Turkish Kurdistan

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Turkish Kurdistan (Turkish: Türkiye Kürdistanı or Kuzey Kürdistan ("Northern Kurdistan") or Kuzeybatı Kürdistan [4] ("Northwestern Kurdistan"), Kurdish: Kurdistana Tirkiyê [5] or Bakurê Kurdistanê [6] ("North of Kurdistan") or Kurdistana Bakûr [7] ("Northern Kurdistan") ) is an unofficial name for the southeastern part of Turkey densely inhabited by Kurds. The term has no administrative basis and is very open to controversy. Some sources claim that this region is the larger and northern part of the greater cultural and geographical area in the Middle East known as Kurdistan. The geographical subdivisions referred to in Turkey at a quasi-official level and among the larger public that covers the region treated in this article form parts of Güneydoğu Anadolu Bölgesi ("Southeastern Anatolia (Region)") and Doğu Anadolu Bölgesi ("Eastern Anatolia (Region)") [1]

The Encyclopaedia of Islam describes "Turkish Kurdistan" as covering at least 17 provinces of Turkey: Erzincan, Erzurum, Kars, Malatya, Tunceli, Elazığ, Bingöl, Muş, Ağrı, Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, Siirt, Bitlis, Van, Şanlıurfa aka Urfa, Mardin and Hakkâri, stressing at the same time that "the imprecise limits of the frontiers of Kurdistan hardly allow an exact appreciation of the area." [8]. (Since 1987, four new provinces - Şırnak, Batman, Iğdır and Ardahan - have been created inside the Turkish administrative system out of the territory of some of these provinces.)

The Republic of Turkey vigorously rejects the use of the term "Kurdistan" due to its alleged political implications; the Turkish government does not recognize the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan". These political implications are claimed to involve primarily the Democratic Society Party (DTP) in Turkey's current political scene. [2]

Contents

History of the Region

Map of Kurdish-inhabited areas of the Middle East
Map of Kurdish-inhabited areas of the Middle East

After the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, the region treated in this article came under the rule of the Oghuz Turkish beylik (principality) of Artuklu (circa 1100-1250 in effective terms, although a century longer nominally). It has then been disputed between the Ilkhanate and Ayyubid dynasties for a century after which it came under the Turkmen states of Kara Koyunlu (the Black Sheep) first and Ak Koyunlu (the White Sheep) next. Safavids influence rose for a brief period in the first quarter of the 16th century but following the ascendancy established by Selim I's victories against the Safavid state, Ottoman rule has been firmly established since the reign of the Sultan Süleyman I's campaign of Irakeyn (the two Iraqs, e.g. Arabian and Persian) in 1534, at the same time as Mosul, Baghdad and Basra. The Sunnite Kurdish and Turkmen clans in these regions sided with the Ottomans against the perceived threat of the Shiite Safavids.

The Ottoman eyalet of Diyarbakır included the geography corresponding to Turkey's southeastern provinces today, covering a rectangular area between the Lake Urmia to Palu and from the southern shores of Lake Van to Cizre and the beginnings of the Syrian desert. Within this vilayet, about half of the sanjaks (districts) were typical Ottoman sub-provinces, while the other approximate half, called sanjaks of Ekrad ("of Kurds"), had varying degrees of autonomy frequently modified over time in line with the nature of the relations with the region's clans. (It should be noted that these borders saw some changes over time, particularly in the framework of the stabilization of the frontier with Iran.)

At various times during their rule, the Ottoman sultans identified Kurdistan as a distinct ethno-political area within their realm. In a firman by Suleiman the Magnificent dated 1 August 1553, his area of sovereignty is specified as covering "the Mediterranean and the Black Sea and Rumelia and Anatolia, Damascus and Aleppo and Karaman and the Rum and the Vilayet of Zulkadriyye (Maraş) and Diyarbekir and Kurdistan and Azerbaijan and Van and Budapest and Timişoara" [9]. It is noteworthy to state that Kurdistan was considered as distinct from the regions of Diyarbekir and Van in these edicts.

