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129-680: The province is a stronghold for Kurdish nationalism and a hotspot in the Kurdish–Turkish conflict . Hakkâri province is divided into five districts (capital district in bold ): Hakkari Province is located in Turkish Kurdistan and has an overwhelmingly Kurdish population. The province is tribal and most of the Kurds adhere to the Shafiʽi school with the Naqshbandi order having

258-587: A divide and rule strategy. The repression of Kurdish civic rights began with the independence of the Syrian Arab Republic in 1946. It escalated with the short-lived unification of Syria and Egypt as the United Arab Republic in 1958, partly in response to more vocal Kurdish demands for democracy, recognition as an ethnic group, and complaints that the state police and military academies were closed to Kurds. 120,000 Kurds (40% of

387-633: A hatt-i sharif , or imperial edict, called the Edict of Gülhane . The edict gave guarantees to ensure the Ottoman subjects perfect security for their lives, honour, and property. This was followed by several statutes enacting its policies. In the edict the Sultan stated that he wished "to bring the benefits of a good administration to the provinces of the Ottoman Empire through new institutions". Among

516-624: A military operation in which the Iraqi government retook control of Kirkuk and surrounding areas, and forced the KRG to annul the referendum. The Kurds represent a minority people of Iraq, with a language, culture and identity distinct and separate from the Arab majority. For much of the past century those traditions have been marginalised and the interests of the Kurds sidelined. In the Saddam years there

645-578: A nation and espouses the creation of an independent Kurdistan from Iran , Iraq , Syria , and Turkey . Early Kurdish nationalism had its roots in the Ottoman Empire , within which Kurds were a significant ethnic group. With the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire , its Kurdish-majority territories were divided between the newly formed states of Turkey, Iraq, and Syria, making Kurds a significant ethnic minority in each state. Kurdish nationalist movements have long been suppressed by Turkey and in

774-560: A 'tense coexistence' due to the ability to coexist despite the recurring disputes over land and life stock, and robbery of each other and of travelers. Assyrian resentment in the region was more directed towards the Ottomans than the Kurds, due to the Ottoman hostility towards the Christian minority, viewing them as a disloyal non-Muslim component. Hakkari Sanjak, part of Van vilayet , had a population of 5,896 in 1881-1882 of which 81.9%

903-414: A Kurdish state would be formed was the revolt against the newly emerged Turkish Republic was Skeikh Ubeydullah but this was short lived, because the revolt was never strategic nor unified in a Kurdistan sense. The Kurdish nationalist struggle first emerged in the late 19th century when a unified movement demanded the establishment of a Kurdish state. Revolts occurred sporadically, but only decades after

1032-499: A cohesive and inclusive nationalist movement that acknowledges the intersectionality of struggles and recognizes the need for an equitable society. Women have actively engaged in the nationalist struggle, demanding not only Kurdish rights but also challenging the patriarchal structures within their own communities. Kurdish women have consistently advocated for gender equality, emphasizing the need to address both national and gender-based oppressions simultaneously. Their activism has reshaped

1161-552: A colonial-style scheme that ran counter to U.S. ideals and taxpayer wishes. According to Tejirian, "the internationalism of the 1910s, which followed the first acquisitions of the 'American empire' after the Spanish-American War and led to U.S. entry into World War I, was followed by the isolationism of the 1920s, emphasized most dramatically by U.S. refusal to join the League of Nations." Lack of international sponsorship

1290-689: A distinct ethnicity, suggesting that the Kurds were a European race (compared to the Asiatic Turks) based on physical characteristics and on the Kurdish language (which forms part of the Indo-European language-group). While these researchers had ulterior political motives (to sow dissent in the Ottoman Empire) their findings were embraced and still accepted today by many. Under the millet system , Kurds' primary form of identification

1419-531: A foreign influence on the world of Islam. That perception complicated reformist efforts made by the state. During the Tanzimat period, the government's series of constitutional reforms led to a fairly modern conscripted army , banking system reforms, the replacement of religious law with secular law and guilds with modern factories. Some scholars argue that from the Muslim population's traditional Islamic view,

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1548-433: A lasting peace reinforced by an international framework and fraternity of states. The principle of self- determination from Point Twelve of Wilson's Fourteen Points instilled false confidence in minority populations of the Ottoman Empire that they would soon be able to choose their own paths as independent nation-states. The British found the Ottoman theater of the war much more difficult than they had imagined. At war's end,

1677-520: A low-level guerrilla warfare against the ethnic secessionist Kurdish guerrilla group Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK) since 2004. PJAK is closely affiliated with the Kurdish militant group Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) operating against Turkey . Kurdish women have been at the forefront of resistance, participating in armed struggles, grassroots organizing, and civil society initiatives. Their contributions have been instrumental in building

1806-467: A pamphlet outlining the justification for Kurdistan's territories. He began with historical claims to the lands, noting many academic works on the geography of Kurdistan and taking care to distinguish between Kurdish and Armenian lands. His argument against the Armenian claims in Kurdistan is that greater Armenia is not "the ethnical cradle of their race." In an unusual turn in his case, Sharif asserts that

1935-514: A result did not have jurisdiction over religious law in most Kurd regions. In 1908, the Young Turks come to power asserting a radical form of Turkish ethnic identity and closed Ottoman associations and non-Turkish schools. They launched a campaign of political oppression and resettlement against ethnic minorities – Kurds, Laz people , and Armenians , but in the wartime context they could not afford to antagonize ethnic minorities too much. At

2064-779: A result, "European and Ottoman officials engaged in a contest to win the loyalty of the local inhabitants — the French by claiming to protect the Maronites ; the British, the Druze ; and the Ottomans by proclaiming the sultan's benevolence toward all his religiously equal subjects." In Palestine , land reforms, especially the change in land ownership structure via the Ottoman Land Law of 1858 , allowed Russian and Yemeni Jews to buy land, thus enabling them to immigrate there under

