Armenian–Kurdish relations
Armenian–Kurdish relations covers the historical relations between the
Kurds under Ancient Armenia
Ancient
Armenians referred to the inhabitants of Corduene as Korduk'. The name found its way into Greek documents and Xenophon used the Hellenized form of the name, Karduchoi (Kαρδoύχoι). According to Strabo, the region of Corduene (Γορδυηνή, also Γoρδυαία όρη "Gordyaean Mts.") referred to the mountains between Diyarbakir and Mush. The term "Karduchoi" is a Greek term and derives from the words "kard-" (καρδιά = heart) and "-uchoi" (-ούχοι = owners). It symbolizes the heart that they had to face their enemies.[2] According to some historical records and modern scholars, despite the similarity in names, the Karduchoi were not Kurds.[3]
Besides Corduene, the Kingdom of Armenia also governed
Ottoman Empire
Kurdish attacks against the Armenians residing in Ottoman controlled
Sheikh Ubeydullah rebellion (1880)
After the
Hamidian period (1891–1894)
In 1891, the activity of the Armenian Committees induced the
At the turn of the 20th century, most Armenians were peasants, who were exploited and oppressed by their Kurdish feudal
Fearing Armenian-Kurdish cooperation, the Ottoman Empire was induced to subordinate the Kurds and use them as an instrument to prevent any Armenian attempt to self-rule. While the forced recruitment to the
Sasun Resistance, 1894
In 1894, the ARF participated in the
Defense of Van, 1896
In June 1896, the Defense of Van in the province of Van was organised while "Hamidieh" regiments were about to attack the city. All ablebodied Armenian men of Van rose with weapons and protected the civilians from attack and subsequent massacre.[17]
Chieftain of Zelian, 1896
The Kurdish chieftain of Zelian, with his army of 3,000 to 4,000 Kurds, launched an attack on the Armenian villages. The Ottoman governor reported to the Sultan that the Sheikh of Zeilan was being attacked by the Armenians.
Minor disturbances constantly occurred, and were soon followed by the massacre of Armenians at other places in 1894–1896, and Kurds took an active part. They led to the devastation of five Armenian villages and the region of Talori (Dalvorikh). The events at Sason were the beginning of a long series of Armenian demonstrations and their suppression by the Kurds.[2]
Khanasor Expedition, 1897
The Khanasor Expedition was undertaken against the Kurdish Mazrik tribe on July 25, 1897. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation had decided to retaliate, after the Ottoman-hired Mazrik tribe had ambushed and slaughtered a squad of Armenian defenders during the 1896 Defense of Van.
World War I
The Russian vice consul of the Republic of Van made note of living conditions of the Armenians in Ottoman controlled regions of Western Armenia:
There exists an almost feudal dependence of Armenians on the Kurds with all its juridical consequences: each Armenian is assigned to some Kurd and is obligated to labor for him; Kurds sell their serfs when they need money; if a Kurd kills a serf, the lord [of that serf] takes revenge by killing a serf belonging to the murderer. Some beys have even insisted on the "right of the first night" in Armenian villages.[18]
In December 1914, Russian forces briefly penetrated beyond Doğubayazıt to Alashkert, They garrisoned the area with Armenian troops, by the time they left, only one tenth of the largely Kurdish population of the area had survived.[19][20][21]
The Alevi community of Dersim, some who were Kurds and Zazas, had been financed by European officials to help Armenians flee to the Russian border.[22]
Turkish War of Independence
In the aftermath of the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in
However,
Kurds and Turks were united in the aftermath of World War I against the non-Muslims victors and local Armenian Christians, and Islam was the unifying factor.[23] When due to Atatürk reforms Islam became disentangled from the state, Atatürk undermined the foundations of Turkish-Kurdish unity.[24]
Republic of Ararat
A series of Kurdish rebellions against Turkey throughout the 1920s culminated in the temporary establishment of the
PKK
More Kurdish rebellions would occur throughout the region. The most violent were those by the
During the Turkey-PKK war, a photograph showing PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan with M. Yohanna, the Syriac Orthodox bishop of Aleppo, was used by two Turkish newspapers Tercüman and Sabah in 1994 to try to prove that Turkey's Armenian community and church were openly supporting and collaborating with the PKK. In May 1994, the newspaper Özgür Ülke (Free Country; the successor of the pro-Kurdish publication Özgür Gündem) released the correct information regarding the photograph and stated that it was taken during an open March 1993 meeting between Yohanna and the PKK, which was covered by the Kurdish news agency Kurdha and the magazine Özgür Halk (Free People). They said that it was found by Turkish security forces during a search in the rooms of the agency Özgür Gündem. The Turkish media also claimed that Armenia was hosting PKK training camps, but the allegations were proven to be untrue.[26]
Some Kurds in a struggle against Turkey began to identify themselves with the Armenians, the very people whom they were encouraged by the Ottoman government to oppress. Today, Turks of Armenian and Kurdish ethnicity coexist in peace.[27] The PKK leadership has recognized the Armenian genocide and apologized for Kurdish involvement.[28] There have also been seminars held by Armenian and Kurdish groups to discuss both the genocide and Turkey.[29]
PKK–ASALA
The Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) was a
Kurds in Armenia
During the period of Stalinist ethnic cleansing in 1937, the Kurds of Armenia became victims of forced migrations.[32]
Soviet era
Kurdish culture flourished in Soviet Armenia between the 1930s and 1980s, and Kurds enjoyed substantial state-sponsored cultural support. There was a Kurdish radio broadcast from
Kurdish departments in Armenia
In 1969, the Armenian Academy of Sciences founded a Kurdish Studies Department to document and to research all aspects of Kurdish culture but also to study Armenian and Kurdish relations.[35] One of the first Kurdish newspapers was actually established and published in the capital of Armenia, Yerevan. The newspaper was called Riya Teze (Kurdish: The new road). Later on, another Kurdish newspaper was founded called Botan that was published once every two weeks.[36]
Armenian radio station Denge Erivan (The Voice of Yerevan) broadcast in Kurdish for one hour a day, drawing an audience of ethnic Kurds from southeast Turkey. One author writes that he had a childhood friend who was taunted in school for listening to it in the sixties.[36]
Armenia's Yazidi Kurdish minority
According to the 2001 Census, there are about 40,620
On 30 September 2019, the world's largest Yazidi temple has been opened in Aknalich village in Armenia.[41]
See also
References
- ^ Roman Perspectives: Studies in Political and Cultural History, of the First to the Fifth centuries. Swansea: The Classical Press of Wales. 2010. p. 166.
