![]() A drawing of a Kurdish prince in the Ottoman Empire in an Italian book called Giro Mondo | |
Total population | |
---|---|
Over 500,000 families [1] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
All around Ottoman Kurdistan | |
Languages | |
Native: Kurdish (Kurmanji, Sorani, and others) Secondary: Ottoman Turkish Liturgical: Quranic Arabic | |
Religion | |
Predominantly: Shafi'i school of Sunni Islam Minority: Twelver Shia, Alevism, Hanafism | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Modern Kurds and other Iranian peoples |
Ottoman Kurds were ethnic Kurds who lived in the Ottoman Empire. At its peak, the Ottoman Empire ruled Turkish Kurdistan, Iraqi Kurdistan, Syrian Kurdistan, and a small part of Iranian Kurdistan.
The Ottomans first made contact with Kurds during their conflict with the Safavids in 1514, under the rule of Selim I. Their first interactions were positive. The Kurds, led by Idris Bitlisi, sided with the Ottoman invaders against the Safavids during the Battle of Chaldiran. The Kurdish forces played a big role in taking Diyarbakır and other parts of Eastern Anatolia from the Safavids. [2] In the Ottoman Empire, Kurds were known as the "Black Nation" while Turkomans were known as the "Grey Nation". [3] After the Ottomans gained control of Eastern Anatolia, Sultan Selim I rewarded the Kurds with tax and military exemptions when needed, as well as semi-autonomous status, which was protected and recognized by the Ottomans. The autonomous system was ruled by Kurdish tribes, and passed down from father to son. The autonomous system lasted from 1514 until the mid-1800s. The mid-1800s were the time when Ottoman and Kurdish relations began to deteriorate. [4] [5] However, until the 1900s, the majority of Kurds remained loyal to the Ottoman Empire. [6] It was around 1829–1830, after the 1828-1829 war with the Russians, when the Ottoman Empire's relations with its Kurdish population turned tense. Mahmud II's reforms were so strong they paved way for the ideology of the Turkish National Movement. [7] Mahmud II further centralised the Ottoman Empire, which weakened the autonomous Kurdish rule and interfered with the Kurdish tribal system. [8] It was this time, Kurdish tribes resisted the reforms, which would escalate to the point that Mahmud II ordered Reşid Mehmed Pasha, the governor of Sivas district, to defeat the resistance. Resid Mehmed Pasha's army was much more modern than the Kurdish tribes, who still used Janissary equipment and methods. The rebellions were crushed. Later in 1834, the Ottomans feared a cooperation between the Soran Emirate and Muhammad Ali Pasha, leading them to dispatch an army to Soran in 1834, which was repelled by Mir Kor. Kurdish notables from Bradost, Akre and Amedi later complained to Reşid Mehmed Pasha of the Ottoman government that they were being oppressed by Mir Kor. Two years later, Mir Kor was ousted by the Ottomans. [9]
After the Tanzimat, which were the strongest Ottoman reforms, Bedir Khan Beg, a former Ottoman ally who had sided with the Ottomans during the Battle of Nezib, later rebelled to restore his autonomy and to fight against the increasing demand of centralization. He would declare independence in 1847. [10] Bedir Khan Beg harshly Islamized and persecuted Yazidis and Assyrians. The increasing persecution of Christians led to European Powers pressuring the Ottomans to stop Bedir Khan Beg. In 1847, the 12,000 Ottoman troops led by Omar Pasha invaded Bohtan. The Yazidis, seeking revenge, allied with the Ottomans against Bedir Khan Beg, who was initially winning the conflict but would lose after one of his top commanders deserted to the Ottoman Empire. [11] [12] [13] Bedir Khan Beg surrendered on 4 July 1847 in Eruh. [14]
The Kurdistan Eyalet was a province in the Ottoman Empire which lasted about 21 years, between 1846 and 1867. [15]
After the defeat of Bedir Khan Beg, the majority of Ottoman Kurdish lands were under control of the central government. In 1876, Abdul Hamid II would rise to power. Under Abdulhamid II, Ottoman and Kurdish relations became better for a time. Abdulhamid II took more of a Pan-Islamist thinking rather than an Ottomanist one. This would allow many Sheikhs to rise in Kurdistan, most notably Sheikh Ubeydullah, who was dealing with a conflict with Qajar Iran at the time. Sheikh Ubeydullah sent a small amount of his soldiers to help the Ottoman Army in the 1877-1878 Ottoman-Russian War. In summer 1879, rumours spread that Sheikh Ubeydullah had promised some Kurdish tribal chiefs that he would "sweep all the Christians from the land". [16] A year later, in 1880, it was reported that Sheikh Ubeydullah was told that "that the Armenians are going to have an independent state in Van, and that the Nestorians (Assyrians) are going to hoist the British