Drawing on the study Hay Barperagan Mamulı Kırderi Masin (Kurds in Armenian Periodicals, Bibliography 1850–1920), published in Yerevan in 1980 under the collective editorship of H. Parseghyan, A. Khachaduryan, and Y. Ghazarosyan, we had presented news reports concerning relations among Armenians, Kurds, and the central government in Armenian periodicals, in the form of headlines and summaries, and had also translated some important articles from Armenian into Turkish. Since this work could not be covered in a single week, we decided to turn it into a series, beginning with articles and commentary published in Azadamard, the newspaper of the Dashnaktsutyun party.
We continue with news reports, letters, and commentaries concerning the Kurds published in Azadamard. A significant portion of these publications is devoted to information about Kurdish tribal chiefs, aghas, and beys. Their relationships with one another, their conflicts, their dealings with the government, and, in particular, their fluctuating policies toward Armenians provide noteworthy information.
The news reports also contain numerous accounts of the presence of Kurds across the territories of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, as well as their social, political, and economic lives. We can see that the roots of dozens of Kurdish organizations in the Middle East today extend back to those very years.
The press reflects the view that, behind all this, were armed Kurds who engaged in unrestricted, unauthorized, and unjust practices thanks to their power, caused harm to themselves as well, and therefore needed to be disbanded and disarmed.
As I mentioned before, the term “peace process” in Turkey with Kurdish armed organization, PKK, was the inspiration for this series of articles. A big question had been on my mind. Had a similar process ever taken place in history? Had the laying down of arms and the disarmament of the Kurds ever come onto the agenda? In the 1910 newspaper Azadamard, we read that the government had taken the issue seriously under the headline “The Security of Anatolia, the Disarmament of the Kurds.”
Selections from the newspaper Azadamard
1910, No. 198
A report entitled “Kurdish Tribal Chiefs on the Border.” Other reports address the social and political situation of the Kurds in Turkey, several Kurdish tribal chiefs crossing the Turkish-Iranian border, and clashes between Kurdish and Iranian armed detachments.
1910, No. 208
An article entitled “The Kurdish Danger.” The content concerns the arming of Kurdish tribal chiefs.
1910, No. 215
A report entitled “The Misdeeds of Kurdish Despots.” The content concerns the occupation of Armenian lands in Muş and several villages by Kurdish aghas and beys.
1910, No. 216
A report entitled “Kurdish Movements.” It discusses the spread of preliminary preparations for a Kurdish movement in the provinces of Bitlis and Van under the leadership of Abdullah Kağri, son of Sheikh Ubeydullah.
1910, No. 226
A report entitled “The Activities of Tribal Chiefs” discusses how Kurdish tribal chiefs Haydar Bey, Seyit Ali, Seyit Musa, and others were making preliminary preparations to launch new Kurdish operations.
1910, No. 228
“The Meeting of Kurdish Tribal Chiefs”: The report concerns a meeting of Kurdish tribal chiefs in Varto and its villages aimed at launching new movements against the Turkish government.
1910, No. 230
“Tribal Conspiracies, Traps.” (The phrase “from our special correspondent” has been noted down.) The report discusses meetings held by Kurdish tribes in Bitlis to launch a new Kurdish movement.
1910, No. 232
A report entitled “The Armenian and Kurdish Peoples Cry Out Over the Land Question” discusses a telegram sent to the governorship of Bitlis by 120 Kurds and Armenians in Malazgirt concerning the occupation of their lands.
1910, No. 243
A report entitled “Tribal Terror” concerns the activities of Haydar Beg of Dersim from Kiğı to Kermağ/Kermah (Kemah), as well as the Turkish government's concerns about these activities.
1910, No. 262
A report entitled “Kurdish Movements on the Turkish-Iranian Border” contains details about a Kurdish meeting held on the Turkish-Iranian border under the leadership of Sheikh Abdullah. There is also a separate report entitled “The Question of a New Revolt Beginning.”