In Sherefname (1597), Sherefxan Bidlisi drew the borders (impossible geographically unless an abstraction) of Kurdistan as follows: "...starts with a line from the coasts of Hormuz Sea and on a straight line, reaches to the end of Malatya and Maraş vilayet. Thus, Iraq-al Ajam, Fars, Azerbaijan, Lesser Armenia, and Greater Armenia falls to the north of this line, Mosul and Diyarbekir to the south."[3] Diyarbekir is excluded as well as Western Armenia. According to the famous Turkish traveller, Evliya Çelebi, the regions of Erzurum, Van, Hakkari, Diyarbakır and Cizre would have formed parts of Kurdistan in the 17th century [10]. Once he mentions a region as "Kürdistan ve Türkmenistan ve sengistan", which perhaps is best translated as "a land of Kurds and Turcomans and rocks", and describes the region as "not as wide as it is long", all at the same time emphasizing the importance of the region for the Ottoman Empire as a protective buffer. [11]

Kurdish Emirates of the Region

A tax register (or defter) dating back to 1527, mentions an area called vilayet-i Kurdistan, which included 7 major and 11 minor emirates (or principalities). The document refers to Kurdish emirates as eyalet(state), an indication of the autonomy enjoyed by these principalities. In a ferman (imperial decree) issued by Suleiman I, around 1533, he outlines the rules of inheritance and succession among Kurdistan beys i.e. Kurdish nobility. Hereditary succession was granted to Kurdish emirates loyal to the Ottomans, and Kurdish princes were granted autonomy within the Empire. The degree of autonomy of these emirates varied greatly and depended on their geo-political significance. The weak Kurdish tribes were forced to join stronger ones or become a part of Ottoman sancaks(or sanjak). However the powerful and less accessible tribes, particularly those close to the Iranian border, enjoyed high degrees of autonomy.

According to a kanunname (book of law) mentioned by Evliya Çelebi, there were two adiministrative units different than regular sanjaks: 1) Kurdish sancaks (Ekrad Beyliği), charcterized by hereditary rule of the Kurdish nobility and 2) Kurdish governments (hükümet). The Kurdish sanjaks like ordinary sanjaks, had some military obligations and had to pay some taxes. On the other hand, the Kurdish hükümet neither pay taxes nor provided troops for the Ottoman Army. The Ottomans preferred not to interfere in their succession and internal affairs. As Evliya Çelebi has reported, by the mid-17th century the autonomy of Kurdish emirates had diminished. At his time, out of 19 sancaks of Diyarbakır, 12 were regular Ottoman sanjaks, and the remaining were referred to as Kurdish sanjaks. Kurdish sanjaks were reported as Sagman, Kulp, Mihraniye, Tercil, Atak, Pertek, Çapakçur and Çermik. He also reported the Kurdish states or hükümets as Cezire, Egil, Genç, Palu and Hazo. In the late 18th and early 19th century, with the decline of Ottoman Empire, the Kurdish principalities became practically independent[4].

Modern History

19th century

Kurdistan as an administrative entity had a brief and shaky existence of 17 years between 13 December 1847 (following Bedirhan Bey's revolt) and 1864, under the initiative of Koca Mustafa Reşit Pasha during the Tanzimat period (1839-1876) of the Ottoman Empire. The capital of the province was, at first, Ahlat, and covered Diyarbekir, Muş, Van, Hakkari, Cizre, Botan and Mardin. In the following years, the capital was transferred several times, first from Ahlat to Van, then to Muş and finally to Diyarbakır. Its area was reduced in 1856 and the province of Kurdistan within the Ottoman Empire was abolished in 1864. Instead, the former provinces of Diyarbekir and Van have been re-constituted [5] Around 1880, Shaikh Ubaidullah led a revolt aiming at bringing the areas between Lakes Van and Urmia under his own rule, however Ottoman and Qajar forces succeeded in defeating the revolt [6].

