History of the Kurdish people
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The history of the Kurds stretches from ancient times to the present day. The Kurds are an Iranian ethnolinguistic group inhabiting the mountainous areas of the northern Middle East (Zagros and Taurus mountain ranges), a geographical area collectively referred to as Kurdistan. This area covers northern Iraq, northwestern Iran, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey. Kurds are also found in southwestern Armenia and an enclave in Azerbaijan (Kalbajar and Lachin, to the west of Nagorno Karabakh). They are also found in northeastern Iran in Khorasan. The Kurds speak the Kurdish language.
[edit] Origins
With regard to the origin of the Kurds, it was formerly considered sufficient to describe them as the descendants of the Carduchi, who opposed the retreat of the Ten Thousand through the mountains in the 4th century BC. Modern research traces them far beyond the period of the ancient Greeks [1]. However, there is evidence of more ancient settlements in the region of Kurdistan. The earliest known evidence of a unified and distinct culture (and possibly, ethnicity) by people inhabiting the Kurdish mountains dates back to the Halaf culture of 6,000 BC to 5,400 BC. This was followed by the spread of the Ubaidian culture, which was a foreign introduction from Mesopotamia. In 1927, Ephraim Speiser discovered remains of ancient Halaf and Ubaid settlements in Tepe Gewre (Great Mound) 24 km northeast of Mosul. These settlements date back to between the 5th and 2nd millennium B.C., and include 24 levels of civilizations including Halaf and Ubaid. This site includes an acropolis with monumental remains and fine architecture [2].
In their own histories, they are proud to mention the Hurrian period in the mid third millennium BC as the earliest well documented period. The 3rd millennium was the time of the Guti and Hattians. The 2nd and 1st millennium BC were the time of the Kassites, Mitanni, Mannai (Mannaeans), Urartu, and Mushku. All of these peoples shared a common identity and spoke one language or closely related languages or dialects. These groups are thought to have been non-Indo-Europeans, apart from the original [Mitanni]] leadership. Kurds consider themselves to be Indo-European as well as descendants of the above groups. According to the Encyclopaedia Kurdistanica, Kurds are the descendants of all those who have historically settled in Kurdistan, not of any one particular group. A people such as the Guti (Kurti), Mede, (Mard) Carduchi, (Gordyene), Adiabene, Zila and Khaldi signify not the ancestor of the Kurds but only one ancestor [3].
[edit] Hurrian Period
The Hurrian period lasted from possibly as long ago as 4,300 BC, until about 600 BC. The Hurrian language was similar to later Urartean, and perhaps distantly related to the Northeast Caucasian family of languages (or Alarodian), and kin to modern Chechen and Lezgian. The Hurrians spread far and wide, dominating much territory outside their Zagros-Taurus mountain base. Like their Kurdish descendants, they did not expand very far from the mountains. Their intrusions into the neighboring plains of Mesopotamia and the Iranian Plateau were primarily military annexations with little population settlement. The Hurrians (whose name may be seen today in the dialect and district of Hawraman in Kurdistan) were divided into many clans and subgroups, who set up city-states, kingdoms, and empires known today after their respective clan names. The major peoples in the mountain region during this era (some of whom spoke languages known to be unrelated to Hurrian) included the Gutis, Kurti, Khaldi, Mards, Mushku, Manna (Mannaeans), Hatti, Mittanni, Urartu, and the Kassites, to name just a few [4].
