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== History == |
== History == |
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[[File:Map showing approximate distribution of Kurdish tribes in the Ottoman Empire - Mark Sykes, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Society, 1908, p. 452.png|thumb|Map by [[Mark Sykes]] showing the approximate distribution of Kurdish tribes in the Ottoman Empire in 1908]]The late 19th-century ''[[Chambers's Encyclopaedia]]'' referred to "west Kurdistan" as bordering Iran in its entry on that country.<ref>{{Cite book|last=|first=|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=InxRAAAAYAAJ|title=Chambers's Encyclopædia|publisher=William & Robert Chambers|year=1890|isbn=|edition=New|volume=VI: Humber to Malta|location=London and Edinburgh|pages=197|language=en}}</ref> A German [[Gymnasium (Germany)|''gymnasium'']] text book from Sorau (modern [[Żary]]) describes [[Diyarbakır]] as being "on the upper Tigris, in West Kurdistan".<ref>{{Cite book|last=|first=|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=gmtnAAAAcAAJ|title=Programm des Gymnasiums zu Sorau: 1875/76|date=|publisher=|year=1876|isbn=|location=|pages=|language=de}}</ref> {{Interlanguage link|Amand von Schweiger-Lerchenfeld|lt=|de||WD=}}, who travelled over much of the [[Ottoman Empire]], also referred to "West Kurdistan" in his ''Der Orient'' of 1882,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Schweiger-Lerchenfeld|first=Amand von|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=CRAZAAAAYAAJ|title=Der Orient|publisher=Hartleben|year=1882|isbn=|location=Vienna|pages=301|language=de}}</ref> while {{Interlanguage link|Daniel Völter (Geograph)|lt=Daniel Völter|de||WD=}}, in his ''Allgemeine Erdbeschreibung'', also mentioned "West Kurdistan" in 1848.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Völter|first=Daniel|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=FfJaAAAAQAAJ|title=Allgemeine Erdbeschreibung|publisher=Dannheimer|year=1848|isbn=|volume=I|location=|pages=298-301, 309|language=de}}</ref> "West Kurdistan" was referred to by [[Mark Sykes]] in his 1908 paper in the ''[[Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute]]'' as being in part of Kurdistan conquered by [[Selim I]] ({{Reign|1512|1520}}).<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Sykes|first=Mark|date=1908|title=The Kurdish Tribes of the Ottoman Empire|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2843309|journal=The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland|volume=38|pages=451–486|doi=10.2307/2843309|issn=0307-3114}}</ref>{{Rp|470}} Sykes, having undertaken a {{Convert|7500|mile|km|abbr=|adj=on}} journey through the Ottoman Empire, published one of first surveys in English on the Kurdish tribes.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|451}} |
[[File:Map showing approximate distribution of Kurdish tribes in the Ottoman Empire - Mark Sykes, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Society, 1908, p. 452.png|thumb|Map by [[Mark Sykes]] showing the approximate distribution of Kurdish tribes in the Ottoman Empire in 1908]]The late 19th-century ''[[Chambers's Encyclopaedia]]'' referred to "west Kurdistan" as bordering Iran in its entry on that country.<ref>{{Cite book|last=|first=|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=InxRAAAAYAAJ|title=Chambers's Encyclopædia|publisher=William & Robert Chambers|year=1890|isbn=|edition=New|volume=VI: Humber to Malta|location=London and Edinburgh|pages=197|language=en}}</ref> A German [[Gymnasium (Germany)|''gymnasium'']] text book from Sorau (modern [[Żary]]) describes [[Diyarbakır]] as being "on the upper Tigris, in West Kurdistan".<ref>{{Cite book|last=|first=|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=gmtnAAAAcAAJ|title=Programm des Gymnasiums zu Sorau: 1875/76|date=|publisher=|year=1876|isbn=|location=|pages=|language=de}}</ref> {{Interlanguage link|Amand von Schweiger-Lerchenfeld|lt=|de||WD=}}, who travelled over much of the [[Ottoman Empire]], also referred to "West Kurdistan" in his ''Der Orient'' of 1882,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Schweiger-Lerchenfeld|first=Amand von|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=CRAZAAAAYAAJ|title=Der Orient|publisher=Hartleben|year=1882|isbn=|location=Vienna|pages=301|language=de}}</ref> while {{Interlanguage link|Daniel Völter (Geograph)|lt=Daniel Völter|de||WD=}}, in his ''Allgemeine Erdbeschreibung'', also mentioned "West Kurdistan" in 1848.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Völter|first=Daniel|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=FfJaAAAAQAAJ|title=Allgemeine Erdbeschreibung|publisher=Dannheimer|year=1848|isbn=|volume=I|location=|pages=298-301, 309|language=de}}</ref> "West Kurdistan" was referred to by [[Mark Sykes]] in his 1908 paper in the ''[[Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute]]'' as being in part of Kurdistan conquered by [[Selim I]] ({{Reign|1512|1520}}).<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Sykes|first=Mark|date=1908|title=The Kurdish Tribes of the Ottoman Empire|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2843309|journal=The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland|volume=38|pages=451–486|doi=10.2307/2843309|issn=0307-3114}}</ref>{{Rp|470}} Sykes, having undertaken a {{Convert|7500|mile|km|abbr=|adj=on}} journey through the Ottoman Empire, published one of first surveys in English on the Kurdish tribes.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|451}} |
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[[File:Sketch map of North Mesopotamia to illustrate the paper by Mark Sykes, the central portions compiled by the author – The Geographical Journal, Vol. 30, No. 3, September 1907, pp. 237-254.png|thumb|Map drawn for [[Mark Sykes]] in 1907 showing north Mesopotamia and its inhabitants]] |
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[[File:Sykes Ras el Ain to Nissibine map of Arab tribes Page 21.jpg|thumb|Part of a map drawn for [[Mark Sykes]] in 1907 north Mesopotamia and its inhabitants]] |
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Although the concept of an independent Kurdistan as homeland of the Kurdish people has a long history,{{sfnp|Tejel|2009|p=69}} the extent of said territory has been disputed over time.{{sfnp|Tejel|2009|p=95}} Kurds have lived in territories which later became part of modern Syria for centuries,{{sfnp|Meri|2006|p=445}}{{sfnp|Vanly|1992|pp=115–116}} and following the partition of the Ottoman Empire, the Kurdish population before living in the Ottoman Empire, was divided between its successor states Turkey, [[Mandatory Iraq|Iraq]] and [[Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon|Syria]].<ref>Gunter, Michael M. (2016), p.87</ref> Local Kurdish parties generally maintained ideologies which stayed in a firmly Syrian framework, and did not aspire to create a separate Syrian Kurdistan.{{sfnp|Tejel|2009|p=86}} In the 1920s, there were two separate demands for an autonomy of the areas with a Kurdish majority. One of Nouri Kandy, an influential Kurd from the [[Kurd Mountains|Kurd Dagh]], and another one of the Kurdish tribal leaders of the Barazi confederation. Both demands were not taken into consideration by the authorities of the French Mandate.{{sfnp|Tejel|2009|pp=27–28}} According to [[Jordi Tejel]], until the 1980s Kurdish-inhabited areas of Syria were mainly regarded as "Kurdish regions of Syria".{{sfnp|Tejel|2009|p=95}} |
