Kurdish-Armenian relations
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Image:Flag of Armenia.svg Image:Flag of Kurdistan.svg | |
| Image:Armenia Kurdistan Locator.png | |
| ██ Armenia | ██ Template:Country alias Kurdistan |
Kurdish-Armenian relations covers the historical relations between the Kurds and the Armenians. Both groups have lived in the same geographic area for centuries and relations between them have, in many cases, been hostile (in particular during the Hamidian massacres and the Armenian Genocide, carried out by Ottoman Turkey with some Kurdish assistance). Today, however, Kurdish-Armenian relations are cordial and improving as both have sour relations with Turkey, which possesses large portions of both historically Kurdish and Armenian land. The treatment of Armenia's own Yazidi Kurdish minority has, at times, been poor.
Contents |
[edit] Ancient Armenia and Corduene
During two brief periods, Corduene(ancient Kurdistan) <ref>[1]</ref> was subdued to Kingdom of Armenia. The first period was in the first century BCE from 90 to 66 BCE as a vassal kingdom of Armenia. Then Corduene was incorporated in the Roman Republic and remained in Roman hands for more than four centuries. In the late fourth century CE, it became a part of Armenia for the second time (in 384) and remained as such until 428 CE. Its area was much smaller than what is now called Kurdistan, and was mainly concentrated in the south of Lake Van and around Diyarbakir.
Armenians referred to the inhabitants of Corduene as Kordukh. This name found its way into Greek documents and Xenophon used the hellenized form of the name, Karduchoi (Kaρδoνχoι). According to Strabo, the region of Corduene (Γoρδυαιαoρη) referred to the mountains between Diyarbakir and Mush. It is argued that Greeks learned this term (Karduchoi) from Armenians, since the termination χoι represents the Armenian plural in -kh <ref>[2]</ref>.
[edit] Islamic conquest
Image:Age of Caliphs.png Kurds and Armenians became more and more distinct both culturally and politically as Armenians chose Christianity as official religion and Kurds chose Islam. The difference in religion also signified in a difference of mentality, with Armenians adopting Occidental values instead of the Oriental values and lifestyle adopted by Kurds.
Although most Armenians stayed Christian, some converted to Islam because of the favourable status given to Muslims under Islamic rule. The Armenians of Vaspurakan who converted to Islam were Kurdified over time.
The nomadic Turkic tribes moved towards the Middle East and Anatolia in expense of the local populations of Kurds, Armenians, and other natives.
[edit] Ottoman Empire
However, because of the quasi non-existence of Kurdish nationalism and the fact that Kurds and Turks were both Muslim, Kurds found some degree of friendship in these new immigrants from Central Asia. Armenians and Kurds lived in separate villages and city quarters.
Until the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829 there had been little hostile feeling between the Kurds and the Armenians, and as late as 1877-1878 the mountaineers of both races had co-existed fairly well together[citation needed]. Encouraged by the central Ottoman government, Kurds took advantage of the peaceful mentality of the Armenians by imposing taxes on them, robbing their goods, and women. Some Kurds, however, managed to get along with Armenians in the region.
[edit] Shaikh Ubaidullah
The Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 was followed by the attempt of Sheikh Obaidullah in 1880 - 1881 to found an independent Kurd principality under the protection of Ottoman Empire. The attempt, at first encouraged by the Sultan, as a reply to the projected creation of an Armenian state under the suzerainty of Russia, collapsed after Obaidullah's raid into Persia, when various circumstances led the central government to reassert its supreme authority.
[edit] Hamidian period
In 1891 the activity of the Armenian Committees induced the Porte to strengthen the position of the Kurds by raising a body of Kurdish irregular cavalry, which was well-armed and called Hamidieh after the Sultan Abd-ul-Hamid II. The system of double taxation was the reason behind new found enmity between Kurdish chieftains (tribe leader) and Armenian agrarian community. This Kurdish taxation perceived as exploitation of Armenians. When Armenian spokesman confronted the Kurdish aga (chieftain) it brought an enmity between both populations, which Sasun and Moush 1893 events occurred.<ref>The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide. "Killing fields" </ref>
Thousands of Armenians were killed by Ottoman troops and Kurdish tribesmen, when the Armenians began their struggle for autonomy in 1894 <ref>[3]</ref>. In the summer of 1894, armed Armenian peasants resisted an attack by the Kurds. Then Hamidiye regiments and regular troops from Bitlis and Mush joined by the Fourth Army Corps, were sent to the Armenian populated regions around Sasun, and began an operation which lasted 23 days from August 18th to September 10th. The troops massacred at least 8,000 Armenians <ref>Melson, R.,A Theoretical Inquiry into the Armenian Massacres of 1894-1896, Comparative Studies in Society and History, p.481-509, 1982.</ref>. Minor disturbances constantly occurred, and were soon followed by the massacre of Armenians at other places, 1894 - 1896, in which the Kurds took an active part. These event led to devastation of five Armenian villages and the region of Talori (Dalvorikh) inhabited by Armenians. The events at Sasun were the beginning of a long series of Armenian demonstrations and their suppression by the Kurds <ref>[4]</ref>.
