Turkish Kurdistan
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Northern Kurdistan or Turkish Kurdistan (Turkish: Türkiye Kürdistanı or Kuzey Kürdistan ("Northern Kurdistan") or Kuzeybatı Kürdistan [1] ("Northwestern Kurdistan"), Kurdish: Kurdistana Tirkiyê [2] or Bakurê Kurdistanê [3]) Northern Kurdistan is an unofficial name for the southeastern part of Turkey densely inhabited by Kurds, which references the region's geographical location with respect to the larger Kurdish region stretching across the Middle East. The area covers about 230,000 km² (88,780 sq mi), or nearly a third of Turkey. It forms part of the wider Kurdish-inhabited region known as Kurdistan, which encompasses parts of Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq.[4]
Geography and economy
Some of the the Kurdish groups claim that there is a place called Kurdistan within the boundries of Turkey, which is illegal! this means currently there is no such a place called kurdistan! Unless you are a terrorist!
History
During the Middle Ages, the Kurdish-inhabited regions of the Middle East came under the rule of local Kurdish chieftains, though they never established a unified nation state. During 10th and 11th ceturies, the region was ruled by the Kurdish dynasty of Marwanid. From the 14th century onwards the region was mostly incorporated into the Ottoman Empire.
Kurdish Principalities 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 Diyarbakir, 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[5].
Modern History
The Ottoman government began to assert its authority in the region in the early 19th century. Concerned with independent-mindedness of Kurdish principalities, Ottomans sought to curb their influence and bring them under the control of central government in Istanbul. However removal from power of these hereditary principalities, led to more instability in the region from 1840s onwards. In their place, sufi sheiks and religious orders rose to prominence and spread thior influence throughout the region. One of the prominent sufi leaders was Shaikh Ubaidalla Nahri, who began a revolt in the region between Lakes Van and Urmia. The area under his control covered both Ottoman and Qajar territories. Shaikh Ubaidalla is regarded as one of the earliest leaders who pursued modern nationalist ideas among Kurds. In a letter to a British Vice-Consul, he declared: the Kurdish nation is a people apart . . . we want our affairs to be in our hands[6].
The breakup of the Ottoman Empire after its defeat in the First World War led to its dismemberment and establishment of the present-day political boundaries, dividing the Kurdish-inhabited regions between several newly-created states. The establishment and enforcement of the new borders had profound effects for the Kurds, who had to abandon their traditional nomadism for village life and settled farming.[7]
Conflict and controversy
The incorporation into Turkey of the Kurdish-inhabited regions of eastern Anatolia was opposed by many Kurds, and has resulted in a long-running separatist conflict in which thousands of lives have been lost. The region saw several major Kurdish rebellions during the 1920s and 1930s. These were forcefully put down by the Turkish authorities and the region was declared a closed military area from which foreigners were banned between 1925 and 1965. A major campaign to eradicate separatist sentiment by severely restricting Kurdish cultural and political activities was undertaken by Turkey's first president, Kemal Ataturk, and continued in varying degrees of severity under his successors.
In 1983, a number of provinces were placed under martial law in response to the activities of the militant separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).[4] An extremely violent guerrilla war took place through the rest of the 1980s and into the 1990s, in which much of the countryside was evacuated, thousands of Kurdish-populated villages were destroyed and numerous extra judicial summary executions were carried out by both sides.[8] More than 37,000 people were killed in the violence and hundreds of thousands more were forced to leave their homes.[9] The situation in the region has since eased following the capture of the PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan in 1999 and the introduction of a greater degree of official tolerance for Kurdish cultural activities, encouraged by the European Union.[7] However, some political violence is still ongoing and the Turkish-Iraqi border region remains tense.[10]
Footnotes
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ [3]
- ^ a b "Kurd." The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia including Atlas, 2005.
- ^ 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
- ^ Carl Dahlman, The Political Geography of Kurdistan, Eurasian Geography and Economics, Vol. 43, No. 4, 2002, p.278
- ^ a b "Kurd." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
ocpwwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Kurdish rebels kill Turkey troops", BBC News, 8 May 2007
- ^ "Turkish soldiers killed in blast", BBC News, 24 May 2007
See also
- Casualties of the Turkish-Kurdish conflict
- Kurdish people
- Kurdistan
- Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
- Kurds in Turkey