Although the concept of an independent Kurdistan as homeland of the Kurdish people has a long history,{{sfnp|Tejel|2009|p=69}} the extent of said territory has been disputed over time.{{sfnp|Tejel|2009|p=95}} Kurds have lived in territories which later became part of modern Syria for centuries,{{sfnp|Meri|2006|p=445}}{{sfnp|Vanly|1992|pp=115–116}} and following the partition of the Ottoman Empire, the Kurdish population before living in the Ottoman Empire, was divided between its successor states Turkey, [[Mandatory Iraq|Iraq]] and [[Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon|Syria]].<ref>Gunter, Michael M. (2016), p.87</ref> Local Kurdish parties generally maintained ideologies which stayed in a firmly Syrian framework, and did not aspire to create a separate Syrian Kurdistan.{{sfnp|Tejel|2009|p=86}} In the 1920s, there were two separate demands for an autonomy of the areas with a Kurdish majority. One of Nouri Kandy, an influential Kurd from the [[Kurd Mountains|Kurd Dagh]], and another one of the Kurdish tribal leaders of the Barazi confederation. Both demands were not taken into consideration by the authorities of the French Mandate.{{sfnp|Tejel|2009|pp=27–28}} According to [[Jordi Tejel]], until the 1980s Kurdish-inhabited areas of Syria were mainly regarded as "Kurdish regions of Syria".{{sfnp|Tejel|2009|p=95}} |
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[[File:Cedid Atlas (Middle East) 1803.jpg|thumb|right|1803 [[Cedid Atlas]] showing Kurdistan in blue where it is located north-east of modern Syria's boundary.]]The concept of a Syrian Kurdistan gained even more relevance after the [[Syrian Civil War]]'s start, as Kurdish-inhabited areas in northern Syria fell under the control of Kurdish-dominated factions. The PYD established an [[Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria|autonomous administration in northern Syria]] which it eventually began to call "Rojava" or "West Kurdistan".<ref name="kaya" /><ref name="cambridge">[https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/japanese-journal-of-political-science/article/kurdish-regional-selfrule-administration-in-syria-a-new-model-of-statehood-and-its-status-in-international-law-compared-to-the-kurdistan-regional-government-krg-in-iraq/E27336DA905763412D42038E476BBE61/core-reader Kurdish Regional Self-rule Administration in Syria: A new Model of Statehood and its Status in International Law Compared to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq]</ref><ref name="Icarus" /> By 2014, many local Kurds used this name synonymously to northeastern Syria.<ref name="Reuters 2014" /> Non-PYD parties such as the KNC also began to raise demands for the establishment of Syrian Kurdistan as separate area, raising increasing concerns by Syrian nationalists and some observers who regarded these plans as attempts to divide Syria.<ref name="zamanalwsl" /> As the PYD-led administration gained control over increasingly ethnically diverse areas, however, the use of "Rojava" for the merging [[proto-state]] was gradually reduced in official contexts.{{sfnp|Allsopp|van Wilgenburg|2019|pp=89, 151–152}} Regardless, the polity continued to be called Rojava by locals and international observers,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/turkey-military-operation-syria-latest-updates-191013083950643.html |title=Turkey's military operation in Syria: All the latest updates |work=al Jazeera |date=14 October 2019 |accessdate=29 October 2019}}</ref><ref name="gurcan">{{cite web|url=https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2019/11/turkey-syria-pkk-worried-by-growing-popularity-of-ypg-kurds.html |title=Is the PKK worried by the YPG's growing popularity? |author=Metin Gurcan |work=[[al-Monitor]]|date=7 November 2019 |accessdate=7 November 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url = https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/communist-volunteers-fighting-turkish-invasion-syria| title = The Communist volunteers fighting the Turkish invasion of Syria| date = 31 October 2019| work = [[Morning Star (British newspaper)|Morning Star]]| access-date = 1 November 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.ardmediathek.de/ard/player/Y3JpZDovL25kci5kZS81YmI0NzU0OC0zNGI3LTRlMTYtYWI2MC03YWM3ZDA5YmRhNDQ/| title = Nordsyrien: Warum ein Deutscher sein Leben für die Kurden riskiert | trans-title= Northern Syria: Why a German risks his life for the Kurds |language = German| date = 31 October 2019| work = ARD| access-date = 1 November 2019}}</ref> with journalist Metin Gurcan noting that "the concept of Rojava [had become] a brand gaining global recognition" by 2019.<ref name="gurcan" /> |
[[File:Cedid Atlas (Middle East) 1803.jpg|thumb|right|1803 [[Cedid Atlas]] showing Kurdistan in blue where it is located north-east of modern Syria's boundary.]]The concept of a Syrian Kurdistan gained even more relevance after the [[Syrian Civil War]]'s start, as Kurdish-inhabited areas in northern Syria fell under the control of Kurdish-dominated factions. The PYD established an [[Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria|autonomous administration in northern Syria]] which it eventually began to call "Rojava" or "West Kurdistan".<ref name="kaya" /><ref name="cambridge">[https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/japanese-journal-of-political-science/article/kurdish-regional-selfrule-administration-in-syria-a-new-model-of-statehood-and-its-status-in-international-law-compared-to-the-kurdistan-regional-government-krg-in-iraq/E27336DA905763412D42038E476BBE61/core-reader Kurdish Regional Self-rule Administration in Syria: A new Model of Statehood and its Status in International Law Compared to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq]</ref><ref name="Icarus" /> By 2014, many local Kurds used this name synonymously to northeastern Syria.<ref name="Reuters 2014" /> Non-PYD parties such as the KNC also began to raise demands for the establishment of Syrian Kurdistan as separate area, raising increasing concerns by Syrian nationalists and some observers who regarded these plans as attempts to divide Syria.<ref name="zamanalwsl" /> As the PYD-led administration gained control over increasingly ethnically diverse areas, however, the use of "Rojava" for the merging [[proto-state]] was gradually reduced in official contexts.