Kurds in Turkey: Difference between revisions

About half of all Kurds (Turkish: Kürtler) live in Turkey, numbering some 5 million where they comprise an estimated 7% of its total population and reside predominantly in the southeast of the country (sometimes also referred to as the Turkish Kurdistan). There are also Kurdish people living in central Anatolia, concentrated to the west of Lake Tuz (Haymana, Cihanbeyli, Kulu, Yunak) and also scattered in districts like Alaca, Çiçekdağı, Yerköy, Emirdağ, Çankırı and Zile. Today, most Kurds in Turkey live in big cities such as Istanbul, İzmir, Mersin and Adana.

The best available estimate of the number of persons in Turkey speaking a language that has been classified as Kurdish is about 5 million as of 1980. There are about 1 million speakers of Dimli (Southern Zaza), and about 140,000 speakers of Kirmanjki (Northern Zaza), which has about 70 percent lexical similarity with Dimli. These estimates are from 1999 in the case of Dimli and 1972 in the case of Kirmanjki. About 3,950,000 others speak Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji), a figure that comes from 1980. While population increase suggests that the number of speakers has grown, it is also true that use of the language has been discouraged in Turkish cities, and that many fewer ethnic Kurds live in the countryside where the language has traditionally been used. The number of speakers is clearly less than the 15 million or so persons who identify themselves as ethnic Kurds.

Due to the size of the Kurdish population and the existence of separatist movements, the Kurds are perceived as a threat to the country's national unity. The government has been suppressing Kurdish language in order to assimilate Kurds, however government efforts at linguistic assimilation over several decades have largely failed and majority of Kurds have retained their native language . Until 1991, the use of the Kurdish language in public — although widespread — was illegal. On the 8th of March 2006 RTÜK (Supreme Board of Radio and Television) allowed two TV channels (Gün TV and Söz TV) and one radio channel (Medya FM) to broadcast in the Kurdish language following the constitutional amendment adopted on the 3rd of August 2003. Radio and TV broadcasts, and education in Kurdish are allowed under limited circumstances (as is the case in many other countries with large minorities such as Greece and France). Use of any other language, including Kurdish, other than the official language, Turkish, as a first language is not allowed in schools. The Turkish Constitution bans the formation of political parties on an ethnic basis. Many Kurdish political parties were shut down one after another by the Turkish Constitutional Court for alleged links to the separatist militant PKK, and party members were harassed and imprisoned for "crimes of opinion".

Turkey's treatment of its citizens of Kurdish origin has been a frequent subject of international criticism .

History

The Koçkiri Rebellion, 1920

Main article: Koçkiri Rebellion

The Koçkiri rebellion occurred in 1920, in the overwhelmingly Shi'ite militant Kizilbash Dersim region, while waged by the Kizilbash Koçkiri tribe, was masterminded by members of an organisation known as the Kürdistan Taâlî Cemiyeti (KTC). This particular rebellion failed for several reasons, most of which have something to do with its Kizilbash character. To most Kurmancî Kurds at the time, the uprising appeared to be merely an Alevi uprising - and thus not in their own interests.

In the aftermath of the Koçkiri rebellion there was talk in the new Grand National Assembly of Turkey of some very limited forms of Autonomous Administration by the Kurds in a Kurdish region centred on Kurdistan. However, all this disappeared in the Treaty of Lausanne, signed in 1923.

The Sheikh Said Piran's Rebellion, 1925

Bitterly disappointed, the Kurds turned again to armed struggle in 1925, this time led by the Zaza cleric Sheikh Said Piran, but organised by another, newer, Kurdish nationalist organisation, Azadî. The Azadî was dominated by officers from the former Hamidiye, a Kurdish tribal militia established under the Ottomans to deal with the Armenians and sometimes even to keep the Kizilbash under control. According to British intelligence reports, the Azadî officers had eleven grievances. Apart from inevitable Kurdish cultural demands and complaints of Turkish maltreatment, this list also detailed fears of imminent mass deportations of Kurds. They also registered annoyance that the name Kurdistan did not appear on maps, at restrictions on the Kurdish language and on Kurdish education and objections to alleged Turkish economic exploitation of Kurdish areas, at the expense of Kurds.