[edit] Indo-European Migration
By about 2,000 BC, the first vanguard of the Indo-European-speaking peoples were trickling into the present-day Kurdish areas in limited numbers and settling there. They formed the aristocracy of the Mittani and Hittite kingdoms, while the common peoples there remained solidly Hurrian and Hattian, respectively. [5] By about 1,000 BC, the trickle had turned into a flood, and Indo-Europeans quickly outnumbered the Hurrians. Medes, Scythians and Sagarthians are the better-known clans of the Indo-European-speaking Aryans who settled in the area. By about 600 BC, the Medes had set up an empire that included all of the present-day Kurdish areas and vast territories far beyond. By 1200 BCE, Medes conquered Hurrian cities and by 850 BCE, the old language of the Kurds (probably from a Dene-Caucasian family) had changed to Indo-European.[6]
In the earliest recorded history, the mountains overhanging Assyria were held by a people named Gutii, a title which signified "a warrior", and which was rendered in Assyrian by the synonym of Gardu or Kardu, the precise term quoted by Strabo to explain the name of the Cardaces.[7] These Gutii were a tribe of such power as to be placed in the early Cuneiform records on an equality with the other nations of western Asia, including Syrians and Hittites, the Susians, Elamites, and Akkadians of Babylonia; and during the enitre period of the Assyrian Empire, the Gutii seem to have preserved a more-or-less independent political position.
After the fall of Nineveh, the Gutii coalesced with the Medes and, along with all the nations inhabiting the high plateaus of Asia Minor, Armenia and Persia, became gradually Aryanised, owing to the immigration of tribes in overwhelming numbers who, from whatever quarter they may have sprung, belonged certainly to the Aryan family. [8]
The first records of the name Kurd appeared in Assyrian documents around 1000 BCE. Assyrians called the people living in Mt. Azu or Hizan (near Lake Van) by the name Kurti (Kurd). Classical histories of Polybios(133 BCE) and Strabo(48 CE) used the name Kurts.[9] The last emperor of the Medes, Rishti Vega-Azhi Dahak (Astyages), killed Zoroaster, ruled his followers, and overthrew Vishtaspa (Hystaspes). His army reached the southwest of Afghanistan. During that attack, the army of the Medes inflicted cruelties on Zoroastrians. [10]
Modern historical research indicates that Kurds who migrated to present-day Balochistan during Median empire, did not return back to Kurdistan but rather stayed in Balochistan and later became known as Balochis.[citation needed] The Balochi language is closely linked to Kurdish.
[edit] Achaemenid, Greek, Parthian and Sassanid Rule
The Gutii or Kurdu were reduced to subjection by Cyrus before he descended upon Babylon, and, having furnished a contingent of fighting men to his successors, were mentioned under the names of "Saspirians" and "Alarodians" in the muster roll of the army of Xerxes preserved by Herodotus.
Although the Carduchi were subjugated by Cyrus, but they frequently rebelled against the Achaemenids and by the end of the 5th century BCE, during the reign of Artaxerxes II, they were no longer under Persian control. According to Xenophon, Carduchis even defeated a large Persian army sent against them and at times concluded treaties with Persian satraps. In 401, the 10,000 Greek mercenaries of Cyrus the Younger fought their way across the Carduchi's territory[11].
In later times they passed successively under the sway of the Macedonians, the Parthians, and Sassanids. They were befriended by the Arsacid monarchs. Gotarzes, whose name may perhaps be translated chief of the Gutii, is traditionally believed to be the founder of the Gurans, the principal tribe of southern Kurdistan. His name and titles are preserved in a Greek inscription at Behistun near the Kurdish city of Kermanshah [12]. (For a map of the region during the Parthian era see: [13])
[edit] Kurds in the Seleucid Period
During the Seleucid/Macedonian period, at least one major episode of resettlement of Kurds into western and southwestern Anatolia can be historically evidenced. The episode unfold sometimes before 181 BC when a large number of Cardaces are brought to settle in the strategic region of Lycia as a reservoir for military conscript and frontier guardsmen. It is likely that it was the Seleucids who settled these Kurds in Lycia for the stated military purposes (against the Romans), possibly in the last decades of the 3rd century BC. For the year 190 BC, the Roman historian Livy records the presence of several thousand Kurdish soldiers fighting in the army of Antiochus III. The name "Cardaces" or "Cardacian" appears again in the Battle of Rhaphia in Palestine in spring of 217 BC between the Seleucid King Antiochus III the Great and King Ptolemy IV Philopator of Egypt [14], [15].