{{sfnp|Allsopp|van Wilgenburg|2019|pp=89, 151–152}} Regardless, the polity continued to be called Rojava by locals and international observers,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/turkey-military-operation-syria-latest-updates-191013083950643.html |title=Turkey's military operation in Syria: All the latest updates |work=al Jazeera |date=14 October 2019 |accessdate=29 October 2019}}</ref><ref name="gurcan">{{cite web|url=https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2019/11/turkey-syria-pkk-worried-by-growing-popularity-of-ypg-kurds.html |title=Is the PKK worried by the YPG's growing popularity? |author=Metin Gurcan |work=[[al-Monitor]]|date=7 November 2019 |accessdate=7 November 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url = https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/communist-volunteers-fighting-turkish-invasion-syria| title = The Communist volunteers fighting the Turkish invasion of Syria| date = 31 October 2019| work = [[Morning Star (British newspaper)|Morning Star]]| access-date = 1 November 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.ardmediathek.de/ard/player/Y3JpZDovL25kci5kZS81YmI0NzU0OC0zNGI3LTRlMTYtYWI2MC03YWM3ZDA5YmRhNDQ/| title = Nordsyrien: Warum ein Deutscher sein Leben für die Kurden riskiert | trans-title= Northern Syria: Why a German risks his life for the Kurds |language = German| date = 31 October 2019| work = ARD| access-date = 1 November 2019}}</ref> with journalist Metin Gurcan noting that "the concept of Rojava [had become] a brand gaining global recognition" by 2019.<ref name="gurcan" /> |
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[[File:Treaty_of_Sèvres_1920.svg|thumb| |
[[File:Treaty_of_Sèvres_1920.svg|thumb|The Kurdish regions of British and French suzerainty as suggested by the Treaty of Sèvres was located north of the proposed [[French Mandate of Syria]] and [[Mandate for Mesopotamia|British Mandate of Iraq]] and north of the later Syria{{En dash}}Turkey border]] |
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== Extent == |
== Extent == |
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[[File:Maunsell's map Northern Syria.jpg|thumb|left|1910 British ethnographic map of ethnic distribution in Syria]] |
[[File:Maunsell's map Northern Syria.jpg|thumb|left|1910 British ethnographic map of ethnic distribution in Syria]] |
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Northern Syria is an ethnically diverse region. Kurds constitute one of several groups which have lived in northern Syria since antiquity or the [[Middle Ages]].{{sfnp|Vanly|1992|p=116|ps=: "To the east of Kurd-Dagh and separated from it by the Afrin valley lies the western and mountainous part of the Syrian district of Azaz which is also inhabited by Kurds, and a Kurdish minority lives in the northern counties of Idlib and Jerablos. There is reason to believe that the establishment of Kurds in these areas, a defensive site commanding the path to Antioch, goes back to the [[Seleucid Empire|Seleucid]] era."}}{{sfnp|Meri|2006|p=445}}{{efn|It is difficult to properly define early Kurds, as "Kurdish" was often used as a catch-all word for nomadic tribal groups west of Iran during antiquity and medieval times.{{sfnp|Meri|2006|p=445}} }} The first Kurdish |
Northern Syria is an ethnically diverse region. Kurds constitute one of several groups which have lived in northern Syria since antiquity or the [[Middle Ages]].{{sfnp|Vanly|1992|p=116|ps=: "To the east of Kurd-Dagh and separated from it by the Afrin valley lies the western and mountainous part of the Syrian district of Azaz which is also inhabited by Kurds, and a Kurdish minority lives in the northern counties of Idlib and Jerablos. There is reason to believe that the establishment of Kurds in these areas, a defensive site commanding the path to Antioch, goes back to the [[Seleucid Empire|Seleucid]] era."}}{{sfnp|Meri|2006|p=445}}{{efn|It is difficult to properly define early Kurds, as "Kurdish" was often used as a catch-all word for nomadic tribal groups west of Iran during antiquity and medieval times.{{sfnp|Meri|2006|p=445}} }} The first Kurdish communities constituted a minority and mostly consisted of nomads or military colonists.{{sfnp|Vanly|1992|pp=115–116}}{{sfnp|Meri|2006|p=445}} During the [[Ottoman Empire]] (1516–1922), large [[Kurdish languages|Kurdish-speaking]] tribal groups both settled in and were deported to areas of northern Syria from [[Anatolia]].{{sfnp|Tejel|2009|p=123}} Until the beginning of the 20th century, parts of al-Hasakah Governorate (then called Jazira province) were "no man's land" primarily reserved for the grazing land of nomadic and semi-sedentary tribes.<ref name="Algun">Algun, S., 2011. [https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/205821 Sectarianism in the Syrian Jazira: Community, land and violence in the memories of World War I and the French mandate (1915- 1939)]. Ph.D. Dissertation. Universiteit Utrecht, the Netherlands. Pages 18. Accessed on 8 December 2019.</ref> The last years of Ottoman rule witnessed extensive demographic changes in northern Syria as a result of the [[Assyrian Genocide]] and mass migrations.{{sfnp|Tejel|2009|pp=9–10}} Many Assyrians fled to Syria during the genocide and settled mainly in the Jazira area.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n4kTdYgwQPkC&pg=PA162|title= Islam and Dhimmitude: Where Civilizations Collide|author= Bat Yeʼor|page= 162|year= 2002|isbn= 9780838639429}}</ref> |
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Starting in 1926, the region saw another immigration of Kurds following the failure of the [[Sheikh Said rebellion]] against the [[Turkey|Turkish authorities]].<ref>Abu Fakhr, Saqr, 2013. [[As-Safir]] daily Newspaper, Beirut. [http://assafir.com/Article/331189#.UrbZIuK_guh in Arabic] [http://araborthodoxy.blogspot.ca/2013/12/as-safir-on-history-of-persecution-of.html Christian Decline in the Middle East: A Historical View]</ref> Waves of Kurds fled their homes in Turkey and settled in Syrian [[Al-Jazira Province]], where they were granted citizenship by the authorities of the French [[Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon]].<ref name="Chatty2010">{{cite book|author=[[Dawn Chatty]]|title=Displacement and Dispossession in the Modern Middle East|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8OsgAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA230|year=2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-48693-4|pages=230–232}}</ref> The number of Kurds settled in the Jazira province during the 1920s was estimated at 20,000<ref name="The Refugee Problem">{{cite book|last=Simpson|first=John Hope|title=The Refugee Problem: Report of a Survey |year=1939 |publisher=Oxford University Press|location=London|asin=B0006AOLOA|page=458|edition=First|url-access=registration|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SxR8uwEACAAJ}}</ref> to 25,000 people,<ref name=McDowell>{{cite book|last=McDowell|first=David|title=A Modern History of the Kurds |year=2005|publisher=Tauris|location=London [u.a.]|isbn=1-85043-416-6|pages=469|edition=3. revised and upd. ed., repr.}}</ref> out of 100,000 inhabitants, with the remainder of the population being Christians (Syriac, Armenian, Assyrian) and Arabs.<ref name="The Refugee Problem" /> According to [[Michael Gunter]], many Kurds still do not see themselves as belonging to either the Turkish or Syrian Kurdistan, but rather as one who originates from "above the line" (Kurdish: ''Ser Xhet'') or "below the line" (Kurdish:''Bin Xhet'').<ref>Gunter, Michael M. (2016), p.90</ref> |