2193-509: A strong presence around Şemdinli . The Kurdish tribes in the province include the Doski, Ertuşi, Gerdi, Herki , Jirki and Pinyaniş. The area had a significant Christian Assyrian population from various tribes before the Assyrian genocide in 1915. The Assyrian tribes in the region were Jilu , Dez, Baz , Tkhuma , Tal and Tyari . Relations between Assyrians and Kurds have been described as

2322-437: A violent insurgency until the lasting ceasefire in 1999. Throughout this period there was a significant loss of life in addition to many social and political changes. In 1991, Law 2932 was repealed and the Kurdish language was allowed for informal speech and music but not for political or education purposes or in the mass media . The same year a new Anti-Terror bill was passed which defined terrorism as "any kind of action with

2451-660: Is affiliated with the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Iraqi Kurdistan. The similarity between Kurdish and Persian language and culture compared to the Turks and Arabs, the more equal population balance between the ethnic majority Persians and ethnic minorities like the Kurds has resulted in a somewhat different citizenship experience for Iranian Kurds, as such most seek autonomy rather than independence. Iranian group identification and social order

2580-635: Is considered to have ended with the accession of Abdul Hamid II during the Great Eastern Crisis (1875–1878). However, it can also be said that reform efforts continued into the Hamidian , Second Constitutional , and Unionist eras until the end of the Ottoman Empire in 1922 . The reforms emerged from the minds of reformist sultans like Mahmud II ( r.  1808–1839 ), his son Abdulmejid I ( r.  1839–1861 ) and prominent, often European-educated bureaucrats, who recognised that

2709-506: Is therefore essential that the paramount Power in Kurdistan and Mesopotamia should be the same; in other words, that Great Britain should have an exclusive position in Kurdistan as opposed to any other outside power. At the same time, the arguments against annexation apply even more strongly to Kurdistan than to Mesopotamia. It is desirable that the county (sic) should form an independent confederation of tribes and towns, and that His Majesty's Government should assume functions intermediate between

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2838-461: The kul system, which allowed the ruler's servants to be executed or have their property confiscated at his desire. These reforms sought to establish legal and social equality for all Ottoman citizens. The reforms eliminated the millet system in the Ottoman Empire. The millet system created religiously based communities that operated autonomously, so people were organized into societies, some of them often receiving privileges. This clause terminated

2967-647: The Church of the East moved from Baghdad to Maragheh by 1553. Although the region was nominally under Ottoman control since the 16th century, it was administered as Emirate of Hakkâri by its Kurdish inhabitants. Kurds also settled Armenian farmers in the region. The situation changed after the Badr Khan rule and the Tanzimat reforms as the Ottomans were now able to extend their full control unopposed. The region

3096-705: The Edict of Gülhane in 1839. Its goals were to modernize and consolidate the social and political foundations of the Ottoman Empire in order to secure territorial integrity against internal nationalist movements and external aggressive powers. The reforms encouraged Ottomanism among the diverse ethnic groups of the Empire and attempted to stem the rise of nationalism in the Ottoman Empire . Different functions of government received reform, were completely reorganized, or started from scratch. Among institutions that received significant attention throughout this period included legislative functions, secularization and codification of

3225-552: The Edict of Gülhane of 1839, declaring equality before the law for both Muslim and non-Muslim Ottomans. The ambitious project was launched to combat the slow decline of the empire that had seen its borders shrink and its strength wane in comparison to the European powers. There were both internal and external reasons for the reforms. The primary purpose of the Tanzimat was to reform the military by modernizing and taking inspiration from European armies. The traditional Ottoman army,

3354-551: The Great Eastern Crisis , government ministers lead by Midhat Pasha conspired to overthrow Sultan Abdul Aziz in a coup and introduce a constitution . This began the First Constitutional Era , which many historians agree represents the end of the Tanzimat, even though reform continued uninterrupted at its end in 1878, and then into the Hamidian Era . On November 3, 1839, Sultan Abdulmejid I issued

3483-582: The Gulf War an autonomous "safe haven" was established in Northern Iraq under UN with U.S. Air Force and British Royal Air Force air protection. Under the democratically elected Kurdistan Region , citizens experienced civic rights never previously enjoyed. Student unions , NGOs , and women's organizations emerged as forces in a new civic society and institutionalized tolerance for the region's own ethnic, religious, and language minorities, e.g.,

3612-478: The Iraqi Turkmen . Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the downfall of Saddam Hussein , the Kurdish population has found itself drawn back into Iraq with promises of autonomy and citizenship based on a federal, ethnically inclusive model with strong minority rights and guarantees against discrimination. Coming after the 2005 Kurdistan Region independence referendum voted 98.98% in favor of independence,

3741-695: The Iraqi armed forces razed villages and hamlets in and near the battle area. It is also during this time that the Iraqi military used chemical weapons on Kurdish towns. Many Kurds consider the Kurdish-majority regions of northern and northeastern Syria to be Western Kurdistan ( Kurdish : Rojavaye Kurdistane ) and seek political autonomy within Syria (akin to Iraqi Kurdistan in Iraq ) or outright independence as part of an independent Kurdistan . After

3870-525: The Janissaries , had fallen from grace in terms of military prestige and a European-inspired reconstruction was a necessary change to be made. The Ottoman Empire consisted of a multitude of different cultures and the secondary priorities of the Tanzimat reforms were aimed at balancing the social structure that previously favoured Muslim subjects. Another vital section of these reforms was the abolition of İltizam , or land-tenure agreements. Internally,

3999-512: The Kingdom of Kurdistan . To avoid unrest, the British granted the northern Kurdish region considerable autonomy and recognized their nationalist claims. They even tried to institutionalize Kurdish ethnic identity in the 1921 Provisional Iraqi Constitution which stated that Iraq was composed of two ethnic groups with equal rights, Arabs and Kurds, and enshrined the equal legal status of the Kurdish language with Arabic . The mandate government divided

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4128-725: The Napoleonic Code and French law under the Second French Empire as a direct result of the increasing number of Ottoman students being educated in France. Changes included the conscription reforms; educational, institutional and legal reforms; and systematic attempts at eliminating political corruption. Also, a policy called Ottomanism was meant to unite all the different peoples living in Ottoman territories, "Muslim and non-Muslim, Turkish and Greek, Armenian and Jewish, Kurd and Arab". The policy officially began with

