A Brief Bibliography of Kurdistan and the Kurds
Jawad Mella
WKA and Kurdish Museum
The situation in Western Kurdistan faces, as it has always done, a political and media blackout by the Syrian regime. However, in order to clarify the situation in Western Kurdistan we would like to give you a brief account of the Kurdish question in general.
As we mentioned earlier the Franco-Turkish agreement (Ankara Treaty 1921) set the boundary which separated Western Kurdistan from the motherland Kurdistan. As a result thousands of families were divided. Those on the northern side of the railway line came under Turkish occupation (and in fact are regarded as Turks by the Turkish regime), and those on the southern side of the railway line came under the Syrian occupation, whose population now is more than five millions, (and in fact are regarded as Arabs by the Syrian regime).
The Kurds in Syria during the twenties and thirties enjoyed some extent press and publishing freedom as Ronahi and Hawar Newspaper, and had their own centres as Kurdistan Club in Damascus and many organisations as Khoybun Party, under the French mandate. But when Syria got independence in 1946 and Arabs controlled ...
FOREWORD
The Kurdish nation is the fourth largest nation in the Middle East and the largest nation in the world without a national state. Today the Kurds are more than 50 million, their homeland is called Kurdistan, which means “country of the Kurds”. Kurdistan is not the name of a state, but rather a land, which in the 20th century was obligatorily divided among five states (Turkey,
Iran, Iraq, Syria and Red Kurdistan in the former Soviet Union).
The Kurdish language is belongs to the Indo-European group. Kurdistan extends from the Caucasus to the Mediterranean Sea and from there to the Gulf. A part of it lies in Mesopotamia, which is regarded as the “cradle of humanity”. In this region, high cultures such as Mithraism or the Sun Cult already existed thousands of years ago. There was Buddhism; there was Mazdaism, the religion of the Zoroastrians which dedicated itself to the relation between good and evil as a dualism of the nature of life. There was also the religion of Mani or Manichaeus, i.e. Manichaeism, which symbolically transmitted the dualism of nature into the existence of light and darkness symbolising good and bad. There was (and still is today) Judaism, Christianity, and also Islam and Bahaism in Kurdistan, and last not least several truly syncretistic religions like the Yazidis (Ezidis), Yarsan, Alawis, Shabbak, Haqqa. Brought into the world by the Kurdish nation these syncretistic religions are an undeniable part of the Kurdish culture which is pluralistic, vibrant and varied.
Kurdistan used to be, like all the existing countries in the Middle East, under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. In the aftermath of the First World War when the Ottoman Empire disintegrated (1918) it seemed the most reasonable solution that Kurdistan should be granted national independence. Although the Treaty of Sevres (1920) did provide the creation of an independent Kurdish State, but when Mustafa Kamal became the Turkish leader he refused to accept this. A second treaty of Lausanne was signed in 1923, and Kurdistan was not mentioned in it. Then in a Franco-Turkish agreement the railway line between Mosul (a city in Southern Kurdistan) and Aleppo (a city in Western Kurdistan) became the border line between Turkey and Syria. The result of these agreements, in which the Kurds had no saying whatsoever, was the division of Kurdistan. The Kurds have never accepted this, so they started their continuous struggles against the regimes occupying Kurdistan, namely Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, and the former Soviet Union. These artificial states since then have practised the most repressive policies in the history of mankind against the Kurds.
Since the end of World War I, the Kurds have had no national rights, and their country Kurdistan was divided and occupied as an international colony, and the Kurds have been prosecuted, massacred, assimilated and denied the very basic human rights. Whether the Kurds are demanding full independence or a more limited autonomy or extension of electricity for their villages, in these States the Kurdish people face severe restrictions and harsh oppression.
Here is some of what happened to western Kurdistan as an example to the rest of Kurdistan:
Western Kurdistan, Which is occupied by Syria
The situation in Western Kurdistan faces, as it has always done, a political and media blackout by the Syrian regime. However, in order to clarify the situation in Western Kurdistan we would like to give you a brief account of the Kurdish question in general.
As we mentioned earlier the Franco-Turkish agreement (Ankara Treaty 1921) set the boundary which separated Western Kurdistan from the motherland Kurdistan. As a result thousands of families were divided. Those on the northern side of the railway line came under Turkish occupation (and in fact are regarded as Turks by the Turkish regime), and those on the southern side of the railway line came under the Syrian occupation, whose population now is more than five millions, (and in fact are regarded as Arabs by the Syrian regime).
The Kurds in Syria during the twenties and thirties enjoyed some extent press and publishing freedom as Ronahi and Hawar Newspaper, and had their own centres as Kurdistan Club in Damascus and many organisations as Khoybun Party, under the French mandate. But when Syria got independence in 1946 and Arabs controlled Syria, the Kurds lost everything they had achieved during the French mandate. All Kurdish centres were closed, organisations were banned and all Kurdish publications, books, magazines and newspapers, new and old were confiscated. The leaders of the Kurdish people in Syria were sent into prisons, exile or executed. Below are a few examples of these atrocities:
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Jawad Mella
A Brief Bibliography of Kurdistan and the Kurds
WKA and Kurdish Museum
WKA and Kurdish Museum
A Brief Bibliography of Kurdistan and the Kurds
Dr Jawad Mella
Dedicated to the valiant martyrs who laid down their
lives to pave the future of the Kurdish Nation
Compiled by Dr Jawad Mella
WKA and Kurdish Museum, Library
Archive-London 2014
Acknowledgement
Many thanks to the Management Committee of Western
Kurdistan Association, the researchers and volunteers of
Kurdish Museum, Library & Archive in London and
Awards for all, for their cooperation and support.
Western Kurdistan Association
Kurdish Museum, Library & Archive
Telephone: 0044 (0) 2087487874
Mobile: 0044 (0) 7768266005
e-mail: info@westernkurdistan.org.uk
www.westernkurdistan.org.uk
Charity number: 1066236
Company number: 3454407
A Brief Bibliography of Kurdistan and the Kurds
Copyright © 2014 by Dr Jawad Mella
Cover Designer: Upkar Singh Rai, Nations Without States
ISBN: 09529951 1 5
