottoman invaders against the Safavids. The Ottomans won the battle and annexed the Kurdish-majority regions of Eastern Anatolia and Northern Iraq into their empire, and those regions were considered Ottoman Kurdistan. [6]
Kurdistan was cherished as a barrier protecting the Ottoman Empire from the Safavids, with Murad IV saying "Allah created Kurdistan to protect my empire like a strong barrier and an iron castle against the mischief of evil Iran. Kurdish commanders are loyal and true friends of the Ottoman state, and they have given various services that are commendable to the throne from the supreme times of our great ancestors, and they have made incalculable efforts; therefore, the effort to protect the empire requires them to be treated with respect and care." [7] [8] [9]
From the 16th to the 19th centuries, various small autonomous Kurdish emirates formed within Ottoman Kurdistan. Kurdish emirates were tribal and almost always had rivalries with emirates led by other tribes. Most Kurdish emirates were established and dissolved in the areas of the Diyarbekir Eyalet. However, there were other Kurdish emirates outside Diyarbakır. [10] [11] Among the emirates were Ardalan, Bahdinan, Baban, Bitlis, Bohtan, Bradost, Dimli, Hakkari, Hasankeyf, Kilis, Mukriyan, Pazuki, and Soran. The Ottomans allowed the Kurdish emirates to exist due to them not posing a threat to the Ottomans. In the 1820s, the Ottomans had put the Kurdish emirates, as well as other autonomous entities all across the empire, under direct control. [12]
In the Ottoman Empire, the word "Kurdistan" was always used to refer to the geographical area where the Kurds made up a majority, whether in or out of the Ottoman Empire's territory. In a letter sent by Suleiman the Magnificent to Henry II of France, Suleiman included the name of various lands under Ottoman control, and he listed Kurdistan as one of them. [13]
The Kurdistan Eyalet was formed in 1846 and became the first political entity to hold the name Kurdistan. [14]
In the 1882 edition of "Lugât-ı Tarihiyye ve Coğrafiyye", it stated that "Ottoman Kurdistan" (Ottoman Turkish : کردستان عثمانی, romanized: Kürdistan-ı Osmani) was the lands "between Armenia, Jazira, Iraq-i Arab, and Ajamistan. It is three hundred and eighty kilometers in length, four hundred kilometers in length, it includes high mountains and fertile valleys." [15] According to the same source, the Safavid Kurdistan was referred to as "located west of Azerbaijan, northwest of Iraq-i Ajam, north of Khuzistan, and east of Ottoman Kurdistan. Its length is three hundred and seventy kilometers wide, two hundred and twenty-five kilometers wide and four hundred thousand people, and its center is Kermanshah." [16]
In Kâmûsü'l-A'lâm (Ottoman Turkish : قاموس الاعلام), which is considered the first Turkish encyclopedic dictionary, publishes in 1896, Kurdistan is described as follows:
"Kurdistan extends from the shores of Lake Urmia and Lake Van to the sources of the Karkheh River and Diyala River and the flow bed of the Tigris, and its borders towards the northwest, following the flow bed of the Tigris, reaching the Karasu bed that forms the Euphrates and from there to the north, to the water separation line separating the Aras basin separates from the Euphrates and Tigris basin. In the Ottoman Empire, most of the Mosul Eyalet, that is, the places on the left of the Tigris, and the Van Eyalet and Bitlis and Diyarbekir vilayet and Elaziz and the Dersim vilayet are considered from Kurdistan. In Iran, the province known as Kurdistan and half of the province of Azerbaijan, that is, the southwestern part if it, is Kurdistan. Thus, Kurdistan is bordered by Azerbaijan to the northeast, Iraq-i Ajam to the east, Luristan and Iraq-i Arab to the south, Mesopotamia to the southwest and Anatolia to the northwest." [17]
It is also written in Evliya Çelebi's Travelogue as follows (17th century):
"Kurdistan is a big area. Seventy parts are considered it and they are distanced from Erzurum, Van, Hakkari, Cizre, İmadiye, Mosul, Şehrizor, Harir, Ardelan, Derne, and Derteng. If those six thousand Kurdish tribes were not a strong barrier in these high mountains between Iraq-i Arab and the Ottoman Empire, it would be very easy for the people of Persia to invade Anatolia." [18]
Although the word Kurdistan was used normally in the Ottoman period, after the Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and the creation of the modern Republic of Turkey by Kemal Atatürk and the Turkish National Movement, the word "Kurdistan" was removed from official use and became a taboo. [19] The use of the word "Kurdistan" in general became restricted. [20] [21] The Turkish nationalist policies led to the increase of Kurdish nationalism which led to various uprisings like the Sheikh Said rebellion, Dersim rebellion, Koçgiri rebellion, and later the Kurdish Hezbollah insurgency and the Kurdistan Workers' Party insurgency.