1910, No. 262
A report entitled “The Kurdish Laborer Also Protests Against His Own Bey” discusses the social and economic conditions of the Kurds. There is also a report entitled “The Chaos Created by the Kurdish Aghas Hüseyin and Hasan in Sasun.”
1910, No. 266
An article entitled “The Need for Kurdish Literature” discusses Kurdish-Armenian friendship and efforts to create a Kurdish primer using Armenian scripts.
1910, No. 296
A report entitled “The Yazidis Appeal to the Armenian Church” states that 3,000 Yazidis in Diyarbakır had applied to the Armenian Church to convert to Christianity.
1910, No. 317
A report entitled “The Kurdish Laborer Against His Own Aghas” features a letter sent to Azadamard by Kurdish peasants from the village of Şerefkan in Diyarbakır province, describing how they were subjected to oppression by the local administration and Kurdish aghas.
1910, No. 321
Under the headline “Kurds, Turks, and Armenians Protest,” a letter sent to Azadamard by 124 Armenian, Kurdish, and Turkish peasants from the Bayburt region was published, addressing the looting and plundering in the area. Other reports covered the activities of Hacı Süleyman Agha, Kurdish protests against Süleyman Satikh, and protests by residents of Zanpeg village in Eleşkirt against the local administration.
Security of Anatolia : disarmament of the Kurds
(We present an extensive summary of an unsigned analysis published in issue No. 275 of the newspaper Azadamard in 1910.)
The government intends to address the disarmament of the Kurds in Anatolia in a fundamental manner. Resolving this issue had been a necessity for the state more than thirty years earlier; after the new order of July [it refers to the revolution of July 1908], it became an absolute imperative. This necessity was felt not only to protect the lives and livelihoods of peaceful people but also to reform and civilize this unruly element. The interests of the Kurdish people themselves also require that the remaining weapons finally be collected, for unless this measure is taken, they are doomed to remain a calamity for their own people.
It is possible to assume that the right to existence of menacing people, of destructive and demolishing elements automatically vanishes. It is therefore believed that all educated Kurdish individuals, whether employed in the civil service or serving in the army, in Istanbul or in the provinces, are obliged, in the name of the highest national interests of their own people, to support this government initiative and open a new era of life and constructive work for the Kurdish population of Anatolia. The medieval age, when gangs armed to the teeth, looting, destruction, and wars were everyday occurrences, has long ended for all nations, whether in Europe, Asia, or even the depths of Africa. Today, a people with a purpose in life can rely not on destruction but on the tools of labor; yet a significant portion of the Kurdish population neither possesses these tools nor is accustomed to them.
“A source of calamity for Kurdish peasants, too”
The greater misfortune is that these Kurdish hit-and-run tribes, nomadic and conducive to idleness, are just as much a source of calamity for the Kurdish peasant population working in the plains as they are for the Armenian working population.
The Kurdish peasant is a complete slave to the aghas and the wretched feudal order created by these aghas. The sword of their own national aghas weighs just as heavily on the necks and shoulders of Kurdish peasants. The unarmed peasant has no guarantee of either the fruits of his labor or his dignity. The most powerful tyrant agha has paralyzed the arms of both Armenian and Kurdish laborers; by sucking the blood of others, he has turned these provinces, which could flourish again tomorrow and become a paradise, into hell. Yet all that is needed is to compel the Kurd to return his sword to its scabbard.
Raison d'etre of the state
The general disarmament program may be regarded as the smartest reform for Anatolia to be implemented by the constitutional regime; the only regret is that it has been delayed for so long. Only through this decisive measure will the executive be able to put an end to the feudal order and eliminate this unlawful and tyrannical system known as a “state within a state.” In this way, it will both guarantee the right of peaceful people to life, security, and development and direct Kurdish plunderers toward society and honest, gainful labor.
We hope that from the day the government pursues this objective with a firm will and prohibits the use of weapons and the movement of Kurdish bandits, whether alone or in groups, through the harshest measures and penalties, a fatal blow will be given to the influence of the many notorious criminals operating under one name or another.
A disarmament program can achieve its desired results only under one condition: that its implementation be pursued resolutely and accompanied by impartial cooperation.