It was Sheikh Said, reportedly, who convinced Hamidiye commanders to support a fight for Kurdish independence. According to Olson, the Kurdish officers expressed their objectives in November 1924 as being: to deliver the Kurds from Turkish oppression; to give Kurds freedom and opportunity to develop their country; and to obtain British assistance, realising that Kurdistan could not stand alone .

Sheikh Said appealed to all the Kurdish tribes to join in the rebellion being planned. The tribes which actually participated were mostly Zaza (Dimli) speaking Kurds. However the Xormak and Lolan tribes were the most active and effective opponents of this rebellion. Mindful of the depredations of the Hamidiye against them (especially the Hamidiye commanded by Xalid Beg Cîbran), other Alevi tribes also refused to join the rebellion.

The main part of the uprising was over by the end of March, as the Turkish authorities crushed the rebellion with continual aerial bombardments and a massive concentration of forces . The president of the military tribunal which sentenced the rebels declared, on 28 June 1925:

Certain among you have taken as a pretext for revolt the abuse by the governmental administration, some others have invoked the defence of the Caliphate, but you are all united on one point: to create an independent Kurdistan .

More than 50,000 Turkish troops were mobilized against the rebellion. The military strength of the Kurds was 15,000. In this rebellion, Turkish government used its airplanes for bombing raids in the Diyarbakır area. During this operation, the airfield near Harput road was used .

Rebellion of Shaikh Abdurrahman

In the Fall 1927, Shaikh Abdurrahman (brother of Sheikh Said) began a series of attacks on Turkish garrisons in Palu and Malatya. Districts of Lice, Bingöl were captured by the rebels. They also occupied the heights south of Erzurum. Turkish military used air force against the rebels using five airplanes in Mardin. In October 1927, Kurdish rebels attacked and occupied Bayazid. However they were driven out after Turkish reinforcements arrived in the area .

The Agri (Ararat) Rebellion, 1927-1930

The next revolt in the name of Kurdish nationalism was based around the only part of Turkey not yet under Ankara's control. This was the area around Mount Ararat (Mount Agri), where Kurds declared independence in 1927 (Republic of Ararat). The commander of Kurdish forces in this rebellion was general Ihsan Nuri Pasha.

On 11 June 1930, armed hostilities were initiated by the Turkish military against the Agri insurgents. Xoybûn, the Kurmanci Kurdish nationalist organisation co-ordinating this rebellion, urgently appealed for help from Kurds throughout Kurdistan. This was a Kurdish rebellion by mostly Kurmancî Kurds. The Kurmancî Kurds far outnumbered the Kizilbash of Dersim. This is why, much to the Turks' dismay, Xoybûn's appeal was answered on a wide front, by a counter-offensive at Tendruk, Iğdır, Erdjish, Sipan Dagh, Van, and Bitlis, forcing the Turks to temporarily abandon their offensive against Agri. All this support notwithstanding, however, the rebels were gradually crushed by the superior numbers of the Turkish military .

General Ihsan Nuri Pasha, has documented the role of Turkish Air force in defeating the Agri revolt in his book titled La Révolte de L'Agridagh. By the end of summer 1930, the Turkish Air Force was bombing Kurdish positions around Mt. Ararat from all directions. According to General Ihasan Nuri Pasha, the military superiority of Turkish Air Force, demoralized Kurds and lead to their capitulation .

