From: Subject: HISTORY Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 09:41:16 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/kurdish/htdocs/facts/history.html X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2527 HISTORY

HISTORY:

Being the native inhabitants of their land. there are no "beginnings" = for=20 Kurdish history and people. Kurds and their history are the end products = of=20 thousands of years of continuous internal evolution and assimilation of = new=20 peoples and ideas intro- duced sporadically into their land. = Genetically, Kurds=20 are the descendants of all those who ever came to settle in Kurdistan, = and not=20 any one of them. A people such as the Guti, Kurti. Mede, Mard, Carduchi, = Gordyene, Adianbene, Zila and Khaldi signify not the ancestor of the = Kurds but=20 only an ancestor.=20

Archaeological finds continue to docu- ment that some of mankind's = earliest=20 steps towards development of agnculture. domes- tication of many common = farm=20 animals (sheep, goats, hogs and dogs). record keep- ing (the token = system),=20 development of domestic technologies (weavmg, fired pot- tery making and = glazing), metallurgy and urbanization took place in Kurdistan, dating = back=20 between 12,000 and 8.000 years ago.=20

The earliest evidence so far of a unified and distinct culture (and = possibly,=20 ethnicity) by people inhabiting the Kurdish moun- tains dates back to = the Halaf=20 culture of 8,000-7,400 years ago. This was followed by the spread of the = Ubaidian culture, which was a foreign introduction from Mesopotamia. = After about=20 a millennium, its dominance was replaced by the Hurrian culture, which = may or=20 may not have been the Halafian people reasserting their domi- nance over = their=20 mountainous homeland. The Hurrian period lasted from 6,300 to about = 2,600 years=20 ago.=20

Much more is known of the Hurrians. They spoke a language of the = Northeast=20 Caucasian family of languages (or Alarodian), kin to modern Chechen and = Lezgian.=20 The Hurrians spread far and wide, dominating much territory outside = their=20 Zagros-Taurus mountain base. Their settlement of Anatolia was = complete-all the=20 way to the Aegean coasts. Like their Kurdish descendents, they however = did not=20 expand too far from the mountains. Their intrusions into the neighboring = plains=20 of Mesopotamia and the Iranian Pteau, there- fore, were primarily = military=20 annexations with little population settlement. Their economy was = surprisingly=20 integrated and focused, along with their political bonds, mainly running = parallel with the Zagros- Taurus mountains, rather than radiating out to = the=20 lowlands, as was the case during the preceding (foreign) Ubaid cultural = period.=20 The mountain-plain economic exchanges remained secondary in importance, = judging=20 by the archaeological remains of goods and their origin.=20

The Hurrians-whose name survives now most prominently in the dialect = and=20 district of Hawraman/Awraman in Kurdistan- divided into many clans and=20 subgroups, who set up city-states, kingdoms and empires known today = after their=20 respvi hective clan names. These included the Gutis, Kurti, Khadi, = Mards,=20 Mushku, Manna, Hatti, Mittanni, Urartu, and the Kassitis1es, to name = just a few.=20 All these were Hurrians, and together form the Hurrian phase of Kurdish = history.=20

By about 4.000 years ago, the first van- guard of the = Indo-European-speaking=20 peoples were trickling into Kurdistan in limited numbers and settling = there.=20 These formed the aristocracy of the Mittani, Kassite, and Hittite = kingdoms,=20 while the common peopies there remained solidly Hurrian. By about 3,000 = years=20 ago, the trickle had turned into a flood, and Hurrian Kurdistan was fast = becoming Indo-European Kurdistan. Far from having been wiped out, the = Hurrian=20 legacy, despite its linguistic eclipse, remains the single most = important=20 element of the Kurdish culture until today. It forms the substructure = for every=20 aspects of Kurdish existence, from their native reli- gion to their art, = their=20 social organization, women's status, and even the form of their militia = warfare.=20

Medes, Scythians and Sagarthians are just the better-known clans of = the Indo-=20 European-speaking Aryans who settled in Kurdistan. By about 2,600 years = ago, the=20 Medes had already set up an empire that included all Kurdistan and vast=20 territories far beyond. Medeans were followed by scores of other = kingdoms and=20 city-statesQall dom- inated by Aryan aristocracies and a populace that = was=20 becoming Indo-European, Kurdish speakers if not so already.=20

By the advent of the classical era in 300 BC. Kurds were already = experiencing=20 massive population movements that resulted in settlement and domination = of many=20 neighboring regions. Important Kurdish polities of this time were all = byproducts=20 of these movements. The Zelan Kurdish clan of Commagene (Adyaman area), = for=20 example, spread to establish in addition to the Zelanid dynasty of = Commagene,=20 the Zelanid kingdom of Cappadocia and the Zelanid empire of PontusQall = in=20 Anatolia. These became Roman vassals by the end of the Ist century BC. = In the=20 east the Kurdish kingdoms of Gordyene, Cortea, Media, Kirm, and Adiabene = had, by=20 the I st century B C, become confederate members of the Parthian = Federation.=20

While all larger Kurdish Kingdoms of the west gradually lost their = existence=20 to the Romans, in the east they survived into the 3rd century A D and = the advent=20 of the Sasanian Persian empire. The last major Kurdish dynasty, the = Kayosids,=20 fell in AD 380. Smaller Kurdish principalities (called the Kotyar, = "mountain=20 administrators") however, preserved their autonomous existence into the = 7th=20 century and the coming of Islam.=20