[edit] Kurds in the Sassanid Period
A very early record of confrontation between Kurds and Sassanid Empire appears in a historical text named Book of the Deeds of Ardashir son of Babak. In this book, the author explains the battle between Ardashir I and Madig king of the Kurds in the early 3rd century. Ardashir killed one thousand of the Kurds, while others were wounded and taken prisoners; and out of the Kurds that were imprisoned, he sent to Pars their king with his sons, brothers, children, his abundant wealth and property [16]. This battle has also been reported by the Persian poet Firdawsi in his epic Shahnama (Volume 6, Chapters 61,71,72), in which the name of the Kurdish King appears as Mádík [17],[18],[19].
In the spring of 360, Shapur II captured the city of Sangara (probably modern Shingar or Sinjar north-west of Mosul). From Singara, Shapur proceeded to attack the strong fort known indifferently as Phoenica or Bezabde on the east bank of the Tigris. It may be considered the representative of the modern Jezireh (Cizre in south-eastern Turkey). It was much valued by Rome, was fortified in places with a double wall, and was guarded by three legions and a large body of Kurdish archers. After a long siege, the wall was at last breached, the city taken, and its defenders indiscriminately massacred [20].
Some Middle Persian sources suggest Kurdish deportations, particularly in the later Sassanid era. In addition to the deportation of a number of the Barzanis to the province of Carmania (modern Kerman), the Baluchis were forced en masse into the far-off volcanic wastes of Makran (now Balochistan) by Chosroes I Anoshervan (Khosrau I) (r. 531-579) and Chosroes II Aparviz (Khosrau II) (r. 591-628). The Sassanids further resettled the Kirkuk region with Neo-Elamite Khuzis from Mishan/Maysan region several times during the course of the third century AD [21].
[edit] Adiabene Dynasty
The illustrious Kurdish royal house of Adiabene, with Arbil as its capital, was converted to Judaism in the course of the 1st century BC, along with, it appears, a large number of Kurdish citizens in the kingdom (see Irbil/Arbil in Encyclopaedia Judaica). The name of the Kurdish King Monobazes, his queen Helena, and his son and successor Izates (derived from yazata, "angel"), are preserved as the first proselytes of this royal house. In fact during the Roman conquest of Judea and Samaria (68-67), it was only Kurdish Adiabene that sent provisions and troops to the rescue of the besieged Galilee, an inexplicable act if Adiabene was not already Jewish [22], [23]. According to Vladimir Minorsky, Hadhbani Kurds have been named after Adiabene [24].
[edit] Kurdish vassals of the Roman Empire
The Zelan Kurdish clan of Commagene (Adiyaman area), spread to establish in addition to the Zelanid dynasty of Commagene, the Zelanid kingdom of Cappadocia and the Zelanid empire of Pontus, all in Anatolia. These became Roman vassals by the end of the first century BC. Also the Kurdish Kingdom of Corduene became a province of the Roman Empire in 66 BC and was under Roman control for four centuries until 384 AD. In the east the Kurdish kingdoms of Cortea, Media, Kirm, and Adiabene had, by the first century BC, become confederate members of the Parthian Federation[25].
[edit] Kurds under Arab Rule
The eclipse of the Sasanian and Byzantine power by the Muslim caliphate, and its own subsequent weakening, let the Kurdish principalities and "mountain administrators" set up new independent states. The Shaddadids of the Caucasus and Armenia, the Rawadids of Azerbaijan, the Marwandis of eastern Anatolia, the Hasanwayhids, Fadhilwayhids, and Ayyarids of the central Zagros are some of the these Kurdish dynasties.
Under the caliphs of Baghdad the Kurds were always giving trouble in one quarter or another. In 838, and again in 905, formidable insurrections occurred in northern Kurdistan; the amir, Aqpd-addaula, was obliged to lead the forces of the caliphate against the southern Kurds, capturing the famous fortress of Sermaj, whose ruins are to be seen at the present day near Behistun, and reducing the province of Shahrizor with its capital city now marked by the great mound of Yassin Teppeh. One of the very well known Kurdish scientists, Al-Dinawari (828 - 889), from Dinawar near Kermanshah, lived in this period. He has written a book about the ancestry of the Kurds.
