TRAPPED BETWEEN THE MAP AND REALITY Geography and Perceptions of Kurdistan
Many people assisted me in so many ways with the preparation of my doctoral thesis, and then with this book. I have acknowledged some of them or their comments in footnotes, although many more must remain unacknowledged. Many people informed my research, directed me, discussed ideas, discovered materials, and procured obscure documents, books, and maps. Others helped in more practical ways, such as with translations, organising travel or offering hospitality in Kurdistan. I owe a great deal to these people, and as some of them would wish to remain anonymous, I hope my many friends and helpers will be contented with the knowledge that I appreciate them and their assistance very much. In particular I have always been touched by generous hospitality in Kurdistan, when there were so many other pressing local concerns. What I have learned about courage, fortitude and acceptance from Kurdish people has been of great help in life these last few years.
The Economics and Social Research Council generously granted me a research studentship, including a year’s maternity leave. Professor Keith McLachlan oversaw several changes in direction, as practical difficulties forced me to explore new research avenues. On his early retirement, Dr. Robert Bradnock was prevailed upon to supervise the completion of a rather disordered thesis. Dr. Bradnock was unstintingly generous with his time, intellectual input, and support. The thesis benefited from many of his insights, as well as his tactful corrections of my prose. Professor Philip Kreyenbroek has been a most generous academic mentor as well as friend.
I would also like to thank my family and friends, who had only half my attention for so long. My husband, Dr. Yadi Jayran-Nejad, has generously supported me in many ways, throughout the many years of research and writing, as well as life’s vagaries. Although sorely tried, he has never failed me.
In this last year I relied much on the emotional and practical support of my friend Michelle Brown, which enabled me to prepare this book.
I should also thank Dr. Stephen Karp and the staff of North Middlesex and Chase Farm Hospitals, for the professional care that has kept me at my desk for the last three years.
Finally, thank you to anyone who has taken the trouble to read this book. I hope it was thought provoking, and that it may serve to stimulate discussion and further research on the Kurds, Kurdistan, and the dilemma of dispossessed peoples.
Contents
Foreword / ix Acknowledgments / xi List of Maps / xii Notes on Maps / xv Notes on Transliteration, Spellings, and Names / xvii List of Abbreviations / xviii
1 Introduction / 1 2 Perceptions of Centrality from the Margins / 15 3 The Social Context of Political Fragmentation / 24 4 Defining a Kurdish Identity / 36 5 Kurdistan’s Resources, Real and Imagined / 45 6 Tying Down the Territory: Conceptions and Misconceptions of Early Kurdish History / 56 7 From Province to Principality to Pawn: Kurdistan as a Buffer Zone / 67 8 The First World War / 83 9 The Image from Outside: Strategic Concerns / 95 10 The Colonial Division of Kurdistan / 108 11 Kurdish Constructions of Kurdistan / 128 12 Between the Map and the Reality / 143 13 In Summary / 162
The events of the past decades have left little doubt about the role of the Kurdish people in shaping the complex history of the Middle East. Repeatedly and in various ways the Kurds, so often perceived as victims, have shown their capacity and readiness to be actors in matters that concern them. Their activities, perhaps together with the efforts of Western journalism and scholarship in the past decade, have undoubtedly had the effect of putting the Kurds ‘on the map’ as far as Western public opinion is concerned. But there, one might say, is the rub! A juxtaposition of the words ‘Kurd’ and ‘map’ is apt to remind one of the lack of a geographic definition of ‘Kurdistan’; of the fact that the Kurds are probably the largest ethnic group in the world without a state of its own; of the Allies’ off-hand treatment of Kurdish aspirations to nationhood in the years after the First World War, and of all the lamentable consequences that may be associated with this.
The apparent contradiction between the Kurds’ strong sense of identity and the lack of a clear geographic expression of that identity inspired the research that led to this book.
Maria T.O’Shea, a social geographer who is fluent in Kurdish and has an unusually wideranging knowledge of Kurdish culture both in the homelands and in the Diaspora, decided to explore the various factors shaping the development of the Kurds’ mental map of their homeland, and its relationship to the objective, political map they are forced to live with. In this work, which grew out of her doctoral thesis, Dr. O’Shea casts her net widely, considering the range of methodological and theoretical approaches that have a bearing on her theme, objective and subjective perceptions of Kurdistan, questions of self-definition, social and political factors, natural resources, crucial phases of Kurdish history, as well as the way the outside world has perceived and dealt with the Kurds. Dr. O’Shea analyses these factors with great insight and understanding, and above all objectively !
Maria T.O’Shea, in other words, has done the Kurdish people the service of taking its history and problems seriously. She analyses the complex system of factors that most Kurds take to support their claims to identity (and which others have so lightly declared irrelevant) without the condescension implicit in the ‘romantic’ approach that can sometimes be found in works on the Kurds. Neither her method nor her conclusions would have been different had the history of the group she studied been less traumatic.
Dr. O’Shea looks with clarity at the many factors that gave the Kurdish people the sense of identity that helped them withstand the trials and denials inflicted upon them over the past eighty years, but she also examines the many internal and external factors that make the practical realisation of this ideal so problematic.
This objective and scholarly approach may vex some, but most Kurds will probably thank Dr. O’Shea for it. As far as the general public is concerned, this is a book that no one with an interest in the Kurds, in Middle Eastern History, or in modern Oriental Studies, can afford to leave unread.
Philip G.Kreyenbroek Professor of Iranian Studies, Georg-August University, Gottingen, Germany
TRAPPED BETWEEN THE MAP AND REALITY Geography and Perceptions of Kurdistan Maria T.O’Shea Routledge New York & London
Bo Sheerwan we Nirwan We bo hamu Mindalani Kurd
Published in 2004 by Routledge 29 West 35th Street New York, NY 10001 Published in Great Britain by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane London EC4P 4EE
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data O’Shea, Maria T. Trapped Between the Map and Reality: Geography and Perceptions of Kurdistan/ Maria T.O’Shea p. cm. ISBN:0-415- 94766-9 (alk. paper) 1. Kurds—ethnic identity. 2. Kurdistan—History. 3. Middle East—Politics and government. 4. Nationalism—Middle East. I. Title. II. Series: Middle East studies (Routledge (Firm)) DS59.K86O84 2003 956.6′7–dc22 2003017039
ISBN 0-203-50186-1 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-57781-7 (Adobe e-Reader Format) ISBN 0-415-94766-9 (Print Edition)