Before his hardcore nationalist turn, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan proposed a revival of the Kurdistan Eyalet in 2013, claiming that Southeastern Anatolia was always known as Kurdistan before the Republic of Turkey was established in 1923. [22] His remarks referring to the provincial administration of the Ottoman Empire was criticised by many who interpreted them as signs of Erdoğan’s desire to implement a federal system. As a challenge to the Turkish nationalists, Erdogan recalled that during the Ottoman era there were eyalets called Kurdistan and Lazistan. [23] He stated that autonomous self-governance within the state of Turkey should be possible and would even be a source of strength for Turkey. [24]
Kurdistan, or Greater Kurdistan, is a roughly defined geo-cultural region in West Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages, and national identity have historically been based. Geographically, Kurdistan roughly encompasses the northwestern Zagros and the eastern Taurus mountain ranges.
The Kurds are an Iranian ethnic group in the Middle East. They have historically inhabited the mountainous areas to the south of Lake Van and Lake Urmia, a geographical area collectively referred to as Kurdistan. Most Kurds speak Northern Kurdish Kurmanji Kurdish (Kurmanji) and Central Kurdish (Sorani).
Diyarbakır Province is a province and metropolitan municipality in southeastern Turkey. Its area is 15,101 km2, and its population is 1,804,880 (2022). The provincial capital is the city of Diyarbakır. The Kurdish majority province is part of Turkish Kurdistan.
Bedir Khan Beg was the last Kurdish Mîr and mütesellim of the Emirate of Botan.
Turkish Kurdistan or Northern Kurdistan is the southeastern part of Turkey where Kurds form the predominant ethnic group. The Kurdish Institute of Paris estimates that there are 20 million Kurds living in Turkey, the majority of them in the southeast.
The Principality of Bitlis, also known as the Bitlis Khanate, and the Bitlis Emirate (1182–1847), was a Persianate Kurdish principality centered at Bitlis. It originated from the Rojaki tribal confederation.
Cizre is a city in the Cizre District of Şırnak Province in Turkey. It is located on the river Tigris by the Syria–Turkey border and close to the Iraq–Turkey border. Cizre is in the historical region of Upper Mesopotamia and the cultural region of Turkish Kurdistan. The city had a population of 130,916 in 2021.
Bohtan was a medieval Kurdish principality in the Ottoman Empire centered on the town of Jazirah ibn 'Omar in southeastern Anatolia. The official religion of this principality was Yezidism in 14th century, although the rulers eventually converted to Islam, Bohtan constituted the third major Yezidi enclave after Shekhan and Sinjar until the 19th century.
Idris Bitlisi, sometimes spelled Idris Bidlisi, Idris-i Bitlisi, or Idris-i Bidlisi, and fully Mevlana Hakimeddin İdris Mevlana Hüsameddin Ali-ül Bitlisi, was an Ottoman Kurdish religious scholar and administrator.