[edit] Medieval Kurdish States
In 837, the Kurdish lord Rozeguite, founded the town of Akhlat on the banks of Lake Van and made it the capital of his principality, theoretically vassal of the caliph, but in actual fact virtually independent. In the second half of the 10th century, Kurdistan was shared amongst five big Kurdish principalities. In the North the Shaddadid (951-1174) (in parts of Armenia and Arran) and Rawadid (955-1221) in Tabriz and Maragheh, in the East the Hasanwayhids (959-1015) and the Annazid (990-1117) (in Kermanshah, Dinawar and Khanaqin) and in the West the Marwanid (990-1096) of Diyarbakir. Remnants of the Shaddadid Kurds are found nowadays in the Kalbajar and Lachin regions of Azarbaijan, between Nagorno Karabakh and Armenia.
One of these dynasties would have been able, during the decades, to impose its supremacy on the others and build a state incorporating the whole Kurdish country if the course of history had not been disrupted by the massive invasions of tribes surging out of the steppes of Central Asia. Having conquered Iran and imposed their yoke on the caliph of Baghdad, the Seljuk Turks annexed the Kurdish principalities one by one. Around 1150, Ahmed Sanjar, the last of the great Seljuk monarchs, created a province out of these lands and called it Kurdistan. The province of Kurdistan, formed by Sanjar, had as its capital the village Bahar (which means "spring"), near ancient Ecbatana (Hamadan), capital of the Medes. It included the vilayets of Sinjar and Shahrazur to the west of the Zagros mountain range and those of Hamadan, Dinawar and Kermanshah to the east of this range. A brilliant autochthonous civilization developed around the town of Dinawar (today ruined), located 75km North-East of Kermanshah, whose radiance was than partially replaced by that of Senna, 90km further North [26]
Marco Polo (1254 – 1324), famous for the first “world trip”, met Kurds in Mosul on his way to China, and he wrote what he had learned about Kurdistan and the Kurds to enlighten his European contemporaries. The Italian Kurdologist Mirella Galetti, sorted these writings which were translated into Kurdish [27].
[edit] The Ayyubid Period
The most flourishing period of Kurdish power was probably during the 12th century, when the great Saladin, who belonged to the Rawendi branch of the Hadabani(or Adiabene) tribe, founded the Ayyubite (1171-1250) dynasty of Syria, and Kurdish chieftainhips were established, not only to the east and west of the Kurdistan mountains, but as far as Khorasan upon one side and Egypt and Yemen on the other.
[edit] The Period of Mongols, Timur, Karakoyunlu and Akkoyunlu
The Mongols devastated the Kurdish areas in 13th century. Hulagu's Army eliminated many Kurdish tribal chiefs. In 14th century, Timur conquered most of Kurdistan and devastated Kurdish tribes. In fifteenth century, Karakoyunlu rulers helped Kurdish chieftains to recover their lost influence. However, when the Akkoyunlu dynasty defeated the Karakoyunlu, Kurdish tribes were persecuted. The Akkoyunlu exterminated many notable ruling Kurdish families and appointed their own governors in their place [28].
[edit] Kurdish Principalities after the Mongol Period
After the Mongol period, Kurds established several independent states or principalities such as Ardalan, Badinan, Baban, Soran, Hakkari and Badlis. A comprehensive history of these states and their relationship with their neighbors is given in the famous textbook of "Sharafnama" written by Prince Sharaf al-Din Biltisi in 1597 [29]. The most prominent among these was Ardalan which was established in early 14th century. The state of Ardalan controlled the territories of Zardiawa (Karadagh), Khanaqin, Kirkuk, Kifri, and Hawraman. The capital city of the state was first in Sharazour in Iraqi Kurdistan, but was moved to Sinne (in Iran) later on. The Ardalan Dynasty continued to rule the region until the Qajar monarch Nasser-al-Din Shah(1848-1896) ended their rule in 1867. From 1750 to 1794 Zand dynasty of Kurds ruled southern and central Iran.