4257-449: The Ottoman Empire was ultimately suppressed by the Ottomans, and Ubeydullah, along with other notables, was exiled to Istanbul. The Kurdish nationalist movement that emerged following World War I (1914-1918) and the 1922 end of the Ottoman Empire largely reacted to the changes taking place in mainstream Turkey, primarily the radical secularization (which the strongly Muslim Kurds abhorred), centralization of authority (which threatened

4386-480: The Porte 's bureaucracy overshadowed the sultans. Leading " Men of the Tanzimat " included Mustafa Reşid Pasha in the period of 1839–1855, and then Mehmed Emin Âli Pasha and Keçecizade Fuad Pasha from the early 1850s to 1871. After Âli Pasha's death, the spirit of reorganization turned towards the imperial social contract , in the form of the 1876 Ottoman Constitution , written by Midhat Pasha . The Tanzimat Period

4515-614: The Soran Emirate , situated around Rawandiz was able to depose his rivals and control a region stretching from Mardin to Persian Azerbaijan . He was however defeated in battle when he tried to subdue the Assyrians of Hakkari in 1838. The Ottomans, seeking to consolidate their control of the region, engaged him in a costly war which eventually led to the dissolution of his Emirate. After the fall of his main rival, Bedir Khan Beg of Bohtan sought to extend his dominion by annexing

4644-518: The Syrian government announced its Arab Belt plan (later renamed "plan for establishment of model state farms"), intended to forcibly expel the Kurdish population from a 350 km long, 10 to 15 km deep strip of land along Syria's northeast border and replaced them with Arab settlers, and which was partially implemented. There was no change in policy under the new Ba'athist regime post-1963. It refused to implement its program of land reforms that

4773-564: The first Aliya . In order to boost its tax base, the Ottoman state required Arabs in Palestine, as elsewhere, to register their lands for the first time. As a rule the fellahin didn't trust the ailing regime, fearing that registration would only lead to higher taxation and conscription . Prevailing illiteracy among the fellahin meant in the end that many local mukhtars were able to collectively register village lands under their own name. Thus, they were able to later claim ownership and to sell

4902-468: The 1923 formation of the Republic of Turkey marked the beginning of continuing period of reduced civic rights for Kurds. The Caliphate was abolished a year later as well as all public expressions and institutions of Kurdish identity. Kurdish madrasas , newspapers, religious fraternal organizations, and associations were shut down. To give an example of the early republican government's attitude towards

5031-427: The 1950 census, 89.5% of the population spoke Kurdish as first language, while the second largest first language was Turkish at 9%. In the subsequent census of 1955, Kurdish constituted the first language for 88.4% of the population and Turkish for 11.5%. The same census found 100% of the population to be Muslim. Kurdish and Turkish remained the two largest first languages in the 1960 census for 80.7% and 19.2% of

5160-558: The 1960s and 1970s. During this period the primary goal of the movement was to resolve its grievances with the Turkish government through legitimate channels. These attempts were heavily suppressed. Civic rights were temporarily improved with the Turkish Constitution of 1961 which allowed freedom of expression, the press, and association for Kurds. The 1964 Political Parties Act criminalized Kurdish political parties and

5289-532: The Allied Governments by Middle-Eastern Political Section of British Delegation and a map of the "Proposed Settlement of Turkey in Asia" depict various boundaries for Armenia, but make no mention of Kurdistan. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson went so far as to order a draft of boundaries for an Armenian state. This was the atmosphere going into the end of the war and into the peace conference. The horrors of

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5418-522: The Armenian intelligentsia and defined the powers of the Armenian Patriarch under the Ottoman millet system and the newly formed Armenian National Assembly . Despite progressive intentions, the policy of reform in the form of Tanzimat ultimately failed. The historical circumstances of the reforms, the reasons for this failure and the consequences of the reforms are of interest for historical analysis and are considered by historians all over

5547-525: The Armenians in Kurdistan came as émigrés, abandoning agriculture in Armenia for urban life in Kurdistan. Sharif further accuses the European powers and Turkey of conspiracy against the Kurds by inventing Armenian history in Kurdish lands. He likely made this last statement out of anger from being sidelined at the conference. Nevertheless, Sharif Pasha made a difference in that his case for a Kurdish homeland

5676-621: The Assyrian regions in Hakkari. He took advantage of a rift between the patriarch Shimun XVII Abraham and Nur Allah, the Emir of Hakkari. Bedir Khan allied with Nur Allah and attacked the Assyrians of Hakkari in the summer of 1843, massacring them and taking those who survived as slaves. Another massacre was inflicted in 1846 on the Tyari tribe, also residing in Hakkari. The western powers, alarmed by

5805-505: The British had a hard time maintaining troop concentrations in the Ottoman Empire. The cost of the war was enormous, and the politicians and population back in Britain sought to hasten troops' return home. The Allies' plans to carve up the Ottoman Empire were equally challenging to execute because the different peoples of the empire were seeking their own futures, rather than leaving outsiders or their old overlords to decide for them. During

5934-436: The Iraqi government and Kurdish leaders signed the 1970 Peace Agreement. It promised Kurdish self-rule, recognition of the bi-national character of Iraq, political representation in the central government, extensive official language rights, the freedom of association and organization, and several other concessions aimed at restoring full civic rights to the Kurdish population. It was to come into effect within four years. After

6063-640: The Kurdish language. However, Kurds were afforded a special position in the official state ethnic-based nationalism because of their cultural similarity to the Persians and their non-Arab ethnicity. Also, the distribution of seats in the Majlis (parliament) was based on religion, not ethnicity, the Kurds were able to exercise greater political power than non-Muslim minorities like the Armenians and Jews. The state's system of military conscription and centralized education served to integrate urban Kurdish populations but

6192-584: The Kurds to fill the power vacuum and govern these areas autonomously. While the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) was originally based in predominantly Kurdish areas, it has come to encompass much of Arabistan to the south. The AANES disavows nationalism, seeking the federalisation of Syria instead. The most influential Kurdish nationalist group in Syria is the Kurdish National Council , which

