Crucial images in the presentation of a Kurdish national identity : heroes and patriots, traitors and foes
There is something particularly elusive about failed nationalisms and the sense of identity and rights which engendered them. The suppressors of separatist threats to their territorial and ideological integrity are not likely to dwell on such a confrontation or document its history. If the Kurds had managed to forge a nation-state in the aftermath of World War I, or at least to achieve a measure of recognition and legal status, then their early leaders would have been revered, their struggles for self-assertion glorified, significant texts intensely studied and canonized. As it is, we do not possess a great body of knowledge about early nationalist leaders, and the extensive studies of the Kurdish movement have understandably concentrated on the larger picture, on documenting and interpreting developments, and locating reliable sources in order to establish the relevant social and political facts. This study, however, is concerned less with how and why Kurdish nationalism did or did not “catch on” than with the efforts made by the Kurdish elite to construct a viable concept of Kurdish identity around which a we-group could consolidate that, in turn, would support secular and religious leaders in their aspirations.
It has become commonplace to locate the matrix of nationalism in the imagination. National identity is invented and constructed in the mind. But national or social identities are little more than umbrella terms for an amorphous, many-layered, continually evolving yet tenacious phenomenon, which contains myriad codes for behaviour, judgment, loyalty and obligation. This explains the difficulty in negotiating transitions in self-definition, even in periods of identity-crisis, when alternatives to traditional identies are sought. The complexity also accounts for difficulties in assessing the make-up and potency of any national identity at a given time.
CONTENTS
Preface / ix Note on Transliteration / xi Preview / xiii Introduction / 1
PART ONE “AWAKENING” THE KURDS Chapter One The 19th-century Background: Religion and Tribalism / 9 Chapter Two Óamidian Opposition / 18 Chapter Three Kürdistàn / 21 Chapter Four Mem ù Zìn / 27 Chapter Five Istanbul—Promulgating the Case for Kurdish Interests / 36 1. Kürd Te'àvün ve Terakki Cem'ìyeti and its Periodical / 36 2. Hèvì, Rojè Kurd, Hetavè Kurd / 42 Chapter Six Post-War Mobilization / 56 1. Kürdistàn Te'àlì Cem'ìyeti / 56 2. Jìn and Kürdistàn / 57 3. Hèvì / 65
PART TWO THE KURDISH QUESTION IN THE Chapter One Sükrü Mehmed Sekban: The Patriot / 77 Chapter Two Azadì and the Sheykh Sa'ìd Revolt / 86 Chapter Three A Letter to Inönü / 93 Chapter Four Khoybùn and the Ararat Revolt / 95 Chapter Five Türeyyà Bedir Khàn / 100 1. Imagining the Enemy and the Continuity of Revolt / 100 2. The Turkish Press and Conflicting Images of the Sa'ìd Revolt: Fanatics or Rebels? / 107 3. The same Turk / 110 Chapter Six Sükrü Mehmed Sekban, the “Traitor”: Denying Legitimacy; Arguing Viability / 116 Chapter Seven Celàdet Bedir Khàn’s Letter to Atatürk: a Lesson in Kurdishness / 128 Chapter Eight Celàdet’s De la question kurde / 136 1. Trick or Treason / 136 2. The History of the Kurdish Question in Turkey / 141 3. The Deportation Law / 144
PART THREE A “NOVEL” APPROACH TO PRESENTING THE KURDISH NATION Chapter One The Bedir Khàns and French Orientalists / 151 Chapter Two Kàmuràn’s Literary Career / 155 Chapter Three “The Eagle of Kurdistan”: Heroes, Patriots, Traitors, Foes / 163 Chapter Four Celebrating the Kurds / 174 Chapter Five The Battle for Kurdistan / 181 Chapter Six Epilogue: The Glories of Kurdistan / 195
A decade ago, while I was working at the Orient-Institut of the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft in Istanbul, I came across a small brochure in Ottoman with the title Kürdler Türklerden ne istiyorlar? (“What do the Kurds want from the Turks”?). It was the time following the Gulf War, when the plight of the Kurds in Iraq and their flight into Turkey had aroused world-wide attention, and the Kurdish question was being more openly discussed. I was intrigued by the booklet, actually an open letter, because it seemed to promise a historical reading of the Kurdish question. But I had no clue about the author, Dr. Mehed Sükrü. It took me some time to establish that the full name of the author was Dr. Mehmed Sükrü Sekban and to gather details about his life. A staunch supporter of the Kurdish movement from its inception at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century, Sekban withdrew from the movement in the 1930’s. He came to be considered a traitor by his former comrades. His bad reputation is probably the reason that his writings have been neglected. In this book I argue that he deserves scholarly attention.