[edit] Ottoman and Safavid Periods
During the years 1506-1510, Yazidi Kurds revolted against Shah Ismail I. Their leader, Shir Sarim, was defeated and captured in a bloody battle wherein several important officers of Shah Ismail lost their lives. The Kurdish prisoners were put to death "with torments worse than which there may not be" [30].
When Sultan Selim I, after defeating Shah Ismail I in 1514, annexed Armenia and Kurdistan, he entrusted the organisation of the conquered territories to Idris, the historian, who was a Kurd of Bitlis. He divided the territory into sanjaks or districts, and, making no attempt to interfere with the principle of heredity, installed the local chiefs as governors. He also resettled the rich pastoral country between Erzerum and Erivan, which had lain waste since the passage of Timur, with Kurds from the Hakkari and Bohtan districts.
[edit] Forced Deportation of the Kurds
Removal of the population from along their borders with the Ottomans in Kurdistan and the Caucasus was of strategic importance to the Safavids. Hundreds of thousands of Kurds, along with large groups of Armenians, Assyrians, Azeris, and Turkmens, were forcibly removed from the border regions and resettled in the interior of Persia. As the borders moved progressively eastward, as the Ottomans pushed deeper into the Persian domains, entire Kurdish regions of Anatolia were at one point or another exposed to horrific acts of despoilation and deportation. These began under the reign of the Safavid Shah Tahmasp I (ruled 1524-1576). Between 1534 and 1535, Tahmasp began the systematic destruction of the old Kurdish cities and the countryside. When retreating before the Ottoman army, Tahmasp ordered the destruction of crops and settlements of all sizes, driving the inhabitants before him into Azerbaijan, from where they were later transferred permanently, nearly 1000 miles east, into Khurasan. Some Kurdish tribes were deported even farther east, into Gharjistan in the Hindu Kush mountains of present day Afghanistan, about 1500 miles away from their homes in western Kurdistan.
The magnitude of Safavid destruction can be glimpsed through the works of the Safavid court historians. One of these, Iskandar Bayg Munshi, describing just one episode, writes in the Alam-ara ye Abbasi that Shah Abbas I, in furthering the scorched earth policy of his predecessors, set upon the country north of the Araxes and west of Urmia, and between Kars and Lake Van, which he commanded to be laid waste and the population of the countryside and the entire towns rounded up and led out of harm's way. Resistance was met "with massacres and mutilation; all immovable propertyhouses, churches, mosques, crops ... were destroyed, and the whole horde of prisoners was hurried southeast before the Ottomans should counterattack". Many of these Kurds ended up in Khurasan, but many others were scattered into the Alburz mountains, central Persia, and even Balochistan. They became the nucleus of several modern Kurdish enclaves outside Kurdistan proper, in Iran and Turkmenistan. On one occasion Abbas I is said to have intended to transplant 40,000 Kurds to northern Khorasan but to have succeeded in deporting only 15,000 before his troops were defeated [31],[32].
Following the Battle of Chalderan, Sultan Selim I (the Grim), deported several populous Kurdish tribes into central Anatolia, south of modern Ankara. In their place, he settled a few, more loyal, Turkmen tribes. While the deported Kurds became the nucleus of the modern central Anatolian Kurdish enclave, the Turkmen tribes in Kurdistan eventually assimilated [33].