flag and declare themselves British subjects". Sheikh Ubeydullah replied by saying that he would never permit that even if he had to "arm the women". [17] In a letter to Sultan Abdülhamid II, Sheikh Ubeydullah declared that the Muslims would not allow the formation of an "Armenian state" and said that the power of the Caliph had been severely worsened by the Tanizmat. [18] According to Sheikh Ubeydullah, the Kurds in the Ottoman Empire numbered over 500,000 families. [1] The aftermath of the war with Russians took a massive toll on the Ottoman Empire, specifically the Eastern regions, where the Kurds, as well as some Turkmens lived. As a result of the famine, many Kurds turned to Sheikh Ubeydullah, a wealthy Islamic alim, for help. He prepared to revolt against the Ottomans due to their bad response for fighting the famine. Sheikh Ubeydullah eventually revolted and fought against the Russian Empire, Ottomans, and Qajar Iran at the same time. He lost to the Ottomans, and was taken to Istanbul but later fled back to his hometown of Şemdinli to organize another revolt, but was once again captured and was exiled to Hejaz, where he lived until his death. [19]
Abdulhamid II tried to keep a pro-Kurdish policy. He was loved by Kurds to the point that he was nicknamed "Bavê Kurdan", meaning "father of the Kurds". [20] [21] Abdulhamid II formed the Hamidiye cavalry in 1890. Kurds would become the majority of the soldiers in the Hamidiye cavalry. [22] The Hamidiye cavalry harassed Armenians living in the eastern Ottoman Empire and massacred them during the Hamidian massacres. [23] The Hamidiye cavalry also massacred Assyrian people during the Diyarbakır massacres in 1895. [24]
Around 1908, Turkish nationalism, which was secular, [25] made its way to the Ottoman Empire and challenged the Pan-Islamist policies of Abdulhamid II. [26] The July 1908 Young Turk Revolution by the nationalist Young Turks and the CUP forced Abdulhamid II to restore the Ottoman Parliament and Ottoman Constitution, which ended the absolute rule of Abdulhamid II over the fracturing Ottoman Empire. [27] Abdulhamid II's pro-Kurdish policy was part of his Pan-Islamist agenda. Pan-Islamism aims to unite all Muslims, which includes Kurds, who are mostly Sunni Muslims. Abdulhamid II was the last Ottoman Sultan to rule with absolute power, and his reign ended on 27 April 1909. [28]
In 1915, some Kurdish tribes helped the CUP during the Armenian genocide. [29] It was around this time when Kurds became divided, with some being against the CUP's actions and some supporting it. [30]
In February 1915, Simko Shikak organized a massacre of Armenians and Assyrians in Haftevan, which the Ottoman Army helped him with. Around 700–800 Armenians and Assyrians were killed. [31]
In 1916, 3 years after the 1913 Ottoman coup d'état, the deportations of Kurds began. Talaat Pasha, referring to the deportations, stated: "to preclude that the Kurdish refugees continue their tribal life and their nationality wherever they have been deported, the chieftains need to be separated from the common people by all means, and all influential personalities and leaders need to be sent separately to the provinces of Konya and Kastamonu, and to the districts of Niğde and Kayseri. The sick, the elderly, lonely and poor women and children who are unable to travel will be settled and supported in Maden town and Ergani and Behremaz counties, to be dispersed in Turkish villages and among Turks." [32]
Kurds, being a nomadic people, were forcefully sedentarized and made to settle after these deportations. Kurds from Diyarbakir were sent to other places while migrants from the Balkans were settled there the government. [33] Kurds needed permission to return to Diyarbakir. [34]
Also in 1916, the Russian Empire, with help from Assyrians and Armenians, massacred around 8,000 Kurds in Rawandiz. [35]
In 1916, around 300,000 Kurds from Bitlis, Erzurum, Palu and Muş were sent to Konya and Gaziantep during the winter and most of them died in a famine. [36]
Even after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and the creation of Turkey, the deportations continued under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. [37]
Also in 1916, the Arab Revolt took place, which was a big part in the fall of the Ottomans. [38]
After the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and the division of the former Ottoman Empire by European Powers, the Kurds became divided among the newly created Turkey, French Syria and British Iraq. The Kingdom of Kurdistan, a small kingdom led by Mahmud Barzanji was against the British-drawn borders. The Kingdom of Kurdistan lasted from 1921 to 1925, when it was absorbed into the rest of British Iraq. [39] [40]
Bedir Khan Beg was the last Kurdish Mîr and mütesellim of the Emirate of Botan.
