Faqi Tayran

Faqi Tayran (or Feqiyê Teyran) (1590–1660) is considered one of the great classic Kurdish poets and writers. His real name was Mir Mihemed. He was born in a village called Miks in the Hakkari region of the Ottoman Empire (present-day south-eastern Turkey). In his youth, he went to Cizre (Botan) region (in present-day Şırnak province) to study under the well-known Kurdish poet, Malaye Jaziri.

Works

Among Faqi Tayran's literary works are Wesfê şêxê senhanî (In Praise of Sheik San'an), Qewlê Hespê Reş (The Tale of the Black Horse) and Ber Sîs. He was greatly influenced by Kurdish folklore tales. He also wrote several poems. The most famous among them are the pastoral poems he wrote while corresponding with Malaye Jaziri. Faqi Tayran is also credited with contributing the earliest literary account of the Battle of Dimdim in 1609-1610 between the Kurds and the Safavid Empire.

In Kurdish oral traditions (Bayt), literary works, and histories, this battle is seen as a struggle of the Kurdish people against foreign domination. In fact, Bayt dimdim is considered a national epic second only to Mem û Zîn (Mam and Zin) by Ahmad Khani. It is known in both the Kurmanji and Sorani dialects of Kurdish and in Armenian.

The famous Kurdish poet Ahmad Khani expressed his own ideal role as a poet and a thinker in this way:

"Then I would hoist the flag of rhymed speech to the sky.

I would resurrect Malaye Jaziri,

bring Ali Hariri to life

and give Faqi Tayran such joy

that it would fill him with admiration for ever."

This is considered to be the first reference to Kurdish language literature by a Kurd or a non-Kurd.

References

• Life and Works of Faqi Tayran (in Kurdish)
• Kurdish Classic Literature
• Shakely, Farhad, Classic and Modern Kurdish Poetry, University of Uppsala, Sweden
• Battle of DimDim in Encyclopaedia Iranica