Turkish Kurdistan: Difference between revisions

{{Kurds}}

'''Turkish Kurdistan''' ([[Turkish language|Turkish]]: ''Türkiye Kürdistanı'' or ''Kuzey Kürdistan'' ("Northern Kurdistan") or ''Kuzeybatı Kürdistan'' [http://www.demanu.com.tr/arsiv/03_11_2005_126sy/niv_14_alihaydar.htm] ("Northwestern Kurdistan"), [[Kurdish language|Kurdish]]: ''Kurdistana Tirkiyê'' [http://www.avestakurd.net/Avesta%2072/beyana%20parise.htm] or ''Bakurê Kurdistanê'' [http://www.nefel.com/kolumnists/kolumnist_detail.asp?MemberNr=8&RubricNr=24&ArticleNr=761]) ''Northern Kurdistan'' is an unofficial name for the southeastern part of [[Turkey]] densely inhabited by [[Kurds]], which references the region's geographical location with respect to the larger [[Kurdistan|Kurdish region]] stretching across the Middle East. The area covers about 230,000 km² (88,780 sq mi), or nearly a third of Turkey. It forms part of the wider Kurdish-inhabited region known as [[Kurdistan]], which encompasses parts of Turkey, [[Syria]], [[Iran]] and [[Iraq]].<ref name="hue">"Kurd." ''The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia including Atlas'', 2005.</ref>

==Geography and economy==

[[Image:Kurdish-inhabited area by CIA (1992).jpg|left|thumb|Kurdish-inhabited areas of the Middle East]]

The ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'' describes Turkish Kurdistan as covering at least 17 [[Provinces of Turkey|provinces]] of [[Turkey]]: [[Erzincan Province|Erzincan]], [[Erzurum Province|Erzurum]], [[Kars Province|Kars]], [[Malatya Province|Malatya]], [[Tunceli Province|Tunceli]], [[Elazığ Province|Elazığ]], [[Bingöl Province|Bingöl]], [[Muş Province|Muş]], [[Ağrı Province|Ağrı]], [[Adıyaman Province|Adıyaman]], [[Diyarbakır Province|Diyarbakır]], [[Siirt Province|Siirt]], [[Bitlis Province|Bitlis]], [[Van Province|Van]], [[Şanlıurfa Province|Şanlıurfa aka Urfa]], [[Mardin Province|Mardin]] and [[Hakkari Province|Hakkâri]], stressing at the same time that "the imprecise limits of the frontiers of Kurdistan hardly allow an exact appreciation of the area." [http://www.encislam.brill.nl/data/EncIslam/C4/COM-0544.html]. Since 1987, four new provinces - [[Şırnak Province|Şırnak]], [[Batman Province|Batman]], [[Iğdır Province|Iğdır]] and [[Ardahan Province|Ardahan]] - have been created inside the [[Provinces of Turkey|Turkish administrative system]] out of the territory of some of these provinces. The region has no unified administrative identity and the Turkish state rejects the use of the term "Kurdistan" to describe it. In addition to the provinces already mentioned, the region forms part of the wider geographic subdivisions of [[Southeastern Anatolia Region, Turkey|Southeastern Anatolia Region]] (''Güneydoğu Anadolu Bölgesi'') and [[Eastern Anatolia Region, Turkey|Eastern Anatolia Region]] (''Doğu Anadolu Bölgesi'').

The region forms the south-eastern edge of [[Anatolia]]. It is dominated by high peaks rising to over 3,700m (12,000 ft) and arid mountain plateaux, forming part of the arc of the [[Taurus Mountains]]. It has an extreme [[continental climate]] — hot in the summer, bitterly cold in the winter. Despite this, much of the region is fertile and has traditionally exported grain and livestock to the cities in the plains. The local economy is dominated by [[animal husbandry]] and small-scale [[agriculture]], with cross-border smuggling (especially of [[petroleum]]) providing a major source of income in the border areas. Larger-scale agriculture and industrial activities dominate the economic life of the lower-lying region around [[Diyarbakır]], the largest Kurdish-populated city in the region. Elsewhere, however, decades of conflict and high unemployment has led to extensive migration from the region to other parts of Turkey and abroad.<ref name="ocpw">Martin van Bruinessen, "Kurdistan." ''The Oxford Companion to the Politics of the World'', 2nd edition. Joel Krieger, ed. Oxford University Press, 2001.</ref>

==History==

:{{main|History of the Kurdish people}}

The Kurds — a population ethnically and linguistically disinct from their Arab and Turkish neighbours — are believed to have lived in the region for at least 3,000 years. They traditionally practised a nomadic way of life in which they herded sheep and goats throughout the plains of [[Mesopotamia]] and the highlands of Turkey and Iran. During the [[Middle Ages]], the Kurdish-inhabited regions of the Middle East came under the rule of local Kurdish chieftains, though they never established a unified nation state. During 10th and 11th ceturies, the region was ruled by the Kurdish dynasty of [[Marwanid]]. From the [[14th century]] onwards the region was mostly incorporated into the [[Ottoman Empire]]. The breakup of the empire after its defeat in the [[First World War]] let to the establishment of the present-day political boundaries, dividing the Kurdish-inhabited regions between several newly-created states. The establishment and enforcement of the new borders had profound effects for the Kurds, who had to abandon their traditional nomadism for village life and settled farming.<ref name="eb">"Kurd." ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 2007.</ref>