[edit] Battle of Dimdim
There is a well documented historical account of a long battle in 1609-1610 between Kurds and the Safavid Empire. The battle took place around a fortress called "Dimdim" (DimDim) in Beradost region around Lake Urmia in northwestern Iran. In 1609, the ruined structure was rebuilt by "Emîr Xan Lepzêrîn" (Golden Hand Khan), ruler of Beradost, who sought to maintain the independence of his expanding principality in the face of both Ottoman and Safavid penetration into the region. Rebuilding Dimdim was considered a move toward independence that could threaten Safavid power in the northwest. Many Kurds, including the rulers of Mukriyan (Mahabad), rallied around Amir Khan. After a long and bloody siege led by the Safavid grand vizier Hatem Beg, which lasted from November 1609 to the summer of 1610, Dimdim was captured. All the defenders were massacred. Shah Abbas ordered a general massacre in Beradost and Mukriyan (reported by Eskandar Beg Turkoman, Safavid Historian in the Book Alam Aray-e Abbasi) and resettled the Turkish Afshar tribe in the region while deporting many Kurdish tribes to Khorasan. Although Persian historians (like Eskandar Beg ) depicted the first battle of Dimdim as a result of Kurdish mutiny or treason, in Kurdish oral traditions (Beytî dimdim), literary works (Dzhalilov, pp. 67-72), and histories, it was treated as a struggle of the Kurdish people against foreign domination. In fact, Beytî dimdim is considered a national epic second only to Mem û Zîn by Ehmedê Xanî (Ahmad Khani). The first literary account of this battle is written by Faqi Tayran [34], [35],[36].
[edit] Modern History of the Kurds
The system of administration introduced by Idris remained unchanged until the close of the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-29. But the Kurds, owing to the remoteness of their country from the capital and the decline of Turkey, had greatly increased in influence and power, and had spread westwards over the country as far as Angora.
After the war the Kurds tried to free themselves from Turkish control, and in 1834, after the Bedirkhan clan uprising, it became necessary to reduce them to subjection. This was done by Reshid Pasha. The principal towns were strongly garrisoned, and many of the Kurd beys were replaced by Turkish governors. A rising under Bedr Khan Bey in 1843 was firmly repressed, and after the Crimean War the Turks strengthened their hold on the country.
[edit] Bedr Khan of Botan
The modernizing and centralizing efforts of Sultan Mahmud II, antagonized Kurdish feudal chiefs. As a result two powerful Kurdish families rebelled against the Ottomans in 1830. Bedr Khan of Botan rose up in the west of Kurdistan, around Diyarbakir, and Muhammad Pasha of Rawanduz rebelled in the east and established his authority in Mosul and Erbil. At this time, Turkish troops were preoccupied with invading Egyptian troops in Syria and were unable to suppress the revolt. As a result, Bedr Khan extended his authority to Diyarbakir, Siverik (Siverek), Veransher (Viranşehir), Sairt (Siirt), Sulaimania and Sauj Bulaq (Mahabad). He established a Kurdish state in these regions until 1845. He struck his own coins, and his name was included in Friday sermons. In 1847, the Turkish forces turned their attention toward this area, and defeated Bedr Khan and exiled him to Crete. He was later allowed to return to Damascus, where he lived until his death in 1868. After him, there were further revolts in 1850 and 1852 [37].
[edit] Shaikh Ubaidullah's Revolt and Armenians
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 Turkey. The attempt, at first encouraged by the Porte, 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. 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.
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. Minor disturbances constantly occurred, and were soon followed by the massacre of Armenians at Sasun and other places, 1894 - 1896, in which the Kurds took an active part. Some of the separatist Kurds, aimed to establish a separate Kurdish state.
[edit] After World War I
Some of the Kurdist groups sought self-determination and the championing in the Treaty of Sèvres of Kurdish autonomy in the aftermath of World War I, but the Turkish resurgence under Kemal Atatürk prevented such a result. Kurds backed by the United Kingdom declared independence in 1927 and established so-called Republic of Ararat. Turkey suppressed Kurdist revolts in 1925, 1930, and 1937 - 1938, while Iran did the same in the 1920s. A short-lived Soviet-sponsored Kurdish Republic of Mahabad in Iran, did not long outlast World War II.