Sekban’s writings led me to a study of the wider context of the discourse on Kurdishness. An important source was the nascent Kurdish press. Among the other ethnic groups in the Ottoman Empire, the press was a crucial instrument in generating and maintaining a discourse on the respective nationalisms and the so-called awakenings. The study of the Kurdish press drew my attention to the family which was involved in most Kurdish newspapers between 1898 and 1919: the Bedir Khàns. In particular, three of its scions, Celàdet, Kàmuràn and Türeyyà, became the most active advocates of the Kurdish movement after the establishment of the Turkish Republic. Driven by a cultural as well as a political mission, motivated by claims to leadership and legitimized by their noble descent, as they saw it, they created a Latin alphabet for Kurmanjì, established journals, wrote open letters to statesmen and supranational organizations, published propaganda brochures, and engaged in academia. Specifically, Kàmuràn’s literary activities aroused my interest. His novel Der Adler von Kurdistan (“The Eagle of Kurdistan”), ignored by students of the Kurdish national movement, constitutes my third major source. All three groups of sources, Sekban’s writings, the press, and Kàmuràn’s novel have been used to analyze the evolving discourse of the Kurdish movement.
This study has grown out of lectures given at the Universities of Halle (1994), Bamberg (1994) and Freiburg (1995) as well as two papers delivered at the Congrès d’Association Française pour l’Etude des Mondes Arabe et Musulmans (AFEMAM) and the International Conference “Querelles privées et contestations publiques. Le rôle de la presse dans la formation de l’opinion publique au Proche-Orient”, both held at Aix-en-Provence in 1996. The writing of the book took place at the University of Bamberg, for many years my home institution, where I had the privilege of a stimulating academic exchange with Bert Fragner, Roxane Haag-Higuchi, Klaus Kreiser, Maurus Reinkowski, Semih Tezcan and many others. Most of the manuscript was finished in spring 1998. Due to my move to Cyprus later that year I was only able in 2001 to get back to the manuscript. After updating and revising, the editor of the series Social, Economic and Political Studies of the Middle East and Asia (SEPSMEA), Reinhard Schulze, accepted it for publication.
I have profited immensely from the encouragement, support and constructive criticism of my wife Angela. The late Ulrich Haarmann read the manuscript at an early stage. Elizabeth Boleman-Herring (New York) and Nancy Kobrin (Minneapolis) made a number of valuable suggestions. The anonymous reader not only prevented me from making some unfounded speculations, but also provided helpful comments and bibliographical information. Malmîsanij (Stockholm) contributed some data on members of the Kurdish national movement. Winfried Riesterer (München) is my lifeline to libraries. Ludwig Paul (Göttingen) advised me on Kurdish transliteration, while Trudy Kamperveen of Brill Publishers (Leiden) kindly persevered with the project despite missed deadlines. My sincere thanks go to all of them, but, as usually, all responsibility lies with the author.
Nicosia, May 15, 2002 Martin Strohmeier
CRUCIAL IMAGES IN THE PRESENTATION OF A KURDISH NATIONAL IDENTITY Heroes and Patriots, Traitors and Foes by MARTIN STROHMEIER
BRILL LEIDEN • BOSTON 2003
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is also available. Strohmeier, Martin. Crucial images in the presentation of a Kurdish national identity : heroes and patriots, traitors and foes / by Martin Strohmeier. p. cm.–(Social, economic, and political studies ofthe Middle East and Asia, ISSN 1385-3376 ; v. 86) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 9004125841 (hard cover) 1. National characteristics, Kurdish. 2. Kurds–Middle East. 3. Nationalism–Middle East. I. Title. II. Series. DS59.K86 S79 2003 320.54'089'91597 dc2l 2002032270
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