early history/origin
details of their exact origins are hard to confirm. links can be found to the medes, to the kardouchoi and to the quti. identification of kurds as medes is common in kurdish nationalist sentiment today
kurds are one of the oldest cultural peoples on earth. already more than 4,000 years ago kurds were mentioned in sumerian texts
in ancient times, the kurds were known under different names. scholars still argue about the way in which the name kurd emerged
the concepts of land include different definitions in the middle east. since the medieval times there are definitions on a religious basis like diyar-i Islam (land of islam) or diyar-i kuffar (land of unbelievers) the borders of arabs, kurds, persians and other peoples are determined by their language and their culture. the word kurdistan goes back to the sumerian word kur which means mountain. the suffix -ti is an affiliation. so kurti means highlander or mountain folk. the luwians designated kurdistan as gondwana which means country of the villages. even today the word gond is related to the meaning village in kurdish. at the times of the assyrian domination the word nairi (river folk) was used. in middle age (during the reign of the arab sultans) the designation balad ekrad (kurdish areas) was used. the seljuk sultans were the first statesmen who officially used the designation kurdistan as its present meaning (land of the kurds)
muslim conquests
639-645 ad: the invasion of the arabs into the kurdish regions, a bloody conflict between the kurds and the new islamic invaders
700-900 ad: islamization of the kurds
the islamic-arabian armies came to armenia, which was conquered completely on 693. up to a small minority on the border to arabia, this occurs with the kurds through compulsion. they didn’t agree like the arabs in mesopotamia or syria with the new rulers. the kurdish population defended itself to far in 9./10. cent. against the forcible islamization and led numerous uprisings against the islamic central government with it’s new head office (from 661) in damascus. particularly the mountainous areas in the north of kurdistan offered bitter resistance. while the kurds who lived in the south on the border to the arabs offered no long resistance. the middle and eastern taurus mountains formed a barrier for the propagation of islam for some centuries which was perhaps down to the fact that the byzantines still could offer resistance (because the byzantines could still rule western-to the north from the taurus mountains)
the opposition of the kurds against the arabian-islamic conquerors kindled in spite of the brutality and the suppressions over and over again on. dozens uprisings took place in this time. a massacre in the principality of hakkari (end of 7. cent.) clearly showed the brutality of the conquerors: thousands of people are crucified along the street (25 km long)
700 ad: on a piece of leather was a written text about the arabian-islamic conquest (probably the first traditional proof of the kurdish literature in writing): the cruel arabs destroyed the villages up to the sharizur. the women and the girls are captured. the courageous men roll in the blood. the rites of zarathustra remained desolate
although municipalities of other religious directions (ezidis, elewis, christians, jews) within the kurdish society have kept, islam (unfortunately) became the decisive factor and stamping element of the traditions and life-style
independent kurdish principalities are established
shaddadid (951–1174)
rewend (955–1221)
hesnewiyan (959–1015)
annazid (990–1117)
marwanid (990–1096)
hazaraspids (1155–1424)
kurdish principalities/states after the mongol period:
erdelan (1169–1867)
bitlis (1182–1847)
badinan (1376–1843)
baban (1649–1850)
baban uprising in 1806
soran emirate (ca. 1530s-1835)
the soran massacre is one of the bloodiest episodes of the kurdish-ezidi history and took place in the spring of 1832. the kurds bedirxan beg and muhammed pasha r and their troops attacked the ezidis in sheikhan. the muslim kurds killed the population and looted + burned the villages. the ezidis tried to save their lives by fleeing towards shingal. only a few managed to cross the tigris river, many stayed behind and were caught by their muslim persecutors. 12,000 fleeing ezidis were killed. the captured ezidis were beheaded and their heads were thrown into the river, the women and children were captured as slaves. many ezidis feared another campaign of destruction of the kurds so they fled to russian territory in the caucasus
safavid period
1534-1535 systematic destruction of the old kurdish cities and the countryside
battle of dimdim (1609–1610) between kurds and the safavid empire
thousands of kurds were slaughtered during the battle of dimdim. after the battle the safavid ruler shah abbas i forcibly moved kurds to khorasan. the deportation of the kurds to khorasan was done to weaken and divide the kurdish population, because the kurds were strong in their culture and in their pride. the population of khorasani kurds is about half a million today.