6321-638: The Kurds were free to publish cultural and historical information in their own language. However, with massive investment and military aid from the western world , in the 1950s and 1960s Iran became a police state which clamped down on many civil rights. After the Iranian Revolution , some Kurdish groups (chiefly the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan ) allied with Iranian leftist and communist groups against Ayatollah Khomeini 's government. The Kurdish rebellion for autonomy in 1979

6450-423: The Kurds' geographical position at the southern and eastern fringe of the empire and the mountainous topography of their territory, in addition to the limited transportation and communication system, agents of the state had little access to Kurdish provinces and were forced to make informal agreements with tribal chiefs. This bolstered the Kurds' authority and autonomy; for instance, the Ottoman qadi and mufti as

6579-668: The Mesopotamian pattern. The Kurdish representative at the Paris Peace Conference was General Muhammad Sharif Pasha. After the Young Turk Revolution deposed Sultan Abdulhamid II and sentenced Sharif Pasha to death, he fled the Ottoman Empire. Sharif Pasha had offered his services to the British at the beginning of the war, but his offer had been refused because the British did not anticipate their being engaged with operations in Kurdistan. He spent

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6708-563: The Ottoman Army in the Assyrian genocide . Others were forced into labour battalions and later executed. The turning point was when the patriarch's brother was taken prisoner as he was studying in Constantinople . The Ottomans demanded Assyrian neutrality and executed him as a warning. In return, the patriarch declared war on the Ottomans on 10 April 1915. The Assyrians were immediately attacked by Kurdish irregulars backed by

6837-423: The Ottoman Empire hoped that abolishing the millet system would create a more centralized government, as well as increased legitimacy of the Ottoman rule, thus gaining direct control of its citizens. Another major hope was that being more open to various demographics would attract more people into the empire. There was fear of internal strife between Muslims and non-Muslims, and allowing more religious freedom to all

6966-461: The Ottoman Empire, this social order was maintained while the imperial system declined and modern Iranian identity was forged by a reform movement in the late 19th century to the benefit of Kurds. Under this regime, Sunni and Shia Kurds held a privileged position as Muslims. Unlike the other minorities, Christian Armenians, Jews , Zoroastrians and others, they had the right to work in food production and buy crown land . They also benefited from

7095-447: The Ottoman centralist policies of the 19th century began did the first modern Kurdish nationalist movement emerge with an uprising led by a Kurdish landowner and head of the powerful Shemdinan family, Sheikh Ubeydullah . " In 1880 Ubeydullah demanded political autonomy or outright independence for Kurds and the recognition of a Kurdistan state without interference from Turkish or Persian authorities." The uprising against Qajar Persia and

7224-493: The Ottomans, driving most of the Assyrians of Hakkari to the mountain tops, as those who stayed in their villages were killed. Shimun Benjamin was able to move unnoticed to Urmia , which at the time was under Russian control, and tried to persuade them to send a relief force to the besieged Assyrians. When the Russians replied that the request was unreasonable, he returned to Hakkari and led the surviving 50,000 Assyrians through

7353-461: The Syrian Kurd population) were stripped of their citizenship in the 1962 Census when the government claimed they were, in fact, Turks and Iraqis illegally residing in the country. Stripped of their nationality, these now stateless Kurds still found themselves subject to its obligations through conscription in the military . The Kurdish language and cultural expressions were banned. In 1962,

7482-618: The Tanzimat reforms were intended to return to the tradition of equality for all subjects before the law. However, the Sublime Porte assumed that the underlying hierarchical social order would remain unchanged. Instead, the upheavals of reform would allow for different understandings of the goals of the Tanzimat. The elites in Mount Lebanon , in fact, interpreted the Tanzimat far differently from one another, leading to ethno-religious uprisings among newly emancipated Maronites . As

7611-428: The Tanzimat's fundamental change regarding the non-Muslims, from a status of a subjugated population ( dhimmi ) to that of equal subjects, was in part responsible for the Hamidian massacres and subsequent Armenian genocide . In their view, these were inevitable backlashes from the Muslim community to the legal changes, as the Tanzimat's values were imposed from above and did not reflect those of society. In Lebanon ,

7740-519: The Turkish Republic", Kurdish civic rights can be constrained within the context of a Constitution guaranteeing equality without acknowledging them as a distinct group. Equal citizenship rights were enshrined in Turkey's 1920 Provisional Constitution . Article 8 asserted that the country was composed of both Turks and Kurds but under the law they would be treated as common citizens. However,

7869-404: The Turks, and found themselves on the retreat before Turkish retaliation near the plateau of Ankara . The Turks had found a new nationalist leader. The fall of the Ottoman Empire and its Sultanate was certain. The Treaty of Sèvres represented to the Turks. This new treaty made no direct mention of the Kurds or Kurdistan, rather Ottoman Kurdistan was divided among Turkey and the two Arab states to

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7998-521: The ability to live in the Ottoman Empire and own property, but this ability was not without special taxes ( jizya ). For the "Ottoman ruling elite, 'freedom of religion' meant 'freedom to defend their religion ' ". Although the Edict of Gülhane and the Tanzimat provided strong guidelines for society, they were not a constitution and did not replace the authority of the sultan. Still, the Tanzimat reforms had far-reaching effects overall. Those educated in

8127-516: The acknowledgment of the existence of different languages and races in Turkey. The 1972 Law of Association further restricted rights to association and political organization. The failure to address the Kurdish grievances throughout the 1960s and 1970s led to alternate avenues of resolution. In 1984 the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) started a guerrilla insurgency against the Turkish Republic. The PKKs insurgency continued to be

8256-651: The administrative assistance, amounting to direct responsibility for the conduct of government, which they intend to undertake in Mesopotamia, and the mere control of external relations, to which they propose to limit themselves in the case of the independent rulers of the Arabian Peninsula. In the hills British control should be exerted with the least direct intervention possible. In the lowlands bordering on Mesopotamia, where there are important oil-fields and other natural resources, it may have to approximate to