World War I and Treaties of Sèvres and Lausanne

The breakup of the Empire following World War I and the emergence of the modern Turkish state led to attempts on the part of the Kurds to secure their own nation state. There was no general agreement among Kurds on what its borders should be, due to the disparity between the areas of Kurdish settlement and the political and administrative boundaries of the region. [7]

The outlines of a "Turkish Kurdistan" as an entity were proposed in 1919 by Şerif Pasha, who represented the Society for the Ascension of Kurdistan (Kürdistan Teali Cemiyeti) at the Paris Peace Conference. He defined the region's boundaries as follows:

"The frontiers of Turkish Kurdistan, from an ethnographical point of view, begin in the north at Ziven, on the Caucasian frontier, and continue westwards to Erzurum, Erzincan, Kemah, Arapgir, Besni and Divick (Divrik?) ; in the south they follow the line from Harran, the Sinjihar Hills, Tel Asfar, Erbil, Süleymaniye, Akk-el-man, Sinne; in the east, Ravandiz, Başkale, Vezirkale, that is to say the frontier of Persia as far as Mount Ararat."[8]

This caused controversy among other Kurdish nationalists, as it excluded the Van region (possibly as a sop to Armenian claims to that region). Emin Ali Bedirhan proposed an alternative map which included Van and an outlet to the sea via Turkey's present Hatay Province. [9] Amid a joint declaration by Kurdish and Armenian delegations, Kurdish claims on Erzurum vilayet and Sassoun (Sason) were dropped but arguments for sovereignty over Ağrı and Muş remained.[10]

Kurdistan and Ottoman Empire in 1801 in a modern Cambridge University map. For the perception of the period, where Kurdistan stretches between Erbil and Hemedan, see the George Long map of 1831 [3]
Kurdistan and Ottoman Empire in 1801 in a modern Cambridge University map. For the perception of the period, where Kurdistan stretches between Erbil and Hemedan, see the George Long map of 1831 [3]

Neither of these proposals was endorsed in the final territorial dispensation put forward in the abortive 1920 Treaty of Sèvres, which outlined a truncated Kurdistan located almost entirely on what is now Turkish territory (leaving out the Kurds of Iran and Iraq, then under British control, and Syria, under French control). However, the treaty was never implemented. Following Turkey's defeat of Greece in the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922), the proposed "Turkish Kurdistan" was fully recognized as an integral part of Turkey under the terms of the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. The current border with Iraq was agreed in July 1926.

In 1922, an investigation was initiated for Nihad Pasha, the commander of El-Cezire front, by Adliye Encümeni (Council of Justice) of Grand National Assembly of Turkey with allegations of fraud. During a confidential convention on the issue on 22nd July, a letter of introductions by the Cabinet of Ministers and signed by Mustafa Kemal Pasha was read. The text was referring to the region as "Kurdistan" three times and providing Nihad Pasha with full authorities to support the local Kurdish administrations (idare-i mahallîyeye dair teşkilâtlar) as per the principle of self-determination (Milletlerin kendi mukadderatlarını bizzat idare etme hakkı), in order to gradually establish a local government in the regions inhabited by Kurds (Kürtlerle meskûn menatık). [11]

In 1931, Iraqi Kurdish statesman Mihemed Emîn Zekî, while serving as the Minister of Economy in the first Nuri as-Said government, drew the boundaries of Turkish Kurdistan as: "With mountains of Ararat and the Georgian border (including the region of Kars, where Kurds and Georgians live side by side) to the north, Iranian border to the east, Iraqi border to the south, and to the west, a line drawn from the west of Sivas to İskenderun. These boundaries are also in accord with those drawn by the Ottomans." [12] In 1932, Garo Sassouni, formerly a prominent figure of Dashnak Armenia, defined the borders of "Kurdistan proper" (excluding whole territory of Wilsonian Armenia) as: "...with a line from the south of Erzincan to Kharput, incorporating Dersim, Çarsancak, and Malatya, including the mountains of Cebel-i Bereket and reaching the Syrian border", also adding, "these are the broadest boundaries of Kurdistan that can be claimed by Kurds."[13]

During 1920s and 1930s, several large scale Kurdish revolts took place in this region. The most important ones were 1) Saikh Said Rebellion in 1925, 2) Ararat Revolt in 1930 and 3) Dersim Revolt in 1938 (see Kurds in Turkey). Following these rebellions, the area of Turkish Kurdistan was put under martial law and a large number of the Kurds were displaced. Government also encouraged resettlement of Kosovar Albanians and Assyrians in the region to change the population makeup. These events and measures led to a long-lasting mutual distrust between Ankara and the Kurds [14].