The Eyalet of Diyarbekir was an eyalet of the Ottoman Empire. Its reported area in the 19th century was 20,332 square miles (52,660 km2), slightly larger than the original Abbasid province in Upper Mesopotamia. In 1846 it was succeeded by the Kurdistan Eyalet.
The Kurdish chiefdoms or principalities were several semi-independent entities which existed during the 16th to 19th centuries during the state of continuous warfare between the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Iran. The Kurdish principalities were almost always divided and entered into rivalries against each other. The demarcation of borders between the Safavid Shah Safi and the Ottoman caliph Sultan Murad IV in 1639 effectively divided Kurdistan between the two empires.
The nationalist movement among the Kurdish people first emerged in the late 19th century with an uprising in 1880 led by Sheik Ubeydullah. Many Kurds worked with other opponents of the Ottoman regime within the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP). A growth in ethnic consciousness at the start of the 20th century was spearheaded by the Society for the Elevation of Kurdistan. Some Kurdish nationalist groups agitated for secession, others for autonomy.
During World War I, several Kurdish rebellions took place within the Ottoman Empire. The rebellions were preceded by the emergence of early Kurdish nationalism and Kurdish revolts in Bitlis in 1907 and early 1914. The primary Kurdish war aim was the creation of an independent Kurdish state, a goal that Britain and Russia promised to fulfil in order to incite Kurdish resistance. Other reasons for resistance include a fear that they would suffer the same fate as the Armenians, the desire for more autonomy, and according to Ottoman sources, banditry.
The deportations of Kurds by Turkey refers to the population transfer of hundreds of thousands of Kurds from Turkish Kurdistan that was perpetuated by the Ottoman Empire and its successor Turkey in order to Turkify the region. Most of the Kurds who were deported were forced to leave their autochthonous lands, but the deportations also included the forced sedentarization of Kurdish tribes. Turkish historian İsmail Beşikçi emphasized the influence of fascism on these policies, and Italian historian Giulio Sappeli argued: "The ideals of Kemal Atatürk meant that war against the Kurds was always seen as an historical mission aimed at affirming the superiority of being Turkish." Occurring just after the Armenian genocide, many Kurds believed that they would share the same fate as the Armenians. Historians Dominik J. Schaller and Jürgen Zimmerer state that this event "not only serves as a reminder of the unsettling fact that victims could become perpetrators, but also that perpetrators [as some Kurds were during the Armenian Genocide] could turn victims".
Kurdistan Eyalet was an eyalet of the Ottoman Empire. It was the first time that the Ottoman Empire used the term "Kurdistan" to refer to an administrative unit rather than a geographical region. It was formed with the aim of establishing direct control over Kurdistan, rather than recognizing it as a political entity.
Mikdad Midhat Bedir Khan was a Kurdish nationalist and journalist who published the first ever Kurdish language newspaper, Kurdistan, in 1898. He was also a son of Bedir Khan Beg, the last Kurdish Mîr and mutesellim of the Emirate of Botan.
Secession in Turkey is a phenomenon caused by the desire of a number of minorities living in Turkey to secede and form independent national states.
Emirate of Çemişgezek was a hereditary and autonomous Kurdish emirate existing from the 13th century to 1663, centered around Çemişgezek including Mazgirt, Pertek and Sağman. The emirate was populated by both Muslims and non-Muslims, and moreover had a significant Kurdish Alevi population which flourished and expanded due to the secured self-governance under Ottoman rule, despite Ottoman antagonism towards the minority. Beside Kurds, the emirate had a Bozulus population. According to Sharafnama, the 12–13th-century rulers of the emirate were of Turkic origin.
Ottoman Kurds were ethnic Kurds who lived in the Ottoman Empire. At its peak, the Ottoman Empire ruled North Kurdistan, South Kurdistan, West Kurdistan, and a small part of East Kurdistan. These parts of Greater Kurdistan ruled by the Ottomans are collectively known as Ottoman Kurdistan.
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