8385-455: The aim of changing characteristics of the Republic" essentially criminalizing Kurdish political activism and many basic forms of expression. In 2004 laws were further liberalized allowing Kurdish-language broadcasts and other restrictions, including the giving of Kurdish names to infants have been removed. After World War I Iraq came under a British mandate. Many Kurds did try to establish an independent Kurdish state but they failed, declaring

8514-410: The centralizing effects of the Tanzimat reforms. Additionally, the Edict of Gülhane imposed forced military conscription within the administrative districts based on their population size. However, the most significant clause of the Gülhane decree was the one enforcing the rule of law for all subjects, including non-Muslims, by guaranteeing the right to life and property for all. This put an end to

8643-490: The chief Armenian delegate, had confided to Sir Louis Mallet of the British Delegation fears that the Allies were "abandoning Armenia to her fate." He worried about French ambition in Armenia, and sought British and US recognition for Armenian independence. Sharif Pasha and Bughos Nubar agreed to support each other's bid for independence even if there were disagreements as to the particulars of territory. The two presented overlapping claims and criticized each other's demands, but

8772-401: The citizenship rights of Kurds, Law No. 1850 was introduced after popular revolts, giving after-the-fact legal sanction to civilians and military personnel who killed Kurds during the revolt. Kurdish regions were placed under martial law and the use of the Kurdish language, dress, folklore, and names prohibited. It was this continued repression that led to reemergence of Kurdish nationalism in

8901-416: The close of World War I, plans for the lands, resources, and people under former Ottoman jurisdiction were negotiated. While the U.K. and France were drawing their lines on the map of the Middle East, the Americans, whom they invited to take up mandates in Armenia and Kurdistan, refused to become involved on the ground. U.S. foreign policy appeared hesitant because policymakers feared the U.S become entangled in

9030-417: The coalition against the Islamist extremists. In 1974 the weaker Law of Autonomy in the Area of Kurdistan was actually implemented with much weaker citizenship protections and conflict soon resumed. The 1980s, especially during the Iran–Iraq War , were a particularly low point for Kurdish rights within Iraq. Approximately 500,000 Kurdish civilians were sent to detention camps in southern and eastern Iraq and

9159-459: The country into two separate regions, one Arab, one Kurdish in administrative policy and practice. Two policies emerged regarding Kurds in Iraq: one for non-tribal urban dwellers and one for rural tribal population meant to discourage urban migration. The government institutionalized advantages for rural Kurds – tribes had special legal jurisdiction , tax benefits, and informally guaranteed seats in parliament. In addition, they were exempt from two of

9288-597: The dominant population. He included the Persian Empire 's Kurdish territories in addition to Ottoman lands. His inclusion of the Persian Kurdish lands was merely to make a point that the Kurds were a large nation spanning a large area, thereby worthy of a homeland free from the outside interference that had often plagued Kurdistan. Delegates representing the Kurds, the Armenians, and the Assyrians presented claims to territory and independence. Bughos Nubar ,

9417-411: The end of World War I, Kurds still had the legal right to conduct their affairs in Kurdish, celebrate unique traditions, and identify themselves as a distinct ethnic group. The Treaty of Sèvres signed in 1920 "suggested" an independent Kurdish and Armenian state but after the establishment of the Turkish Republic by a Turk ethnonationalist government which balked at the treaty, the 1923 Lausanne Treaty

9546-412: The establishment of a constitutional monarchy by Reza Shah in 1925. Similar to other states, he tried to nation-build by creating an exclusionary nationality based on a secular, ethnically Persian Iranian identity and repress the cultural expressions and equal status of ethnic minorities. These minorities, including the Kurds were coerced into accepting Persian culture and many were arrested for speaking

9675-519: The execution of apostates from Islam illegal. Despite the official position of the state in the midst of the Tanzimat reforms, this tolerance of non-Muslims seems to have been seriously curtailed, at least until the Reform Edict of 1856. The Ottoman Empire had tried many different ways to reach out to non-Muslims. First it tried to reach out to them by giving all non-Muslims an option to apply for Dhimmi status. Having Dhimmi status gave non-Muslims

9804-655: The failed Sheikh Said rebellion , thousands of Northern Kurds fled their homes to live among the Syrian Kurds of Western Kurdistan in the French Mandate of Syria . Under the Mandate, Kurds and other minorities enjoyed privileges denied to the Sunni Arab majority. The French authorities facilitated minority independence movements, as well as recruited and trained minorities for its local militias, as part of

9933-410: The framework of the Iraqi republic". Once successful at consolidating their power they would repress Kurdish political rights, militarize Kurdish regions, ban nationalist political parties, destroy Kurdish villages, and forcibly impose resettlement (especially in petroleum-rich areas). As a result, from late 1961 onwards there was near constant strife in Iraqi Kurdistan. A major development was made when

10062-580: The government dominated by Sunni Arabists . Within this new framework, as non-Arabs, the Kurds would experience unwelcome changes in status. The 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s demonstrated a pattern. The new Arabist leader would assert his belief in the Kurds as distinct and equal ethnic group in Iraq with political rights. For instance, the Constitution of 1960 claims "Kurds and Arabs are partners within this nation. The Constitution guarantees their rights within

10191-405: The interwar years as continued British internal interference and a series of weak government prevented any one movement from dominating national politics prevented the creation of a formal exclusionary citizenship. However, later the central governments nation-building strategy centered around a secular conception of national identity based upon a sentiment of Iraqi unity (al-wadha al-iraqiyya) with

10320-481: The law for all citizens. That served to strengthen the Christian middle class, increasing their economic and political power. The reforms peaked in 1876 with the implementation of an Ottoman constitution checking the autocratic powers of the Sultan. The details of this period are covered under the First Constitutional Era . Although the new Sultan Abdul Hamid II signed the first constitution, he quickly turned against it. Historian Hans-Lukas Kieser has argued that

10449-477: The legal system, crackdowns on the slave trade, education, property law, law enforcement, and the military, to name a few. The end goal was to establish a powerful and centralized national government . Ottoman statesmen also worked with reformers of the many confessional communities of the empire, millets , to codify, and in some cases democratize, their confessional governments. The Tanzimat built on previous reform efforts of Sultan Mahmud II . During its height,