Starting in 1926, the region saw another immigration of Kurds following the failure of the [[Sheikh Said rebellion]] against the [[Turkey|Turkish authorities]].<ref>Abu Fakhr, Saqr, 2013. [[As-Safir]] daily Newspaper, Beirut. [http://assafir.com/Article/331189#.UrbZIuK_guh in Arabic] [http://araborthodoxy.blogspot.ca/2013/12/as-safir-on-history-of-persecution-of.html Christian Decline in the Middle East: A Historical View]</ref> Waves of Kurds fled their homes in Turkey and settled in Syrian [[Al-Jazira Province]], where they were granted citizenship by the authorities of the French [[Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon]].<ref name="Chatty2010">{{cite book|author=[[Dawn Chatty]]|title=Displacement and Dispossession in the Modern Middle East|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8OsgAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA230|year=2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-48693-4|pages=230–232}}</ref> The number of Kurds settled in the Jazira province during the 1920s was estimated at 20,000<ref name="The Refugee Problem">{{cite book|last=Simpson|first=John Hope|title=The Refugee Problem: Report of a Survey |year=1939 |publisher=Oxford University Press|location=London|asin=B0006AOLOA|page=458|edition=First|url-access=registration|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SxR8uwEACAAJ}}</ref> to 25,000 people,<ref name=McDowell>{{cite book|last=McDowell|first=David|title=A Modern History of the Kurds |year=2005|publisher=Tauris|location=London [u.a.]|isbn=1-85043-416-6|pages=469|edition=3. revised and upd. ed., repr.}}</ref> out of 100,000 inhabitants, with the remainder of the population being Christians (Syriac, Armenian, Assyrian) and Arabs.<ref name="The Refugee Problem" /> According to [[Michael Gunter]], many Kurds still do not see themselves as belonging to either the Turkish or Syrian Kurdistan, but rather as one who originates from "above the line" (Kurdish: ''Ser Xhet'') or "below the line" (Kurdish:''Bin Xhet'').<ref>Gunter, Michael M. (2016), p.90</ref> |
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French mandate authorities gave the new Kurdish refugees considerable rights and encouraged minority autonomy as part of a [[divide and rule]] strategy and recruited heavily from the Kurds and other minority groups, such as [[Alawite]] and [[Druze]], for its local armed forces.<ref name=Yildiz25>{{cite book|last=Yildiz|first=Kerim|title=The Kurds in Syria : the forgotten people|url=https://archive.org/details/kurdssyriaforgot00yild|url-access=limited|year=2005|publisher=Pluto Press, in association with Kurdish Human Rights Project|location=London [etc.]|page=[https://archive.org/details/kurdssyriaforgot00yild/page/n29 25]|isbn=0745324991|edition=1. publ.}}</ref> French Mandate authorities encouraged their immigration and granted them Syrian citizenship.<ref name=Kreyenbroek1>{{cite book|last=Kreyenbroek|first=Philip G.|title=The Kurds: A Contemporary Overview|year=1992|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=0-415-07265-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/kurds00pkre/page/147 147]|author2=Sperl, Stefan|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/kurds00pkre/page/147}}</ref> The French official reports show the existence of at most 45 Kurdish villages in Jazira prior to 1927. A new wave of refugees arrived in 1929.{{sfnp|Tejel|2009|p=144}} The mandatory authorities continued to encourage Kurdish immigration into Syria, and by 1939, the villages numbered between 700 and 800.{{sfnp|Tejel|2009|p=144}} The French authorities themselves generally organized the settlement of the refugees. One of the most important of these plans was carried out in Upper Jazira in northeastern Syria where the French built new towns and villages (such as Qamishli) were built with the intention of housing the refugees considered to be "friendly". This has encouraged the non-Turkish minorities that were under Turkish pressure to leave their ancestral homes and property, they could find refuge and rebuild their lives in relative safety in neighboring Syria.<ref name=Tachjian>Tachjian Vahé, [https://www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/en/document/expulsion-non-turkish-ethnic-and-religious-groups-turkey-syria-during-1920s-and-early-1930s The expulsion of non-Turkish ethnic and religious groups from Turkey to Syria during the 1920s and early 1930s], ''Online Encyclopedia of Mass Violence'', [online], published on: 5 March, 2009, accessed 09/12/2019, ISSN 1961-9898</ref> Consequently, the border areas in al-Hasakah Governorate started to have a Kurdish majority, while Arabs remained the majority in river plains and elsewhere. The population of the governorate reached 155,643 in 1949, including about 60,000 Kurds.<ref name="Gibert and Févret">La Djezireh syrienne et son réveil économique. André Gibert, Maurice Févret, 1953. [https://www.persee.fr/doc/geoca_0035-113x_1953_num_28_1_1294 La Djezireh syrienne et son réveil économique]. In: Revue de géographie de Lyon, vol. 28, n°1, 1953. pp. 1-15; doi : https://doi.org/10.3406/geoca.1953.1294 Accessed on 8 December 2019.</ref> These continuous waves swelled the number of Kurds in the area who represented 37% of the Jazira population in a 1939 French authorities census.<ref>Algun, S., 2011. [https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/205821 Sectarianism in the Syrian Jazira: Community, land and violence in the memories of World War I and the French mandate (1915- 1939)]. Ph.D. Dissertation. Universiteit Utrecht, the Netherlands. Pages 11-12. Accessed on 8 December 2019.</ref> In 1953, French geographers Fevret and Gibert estimated that out of the total 146,000 inhabitants of Jazira, agriculturalist Kurds made up 60,000 (41%), semi-sedentary and nomad Arabs 50,000 (34%), and a quarter of the population were Christians.<ref name="fevret">{{cite journal|last=Fevret|first=Maurice |author2=Gibert, André |year=1953|title=La Djezireh syrienne et son réveil économique |journal=Revue de géographie de Lyon|issue=28|pages=1–15|language=French|url=http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/geoca_0035-113x_1953_num_28_1_1294|accessdate=2012-03-29}}</ref> |