===Kurdish Principalities of the Region===

A tax register (or ''defter'') dating back to [[1527]], mentions an area called ''vilayet-i Kurdistan'', which included 7 major and 11 minor emirates (or principalities). The document refers to Kurdish emirates as ''eyalet''(state), an indication of the autonomy enjoyed by these principalities. In a ''ferman'' (imperial decree) issued by [[Suleiman I]], around [[1533]], he outlines the rules of inheritance and succession among ''Kurdistan beys'' i.e. Kurdish nobility. Hereditary succession was granted to Kurdish emirates loyal to the Ottomans, and Kurdish princes were granted autonomy within the Empire. The degree of autonomy of these emirates varied greatly and depended on their geo-political significance. The weak Kurdish tribes were forced to join stronger ones or become a part of Ottoman [[sancak]]s(or sanjak). However the powerful and less accessible tribes, particularly those close to the Iranian border, enjoyed high degrees of autonomy. According to a ''kanunname''(book of law) mentioned by [[Evliya Çelebi]], there were two adiministrative units different than regular sanjaks: 1) Kurdish sancaks (''Ekrad Beyliği''), charcterized by hereditary rule of the Kurdish nobility and 2) Kurdish governments (''hükümet''). The Kurdish sanjaks like ordinary sanjaks, had some military obligations and had to pay some taxes. On the other hand, the Kurdish hükümet neither pay taxes nor provided troops for the Ottoman Army. The Ottomans preferred not to interfere in their succession and internal affairs. As [[Evliya Çelebi]] has reported, by the mid-17th century the autonomy of Kurdish emirates had diminished. At his time, out of 19 sancaks of Diyarbakir, 12 were regular Ottoman sanjaks, and the remaining were referred to as Kurdish sanjaks. Kurdish sanjaks were reported as ''Sagman'', ''Kulp'', ''Mihraniye'', ''Tercil'', ''Atak'', ''Pertek'', ''Çapakçur'' and ''Çermik''. He also reported the Kurdish states or ''hükümets'' as ''Cezire'', ''Egil'', ''Genç'', ''Palu'' and ''Hazo''. In the late 18th and early 19th century, with the decline of [[Ottoman Empire]], the Kurdish principalities became practically independent<ref> Hakan Ozoglu, ''State-Tribe Relations: Kurdish Tribalism in the 16th- and 17th- Century Ottoman Empire'', pp.15,18,19,20,21,22,26, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 1996</ref>.

===Conflict and controversy===

{{main|Kurds in Turkey}}

The incorporation into Turkey of the Kurdish-inhabited regions of eastern [[Anatolia]] was opposed by many Kurds, and has resulted in a long-running separatist conflict in which thousands of lives have been lost. The region saw several major Kurdish rebellions during the 1920s and 1930s. These were forcefully put down by the Turkish authorities and the region was declared a closed military area from which foreigners were banned between 1925 and 1965. A major campaign to eradicate separatist sentiment by severely restricting Kurdish cultural and political activities was undertaken by Turkey's first president, [[Kemal Ataturk]], and continued in varying degrees of severity under his successors.

In 1983, the Kurdish provinces were placed under martial law in response to the activities of the militant separarist [[Kurdistan Workers Party]] (PKK).<ref name="hue" /> An extremely violent [[guerrilla war]] took place through the rest of the 1980s and into the 1990s, in which much of the countryside was evacuated, thousands of Kurdish-populated villages were destroyed and numerous extrajudicial summary executions were carried out by both sides.<ref name="ocpw" /> More than 37,000 people were killed in the violence and hundreds of thousands more were forced to leave their homes.<ref name="bbc">"[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6537751.stm Kurdish rebels kill Turkey troops]", BBC News, 8 May 2007</ref> The situation in the region has since eased following the capture of the PKK leader [[Abdullah Öcalan]] in 1999 and the introduction of a greater degree of official tolerance for Kurdish cultural activities, encouraged by the [[European Union]].<ref name="eb" /> However, some political violence is still ongoing and the Turkish-Iraqi border region remains tense.<ref>"[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6687631.stm Turkish soldiers killed in blast]", BBC News, 24 May 2007</ref>

==Other parts of Kurdistan==

[[Southern Kurdistan]]

[[Western Kurdistan]]

[[Eastern Kurdistan]]

==Footnotes==

<div class="references-small">

<references/>

</div>

== See also ==

* [[Casualties of the Turkish-Kurdish conflict]]

* [[Origins of the Kurds]]

* [[Kurdish Christians]]

* [[Kurdish Jews]]

* [[Kurdish people]]

* [[Kurdistan]]

* [[Kurdistan Workers Party]] (PKK)

* [[Kurds in Turkey]]

* [[Yazidis]]

==External links==

* [http://www.kurdishuprising.com/Download.htm Kurdish uprising movie]

* [http://www.hri.ca/doccentre/docs/aim-athens-22-04-98.shtml Comparing Ethnic Conflicts in Kosovo and Turkish Kurdistan]

* [http://www.encislam.brill.nl/data/EncIslam/C4/COM-0544.html Kurds, Kurdistan], The Encyclopaedia of Islam.

* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/kurdistan-maps.htm Maps of Kurdish Regions] by [[GlobalSecurity.org]]

* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/images/dist-kurdish.gif Map of Kurdish Population Distribution] by [[GlobalSecurity.org]]

[[Category:Geography of Kurdistan]]

[[Category:Kurdish inhabited regions]]

[[fa:کردستان ترکیه]]

[[ku:Bakurê Kurdistanê]]

[[sv:norra kurdistan]]