10578-549: The local peasants' lands out from under their feet to the new Jewish immigrants, as they themselves relocated permanently to Syria or Turkey. Alternately, rich Christian or Muslim families, the class of the ' Effendis ', were able to accumulate large amounts of land which they exploited by themselves or sold on. In 1863 the Armenian National Constitution was approved by the Ottoman government. The "Code of Regulations" consisted of 150 articles drafted by

10707-687: The majority remained rural. After World War II with the Soviet withdrawal from Kurdish regions (where they had encouraged autonomous Kurdish government as the Mahabad Republic ), the Shah banned some Kurdish political parties, expressions of cultural identity ended the open political party system and ruled by firman. In 1958 there was a marked liberalization which allowed the activities of Kurdish cultural organizations and student associations but still limited political parties. Unlike other countries

10836-515: The mandate system. He also argued for a British sponsored committee aimed at reconciling relations between the Kurds and the Armenians. Kurdish nationalist organizations nominated Sharif Pasha as their representative at the Paris Peace Conference because of his strategic views and high level contacts within the British government. At Paris, Sharif Pasha carefully laid out Kurdish claims to territory and constructed an argument for Kurdish independence. His claims were based on areas where Kurds constituted

10965-480: The massacres pressured the Ottomans to intervene and the Emir of Bohtan was ultimately defeated and exiled to Crete in 1847. On the eve of the First World War, patriarch Shimun XIX Benyamin was promised preferential treatment in anticipation of the war. Shortly after the war began, however, Assyrian and Armenian settlements to the north of Hakkari were attacked and sacked by Kurdish irregulars allied with

11094-576: The mountains to safety in Urmia. Thousands perished from cold and hunger during this march. In 1924, Turkey expelled the last Christian inhabitants in the region. In order to Turkify the local population, in June 1927 the Law 1164 was passed which allowed the creation of Inspectorates-General ( Umumi Müffetişlik, UM). The province therefore was included in the so-called First Inspectorate General , which span over

11223-711: The new Iraqi Constitution adopted in 2005 grants governmental autonomy to the Kurdistan Region , establishes Kurdish as an official language alongside Arabic, acknowledges the national rights of the Kurdish people, and promises equality of citizens regardless of race or religion. Kurdish military forced helped defeat ISIL during the Iraqi Civil War (2014–2017) and gained territory, including Kirkuk and surrounding oil fields. The 2017 Kurdistan Region independence referendum took place on September 25, with 92.73% voting in favor of independence. This triggered

11352-414: The old religious and military institutions no longer met the needs of the empire. Most of the symbolic changes, such as uniforms, were aimed at changing the mindset of imperial administrators. Many of the officials affiliated with the government were encouraged to wear a more western style of dress. Many of the reforms were attempts to adopt successful European practices. The reforms were heavily influenced by

11481-545: The partition of Kurdistan into three sections, in the two largest of which certain rights are secured to ourselves, the French, and the Arabs, but none to the Kurds." The study noted the strategic value of Kurdistan thus: The Power paramount in this country will command the strategic approaches to Mesopotamia and control the water supply of the eastern affluents of the Tigris, on which the irrigation of Mesopotamia largely depends. It

11610-474: The population, respectively. As with the previous census, Muslims constituted 100% of the population. In the last census conducted in Turkey in 1965, Kurdish remained the largest first language with 86.2%, while Turkish remained the second largest first language at 12.3%. 99.1% of the population was Muslim and 0.8% was Christian in 1965. In 1980, the only language spoken in rural parts was Kurdish while both Kurdish and Turkish were spoken in urban areas, due to

11739-625: The power of local chieftains and Kurdish autonomy), and rampant Turk ethnonationalism in the new Turkish Republic (which obviously threatened to marginalize Kurds). Western powers (particularly the United Kingdom ) fighting the Turks promised the Kurds that they would act as guarantors for Kurdish freedom, a promise they subsequently broke. One particular organization, the Society for the Elevation of Kurdistan (Kürdistan Teali Cemiyeti)

11868-535: The presence of military and civil officials from other parts of Turkey. In the 14th century, Timur devastated the urban centers of Mesopotamia. His conquest of Baghdad and especially the destruction of Tikrit affected the Syrian Orthodox Church, which sheltered near Nineveh at Mar Mattai Monastery . Following the destruction of Christians in the region, the Ismailis and Sunni and Shi'a Muslims

11997-457: The privileges of these communities and constructed a society where all followed the same law. The new reforms called for an almost complete reconstruction of public life in the Ottoman Empire. Under the reconstruction, a system of state schools was established to produce government clerics. Ottomans were encouraged to enroll. Each province was organized so that each governor would have an advisory council and specified duties in order to better serve

12126-428: The province from 1927 to 2023: 37°27′58″N 44°03′52″E  /  37.46611°N 44.06444°E  / 37.46611; 44.06444 Kurdish nationalism Ancient Medieval Modern Kurdish nationalism ( Kurdish : کوردایەتی , romanized :  Kurdayetî , lit.   'Kurdishness or Kurdism') is a nationalist political movement which asserts that Kurds are

12255-616: The provinces of Hakkâri, Siirt , Van, Mardin , Bitlis , Sanlıurfa , Elaziğ , and Diyarbakır . The first UM was created on the 1 January 1928 and centered in Diyarbakır. The UM was governed by an Inspector General , who governed with a wide-ranging authority over civilian, juridical and military matters. The office of the Inspector General was dissolved in 1952 during the government of the Democrat Party . Hakkari though

12384-546: The reforms led to "the rhetorical promotion of equality of non-Muslims with Muslims on paper vs. the primacy of Muslims in practice" (see Tanzimat Dualism ); other historians have argued that the decreased ability of non-Muslims to assert their legal rights during this period led to the land seizure and emigration. Part of the reform policy was an economic policy based on the Treaty of Balta Liman of 1838. Many changes were made to improve civil liberties, but many Muslims saw them as