French mandate authorities gave the new Kurdish refugees considerable rights and encouraged minority autonomy as part of a [[divide and rule]] strategy and recruited heavily from the Kurds and other minority groups, such as [[Alawite]] and [[Druze]], for its local armed forces.<ref name=Yildiz25>{{cite book|last=Yildiz|first=Kerim|title=The Kurds in Syria : the forgotten people|url=https://archive.org/details/kurdssyriaforgot00yild|url-access=limited|year=2005|publisher=Pluto Press, in association with Kurdish Human Rights Project|location=London [etc.]|page=[https://archive.org/details/kurdssyriaforgot00yild/page/n29 25]|isbn=0745324991|edition=1. publ.}}</ref> French Mandate authorities encouraged their immigration and granted them Syrian citizenship.<ref name=Kreyenbroek1>{{cite book|last=Kreyenbroek|first=Philip G.|title=The Kurds: A Contemporary Overview|year=1992|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=0-415-07265-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/kurds00pkre/page/147 147]|author2=Sperl, Stefan|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/kurds00pkre/page/147}}</ref> The French official reports show the existence of at most 45 Kurdish villages in Jazira prior to 1927. A new wave of refugees arrived in 1929.{{sfnp|Tejel|2009|p=144}} The mandatory authorities continued to encourage Kurdish immigration into Syria, and by 1939, the villages numbered between 700 and 800.{{sfnp|Tejel|2009|p=144}} The French authorities themselves generally organized the settlement of the refugees. One of the most important of these plans was carried out in Upper Jazira in northeastern Syria where the French built new towns and villages (such as Qamishli) were built with the intention of housing the refugees considered to be "friendly". This has encouraged the non-Turkish minorities that were under Turkish pressure to leave their ancestral homes and property, they could find refuge and rebuild their lives in relative safety in neighboring Syria.<ref name=Tachjian>Tachjian Vahé, [https://www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/en/document/expulsion-non-turkish-ethnic-and-religious-groups-turkey-syria-during-1920s-and-early-1930s The expulsion of non-Turkish ethnic and religious groups from Turkey to Syria during the 1920s and early 1930s], ''Online Encyclopedia of Mass Violence'', [online], published on: 5 March, 2009, accessed 09/12/2019, ISSN 1961-9898</ref> Consequently, the border areas in al-Hasakah Governorate started to have a Kurdish majority, while Arabs remained the majority in river plains and elsewhere. The population of the governorate reached 155,643 in 1949, including about 60,000 Kurds.<ref name="Gibert and Févret">La Djezireh syrienne et son réveil économique. André Gibert, Maurice Févret, 1953. [https://www.persee.fr/doc/geoca_0035-113x_1953_num_28_1_1294 La Djezireh syrienne et son réveil économique]. In: Revue de géographie de Lyon, vol. 28, n°1, 1953. pp. 1-15; doi : https://doi.org/10.3406/geoca.1953.1294 Accessed on 8 December 2019.</ref> These continuous waves swelled the number of Kurds in the area who represented 37% of the Jazira population in a 1939 French authorities census.<ref>Algun, S., 2011. [https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/205821 Sectarianism in the Syrian Jazira: Community, land and violence in the memories of World War I and the French mandate (1915- 1939)]. Ph.D. Dissertation. Universiteit Utrecht, the Netherlands. Pages 11-12. Accessed on 8 December 2019.</ref> In 1953, French geographers Fevret and Gibert estimated that out of the total 146,000 inhabitants of Jazira, agriculturalist Kurds made up 60,000 (41%), semi-sedentary and nomad Arabs 50,000 (34%), and a quarter of the population were Christians.<ref name="fevret">{{cite journal|last=Fevret|first=Maurice |author2=Gibert, André |year=1953|title=La Djezireh syrienne et son réveil économique |journal=Revue de géographie de Lyon|issue=28|pages=1–15|language=French|url=http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/geoca_0035-113x_1953_num_28_1_1294|accessdate=2012-03-29}}</ref> |
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[[File:Population map Syria & Liban (1935).jpg|thumb|Map of ethno-religious groups in Syria and Lebanon during the [[Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon|French Mandate]] in 1935, with the Kurds concentrated on the border with the Republic of Turkey]] |
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Due to the successive immigration waves, the population of northeastern Syria has seen several unnatural, big jumps (as shown in the table) fueled by the arrival of Kurds from Turkey.<ref name="Gibert and Févret">La Djezireh syrienne et son réveil économique. André Gibert, Maurice Févret, 1953. [https://www.persee.fr/doc/geoca_0035-113x_1953_num_28_1_1294 La Djezireh syrienne et son réveil économique]. In: Revue de géographie de Lyon, vol. 28, n°1, 1953. pp. 1-15; doi : https://doi.org/10.3406/geoca.1953.1294 Accessed on 29 June 2020.</ref> For example, the Jazira population jumped by 42.7% between 1931 and 1932. Likewise, the population jumped by 45.8% between 1933 and 1935. Another very significant jump happened in 1953 when the population swelled by 30.8% compared to the year before.<ref>De Vaumas Étienne. [https://www.persee.fr/doc/geo_0003-4010_1956_num_65_347_14375 Population actuelle de la Djézireh]. In: Annales de Géographie, t. 65, n°347, 1956. pp. 72-74; doi : https://doi.org/10.3406/geo.1956.14375.</ref> |
Due to the successive immigration waves, the population of northeastern Syria has seen several unnatural, big jumps (as shown in the table) fueled by the arrival of Kurds from Turkey.<ref name="Gibert and Févret">La Djezireh syrienne et son réveil économique. André Gibert, Maurice Févret, 1953. [https://www.persee.fr/doc/geoca_0035-113x_1953_num_28_1_1294 La Djezireh syrienne et son réveil économique]. In: Revue de géographie de Lyon, vol. 28, n°1, 1953. pp. 1-15; doi : https://doi.org/10.3406/geoca.1953.1294 Accessed on 29 June 2020.</ref> For example, the Jazira population jumped by 42.7% between 1931 and 1932. Likewise, the population jumped by 45.8% between 1933 and 1935. Another very significant jump happened in 1953 when the population swelled by 30.8% compared to the year before.<ref>De Vaumas Étienne. [https://www.persee.fr/doc/geo_0003-4010_1956_num_65_347_14375 Population actuelle de la Djézireh]. In: Annales de Géographie, t. 65, n°347, 1956. pp. 72-74; doi : https://doi.org/10.3406/geo.1956.14375.</ref> |
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Revision as of 04:33, 19 November 2020
Syrian Kurdistan or Western Kurdistan (Kurdish: Rojavayê Kurdistanê), often shortened to Rojava, is regarded by some Kurds[1][2][3] and some regional experts as the part of Kurdistan in Syria.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] In this conception, Syrian Kurdistan is joined by southeastern Turkey (Turkish Kurdistan), northern Iraq (Iraqi Kurdistan), and northwestern Iran (Iranian Kurdistan).[16][17] The term Syrian Kurdistan is often used in the context of Kurdish nationalism, which makes it a controversial concept among proponents of Syrian and Arab nationalism. There is ambiguity about its geographical extent, and the term has different meanings depending on context.