Hakkâri Province, is a province in the southeast of Turkey. The administrative centre is the city of Hakkâri. Its area is 7,095 km2, and its population is 287,625 (2023). The current Governor is Ali Çelik. The province encompasses 8 municipalities, 140 villages and 313 hamlets.
Sheikh Said of Piran was a Kurdish sheikh, the main leader of the Sheikh Said rebellion and a sheikh of the Naqshbandi order and the Piran tribe of Turkey.
Armenian–Kurdish relations covers the historical relations between the Kurds and the Armenians.
Mehmed Şerif Pasha, a founding member of Kurd Society for Cooperation and Progress and representative of the Society for the Elevation of Kurdistan to the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920). He was a leading Kurdish nationalist.
The Sheikh Said rebellion was a Kurdish nationalist rebellion in Turkish Kurdistan in 1925 led by Sheikh Said and with support of the Azadî against the newly-founded Turkish Republic. The rebellion was mostly led by Zaza speakers, but also gained support among some of the neighboring Kurmanji-speaking Kurds in the region.
Society for the Rise of Kurdistan also known as the Society for the Advancement of Kurdistan (SAK), was secretly established in Constantinople on 6 November 1917 and officially announced organization formed on the 17 December 1918. It was headquartered in Istanbul, with the aim of creating an independent Kurdish state in eastern Turkey. The Society based its statements for an independent or autonomous Kurdistan on the Treaty of Sèvres and the Fourteen Points stipulated by Woodrow Wilson. The society formed many local dependencies in the eastern provinces of Turkey.
The Hamidiye regiments were well-armed, irregular, mainly Sunni Kurdish but also Turkish, Circassian, Turkmen, Yörük, and Arab cavalry formations that operated in the south eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire. Established by and named after Sultan Abdul Hamid II in 1891, they were intended to be modeled after the Cossacks and were supposedly tasked to patrol the Russo-Ottoman frontier. However, the Hamidiye were more often used by the Ottoman authorities to harass and assault Armenians living in Eastern Provinces of the Ottoman Empire.
Sheikh Ubeydullah also known as Sayyid Ubeydullah, was the leader of the first modern Kurdish nationalist struggle. Ubeydullah demanded recognition from Ottoman Empire and Qajar dynasty authorities for an independent Kurdish state, or Kurdistan, which he would govern without interference from Ottoman or Qajar authorities.
Massacres of Diyarbakır were massacres that took place in the Diyarbekir Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire between the years of 1894 and 1896 by ethnic Kurds and Turks. The events were part of the Hamidian massacres and targeted the vilayet's Christian population – mostly Armenians and Assyrians.
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 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.
Emin Ali Bedir Khan was a founding member of the Kurd Society for Cooperation and Progress and vice president of the Society for the Elevation of Kurdistan and Kurdish politician.
Abdulkadir Ubeydullah was a President of the Kurdish Society for Cooperation and Progress (KTTC) and later the Society for the Rise of Kurdistan. He was a leading Kurdish intellectual and a once also a member of the Senate of the Ottoman Empire. He also took part in the uprising of Sheik Ubeydullah led by his father and was accused of having taken part in the Sheikh Said rebellion.
Miralay Halid Beg Cibran was a Kurdish soldier in the Ottoman Army and chairman of the Azadî organization.
The persecution of Yazidis has been ongoing since at least the 12th century. Yazidis are an endogamous and mostly Kurmanji-speaking minority, indigenous to Kurdistan. The Yazidi religion is regarded as "devil-worship" by Muslims and Islamists. Yazidis have been persecuted by the surrounding Muslims since the medieval ages, most notably by Safavids, Ottomans, neighbouring Muslim Arab and Kurdish tribes and principalities. After the 2014 Sinjar massacre of thousands of Yazidis by ISIL, which started the ethnic, cultural, and religious genocide of the Yazidis in Iraq, Yazidis still face discrimination from the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government.
Mevlanzade Rifat Bey, was an Ottoman Kurdish journalist and poet.
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.