History of humankind has always been associated with wars. Different nations have always
fought with one another. However, the most destructive kind of the wars is civil wars. One of the nations who has gone through civil wars the most is Kurds. In the political sense, Kurds appeared in
the history in the 10th century and founded small dynasties such as Seddadi, Mervani, Hasnevi,
Revadi and Annazi. Yet, almost all of the Kurdish dynasties have been weakened and destructed
because of the conflicts amongst the dynasties and tribes. When Seljuks and Kurds first encountered
in 11th century, majority of the Kurdish dynasties were not politically independent but rather
dependent on the Buveyhogullari. When Seljuks defeated the Buveyhogullari Kurdish emirates
entered into the rule of Seljuks.
Since 1501 on, Safevis invaded all of the Kurdish geography (including Anatolia and Iraq) and
demolished the Kurdish emirates. İdris‐i Bitlisî sought help from Yavuz Sultan Selim against the
Safevis. From 1514 on, the Kurdish emirates in Anatolia and Iraq entered under the reign of
Ottomans and special cabinets were founded for Kurds. Up until the 19th century when the
Ottomans demolished the Kurdish emirates and found a centralized government, Kurds were
dependent on the Ottoman Empire in an autonomous way. However, Kurdish tribes were always in
a fight with each other. In the 19th century Kurdish emirates rebelled against the Ottoman Empire
in order to regain the political power they lost such as Kor Muhammed Pasha Rebellion, Bedirhan
Bey Rebellion, İzzeddin Sir Rebellion, and Sheikh Ubeydullah Rebellion. These rebellions caused a
Kurdish civil war by attacking their rival Kurdish tribes and emirates and were suppressed after the
rival Kurdish emirates supported the Ottoman Empire.
Kurds are a nation which has been through numerous civil wars and there is still a civil war
going on amongst the Kurds. However, Kurdologs and Kurdish nationalists choose to ignore this
fact and hold the Turks (Seljuks, Ottomons) for their demolishment while Kurdish history consists
merely of Kurdish emirates and tribes constantly fighting each other.
Primary Language | Turkish |
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Journal Section | Articles |
Authors | |
Publication Date | September 26, 2018 |
Published in Issue | Year 2017 Issue: 6 |
Selçuk University Journal of Seljuk Studies is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY NC).