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The sheep and the Chevrolet, a journey through Kurdistan


Editor : Paul Elek Date & Place : 1947, London
Preface : Pages : 176
Traduction : ISBN :
Language : EnglishFormat : 140x215 mm
FIKP's Code : Liv. Ang. 3649Theme : General

The sheep and the Chevrolet, a journey through Kurdistan

The sheep and the Chevrolet, a journey through Kurdistan

Francois Balsan

Paul Elek publishers, ltd.

The Kurds are a very ancient people. Deeply rooted to their ancestral soil, which lies astride three countries - Turkey, Irak and Iran - they have been there, so history tells us, for more than three thousand years, close to what is probably the cradle of their race, the Zagros Mountains. Small wonder that they have always intrigued me.

The famous Hittites, in whom the modern ethnologists of Ankara have discovered a kinship with the Turks, cannot boast of much greater antiquity, for their occupation of Asia Minor hardly goes back beyond 1900 B.C. Moreover, about a thousand years before our times, such semblance of unity and civilisation as they had evolved began to disintegrate; their dominion was therefore limited, whereas the vigour and stability of the Kurd are almost unique.

Their neighbours and masters, the Turks (for long masters in name only), consented to marriages with immigrant peoples, perhaps losing thereby a little of the race's individuality; but in the sixteenth century they attained the zenith of their power under the Khalifs with Soliman the Magnificent and then, after a long decline, their present-day political zenith under the Republic. During all this time the Kurds remained barbarians; clinging to their mountains, their sole interests were for their flocks of sheep or buffalo.
.....


Contents

Part one: Preparation
1. The lure of Kurdistan / 9
2. Objective: Sheep / 12
3. Istanbul / 15
4. Ankara / 18
5. Our guide / 24
6. Across Anatolia by train / 27
7. Our chauffeur haul / 32

Part two: the approach
8. The Murad valley / 39
9. In the Kurd forest / 45
10. Hospitality at Bingöl / 50
11. Among the nomads / 57
12. Mush: valley of milk and honey / 61
13. The Varto incident / 66
14. The lights over the lake / 73
15. The retreat of the ten thousand / 78
16. The south shore of lake Van / 84
17. Amongst the Armenian ruins / 89
18. The sports club / 93

Part three: around van
19. The governor / 99
20. Old van / 103
21. The eve of departure / 109
22. Amongst the eagles / 115
23. The sorcerer / 119
24. Still higher / 122
25. At bey nafi's camp / 125
26. The treasures of nebirnao / 131
27. News from his Excellency / 136

Part four: towards Iran
28. On the road to iran / 143
29. The curious supper at Başkale / 146
30. Deir or the last Armenian sanctuary / 150
31. Khanasur, threshold of iran / 159
32. The rattle of arms / 171

Illustrations
1. Frontispiece: Elazik
2. The Ramparts of Istanbul
3. Islam permeates all Istanbul
4. Our official guide, Setke Bey, is thirsty
5. Mules-the lorries of Istanbul
6. New Ankara
7. Alley on the heights of Ankara
8. Turkish woman
9. Kurdish shepherd-Palu region
10. Ana wkward spot
11. Old caravaneer, Bitlis
12. Kurdish shearer-Palu region
13. Kurdish women do not wear the veil, but they stick to the shadows
14. A little dreamer
15. A handsome face
16. Kurdish big-sister, near Bingo!
17. Buffaloes bathing
18. A sybarite
19. The Kurdish forest-Soulou-Han district
20. In the bush
21. Young scamp-south of the lake
22. The women on the roof-south of the lake
23. Van-Seljuk city on the Gheurab
24. Van-Seljuk watchtower
25. Van-entrance to the fortified city
26. Van-the Seljuk donjon
27. Sealed tomb, near Van
28. Riverside village with its piles of cowdung for fuel
29. Vaneykian base of the citadel of Van
30. Harvesting
31. Panoramic view of Koshab Castle
32. Suliman the Yellow guarded the pass
33. The Koshab bridge
34. The southern track round the lake, built by the Turks
35. Koshab-Kaleh, Suliman's castle
36. Destruction of Van (1916)
37. The profaned sanctuary of Deir
38. En route to Khanasur
39. An ox
40. Silhouette of the Ala Tagh
41. Bayburt


THE LURE OF THE KURDISTAN

The Kurds are a very ancient people. Deeply rooted to their ancestral soil, which lies astride three countries - Turkey, Irak and Iran - they have been there, so history tells us, for more than three thousand years, close to what is probably the cradle of their race, the Zagros Mountains. Small wonder that they have always intrigued me.

The famous Hittites, in whom the modern ethnologists of Ankara have discovered a kinship with the Turks, cannot boast of much greater antiquity, for their occupation of Asia Minor hardly goes back beyond 1900 B.C. Moreover, about a thousand years before our times, such semblance of unity and civilisation as they had evolved began to disintegrate; their dominion was therefore limited, whereas the vigour and stability of the Kurd are almost unique.

Their neighbours and masters, the Turks (for long masters in name only), consented to marriages with immigrant peoples, perhaps losing thereby a little of the race's individuality; but in the sixteenth century they attained the zenith of their power under the Khalifs with Soliman the Magnificent and then, after a long decline, their present-day political zenith under the Republic. During all this time the Kurds remained barbarians; clinging to their mountains, their sole interests were for their flocks of sheep or buffalo.

For an amateur student of ethnology they and their geographical setting provide an intriguing subject of investigation. I had met two travellers who had lately tried to get into Kurdistan, and had been promptly turned out by the Turkish authorities. This was hardly encouraging. But, taking all in all, it was hardly astonishing that the Turkish military powers-that-be should prove somewhat intransigent. The Kurds are a wild people and none too easy to manage.

The Sultans, though they reigned in principle over the eastern mountains and embodied them in those quaint prettily - coloured maps with amusing annotations, visited them as little as possible, and refrained from taking any action there.

This situation lasted from the sixteenth century until about 1840 when Constantinople decided to make sure of its hold on Van, an important productive centre. This necessitated a regular campaign…


Francois Balsan

The sheep and the Chevrolet
A journey through Kurdistan

Paul Elek

Paul Elek publishers, ltd.
Thirty eight Hatton garden
London

Published by
Paul Elek publishers, ltd.
38, Hatton Garden, London, E.C.1
1947

Catalogue No. 162 / 9
Printed by
George Reynolds, Ltd.,
London, E.1

Prix Galicia 1945 of the
Société de Géographie de France.

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