Several socio-economic revolutions in the garb of religious movements = emerged=20 in Kurdistan at this time, many due to the exploitation by central = governments,=20 some due to natural disasters. These continued as underground movement = into the=20 Islamic era, bursting forth periodically to demand social reforms. The = Mazdakite=20 and Khurramite movements are best-known among these.=20

The eclipse of the Sasanian and Byzantine power by the Muslim = caliphate, and=20 its own subsequent weakening, permitted the Kurdish principalities and = "mountain=20 administrators" to set up new, independent states. The Shaddadids of the = Caucasus and Armenia, the Rawadids of Azerbaijan, the Marwandis of = eastern=20 Anatolia; the Hasanwayhids, Fadhilwayhids, and Ayyarids of the central = Zagros=20 and the Shabankara of Fars and Kirman are some of the medieval Kurdish=20 dynasties.=20

The Ayyubids stand out from these by the vastness of their domain. = From their=20 capital at Cairo they ruled territories of eastern Libya, Egypt, Yemen, = western=20 Arabia, Syria, the Holy Lands, Armenia and much of Kurdistan. As the = custodians=20 of Islam's holy cities of Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem, the Ayyubids were = instrumental in the defeat and expulsion of the Crusaders from the Holy = Land.=20

With the 12th and 13th centuries the Turkic nomads arrived in the = area who in=20 time politically dominated vast segments of the Middle East. Most = independent=20 Kurdish states succumbed to various Turkic kingdoms and empires. Kurdish = principalities, however, survived and continued with their autonomous = existence=20 until the 17th century. Intermittently, these would rule independently = when=20 local empires weakened or collapsed.=20

The advent of the Safavid and Ottoman empires in the area and their = division=20 of Kurdistan into two uneven imperial dependencies was on a par with the = practice of the preceding few centuries. Their introduction of artillery = and=20 scorched-earth policy into Kurdistan was a new, and devastating = development.=20

In the course of the 16th to 18th centuries, vast portions of = Kurdistan were=20 systematically devastated and large numbers of Kurds were deported to = far=20 corners of the Safavid and Ottoman empires. The magnitude of death and=20 destruction wrought on Kurdistan unified its people in their call to rid = the=20 land of these foreign vandals. The lasting mutual suffenng awakened in = Kurds a=20 community feelingQa nationalism, that called for a unified Kurdish state = and=20 fostering of Kurdish culture and language. Thus the historian Sharaf = al-Din=20 Bitlisi wrote the first pan-Kurdish history the Sharafnama in 1597, as = Ahmad=20 Khani composed the national epic of Mem-o-Zin in 1695, which called for = a=20 Kurdish state to fend for its people. Kurdish nationalism was born.=20

For one last time a large Kurdish kingdomQthe Zand, was born in 1750. = Like=20 the medieval Ayyubids, however, the Zands set up their capital and = kingdom=20 outside Kurdistan, and pursued no policies aimed at unification of the = Kurdish=20 nation. By 1867, the very last autonomous Kurdish principalities were = being=20 systematically eradicated by the Ottoman and Persian governments that = ruled=20 Kurdistan. They now ruled directly, via governors, all Kurdish = provinces. The=20 situation further deteriorated after the end of the WWI and dissolution = of the=20 Ottoman Empire.=20

The Treaty of Sevres (signed August 10, 1921) anticipated an = independent=20 Kurdish state to cover large portions of the former Ottoman Kurdistan.=20 Unimpressed by the Kurds' many bloody uprisings for independence, France = and=20 Britain divided up Ottoman Kurdistan between Turkey, Syria and Iraq. The = Treaty=20 of Lausanne (signed June 24, 1923) formalized this division. Kurds of=20 Persia/Iran, meanwhile, were kept where they were by Teheran.=20

Drawing of well-guarded state boundaries dividing Kurdistan has, = since 1921,=20 aMicted Kurdish society with such a degree of fragmentation, that its = impact is=20 tearing apar the Kurds' unity as a nation. The 1920s saw the setting up = of=20 Kurdish Autonomous Province (the "Red Kurdistan") in Soviet Azerbaijan. = It was=20 disbanded in 1929. In 1945, Kurds set up a Kurdish republic at Mahabad = in the=20 Sovie, occupied zone in Iran. It lasted one year, until it was = reoccupied by the=20 Iranian army.=20

Since 1970s, the Iraqi Kurds have enjoyed an official autonomous = status in a=20 portion of that state's Kurdistan. By the end of 1991, they had become = all but=20 independent from Iraq. By 1995, however, the Kurdish government in Arbil = was at=20 the verge of political suicide due to the outbreak of factional fighting = between=20 various Kurdish warlords.=20

Since 1987 the Kurds in TurkeyQby themselves constituting a majority = of all=20 KurdsQhave waged a war of national liberation against Ankara's 70 years = of=20 heavyhanded suppression of any vestige of the Kurdish identity and its = rich and=20 ancient culture. The massive uprising had by 1995 propelled Turkey into = a state=20 of civil war. The burgeoning and youthful Kurdish population in Turkey, = is now=20 demanding absolute equality with the Turkish component in that state, = and=20 failing that, full independence.=20

In the Caucasus, the fledgling Armenian Republic, in the course of = 1992-94=20 wiped out the entire Kurdish community of the former "Red Kurdistan." = Having=20 ethnically "cleansed" it, Armenia has effectively annexed Red = Kurdistan's=20 temtory that forms the land bridge between the Armenian enclave of=20 Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia proper.