At the turn of the century, most of the Armenians were peasants who were exploited and oppressed by their Kurdish feudal Beys. According to the Russian vice-consul Tumanskii, Armenian peasants were treated as serfs attached to some Kurdish chief. They were sold as property, and in case of a Kurd killing a serf, the latter's master took revenge by killing a serf belonging to the murderer <ref>Astourian, S., The Armenian Genocide: An Interpretation, The History Teacher, Vol.23, No.2, p.122, February 1990.</ref>.
[edit] Chieftain of Zelian
Kurdish chieftain of Zelian with his army (three or four thousand) of Kurds launched an attack on the Armenian villages. The ottoman governor report to Sultan that sheick of Zeilan is being attacked by the Armenians.
[edit] World War I
- For more details on this topic, see Caucasus Campaign.
Image:World War I Caucasus Campaign -memory.loc.gov.png During the Armenian patriotic movement of the late 19th century, the Ottoman Muslims of Eastern Anatolia who happened to be mostly Kurdish, were the main enemies of the Armenian patriots. The formation of Armenian patriots began roughly around the end of the Russo-Turkish War of 1878 and intensified with the first introduction of Article 166 of the Ottoman Penal code 166, and the raid of Erzerum Cathedral. Article 166 was meant to control the possession of arms, but it was used to target Armenians by restricting them to possess arms. Local Kurdish tribes were armed to attack the defenseless Armenian population. These mass killings clearly were a first step towards the Armenian Genocide.
[edit] Armenian Genocide
Image:Christian Armenian volunteers and soldiers.jpg
During the Armenian Genocide, many bands of Kurds, on the orders of the Young Turk government, helped the Turkish army eliminate ethnic Armenians during their deportation. On April 8 and 10, 1915, Armenians were accused of revolt and resisting conscription in Cilicia. Soon afterward the Ottoman government deported the entire population of the city. On April 19 1915, the Armenians living in Van and near the boder with Russia, were accused of collaboration with the Russians and were attacked by the Ottoman Army and Kurdish irregulars <ref>Astourian, S., The Armenian Genocide: An Interpretation, The History Teacher, Vol.23, No.2, February 1990. p.114</ref>. According to J.B. Jackson, the American consul in Aleppo, in August 1916 the governor of Aleppo ordered massacres carried out by bands of Turkish, Circassian and Kurdish ex-convicts, who were freed from prison and assigned for the massacre <ref>V. N. Dadrian, The Naim-Andonian Documents on the World War I Destruction of Ottoman Armenians: The Anatomy of a Genocide, International Journal of Middle East Studies, pp.311-360, Vol.18, 1986, p.333</ref>. It is estimated that between half a million and three-quarters of a million of civilian Armenians were massacred by the Turks and Kurds <ref> I. D. Levine, 1919: Armenia Resurrected, International Journal of Kurdish Studies, Jan. 2005, p.5</ref>.
Despite participation of some Kurdish elements in the genocide, the majority of Kurds kept their distance from the killings, and in some cases helped Armenian refugees. For instance, Derism Kurds refused Turkish orders and saved 25,000 Armenian lives. In 1919, there were groups of Armenians who were living among Kurds as refugees <ref>[5]</ref>.
[edit] Turkish War of Independence
With the defeat of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, the Entente Powers proposed to divide up its Anatolian portion in the Treaty of Sèvres. Among other things, the treaty called for the expansion of the Democratic Republic of Armenia to include historic regions such as Bitlis, Van, Erzurum and Trebizond, and local autonomy for the Kurdish inhabited areas east of Euphrates to the south of Armenia. Sharif Pasha the Kurdish representative in Paris Peace Conference reached an agreement with the Armenian representatives on 20 Decemeber 1919 and both parties made joint declarations to the conference <ref>[6]</ref>.
However, Turkish nationalists led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk rejected the treaty as "unacceptable" and fought for total control of all of Anatolia in the Turkish War of Independence, alongside with the Kurds. The Sèvres treaty was then succeeded by the Treaty of Lausanne which established, for the most part, the borders of present-day Turkey. The Lausanne treaty not only dashed any hope of a Kurdish state but also did not guarantee the Kurds minority rights in the new Turkish republic like it did for the Greeks, Armenians, and Jews.
[edit] The Kurdish-Turkish conflict and its impact on Armenians
| This article is part of the series |
| Image:Armenia coa.png |
|
The Turkish government then began a policy of Turkification on the Kurds which including banning the Kurdish language, prohibiting flying of the Kurdish flag, or not allowing the teaching of Kurdish history. They were instead classified as "Mountain Turks" until the government was forced to recognize them under pressure from the European Union in 1991. These actions caused resentment among the Kurds who felt that Turkey's creation and the Lausanne treaty had betrayed their national interests.
[edit] Republic of Ararat
A series of Kurdish rebellions against Turkey throughout the 1920s culminated in the temporary establishment of the Republic of Ararat in 1927 located in the province of Ağrı, near the border of Soviet Armenia. Without recognition or foreign backing, however, the state ended up being defeated by Turkish government who resumed control over the region.