ottoman period
battles/massacres against ezidis
1840: ottomans killed 3,000-4,000 ezidis under the command of firari mustafa pasha
in july 1843, a coalition of kurds ransacked almost all of the nestorian christian villages in the hakkari mountain region, killing up to 10,000 nestorian christians and enslaving many who were left behind
in the years 1840-1844 bedirxan beg attacked the ezidis in the tur abdin region over and over again. the ezidis of that region had a strong tribal structure and they took an active part in the political process. one of the most momentous attacks took place in the year 1844 when bedirxan beg attacked the ezidis with a large troop. he wanted to force them to accept islam. those who refused were arrested and killed. 7 villages converted to islam out of fear.
bedirxan beg was the last kurdish emir and mutesellim of the botan emirate. with nurallah of hakkari and ismael pasha of amadiya, he declared war on the assyrians. he also massacred many ezidis. bedirxan beg also forcibly took an ezidi princess as his wife (after kidnapping ezidi women and children) this woman is the mother of emin ali bedirxan beg and thus the grandmother of the brothers celadet, kamuran and surrya bedirxan. the grandchildren are regarded as the founder of the kurdish nationalism in the early 20th century
bedirxan of botan
at the age of 18 he became the ruler of botan with the help of the ottomans in 1821. the principality of botan was an autonomous kurdish principality in the ottoman empire
bedirxan had a “holy agreement” with the kurdish rulers of bitlis, hakkari, mus, wan and kars. later, the principality of erdalan also joined. bedirxan beg was against the new ottoman policy of centralization, because it threatened the local autonomous principalities. so he declared the independence of botan in 1842 and began to shape his own coins. the ottomans tried to keep bedirxan under their control, but they also made military preparations to attack cizre from several fronts. the first battle between the ottomans and bedirxan took place in june 1847. on july 27, 1847, bedirxan surrendered
1880–1881 nehri rebellion in semzinan under the leadership of ubeydullah against the qajars
ubeydullah was the leader of the first modern kurdish nationalist struggle. he demanded recognition from ottoman empire and qajar dynasty authorities for an independent kurdistan
ubeydullah was able to gain the military support of kurdish tribesmen as well as local nestorian christians
his militia was defeated by the qajar army and he withdrew his forces to ottoman territories. facing attacks from both sides of his territory, he eventually surrendered to ottoman authorities in 1881
until the russo-turkish war of 1828–1829 there had been little hostile feeling between the kurds and the armenians, and as late as 1877–1878 the mountaineers of both races had co-existed fairly well together
minor disturbances constantly occurred, and were soon followed by the massacre of armenians at sasun and other places (1894-1896) in which the kurds took an active part
1897/98 foundation of the first kurdish national committee and newspaper kurdistan. this newspaper tried to spread the idea of the kurdish national liberation
20th century history
1915 armenian genocide
kurds also took part in the armenian genocide because they were promised more power and more land if they would kill armenians so several aghas decided to do this. many kurdish families (mostly ezidis and elewis) protected and hid armenians and assyrians
1916 beginning of the deportation of 700,000 to 1,000,000 kurds to west anatolia
treaty of sèvres of kurdish autonomy in 1920
atatürk prevented such a result
1919-1922 first mahmud barzinji uprising against the iraqi authority in newly conquered british mesopotamia
mahmud barzinji declared himself as the ruler of the kingdom of kurdistan
from 1922 to 1924 a kingdom of kurdistan existed
his revolts are considered as the first chapter of the modern iraqi-kurdish conflict
there was a second uprising between 1922 and 1924, he was defeated by the british
1918-1922 first simko shikak uprising
it was a tribal kurdish uprising against the qajar dynasty of iran