During the rebellion, Turkish Air Force bombed several Kurdish tribes and villagers. For instance Halikanli and Herki tribes were bombed in July 18 and August 2 1930, respectively. Rebel villages were continually bombed from August 2nd to 29th . From June 10th to June 12th, 1930, Kurdish positions were extensively bombed, and this forced the Kurds to retreat to higher positions around Mt. Ararat. On July 9th, Cumhuriyet reported that the Turkish Air Force was raining down Ararat with bombs. Kurds who escaped the bombings, were captured alive. On July 13th, the rebellion in Zilan was suppressed. Squadrons of 10-15 aircraft were used in crushing the revolt. On July 16th, two Turkish planes were downed and their pilots were killed by the Kurds. Aerial bombardment continued for several days and forced Kurds to withdraw to the height of 5,000 meters. By July 21st, bombardment had destroyed many Kurdish forts. During these operations, Turkish military mobilized 66,000 soldiers and 100 aircraft. The campaign against the Kurds was over by September 17th, 1930 .

The Dersim Rebellions, 1937

Background

The most important rebellion in the wake of all these defeats was in 1937-1938, based around the Kizilbash heartland of Dersim, which was itself part of a region marked for total evacuation by Ankara . This situation had a lengthy background dated back to 1926. During the Ottoman period, the authorities had been unable to make the Dersimlis pay taxes or recognise any authority other than their own. This situation continued in the early years of the Turkish Republic founded by Atatürk. In an Interior Ministry report in 1926, it was considered necessary to use force against Dersimlis . On November 1st, 1936, during a speech in parliament Atatürk acknowledged Dersim as Turkey's most important interior problem .

The 1937-38 Dersim uprising can be seen as actually two separate uprisings, separated by a particularly hard winter. The first war went from late March 1937 to November 1937, while the second war began in April 1938 and lasted until December 1938. The Dersim rebellion was led by the local traditional Kizilbash elites, at the head of whom stood Seyt Riza, chief of the Abbasushagi tribe. Local intellectual cadres also played a role in the rising's leadership, according to one source.

Kurdish Grievances

A letter sent by Dersim's tribal chiefs to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations in November 1937 details what it claimed were measures taken by Turkish authorities to: deprive Kurdish children even of a basic education in Turkish language schools; to prevent Kurds becoming officers in the Turkish army or becoming employed in civil posts in the Kurdish region; to eliminate all references to Kurd or Kurdistan from scientific works; to force Kurds into slave labour in construction projects; to deport and disperse another part of the Kurds; to uproot young Kurdish women and girls from their families and place them in illegal concubinage and, finally, to Turkify a part of the Kurdish nation and to exterminate the other part, through different means .

Military Operations

Turkish Army mobilized 50,000 troops to suppress the rebellion. Since Dersim region was closer to Ankara than the previous rebellious regions, Turkish Air Force was used more effectively against the uprising. Sabiha Gökçen, Turkey's first female pilot and the adopted daughter of Atatürk, took part in the bombing raids against the Dersim Kurds

Aftermath

Finally, a top secret 4 May 1938 decision of the Turkish Cabinet resolved that Turkish military forces which had previously been massed in the area would attack Nazimiye, Keçigezek Sin and Karaoglan very strongly, and "This time all the people in the area will be collected and deported out of the area and this collection operation will attack the villages without warning and collect the people. To do this, we will collect the people as well as the arms they have. At the moment, we are ready to deport 2,000 people" .

Seyt Riza was himself captured on 5 September 1937 and was hanged, together with ten of his lieutenants, on 18 November. Immediately before his death, Seyt Riza made a speech, in Zazaki (Dimli): I am 75 years old, I am becoming a martyr, I am joining the Kurdistan martyrs. Kurdish youth will get revenge. Down with oppressors! Down with the fickle and liars! (Dersimi, 1988: 299-303). Then, defiant to the end, Seyt Riza put the noose on his own neck, pushed the executioner out of the way and executed himself.