Recent references made to the term

In 1990s, the name Kürteli was proposed by Turkish leftist writers such as Muzaffer Erdost and Yalçın Küçük. An authentic usage (however, with "Kurdistan") is; Kürdistan'ın dilberi/Sürmelidir gözleri/Yahşi yaman sözleri/Ne hoş kürdeli eli. [15]

On 1 April 2006, an April Fools Joke by a Kurdish web site and radio station based in the Netherlands [12] led to some sources making the following announcement; "World famous pop singer Madonna will travel on 24 April to the Kurdish city Amed, known among Kurds as the capital of Kurdistan. She will give a concert in the football stadium of Amed. Madonna won’t ask money and the Kurdish public can see her without paying. The costs will be paid by the municipality of Amed. Osman Baydemir, the mayor of the Kurdish town said he has met her week ago when he visited America. There they talked about Amed and the Kurdish people. Together they decided that Madonna would perform in Amed. (...) Madonna want to show her support for the Kurdish people with this concert. Due to high economic underdevelopment, lack of resources, unemployment and poverty, tourists, western artists and businessmen normally visit Turkish cities like Ankara and İstanbul or other tourist resorts in West-Turkey. This is the first time that an American superstar will visit Northern-Kurdistan (Southeast-Turkey)" [13]. Experienced AP correspondent Barry Schweid took the event and the place for real and asked Secretary of State spokesman Sean McCormack a question on the appropriateness of the concert in the context of the "U.S. public announcement advising the U.S. citizens not to visit this (inaudible) area of Southeast of Turkey by 16 May 2006." [14]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Another official term formerly used, mainly in the context of obligatory service by civil servants, doctors etc. was Şark ("East"; often used in the term Şark hizmeti (Eastern Turkey service)), which is almost obsolete today.
  2. ^ [1] The votes obtained by the DTP in the local elections of 1999 and 2004 and the general elections of 2002 in the provinces concerned, as presented briefly and on a comparative basis with other parties, were as follows:
  3. ^ Şeref Han, Şerefname p. 20, Istanbul, 1990
  4. ^ Hakan Ozoglu, State-Tribe Relations: Kurdish Tribalism in the 16th- and 17th- Century Ottoman Empire, pp.15,18,19,20,21,22,26, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 1996
  5. ^ [2]
  6. ^ C. Dahlman, The Political Geography of Kurdistan, Eurasian Geography and Economics, Vol. 43, No.4, 2002, p.278
  7. ^ Hakan Özoğlu, Kurdish Notables and the Ottoman State: Evolving Identities, Competing Loyalties, and Shifting Boundaries p. 38. SUNY Press, 2004
  8. ^ Şerif Pasha, Memorandum on the Claims of the Kurd People, 1919
  9. ^ Hakan Özoğlu,ibid p. 40
  10. ^ M. Kalman, Batı Ermenistan ve Jenosid p. 185, Istanbul, 1994
  11. ^ TBMM Gizli Celse Zabıtları Vol. 3 p. 551, Ankara, 1985
  12. ^ Mehmet Emin Zeki, Kürdistan Tarihi p. 20, Ankara, 1992
  13. ^ Garo Sasuni, Kürt Ulusal Hareketleri ve 15. Yüzyıldan Günümüze Kürt-Ermeni İlişkileri p. 331, Istanbul, 1992
  14. ^ C. Dahlman, The Political Geography of Kurdistan, Eurasian Geography and Economics, Vol.43, No.4, 2002, p.279
  15. ^ Ignácz Kúnos, Türk Halk Türküleri p. 69, Ankara, 1998

See also

Modern Kurdish governments

External links

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