History
The late 19th-century Chambers's Encyclopaedia referred to "west Kurdistan" as bordering Iran in its entry on that country.[18] A German gymnasium text book from Sorau (modern Żary) describes Diyarbakır as being "on the upper Tigris, in West Kurdistan".[19] Amand von Schweiger-Lerchenfeld , who travelled over much of the Ottoman Empire, also referred to "West Kurdistan" in his Der Orient of 1882,[20] while Daniel Völter , in his Allgemeine Erdbeschreibung, also mentioned "West Kurdistan" in 1848.[21] "West Kurdistan" was referred to by Mark Sykes in his 1908 paper in the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute as being in part of Kurdistan conquered by Selim I (r. 1512–1520).[22]: 470 Sykes, having undertaken a 7,500-mile (12,100 km) journey through the Ottoman Empire, published one of first surveys in English on the Kurdish tribes.[22]: 451
Although the concept of an independent Kurdistan as homeland of the Kurdish people has a long history,[23] the extent of said territory has been disputed over time.[4] Kurds have lived in territories which later became part of modern Syria for centuries,[24][25] and following the partition of the Ottoman Empire, the Kurdish population before living in the Ottoman Empire, was divided between its successor states Turkey, Iraq and Syria.[26] Local Kurdish parties generally maintained ideologies which stayed in a firmly Syrian framework, and did not aspire to create a separate Syrian Kurdistan.[27] In the 1920s, there were two separate demands for an autonomy of the areas with a Kurdish majority. One of Nouri Kandy, an influential Kurd from the Kurd Dagh, and another one of the Kurdish tribal leaders of the Barazi confederation. Both demands were not taken into consideration by the authorities of the French Mandate.[28] According to Jordi Tejel, until the 1980s Kurdish-inhabited areas of Syria were mainly regarded as "Kurdish regions of Syria".[4]
Etymology
The idea of a Syrian territory being part of a "Kurdistan" or "Syrian Kurdistan" gained more widespread support among Syrian Kurds in the 1980s and 1990s.[29][15] Several smaller Kurdish political movements in Syria, amongst them the Yekiti and the Azadi, began to organize manifestations in cities with a large Kurdish population demanding a better treatment of the Kurdish population while advocating for an recognition of a "Syrian Kurdistan".[15] This development was fueled by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that strengthened Kurdish nationalist ideas in Syria, whereas local Kurdish parties had previously lacked success in promoting "a clear political project" related to a Kurdish identity, partially due to political repression by the Syrian government.[30] Despite the role of the PKK in initially spreading the concept of "Syrian Kurdistan", the Democratic Union Party (PYD) (the Syrian "successor" of the PKK).[31] generally refrained from calling for the establishment of "Syrian Kurdistan".[32] As the PKK and PYD call for the removal of national borders in general, the two parties believed that there was no need for the creation of a separate "Syrian Kurdistan", as their internationalist project would allow for the unification of Kurdistan through indirect means.[2] Some observers see Syrian Kurdistan as a concept emerging from the ongoing Syrian Civil War.[33]
The concept of a Syrian Kurdistan gained even more relevance after the Syrian Civil War's start, as Kurdish-inhabited areas in northern Syria fell under the control of Kurdish-dominated factions. The PYD established an autonomous administration in northern Syria which it eventually began to call "Rojava" or "West Kurdistan".[2][34][35] By 2014, many local Kurds used this name synonymously to northeastern Syria.[1] Non-PYD parties such as the KNC also began to raise demands for the establishment of Syrian Kurdistan as separate area, raising increasing concerns by Syrian nationalists and some observers who regarded these plans as attempts to divide Syria.[36] As the PYD-led administration gained control over increasingly ethnically diverse areas, however, the use of "Rojava" for the merging proto-state was gradually reduced in official contexts.[37] Regardless, the polity continued to be called Rojava by locals and international observers,[38][39][40][41] with journalist Metin Gurcan noting that "the concept of Rojava [had become] a brand gaining global recognition" by 2019.[39]
Extent
"Syrian Kurdistan", as understood in the modern sense, has no clearly defined territory.[4] According to the Crisis Group, the term "refers to the western area of 'Kurdistan'", namely those in Syria.[35] In the 20th century, Kurdistan was usually only included areas in Turkey and Iraq. The Kurdish-inhabited areas in northern Syria are adjacent to "Turkish Kurdistan" in the north and "Iraqi Kurdistan" in the east. Accordingly, some researchers argue that the Kurdish problem is Syria was originally a Turkish problem that shifted into Syria, as Kurds from Turkey migrated to Syria and took their national concepts with them.[42][43]
By 2013, "Rojava" had become synonymous with PYD-ruled areas, regardless of ethnic majorities. For the most part, the term was used to refer to the "non-contiguous Kurdish-populated areas" in the region.[35] In 2015 a map by Kurdish National Council (KNC) member Nori Brimo was published which largely mirrored the Ekurd Daily's maps, but also included the Hatay Province. The claimed map includes large swaths of Arab-majority areas.[36]
Demographic background
Northern Syria is an ethnically diverse region. Kurds constitute one of several groups which have lived in northern Syria since antiquity or the Middle Ages.[44][24][a] The first Kurdish communities constituted a minority and mostly consisted of nomads or military colonists.[25][24] During the Ottoman Empire (1516–1922), large Kurdish-speaking tribal groups both settled in and were deported to areas of northern Syria from Anatolia.[32] Until the beginning of the 20th century, parts of al-Hasakah Governorate (then called Jazira province) were "no man's land" primarily reserved for the grazing land of nomadic and semi-sedentary tribes.[45] The last years of Ottoman rule witnessed extensive demographic changes in northern Syria as a result of the Assyrian Genocide and mass migrations.[46] Many Assyrians fled to Syria during the genocide and settled mainly in the Jazira area.[47]
Starting in 1926, the region saw another immigration of Kurds following the failure of the Sheikh Said rebellion against the Turkish authorities.[48] Waves of Kurds fled their homes in Turkey and settled in Syrian Al-Jazira Province, where they were granted citizenship by the authorities of the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon.[49] The number of Kurds settled in the Jazira province during the 1920s was estimated at 20,000[50] to 25,000 people,[51] out of 100,000 inhabitants, with the remainder of the population being Christians (Syriac, Armenian, Assyrian) and Arabs.[50] According to Michael Gunter, many Kurds still do not see themselves as belonging to either the Turkish or Syrian Kurdistan, but rather as one who originates from "above the line" (Kurdish: Ser Xhet) or "below the line" (Kurdish:Bin Xhet).[52]
French mandate authorities gave the new Kurdish refugees considerable rights and encouraged minority autonomy as part of a divide and rule strategy and recruited heavily from the Kurds and other minority groups, such as Alawite and Druze, for its local armed forces.[53] French Mandate authorities encouraged their immigration and granted them Syrian citizenship.[54] The French official reports show the existence of at most 45 Kurdish villages in Jazira prior to 1927. A new wave of refugees arrived in 1929.[55] The mandatory authorities continued to encourage Kurdish immigration into Syria, and by 1939, the villages numbered between 700 and 800.[55] The French authorities themselves generally organized the settlement of the refugees. One of the most important of these plans was carried out in Upper Jazira in northeastern Syria where the French built new towns and villages (such as Qamishli) were built with the intention of housing the refugees considered to be "friendly". This has encouraged the non-Turkish minorities that were under Turkish pressure to leave their ancestral homes and property, they could find refuge and rebuild their lives in relative safety in neighboring Syria.[56] Consequently, the border areas in al-Hasakah Governorate started to have a Kurdish majority, while Arabs remained the majority in river plains and elsewhere. The population of the governorate reached 155,643 in 1949, including about 60,000 Kurds.[57] These continuous waves swelled the number of Kurds in the area who represented 37% of the Jazira population in a 1939 French authorities census.[58] In 1953, French geographers Fevret and Gibert estimated that out of the total 146,000 inhabitants of Jazira, agriculturalist Kurds made up 60,000 (41%), semi-sedentary and nomad Arabs 50,000 (34%), and a quarter of the population were Christians.[59]
Due to the successive immigration waves, the population of northeastern Syria has seen several unnatural, big jumps (as shown in the table) fueled by the arrival of Kurds from Turkey.[57] For example, the Jazira population jumped by 42.7% between 1931 and 1932. Likewise, the population jumped by 45.8% between 1933 and 1935. Another very significant jump happened in 1953 when the population swelled by 30.8% compared to the year before.[60]
Year | Pop. | ±% |
---|---|---|
1929 | 40,000 | — |
1931 | 44,153 | +10.4% |
1932 | 63,000 | +42.7% |
1933 | 64,886 | +3.0% |
1935 | 94,596 | +45.8% |
1937 | 98,144 | +3.8% |
1938 | 103,514 | +5.5% |
1939 | 106,052 | +2.5% |
1940 | 126,508 | +19.3% |
1941 | 129,145 | +2.1% |
1942 | 136,107 | +5.4% |
1943 | 146,001 | +7.3% |
1946 | 151,137 | +3.5% |
1950 | 159,300 | +5.4% |
1951 | 162,145 | +1.8% |
1952 | 177,388 | +9.4% |
1953 | 232,104 | +30.8% |
1954 | 233,998 | +0.8% |
[61] | — |
The French geographer Robert Montagne summarized the situation in 1932 as follows:[62]
We are seeing an increase in village establishment that are either constructed by the Kurds descending from the Anatolian mountains (north of the border) to cultivate or as a sign of increasing settlement of Arab groups with the help of their Armenian and Yezidi farmers.