This was the most devastating political defeat until that point for the Turkish Kurmancî Kurds - as well as for the ethnically different Zazas and Kizilbash. The resistance movement of the latter was shattered for the next three decades. Retribution by Turkish forces claimed at least 40,000 Dersimlis, who were deported and massacred following this defeat

Kurdish internally displaced people (IDP) in Turkey

Between 1984 and 1999 the PKK and the Turkish military engaged in open war, and much of the countryside in the southeast was depopulated, with Kurdish civilians moving to local defensible centers such as Diyarbakır, Van, and Şırnak, as well as to the cities of western Turkey and even to western Europe. The causes of the depopulation included PKK atrocities against Kurdish clans they could not control, the poverty of the southeast, and the Turkish state's military operations. Human Rights Watch has documented many instances where the Turkish military forcibly evacuated villages, destroying houses and equipment to prevent the return of the inhabitants. An estimated 3,000 Kurdish villages in Turkey were virtually wiped from the map, representing the displacement of more than 378,000 people.

Leyla Zana

Main article: Leyla Zana

In 1994 Leyla Zana—who, three years prior, had been the first Kurdish woman elected to the Turkish parliament—was sentenced to 15 years for "separatist speech". At her inauguration as an MP, she reportedly identified herself as a Kurd. Amnesty International reported "She took the oath of loyalty in Turkish, as required by law, then added in Kurdish, 'I shall struggle so that the Kurdish and Turkish peoples may live together in a democratic framework.' Parliament erupted with shouts of 'Separatist', 'Terrorist', and 'Arrest her'".

PKK insurgency

Main article: Kurdistan Workers Party

The Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (PKK), also known as KADEK and Kongra-Gel, is a militant organization, dedicated to creating an independent Kurdish state in a territory (sometimes referenced as Kurdistan) that consists of parts of southeastern Turkey, northeastern Iraq, northeastern Syria and northwestern Iran. Its original ideology was based on revolutionary Marxism-Leninism and Kurdish nationalism ( it has since then dropped the Marxist-Leninist ideology ). It is an ethnic secessionist organization using force and threat of force against both civilian and military targets for the purpose of achieving its political goal. The organization was founded in 1973 by Abdullah Öcalan. As of 2006 the United States and the European Union consider PKK and related groups to be terrorist organizations.

Village guards

Main article: Village guards

Village guards militia was set up and armed by the Turkish state around 1984 to combat PKK insurgency. The militia is comprised of local Kurds and it has around 58,000 members. Some of the village guards are fiercely loyal to the Turkish state. The European Commission has described Village Guards as one of the major obstacles to the return of displaced Kurds to their villages. They are despised by many Kurds as traitors. Human rights organizations have also criticized the village guard system for its negative effects in creating an atmosphere of mistrust.

Famous Kurds from Turkey

Main article: List of Kurdish people

• Ahmad Khani
• Malaye Jaziri
• Faqi Tayran
• Jaladat Ali Badirkhan
• Yaşar Kemal
• Yılmaz Güney
• Mehmed Uzun
• İbrahim Tatlıses (Arab father, Kurdish mother)

See also

• Kurds
• Kurdistan
• Roj TV
• Second-class citizen

External links

• Ethnic Differentiation among the Kurds: Kurmancî, Kizilbash and Zaza, By Paul White, Centre for the Study of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Deakin University.
• Encyclopedia Britannica: Persecution of Kurds in Turkey
• The Invisible War in North Kurdistan, Kristiina Koivunen, PhD Thesis, University of Helsinki, ISBN 952-10-0644-7.

Leyla Zana related links:

• [9]
• [10]
• [11]
• [12]

References

• Ihsan Nuri Pasha, La Révolte de L'Agridagh, with a preface by Ismet Cheriff Vanly, Éditions Kurdes, Geneva, 1985. (translated into Turkish: Ağrı Dağı İsyanı, Med Publications, Istanbul, 1992.)
• Olson, R., The Kurdish Rebellions of Sheikh Said (1925), Mt. Ararat (1930), and Dersim (1937-8): Their Impact on the Development of the Turkish Air Force and on Kurdish and Turkish Nationalism, Die Welt des Islam, New Ser., Vol.40, Issue 1, March 2000, pp.67-94.
• Olson, R., The Emergence of Kurdish Nationalism and the Sheikh Said Rebellion, 1880-1925. University of Texas Press, Austin, pp.229, 1989.