[edit] PKK
More Kurdish rebellions would occur throughout the region. The most violent were those by the Kurdistan Workers Party (or the PKK) which was founded in 1978. The war between the PKK and the Turkish government that lasted since the 1980s and through the 1990s caused numerous deaths and internally displaced persons on the Kurdish side.
During the Turkey-PKK war, a photograph showing PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan with M. Yohanna, the Syriac Orthodox bishop of Aleppo was used by two Turkish newspapers Tercüman and Sabah in 1994 to try and prove that Turkey's Armenian community and church were openly supporting and collaborating with the PKK. In May 1994, the newspaper Özgür Ülke (Free Country; the successor of the pro-Kurdish publication Özgür Gündem) released the correct information regarding the photograph and stated that it was taken during an open March 1993 meeting between Yohanna and the PKK which was covered by the Kurdish news agency Kurdha and the magazine Özgür Halk (Free People). They said that it was found by Turkish security forces during a search in the rooms of the agency Özgür Gündem. The Turkish media also claimed that Armenia was hosting PKK training camps, though these allegations were proven to be untrue. <ref>Dr. Tessa Hofmann. Armenians in Turkey Today.</ref>
The Kurds, in their struggle against Turkey, began to indentify themselves with the Armenians, the very people who they were encouraged by the Turks to oppress. Today, Armenians in Turkey find themselves living peacefully with Kurds, perhaps united by the fact that they both have demands from the Turkish government. The Kurdish Parliament in Exile as well as other Kurdish groups have officially recognized the Armenian Genocide and have apologized for Kurdish involvement. <ref>Recognition of Armenian Genocide by Kurdistan</ref> There have also been seminars held by Armenian and Kurdish groups to discuss the Genocide as well as Turkey. <ref>Armenian Forum: Kurdish and Armenian Genocides Focus of London Seminar</ref>
[edit] PKK-ASALA
The Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) was a Marxist-Leninist guerilla organization whose primary objective was to assassinate Turkish diplomats and politicians in revenge for the deaths inflicted upon the Armenians during the Armenian Genocide. PKK and ASALA held a press conference on April 8, 1980 in Sidon which declared their cooperation, that resulted with the Strasbourg, November 9, 1980, and Rome, November 19, 1980 activities of ASALA and PKK cooperation<ref>http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/studies3.htm PKK Relations with Sub-National Terrorist Groups</ref>. However, after July 1983, ASALA disappeared in the Lebanese Beqaa Valley that PKK established its camps. Both ASALA and PKK were rumored to have been brainchildren of a Soviet Armenian KGB officer Karen Brutents.<ref> ["Antero Leitzinger (2005) The Roots of Islamic Terrorism: How Communists Helped Fundamentalists"]</ref> Since pro-Soviet Armenians had participated in the founding of an anti-Turkish Kurdish party already in 1927, the theories, arguments, propaganda methods and activity structures were time tested.<ref>"Antero Leitzinger (2005) The Roots of Islamic Terrorism: How Communists Helped Fundamentalists"</ref>
[edit] Kurds in Armenia
[edit] Soviet era
Kurdish culture flourished in Soviet Armenia between 1930s and 1980s, and Kurds enjoyed a substantial state-sponsored cultural support. There was a Kurdish radio broadcast from Yerevan <ref>[7]</ref>. The pioneers of modern Kurdish literature and culture were mainly Yazidis who were immigrants from Turkey. The famous Kurdish writers in this period include Casimê Celîl, Emînê Evdal, Kurdoev , Arab Shamilov and Jalile Jalil. The renowned Kurdish newspaper Riya Teze, published in Yerevan, is among the oldest Kurdish newspapers. It was the organ of the Kurdish section of the Communist Party of Armenia. Many Armenian literary works were translated into Kurdish by translators such as C. Celîl, H. Cindî, E. Evdal, Q. Murad, N. Esed and T. Murad. The first Kurdish novel was written by Shamilov in 1935 <ref>[8]</ref>. In recent years, many Kurds have left Armenia due to unfavorable nationalist environment specially after the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict <ref>[9]</ref>.
[edit] Armenia's Yazidi Kurdish minority
According to the 2004 U.S. Department of State human rights report, the Yazidi Kurds, who follow the ancient Yazidi religion, are subjected to harassment in Armenia, including the hazing of Yazidi army conscripts and poor police responses to crimes committed againt the Yazidis. The Union of Armenian Aryans, a quasi-obscure, ultra-nationalist group, has called for the cleansing of Yazidis from Armenia. A high percentage of Yezidi children do not attend school, both due to poverty and a lack of teachers who speak their native language<ref>U.S. Department of State Report</ref>. However, the first ever Yezidi school opened in Armenia in 1920.<ref>http://www.osce.org/documents/oy/2002/01/148_en.pdf</ref> It is also worthy to note that Yazidi volunteers fought with the Armenians during the Nagorno-Karabakh War.<ref>http://www.osce.org/documents/oy/2002/01/148_en.pdf</ref>