- ^ ISBN 978-90-04-08265-6
- ^ Marciak, Mark, Sophene, Gordyene, and Adiabene: Three Regna Minora of Northern Mesopotamia Between East and West, 2017. [1] pp. 220–221
- ^ "Di dîrokê de Miks û Mîrên Miksê" (PDF). Nefel. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
- ^ Sir Austen Henry Layard. Discoveries in the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon. pp. 417–418.
- ISBN 9781400865581.
- ^ David McDowall (2015). A Modern History of the Kurds. p. 102.
- ISBN 978-1-137-60129-2.
- ISBN 9780815630937.
What is this I hear, that the Armenians are going to have an independent state in Van, and that the Nestorians are going to hoist the British flag and declare themselves British subjects? I will never permit it, even if I have to arm the women.
- ^ Vahan Baibourtian (2013). The Kurds, the Armenian question and the history of Armenian-Kurdish relations. Ottawa. pp. 129–133.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Peter Balakian, The Burning Tigris, "Killing fields".
- JSTOR 494919.
- ^ Vahan Baibourtian (2013). The Kurds, the Armenian question and the history of Armenian-Kurdish relations. Ottawa. pp. 141–142.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Kurdoghlian, Mihran (1996). Hayots Badmoutioun (Armenian History) (in Armenian). Hradaragutiun Azkayin Oosoomnagan Khorhoortee, Athens Greece. pp. 42–48.
- ^ Armenian massacres, Encyclopædia Britannica
- S2CID 144670829.
- ^ Ministère des affaires étrangères, op. cit., no. 212. M. P. Cambon, Ambassadeur de la Republique française à Constantinople, ŕ M. Hanotaux, Ministre des affaires étrangères, p. 239; et no. 215 p. 240.
- ^ "They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else": A History of the Armenian Genocide, p. 19, at Google Books
- ISBN 9781850434160.
- ^ Emin, Ahmed (1930). Turkey in the World War. Yale University Press. pp. 218–219.
- ISBN 081563093X.
- ^ "They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else": A History of the Armenian Genocide, p. 322, at Google Books
- ^ Martin van Bruinessen, Religion in Kurdistan" http://www.hum.uu.nl/medewerkers/m.vanbruinessen/publications/Bruinessen_Religion_in_Kurdistan.pdf Archived 2013-11-09 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Martin van Bruinessen, Religion in Kurdistan" http://www.hum.uu.nl/medewerkers/m.vanbruinessen/publications/Bruinessen_Religion_in_Kurdistan.pdf Archived 2013-11-09 at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 1-85649-194-3, p.54
- ^ Tessa Hofmann.Armenians in Turkey Today.
- ^ a b Leupold, David (2020). Embattled Dreamlands. The Politics of Contesting Armenian, Turkish and Kurdish Memory. New York: Routledge. p. 47.
- ^ Recognition of Armenian Genocide by Kurdistan
- ^ Kurdish and Armenian Genocides Focus of London Seminar, Armenian Forum.
- U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 2007-01-26.
- ^ PKK Relations with Sub-National Terrorist Groups
- ^ David McDowall, A Modern History of the Kurds, page 492.
- ^ ""You, too, Armenia Archived May 13, 2006, at the Wayback Machine," Kurdish Life (No. 10, Spring 1994).
- S2CID 214003341.
- ^ Kurdish studies department in Armenia
- ^ a b Leonidas Themistocles Chrysanthopoulos, [2], Gomidas Institute.
- ^ "National Statistical Service of the Republic of Armenia – 2001 Armenian National Census" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-05. Retrieved 2009-12-24.
- ^ Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in Armenia
- ^ U.S. Department of State Report
- ^ a b "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-07-10. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Radio Free Europe: Proud As A Peacock: Armenia's New Yazidi Temple Draws Attention And Awe
Further reading
- Wilson, Lydia (2007-08-06). "The Kurdish Question". Global Adviser. Time. Archived from the original on 27 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-15.
- Leupold, David (2019-11-21). "Fatally Tied Together": The Intertwined History of Kurds and Armenians in the 20th Century". Iran and the Caucasus. 23 (4): 390–406. ISSN1573-384X.