Herki

Herki is the second largest tribe in Kurdistan after Jaff. The largest part of this tribe live in Iraqi Kurdistan, and a significant number live in Iranian Kurdistan and also some large communities in Turkish Kurdistan.

Sub-tribes

The Herkis are divided in three sub-tribes: Menda, Sida and Serhati. These three sub-tribes contain a very large number of families. The Mendas are Stuni (which are both Mendas and Sidas), Male Keje, Mamshekha, Avdia, Male Zahire, Mam Brahima, Male Sheme, Male Melaye, Mam Hacika, Male Shine, Male Kore Reshe, Male Suvare (which are both Mendas and Sidas), Bab Ezdini (which are both Mendas and Serhatis) and many more. The Sidas are Mamusa, Mirza Shekha, Male Melheme, Liasia, Ki, Male Suvare, Peseagha, Misamdini, Khodedai, and Male Khane. The Serhatis are Aghuba, Navi, Male Be, Male Ise and many more. The legend says Menda, Sida and Serhati are the names of the three brother which are the ancestors of the Herkis. Their father's name was Babeker. The Herkis draw back their ancestry to the Shamzina/Herkobedav located in today's Turkish Kurdistan. The Herki dialect belongs to the Kurmanji dialect which is spoken by most Kurds.

Lifestyle

The Herkis lived mostly a nomadic life with their herds; however, this changed a lot after 1920 and the Treaty of Sèvres. The new hand-drawn borders of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey hindered Kurdish tribes to continue their way of life in harmony with nature in many ways. The Turkish Gendarmerie was famous for its brutality against nomads and their herds. This led to many Kurdish tribes besides the Herkis leaving their nomadic lifestyle and settled in villages which they had before only used during the winter. The nomadic and free lifestyle they had, was taken from them. The new borders soon had a major impact on every aspect of the Kurdish life. For Herkis and many other Kurds that meant that areas which had belonged to them and their herds were taken from them, and they could not move freely like their forefathers had done for a century. They had to decide in which country to settle, which is the reason why Herkis and many other Kurdish tribes can be found dispersed in Iran, Iraq and Turkey, but still be of the same tribe.

Today, the Herkis live in Iranian Kurdistan around and in Urmia city, mainly in Mergever, Tergever, Dasht, Dashtabel, Roza and Berandez, in Iraqi Kurdistan from Mosul to Hewler, the capital of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region and the seat of the Kurdistan Regional Government, and in Turkish Kurdistan around Lake Van and in the Semdinan and Ağrı areas.

Isabella Bird on the Herkis

Isabella Bird (Mrs. Bishop) wrote about the Herkis in the context of her visit to the Nestorian Christian villages in Hakkari, Gawar and surroundings:

The Gawar Christians are industrious and inoffensive, and have no higher aspiration than to be let alone, but they are the victims of a Kurdish rapacity which leaves them little more than necessary food. Their villages usually belong to Kurdish Aghas who take from them double the lawful taxes and tithes. The Herkis sweep over the plain in their autumn migration " like a locust cloud", carrying off the possessions of the miserable people, spoiling their granaries and driving off' their flocks. The Kurds of the neighbouring slopes and mountains rob them by violence at night, and in the day by exactions made under threat of death. The latter mode of robbery is called "demand." The servants of a Kurdish Bey enter and ask for some jars of oil or roghan, a Kashmir shawl, women's ornaments, a jewelled dagger, or a good foal, under certain threats, or they show the owner a bullet in the palm of the hand, intimating that a bullet through his head will be his fate if he refuses to give up his property or informs any one of the demand.^[1]

References

1. ↑ Isabella Lucy Bird (1891). Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan: including a summer in the Upper Karun region and a visit to the Nestorian Rayahs; with portrait, maps and illustrations. p. 278.