When Ba'athist administrators thwarted Kurdish nationalist ambitions in Iraq, war broke out in the 1960s. In 1970 the Kurds rejected limited territorial self-rule within Iraq, demanding larger areas including the oil-rich Kirkuk region.
- For more recent Kurdish history see Kurds, Iranian Kurdistan, Turkish Kurdistan, Iraqi Kurdistan, Kurds in Turkey and Kurds in Syria.
- This article uses text from 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
[edit] See also
- Corduene
- Shaddadid
- Marwanid
- Annazid
- Ayyubids
- Ardalan
- Republic of Ararat
- Republic of Mahabad
- Kingdom of Kurdistan
- Kurdistan
- Kurdish
- Kurds
- Turkish Kurdistan
- Iranian Kurdistan
- Timeline of the Kurdish uprising
[edit] References
- ^ [1]
- ^ Tepe Gewre, The Columbia Encyclopaedia, Sixth Edition.
- ^ [2]
- ^ [3]
- ^ [4]
- ^ A. Arnaiz-Villena, J. Martinez-Laso and J. Alonso-Garcia, The correlation Between Languages and Genes: The Usko-Mediterranean Peoples, Human Immunology, Vol. 62, p.1057, 2001.
- ^ [5]
- ^ [6]
- ^ A. Arnaiz-Villena, J. Martinez-Laso and J. Alonso-Garcia, The correlation Between Languages and Genes: The Usko-Mediterranean Peoples, Human Immunology, Vol. 62, p.1057, 2001.
- ^ [7]
- ^ Carduchi, Encyclopaedia Iranica
- ^ [8]
- ^ [9]
- ^ [10]
- ^ The Seleucid Army: Organization and Tactics in the Great Campaigns, by Bezalel Bar-Kochva, Cambridge University Press, 1976, ISBN 0-521-20667-7, p.50 [11]
- ^ [12] (Chapter 5)
- ^ [13]
- ^ [14]
- ^ [15]
- ^ [16]
- ^ [17]
- ^ [18]
- ^ [19]
- ^ V. Minrosky, Roman and Byzantine Campaigns in Atropatene, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1944, p.244.
- ^ [20]
- ^ [21]
- ^ [22], p.55
- ^ H. Ozoglu, State-Tribe Relations: Kurdish Tribalism in the 16th and 17th Century Ottoman Empire, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 1996, p.11
- ^ [23]
- ^ [24]
- ^ [25]
- ^ John Perry, Forced Migration in Iran During the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, Iranian Studies, VIII-4, 1975.
- ^ [26]
- ^ [27]
- ^ ISBN 0-89158-296-7
- ^ O. Dzh. Dzhalilov, Kurdski geroicheski epos "Zlatoruki Khan" (The Kurdish heroic epic "Gold-hand Khan"), Moscow, 1967, pp. 5-26, 37-39, 206.
- ^ W. G. Elphinston, The Kurdish Question, Journal of International Affairs, Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1946, p.93
[edit] External links
- Kurdistan in 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Sharafnama, History of the Kurdish Nation
- History of the Kurds, Encyclopaedia Kurdistanica
- Kurds and Kurdistan, Encyclopaedia of Islam
- Deportations & Forced Resettlements (of Kurds), Ecyclopaedia Kurdistanica
- The First Documented Resettlement of Kurds into Western and Southwestern Anatolia circa 181 BC, Mehrdad Izady.
- A Brief Survey of the History of the Kurds, by Kendal Nezan, President of the Kurdish Institute of Paris.
- Yezidism: historical roots, International Journal of Kurdish Studies, January 2005.
- The forced conversion of the Jewish community of Persia and the beginnings of the Kurds
- History of Judaism in Kurdistan
- Kurdish Institut Kurdish language, history, books and latest news articles.
- Battle of DimDim in Encyclopaedia Iranica
- Deportations, part III. In the Islamic Period, Encyclopaedia Iranica.
![[9]](http://www.livius.org/a/1/maps/parthia_map.jpg){kind=link}