These successive Kurdish immigrations from Turkey have led the governing Ba'ath Party to think about Arabization policies in northern Syria, settling 4000 farmer families from areas inundated by the Tabqa Dam in Raqqa Governorate in al-Hasakah Governorate [63] Mass migration also took place during the Syrian civil war. Accordingly, estimates as to the ethnic composition of northern Syria vary widely, ranging from claims about a Kurdish majority to claims about Kurds being a small minority.[64] In addition, the Kurdish population of Syria has been highly segmented due to the different backgrounds and lifestyles of Kurdish groups.[65]
City | Syrian Arabs | Armenians | Assyrians | Kurds |
---|---|---|---|---|
Qamishli City | 7990 | 3500 | 14,140 | 5892 |
Ras al-Ayn | 2283 | N/A | 2263 | 1025 |
Hasakah City | 7133 | 500 | 5700 | 360 |
Controversies
According to some researchers, extremist Kurdish nationalists have used the concept of "Syrian Kurdistan" to portray native Arabs in Upper Mesopotamia as foreign "settler herds", contributing to regional ethnic tensions. As a result, the academic book The Issue of the Kurds in Syria: Facts, History and Myth argued that the "Syrian 'Kurdish issue' can only be resolved within the framework of a purely Syrian national solution, outside the inventions of 'West Kurdistan', and in a way that sets Syrian Kurds within the context of belonging to Syrian society and its institutionalized state form as the Syrian Arab Republic".[67] Accodring to a book review by the PhD candidate Mustapha Hamza extremist Kurdish nationalists have used the concept of "Syrian Kurdistan" to portray native Arabs in Upper Mesopotamia as foreign "settler herds", contributing to regional ethnic tensions. As a result, the academic book The Issue of the Kurds in Syria: Facts, History and Myth argued that the "Syrian 'Kurdish issue' can only be resolved within the framework of a purely Syrian national solution, outside the inventions of 'West Kurdistan, and in a way that sets Syrian Kurds within the context of belonging to Syrian society and its institutionalized state form as the Syrian Arab Republic".[68]
See also
Notes
References
- ^ a b "Special Report: Amid Syria's violence, Kurds carve out autonomy". Reuters. 22 January 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
- ^ a b c Kaya, Z. N., & Lowe, R. (2016). The curious question of the PYD-PKK relationship. In G. Stansfield, & M. Shareef (Eds.), The Kurdish question revisited (pp. 275–287). London: Hurst.
- ^ Pinar Dinc (2020) The Kurdish Movement and the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria: An Alternative to the (Nation-)State Model?, Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 22:1, 47-67, DOI: 10.1080/19448953.2020.1715669
- ^ a b c d Tejel (2009), p. 95.
- ^ Kurdish Awakening: Nation Building in a Fragmented Homeland, (2014), by Ofra Bengio, University of Texas Press
- ^ Riamei, Mr Lungthuiyang (2017-08-15). Kurdistan: The Quest for Representation and Self-Determination: The Quest for Representation and Self-Determination. KW Publishers Pvt Ltd. ISBN 978-93-86288-87-5.
- ^ Schmidinger, Thomas (2014). Krieg und Revolution in Syrisch-Kurdistan: Analysen und Stimmen aus Rojava (in German). Mandelbaum. ISBN 978-3-85476-636-0.
- ^ Radpey, Loqman (12 August 2016). "Kurdish Regional Self-rule Administration in Syria: A new Model of Statehood and its Status in International Law Compared to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq". Japanese Journal of Political Science. 17 (3): 468–488. doi:10.1017/S1468109916000190. ISSN 1468-1099.
- ^ Gunter, Michael M. (2016). The Kurds: A Modern History. Markus Wiener Publishers. p. 89. ISBN 978-1-558766150.
- ^ Nikitine, Basile (1956). Les Kurdes, Études sociologique et historique. Imprimerie Nationale. pp. 39–40.
- ^ Kaya, Zeynep N. (2020). Mapping Kurdistan: Territory, Self-Determination and Nationalism. Cambridge University Press. p. 181. ISBN 978-1-108-47469-6.
- ^ Izady, Mehrdad (2015-06-03). Kurds: A Concise Handbook. Taylor & Francis. p. 4. ISBN 978-1-135-84490-5.
- ^ "Kurdistan | History, Religion, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
- ^ Meho, Lokman I.; Maglaughlin, Kelly L. (2001). Kurdish Culture and Society: An Annotated Bibliography. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-313-31543-5.
- ^ a b c Khen, Hilly Moodrick-Even; Boms, Nir T.; Ashraph, Sareta (2020-01-09). The Syrian War: Between Justice and Political Reality. Cambridge University Press. p. 275. ISBN 978-1-108-48780-1.
- ^ Khalil, Fadel (1992). Kurden heute (in German). Europaverlag. pp. 5, 18–19. ISBN 3-203-51097-9.
- ^ Kurdish Awakening: Nation Building in a Fragmented Homeland, (2014), by Ofra Bengio, University of Texas Press, p. 1.
- ^ Chambers's Encyclopædia. Vol. VI: Humber to Malta (New ed.). London and Edinburgh: William & Robert Chambers. 1890. p. 197.
- ^ Programm des Gymnasiums zu Sorau: 1875/76 (in German). 1876.
- ^ Schweiger-Lerchenfeld, Amand von (1882). Der Orient (in German). Vienna: Hartleben. p. 301.
- ^ Völter, Daniel (1848). Allgemeine Erdbeschreibung (in German). Vol. I. Dannheimer. pp. 298–301, 309.
- ^ a b Sykes, Mark (1908). "The Kurdish Tribes of the Ottoman Empire". The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 38: 451–486. doi:10.2307/2843309. ISSN 0307-3114.
- ^ Tejel (2009), p. 69.
- ^ a b c d Meri (2006), p. 445.
- ^ a b Vanly (1992), pp. 115–116.
- ^ Gunter, Michael M. (2016), p.87
- ^ Tejel (2009), p. 86.
- ^ Tejel (2009), pp. 27–28.
- ^ Tejel (2009), pp. 93–95.
- ^ Tejel (2009), p. 93.
- ^ Allsopp & van Wilgenburg (2019), p. 28.
- ^ a b Tejel (2009), p. 123.