simko organized an army of 20,000 kurds and managed to secure a self-governed area in todays northwestern iran
the government in teheran tried to reach an agreement with simko on the basis of limited kurdish autonomy. he had further organized a kurdish army, which grew stronger and stronger
in 1922, simko’s forces could not resist the iranian army’s onslaught
in 1926 after he started a new rebellion half of his troops betrayed him to the tribe’s previous leader and simko fled
1919-1921 kocgiri uprising (an elewi-kurdish uprising)
the tribe of kocgiri saved thousands armenians during the genocide of 1915. shortly before the turkish army invaded kocgiri the turks wanted the elewi kurds to extradite the armenians. the elewis refused
a kurdish movement led by nuri dersimi, aliser efendi and alisan was originated. also aliser’s wife zarife had a leading role in the kocgiri uprising. however, this uprising failed because the cooperation of the counties xozat and pulur (in dersim) with the turkish state didn’t work
topal osman worked for atatürk, he led the kocgiri massacre in which more than 10,000 kurds were killed. the kurdish movement of kocgiri was crushed. the soldiers of the turkish army tortured civilians, set the villages on fire, deported the people and they raped women and girls
in turkey, we cleaned up people who speak “zo” (armenians), i’m going to clean up people who speak “lo” (kurdish) by their roots - topal osman
1923 treaty of lausanne, turkey was founded
1924 regulation forbids all kurdish schools, associations and publications, as well as the religious brotherhoods and medressas. the first turkish parliament, including 72 members of kurdistan, was dissolved
1925 sheikh said uprising against the newly declared turkish state
sheikh said was a muslim zaza. his uprising was mixed with kurdish nationalism and political islam
sheikh said was captured around 1925 and executed by hanging
1926-1930 ararat uprising against the turkish government
the leader of the kurdish guerrilla forces during this uprising was ihsan nuri
1930 zilan massacre
around 15,000 kurds were killed by the turkish army
1931-1932 ahmed barzani uprising against the kingdom of iraq
his brother mustafa barzani became one of the most notorious commanders during this uprising. the barzani forces were eventually overpowered by the iraqi army with british support, forcing the leaders of barzan to go underground
1932 ankara proclaims a law on the deportation of the kurds. several hundred thousand kurds are deported to central or western anatolia
1935 ezidi uprising against the imposition of conscription in iraq
200 ezidi villagers were killed by the iraqi army
1936-1938 dersim uprising and dersim massacre
the dersim uprising was led by seyid riza
dersim massacre posts
1941-1944 hama rashid revolt was a kurdish tribal uprising in pahlavi iran
it’s considered one of the factors to lead to the establishment of the kurdish political independence movement in 1945-6
1945 foundation of the pdki by qazi mihemed
their demands were: autonomy within iran, kurdish as a teaching language and official language, choice of a provincial parliament, recruitment of the civil service from the local population, regional development policy
1946 republic of mahabad
it was a short-lived self-governing state (it existed for 11 months)
they built up a kurdish gendarmerie and army. kurdish was teached in schools, they opened a girls school (first in the country) and they provided publications of kurdish books and magazines. the republic had to fight with many internal and external problems
in 1947 qazi was executed by hanging
1957 the pdks (kurdistan democratic party of syria) was founded by osman sabri and daham miro
syria was declared an arab republic in the interim constitution, during the parliamentary elections of 1961 the pdks gained no seats on syrian parliament
in august 1962 the government conducted a special population census only for the province of jazira which was predominantly kurdish
around 120,000 kurds in jazira were arbitrarily categorized as aliens
the kurds had syrian identity cards and were told to hand them over to the administration for renewal. but the kurds who submitted their cards received nothing in return.
