Narratives Of The History Of The Ottoman Kurdish Bedirhani Family In Imperial And Post Imperial Contexts

This book focuses on the rise of Kurdish nationalism in northwestern Iran in the context of the emergence of the Kurdish leader, Ismail Agha Simko, who organized a movement to establish a Kurdish state between 1918 and 1922 The rise of Simko is analyzed in the historical framework of the collapse of the Russian and Ottoman empires, as well as the disappearance of Iranian governmental authority in various provinces of the country during and after the end of the First World War. The book also investigates the impact of Iranian, Turkish, and Assyrian nationalisms on Simko and his movement. Drawing upon original documents, the author provides an in-depth analysis of the political, and socio-economic causes for the rise of proto-Kurdish nationalism in northwestern Iran during and after the Great War.

This book explores the decision by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in 1924 to abolish the caliphate. The Ottoman sultans had long borne the title of caliphs of Islam, with all the prestigious authority throughout the Muslim world that went with it, and in the aftermath of the First World War the caliphate still retained great symbolic relevance.The book considers the questions that arose with its abolition, including whether or not the caliphate should be revived, reformed or replaced by other forms of political affiliation and organization. It also assesses more general issues concerning identity and legitimate authority, and how to reconcile time-honoured religious institutions and concepts with modernity, the nation-state and affiliations of an ethnic and religious nature. The book additionally addresses the debates within the pan-Islamic congresses concerning the fate of the caliphate, and the implications of its abolition for Kurdish–Turkish relations and for the British and French Empires with their large Muslim populations.

David McDowall's ground-breaking history of the Kurds from the 19th century to the present day documents the underlying dynamics of the Kurdish question. The division of the Kurdish people among the modern nation states of Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran and their struggle for national rights continues to influence the politics of the Middle East. Drawing extensively on primary sources - including documents from The National Archive and interviews with prominent Kurds - the book examines the interplay of old and new aspects of the struggle, the importance of local rivalries and leadership within Kurdish society, and the failure of modern states to respond to the challenge of Kurdish nationalism. In this new and revised edition, McDowall also analyses the momentous transformations affecting Kurdish socio-politics in the last 20 years. With updates throughout and substantial new material included, this fourth edition of the book reflects the developments in the field and the areas which have gained importance and understanding. This includes new analysis of the Kurdish experience in Syria; the role of political Islam in Kurdish society and Kurds' involvement in Islamist Jihad; and issues surrounding women and gender that were previously overlooked, from the impact of the women's equality movement to how patriarchal practices within the Kurdish community still limit its progress. The foundation text for Kurdish Studies, this book highlights in detail the changing situation of the Kurds across the Middle East.

Losing Istanbul offers an intimate history of empire, following the rise and fall of a generation of Arab-Ottoman imperialists living in Istanbul. Mostafa Minawi shows how these men and women negotiated their loyalties and guarded their privileges through a microhistorical study of the changing social, political, and cultural currents between 1878 and the First World War. He narrates lives lived in these turbulent times—the joys and fears, triumphs and losses, pride and prejudices—while focusing on the complex dynamics of ethnicity and race in an increasingly Turco-centric imperial capital. Drawing on archival records, newspaper articles, travelogues, personal letters, diaries, photos, and interviews, Minawi shows how the loyalties of these imperialists were questioned and their ethnic identification weaponized. As the once diverse empire comes to an end, they are forced to give up their home in the imperial capital. An alternative history of the last four decades of the Ottoman Empire, Losing Istanbul frames global pivotal events through the experiences of Arab-Ottoman imperial loyalists who called Istanbul home, on the eve of a vanishing imperial world order.

This book focuses on the AKP government since 2002 during which time the state’s approach to the Kurdish Question has undergone several changes. Examining what preceded and followed the failed putsch of 2016, it explains and critiques that situates the Kurdish Question in its broader context. It stands out with the main objective to avoid any ‘policy-oriented bias’ through an interdisciplinary and multi-thematic approach. The volume discusses the state and policies in the Kurdish region of Turkey, as well as counter-hegemonic discourses that seek to reform existing institutions. Some chapters focus on the domestic aspects and gender perspectives of the Kurdish Question in Turkey, which focus has been taken over by recent developments in Syria and the Middle East in general. Other chapters include a range of new aspects of Turkish society and politics, and the international aspects of Ankara’s policies and its implications not only inside Turkey but also internationally. Taking both domestic and foreign policy aspects into account, the book offers a set of innovative explanations for the state of crisis in Turkey and a solid basis for thinking about the likely path forward. Scholars, researchers and post-graduates, interested in political theory, Kurdish and Middle East politics will find this book invaluable.

This volume, Minority Self-Government in Europe and theMiddle East: From Theory to Practice, is novel from several perspectives. It combines theory with facts on the ground, going beyond legal perspectives without neglecting existing laws and their implementation.

Amid the tensions and uncertainties that plagued the globe before the Second World War, the Republic of Turkey appeared to many as a unique and constructive model for how a state was to be reformed and governed in the modern era. For many interwar observers, Turkey was a country that seemed to have radically transformed itself into a nation that was united, strong, and progressive, one that was unburdened by its past. A general consensus held that Turkey's founding president, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, was the chief architect and engineer of this feat, a belief that placed him among the greatest reforming statesmen in world history. This general perception of Atatürk and his revolutionary rule has largely endured to this day. As a study grounded in largely untapped archival and scholarly sources, Eternal Dawn presents a definitive look inside the development and evolution of Atatürk's Turkey. Rather than presenting the country's founding and transformation as an extension of Mustafa Kemal's life and achievements, scholar Ryan Gingeras presents Turkey's early years as the culmination of a variety of social and political forces dating back to the late Ottoman Empire. Eternal Dawn presses beyond the reigning mythology that still envelops this period and challenges many of the standing assumptions about the limits, successes, and consequences of the reforms that comprised Mustafa Kemal's revolution. Through a detailed survey of social and political conditions that defined life in the capital as well as Turkey's diverse provinces, Gingeras lays bare many of the harsh realities and bitter legacies incurred as a result of the republic's establishment and transformation. Atatürk's revolution, upon final analysis, destroyed as much as it built, and established precedents that both strengthen and torment the country to this day.