12513-518: The reforms thereafter included were the following: The Hatt-ı Şerif of Gülhane , was the first major reform in the Tanzimat reforms under the government of sultan Abdulmejid and a crucial event in the movement towards secularization. The decree, named after the rosehouse ( gülhane ) on the grounds of the Topkapi Palace , abolished tax farming . It also created a bureaucratic system of taxation with salaried tax collectors. This reflects

12642-404: The reforms were instated. The Reform Edict of 1856 was intended to carry out the promises of the Tanzimat. The Edict is very specific about the status of non-Muslims, making it possible "to see it as the outcome of a period of religious restlessness that followed the Edict of 1839". Officially, part of the Tanzimat's goal was to make the state intolerant to forced conversion to Islam, also making

12771-576: The scheme worked. The negotiators were convinced that both the Kurds and the Armenians deserved homelands in the new Middle East, and granted provisions for statehood and self-determination in the resulting Treaty of Sèvres. Sharif Pasha grew frustrated with the Allies over his sidelining in negotiations and with the Kurdish League over his agreement with the Armenians, and eventually resigned his post. Following his marginalization, Sharif produced

12900-635: The schools established during the Tanzimat period included major personalities of the nation states that would develop from the Ottoman Empire. The system was ultimately undone by negotiations with the Great Powers following the Crimean War . As part of the Charter of 1856, European powers demanded a much stronger sovereignty for ethnic communities within the empire, differing from the Ottomans, who envisioned equality meaning identical treatment under

13029-471: The south, Iraq and Syria, which were under British and French mandates respectively. The following sections are a brief glimpse of the Kurds' activities in Turkey and Iraq after the division of territories between the two states. By the enforcement of laws such as Article 57 of the Turkish Constitution of 1982 which outlaws "any activity harmful to national unity and territorial integrity of

13158-570: The state, has been ongoing since 1984. After the 1991 uprisings in Iraq , UN enforced the Iraqi no-fly zones under resolution 688, which included over much of Iraqi Kurdistan, facilitating autonomy and self-government outside the control of the Iraqi government. After the 2003 invasion of Iraq that ousted Saddam Hussein, the Kurdistan Regional Government was established, enjoying a great measure of self-governance but stopping short of full independence. Devastation from

13287-494: The states of Iran, Iraq, and Syria, all of whom have fear of a potential independent Kurdistan. Since the 1970s, Iraqi Kurds have pursued the goal of greater autonomy and even outright independence against the Iraqi nationalist Ba'ath Party regimes, which responded with brutal repression, including the massacre of 182,000 Kurds in the Anfal genocide . The Kurdish–Turkish conflict , where Kurdish armed groups have fought against

13416-563: The strongest facets of the modern state; they had their own schools and were outside the jurisdiction of national courts. This privileged position lasted into the 1950s. Kurdish rights were further entrenched in 1932 by the Local Languages Law, a condition of the League of Nations (undoubtedly under British influence) being that to join, Iraq had to enact constitutional protection for the Kurds. Political rights were fairly open in

13545-683: The territory. The new reforms also called for a modern financial system with a central bank , treasury bonds and a decimal currency . Finally, the reforms implemented the expansion of roads, canals and rail lines for better communication and transportation. The reaction to the edict was not entirely positive. Christians in the Balkans refused to support the reforms because they wanted an autonomy that became more difficult to achieve under centralized power. In fact, its adoption spurred some provinces to seek independence by rebelling. It took strong British backing in maintaining Ottoman territory to ensure that

13674-477: The tuyal land tenure system which favoured Muslims. This advantage allowed Kurds to establish strong control over food production and land. The notable absence of ethnic restrictions on holding government office allowed Kurdish tribal leaders and notables to purchase office and establish a strong Kurdish presence in Iranian politics without having to culturally assimilate or deny ethnicity. This political presence

13803-434: The understanding of nationalism, intertwining it with feminist perspectives and emphasizing the importance of inclusivity and empowerment for all. Tanzimat The Tanzimat ( Turkish: [tanziˈmat] ; Ottoman Turkish : تنظيمات , romanized :  Tanẓîmât , lit.   'Reorganization', see nizam ) was a period of Western influenced reform in the Ottoman Empire that began with

13932-409: The war pushed idealism to its extreme in the minds of some negotiators and some heads of states, while the reality on the ground was starkly different from their grand visions of a new world. Other statesmen, particularly Lloyd-George and Clemenceau, had imperial interests in mind rather than the international peace and reconciliation that Wilson professed. After the surrender of the Ottoman Empire and

14061-488: The war when the prevailing thought was a realignment of the Ottoman territories along the European model of nation-states in which Ottoman minorities each would govern their own people in their own territories. British Foreign Office documents of the time indicate a certainty of a future Armenian state, but leave out other parties such as the Kurds and the Assyrians. A sketch of the Draft Treaty of Peace between Turkey and

14190-419: The war with Iraq. Still compared to other countries Kurds were still allowed limited publications, to celebrate holidays, wear traditional dress, and use Kurdish (except as a language of instruction). Significant improvements were made in 1997 whereby the government allowed a profusion of Kurdish language in media, although some of these publications were later restricted. The Iranian government has been facing

14319-571: The war years in Monte Carlo waiting for another opportunity. Despite his disappointment with the British, Sharif Pasha reestablished his contact with the British near the end of the war. In 1918, he began communicating with Sir Percy Cox, the head of British forces in Mesopotamia , to discuss establishing British protection over an autonomous Kurdistan. He argued for similar arrangements in Mesopotamia and elsewhere, describing something akin to

14448-420: The war, as well as "looting and destruction of crops by Russian, Ottoman, and British [troops]... caused severe famine in the area".In such dire conditions, it was the central focus of all tribal leaders to rebuild their village/tribal infrastructure in order to provide for their own people. Major nationalist or political movements were not foremost in their minds; survival was the necessity. The only chance that

14577-506: The war, more attention was paid to the Armenians than to the Kurds. This was likely because the Armenians were primarily Christian, and thereby more prone to identify with the West and vice versa. The Kurds were considered complicit in the atrocities committed against the Armenians within the Ottoman Empire during the early stages of the war. Little attention was given to Kurdistan until after