a media campaign was launched against the kurds with slogans such as save arabism in jazira and fight the kurdish threat
1960 in amude a fire in a cinema caused the death of 250-282 kurdish children
the kurdish town accused the arab authorities of the attack
1961-1970 first iraqi-kurdish war
the struggle was led by mustafa barzani, in an attempt to establish an independent kurdish state
1963 syria built a 15km long arab zone along the border to turkey and iraq as a buffer zone to the kurdish areas there. the kurds were exchanged by arabian soldier peasants, who were to be grouped together in model villages and reinforced by the military
in 1976 the program was officially terminated and reintroduced in 2004 after the kurdish uprising of qamishlo
1967 kurdish uprising in iran with the aim of establishing autonomy for kurds in iran
the uprising was suppressed and the pdki retreated into underground until 1979
1970s syria arabized the kurdish countryside
1974-1975 second iraqi-kurdish war
1978 maras massacre
1978 the pkk was founded
in 1984 the pkk started to fight against the turkish state - until today
pkk info posts
1979-1981/82 kurdish uprising in iran
pdki, komala and puk against the islamic republic of iran
the komala already underwent secret activities after its foundation 1967 during the shah’s regime
it was founded by foad mostafa soltani, hama hussain karimi and abdullah mohtadi
1983-1985 kurdish uprising
it occurred during the iran-iraq war as puk and pdk kurdish militias rebelled against saddam hussein, in an attempt to form their own autonomous country
1987 sardasht massacre
it was the first major attack of saddam hussein with chemical weapons in eastern kurdistan (iran)
60 were killed and 2,000 injured
1988-1989 anfal operation/halabja
more than 200,000 kurds in southern kurdistan were killed. the attacks were part of a long-standing campaign that destroyed approximately 4,500 kurdish and at least 31 assyrian villages and displaced at least a million of the country’s estimated 3.5 million kurdish population. this ethnic cleansing was carried out by saddam hussein and his baath party
anfal was the name of various operations in iraq which had the goal to destroy the kurdish population in the north and the shiite population in the south in the years 1988 and 1989. the name anfal comes from a sura of the quran
justification for this approach were the foreign policy issues of iraq with its neighbor iran and the failure against the kurdish peshmerga. the kurdish population who continued to refuse the arabization of the baathist regime were then considered as the enemies of the state
1989 qasimlo was assasinated by agents of iran in vienna
austrian courts issued a warrant for the arrest of the three iranian representatives and the austrian government expressly accused the iranian government as having instigated the attack on qasimlo and two other kurds
1991 uprisings in iraq
1991 de facto kurdish autonomy
officially in 2005, mesud barzani is the president of the kurdistan autonomous region since 2005
southern kurdistan info
1992 mykonos restaurant assassinations in berlin, germany
sadegh sharafkandi, fattah abdoli, homayoun ardalan and their translator nouri dehkordi were killed
the assassination took place during the pdki insurgency
21th century history
2003 pyd was founded
2004 qamishlo uprisings
the riots started during a football match, some fans of the guest team (arabs) started raising pictures of saddam hussein, an action that angered the fans of the host team (kurds)
100 kurds were massacred, thousands of kurds flee to southern kurdistan
2007 ezidi massacre
al-qaida terrorists perpetrated an attack on the southern ezidi villages siba sheikh kidir and gir izer in shingal. four trucks carrying explosives were used in that attack. both villages were almost completely destroyed. the result: around 800 killed and over 1,500 wounded ezidis
2011 ypg was founded
2011 roboski massacre
34 kurdish civilians (12 year olds-35 years olds) were killed
the group of children and adolescents has been tracked down with the help of us intelligence technology and bombed
the justification: the turkish military wanted to attack members of the kurdish guerrilla
after the bombing the turkish state has initially tried to conceal the incident. the turkish state tried to silence the relatives of the victims with money.
the government has blocked any investigation and closed the case with a report it was an accident
2012 hdp was founded
2013 assassinations of sakine canzis, fidan dogan and leyla soylemez in paris, france
the jailed suspect of the assassination of 3 kurdish women activists has died under suspicious circumstances days before his trial
his death put an end to his trial
it was confirmed that he was working for the turkish intelligence service (mit)
2013 rojava autonomy declared
federation declared, march 2016
2014 shingal ezidi genocide
over 5,000 ezidis were killed, over 6,000 abducted. 420,000 ezidis were forced to flee. today there are still thousands of ezidi women and children in isis captivity
kurdish government of southern kurdistan (pdk) made the massacre possible
2015 kobane massacre
223-233 civilians killed
2015 sdf was founded
(the kurdish history has too many massacres to list them all)
there are some kurdish books about the kurdish culture on amazon