- ^ Lowe, Robert (2014), Romano, David; Gurses, Mehmet (eds.), "The Emergence of Western Kurdistan and the Future of Syria", Conflict, Democratization, and the Kurds in the Middle East: Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, New York: Palgrave Macmillan US, pp. 225–246, doi:10.1057/9781137409997_12, ISBN 978-1-137-40999-7, retrieved 2020-11-10
- ^ Kurdish Regional Self-rule Administration in Syria: A new Model of Statehood and its Status in International Law Compared to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq
- ^ a b c "Flight of Icarus? The PYD's Precarious Rise in Syria" (PDF). International Crisis Group: Middle East Report N°151. 8 May 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
: "The Middle East's present-day borders stem largely from the 1916 Sykes-Picot agreement between France and the UK. Deprived of a state of their own, Kurds found themselves living in four different countries, Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. The term 'rojava' ('west' in Kurdish) refers to the western area of 'Kurdistan'; today in practice it includes non-contiguous Kurdish-populated areas of northern Syria where the PYD proclaimed a transitional administration in November 2013.".
- ^ a b Mohamed Al Hussein (21 February 2020). "Map of proposed Syrian Kurdistan provoke questions". zamanalwsl. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
- ^ Allsopp & van Wilgenburg (2019), pp. 89, 151–152.
- ^ "Turkey's military operation in Syria: All the latest updates". al Jazeera. 14 October 2019. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
- ^ a b Metin Gurcan (7 November 2019). "Is the PKK worried by the YPG's growing popularity?". al-Monitor. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
- ^ "The Communist volunteers fighting the Turkish invasion of Syria". Morning Star. 31 October 2019. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
- ^ "Nordsyrien: Warum ein Deutscher sein Leben für die Kurden riskiert" [Northern Syria: Why a German risks his life for the Kurds]. ARD (in German). 31 October 2019. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
- ^ Gunter, Michael M. (2016). The Kurds: A Modern History. Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers. p. 88. ISBN 978-1-558766150.
- ^ Hamza Mustapha, 2018 Review: The Issue of the Kurds in Syria: Facts, History and Myth
- ^ Vanly (1992), p. 116: "To the east of Kurd-Dagh and separated from it by the Afrin valley lies the western and mountainous part of the Syrian district of Azaz which is also inhabited by Kurds, and a Kurdish minority lives in the northern counties of Idlib and Jerablos. There is reason to believe that the establishment of Kurds in these areas, a defensive site commanding the path to Antioch, goes back to the Seleucid era."
- ^ Algun, S., 2011. Sectarianism in the Syrian Jazira: Community, land and violence in the memories of World War I and the French mandate (1915- 1939). Ph.D. Dissertation. Universiteit Utrecht, the Netherlands. Pages 18. Accessed on 8 December 2019.
- ^ Tejel (2009), pp. 9–10.
- ^ Bat Yeʼor (2002). Islam and Dhimmitude: Where Civilizations Collide. p. 162. ISBN 9780838639429.
- ^ Abu Fakhr, Saqr, 2013. As-Safir daily Newspaper, Beirut. in Arabic Christian Decline in the Middle East: A Historical View
- ^ Dawn Chatty (2010). Displacement and Dispossession in the Modern Middle East. Cambridge University Press. pp. 230–232. ISBN 978-1-139-48693-4.
- ^ a b Simpson, John Hope (1939). The Refugee Problem: Report of a Survey (First ed.). London: Oxford University Press. p. 458. ASIN B0006AOLOA.
- ^ McDowell, David (2005). A Modern History of the Kurds (3. revised and upd. ed., repr. ed.). London [u.a.]: Tauris. p. 469. ISBN 1-85043-416-6.
- ^ Gunter, Michael M. (2016), p.90
- ^ Yildiz, Kerim (2005). The Kurds in Syria : the forgotten people (1. publ. ed.). London [etc.]: Pluto Press, in association with Kurdish Human Rights Project. p. 25. ISBN 0745324991.
- ^ Kreyenbroek, Philip G.; Sperl, Stefan (1992). The Kurds: A Contemporary Overview. London: Routledge. pp. 147. ISBN 0-415-07265-4.
- ^ a b Tejel (2009), p. 144.
- ^ Tachjian Vahé, The expulsion of non-Turkish ethnic and religious groups from Turkey to Syria during the 1920s and early 1930s, Online Encyclopedia of Mass Violence, [online], published on: 5 March, 2009, accessed 09/12/2019, ISSN 1961-9898
- ^ a b La Djezireh syrienne et son réveil économique. André Gibert, Maurice Févret, 1953. La Djezireh syrienne et son réveil économique. In: Revue de géographie de Lyon, vol. 28, n°1, 1953. pp. 1-15; doi : https://doi.org/10.3406/geoca.1953.1294 Accessed on 8 December 2019. Cite error: The named reference "Gibert and Févret" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ Algun, S., 2011. Sectarianism in the Syrian Jazira: Community, land and violence in the memories of World War I and the French mandate (1915- 1939). Ph.D. Dissertation. Universiteit Utrecht, the Netherlands. Pages 11-12. Accessed on 8 December 2019.
- ^ Fevret, Maurice; Gibert, André (1953). "La Djezireh syrienne et son réveil économique". Revue de géographie de Lyon (in French) (28): 1–15. Retrieved 2012-03-29.
- ^ De Vaumas Étienne. Population actuelle de la Djézireh. In: Annales de Géographie, t. 65, n°347, 1956. pp. 72-74; doi : https://doi.org/10.3406/geo.1956.14375.
- ^ De Vaumas Étienne. Population actuelle de la Djézireh. In: Annales de Géographie, t. 65, n°347, 1956. pp. 72-74; doi : https://doi.org/10.3406/geo.1956.14375.
- ^ De Vaumas Étienne. Population actuelle de la Djézireh. In: Annales de Géographie, t. 65, n°347, 1956. pp. 72-74; doi : https://doi.org/10.3406/geo.1956.14375.
- ^ Allsopp & van Wilgenburg (2019), p. 27.
- ^ Allsopp & van Wilgenburg (2019), pp. 7–16.
- ^ Tejel (2009), p. 9.
- ^ Algun, S., 2011. Sectarianism in the Syrian Jazira: Community, land and violence in the memories of World War I and the French mandate (1915- 1939). Ph.D. Dissertation. Universiteit Utrecht, the Netherlands. Page 11. Accessed on 7 October 2020.
- ^ Hamza Mustapha, 2018 Review: The Issue of the Kurds in Syria: Facts, History and Myth
- ^ Hamza Mustapha, 2018 Review: The Issue of the Kurds in Syria: Facts, History and Myth
Works cited
- Allsopp, Harriet; van Wilgenburg, Wladimir (2019). The Kurds of Northern Syria. Volume 2: Governance, Diversity and Conflicts. London; New York City; etc.: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-8386-0445-5.
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(help) - Tejel, Jordi (2009). Syria's Kurds: History, Politics and Society. Abingdon-on-Thames, New York City: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-42440-0.
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(help) - Meri, Josef W. (2006). Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia. Volume 1: A - K. New York City, London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-96691-7.
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(help) - Vanly, Ismet Chériff (1992). "The Kurds in Syria and Lebanon". In Philip G. Kreyenbroek; Stefan Sperl (eds.). The Kurds: A Contemporary Overview. New York City, London: Routledge. pp. 112–134. ISBN 978-0-415-96691-7.
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External links
- Syria (Rojava or Western Kurdistan) by The Kurdish Project
- Examining the Experiment in Western Kurdistan by the LSE Middle East Centre
- The Emergence of Western Kurdistan and the Future of Syria by Robert Lowe