14706-468: Was Muslim and 18.1% Christian. In the 1945 census, 98.8% of the population was Muslim, while Jews constituted the largest religious minority with 0.1%. Only one Christian was enumerated in 1945, from the Protestant denomination. In the same census, Kurdish and Turkish were the first language for 87.8% and 11.4% of the population. The Jewish population left for Israel shortly after 1948. In

14835-488: Was a deliberate process of persecution and " Arabisation " of Kurdish areas, culminating in the late 1980s with the Anfal campaign that destroyed thousands of villages and killed huge numbers of civilians. The chemical weapons attack on Halabja in March 1988 killed as many as 5,000 in a day. In recent years the threat posed by ISIS and the important role played by Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers in ground operations assisting

14964-468: Was a problem that would plague the Kurds. The Foreign Office's Political Intelligence Department presented British negotiators with a thorough study of the Ottoman Empire's lands and peoples before they attended negotiations in Paris. This document placed heavy emphasis on Armenia and commitments to the French and Arabs. The situation of Kurdistan was addressed with the statement, "We are thus committed to

15093-514: Was attacked indiscriminately by Timur during the second part of the 14th century. The few survivors sought refuge among the Assyrians of Hakkari and the surrounding region. This region also produced many bishops and patriarchs as hereditary succession was used to prevent a full ecclesiastical collapse of the church. By the 16th century, the Assyrians disappeared from many cities where they previously thrived, such as in Tabriz and Nisibis . The head of

15222-507: Was based on religious identification with Islam , specifically Shia Islam , the dominant sect. While the majority of Kurds are Sunni, in Iran they were roughly evenly split between Sunnis, Shias, and Shia splinter groups like the Sufis . Because of this preoccupation with religion over ethnicity, in practice Kurds were treated as part of the majority and enjoyed extensive citizenship rights. Unlike

15351-518: Was benefiting Arab peasants in areas Kurds would predominantly benefit until 1971. From the 1970s on there was a relaxation of official treatment of Kurds, but the late 1980s saw renewed widespread denial of Syrian citizenship status to Syrian Kurds, especially in refusing national identity documents such as passports. Since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War , Syrian government forces have abandoned many Kurdish-populated areas, leaving

15480-605: Was bolstered because the Qajars appointed many tribal chiefs to government positions in exchange for internal security assurances. Within this system many Kurds reached prominent military, political, and diplomatic positions. Exceptional in Iran during the 19th century and early 20th was that the nationalist reform movement did not develop a radical, exclusionary, ethnic-based conception of nationality but developed an Iranian identity that did not define itself as ethnically Persian . The existing beneficial social framework changed with

15609-537: Was central to the forging of a distinct Kurdish identity. It took advantage of period of political liberalization in during the Second Constitutional Era (1908–1920) of Turkey to transform a renewed interest in Kurdish culture and language into a political nationalist movement based on ethnicity. Around the start of the 20th century Russian anthropologists encouraged this emphasis on Kurds as

15738-400: Was forcibly suppressed by Tehran, with thousands of Kurdish rebels and civilians killed as a result. The new theocratic government developed a new exclusionary conception of nationalism based on very conservative Shia Islam. Once Khomeini consolidated power he expelled Sunni Kurds from government office, placed restrictions on freedom of expression, and militarized Kurdish regions as part of

15867-522: Was founded by a group of Kurdish intellectuals in Paris in 1918. These intellectuals saw the period following World War I as ripe for organizing a movement aimed at securing a Kurdish nation-state out of the ruins of the recently defeated Ottoman Empire . After the cataclysm of World War I, the Paris Peace Conference offered the opportunity for a new world. The optimism and idealism promoted by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson aimed for

15996-474: Was part of Van Vilayet during the Ottoman era as Hakkari sanjak with Başkale serving as capital, except from 1880 to 1888 where it was elevated to vilayet status. As of 1920, Hakkari was producing lead . The lead, which came from a government owned mine, was used to make bullets . In the 19th century, several competing Kurdish centers began emerging in the region. Mir Muhammed, the Kurdish Emir of

16125-466: Was religious with Sunni Islam being the top in the hierarchy (millet-i hakimiye). While the Ottoman Empire embarked on a modernization and centralization campaign known as the Tanzimat (1829–1879), Kurdish regions retained much of their autonomy and tribal chiefs their power. The Sublime Porte made little attempt to alter the traditional power structure of "segmented, agrarian Kurdish societies" – agha , beg , sheikh , and tribal chief . Because of

16254-602: Was signed which made no mention of the Kurds. The once politically unified Ottoman Kurdistan was then divided into the different administrative and political systems in Iraq, Turkey and Syria. The first Kurdish political party originated in the Kurdish diaspora rather than from within Kurdistan . The organization known as Khoybun or in Kurdish Xoybûn (also known as the Kurdish League), or "Independence,"

16383-535: Was still banned for foreign citizens until 1965. From July 1987 to August 2002 Hakkari was within the OHAL state of emergency region. It was Governed by a so-called Supergovernor, who was invested with additional powers than a normal Governor. He was given authority over all the other provincial Governors in the OHAL area and also the power to permanently relocate and resettle the village's population. Population history of

16512-568: Was supposed to diminish this threat. Giving more rights to the Christians within the empire was considered likely to reduce the danger of outside intervention on their behalf. Although the motives for the implementation of Tanzimât were bureaucratic, liberal ministers and intellectuals contributed to reform like Dimitrios Zambakos Pasha , Kabuli Mehmed Pasha , the secret society of the Young Ottomans , and Midhat Pasha . During

16641-487: Was written into the peace treaty. The "Kurdistan" specified in the treaty did not include all of the Kurdish territories, but it contained a large portion of Ottoman Kurdistan. Some groups formerly under Ottoman dominion desired reclamation of lands they perceived as their own. Greek irredentism gained the support of the British, thus enabling them to land Greek forces at Izmir . However, the Greeks became too covetous toward

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