THE 1920 TREATY OF SÉVRES AND THE STRUGGLE FOR A KURDISH HOMELAND IN IRAQ AND TURKEY BETWEEN WORLD WARS By WHITNEY DYLAN DURHAM Bachelor of Science in Geoscience The University of Tennessee Martin, Tennessee 2000 Master of Science in Geosciences Murray State University Murray, Kentucky 2003 Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate College of the Oklahoma State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY July, 2010 Copyright Whitney D. Durham 2010 THE 1920 TREATY OF SÉVRES AND THE STRUGGLE FOR A KURDISH HOMELAND IN IRAQ AND TURKEY BETWEEN WORLD WARS Dissertation Approved: Reuel Hanks Dissertation Adviser Dale Lightfoot Brad Bays Joel Jenswold Mark E. Payton Dean of the Graduate College iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank my advisor, Dr. Reuel Hanks, for his guidance and patience throughout this endeavor. He introduced me to some of the most fascinating literature and ideas in political geography during my studies and research. I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. Dale Lightfoot, Dr. Joel Jenswold, and Dr. Brad Bays, for their willingness to serve on my and to provide direction. I have an immense appreciation for the faculty and staff of Oklahoma State University’s Department of Geography on the whole for supporting me across this undertaking. Additionally, I would like to thank my parents, Melvin and Nelda Durham, for all of the encouragement they have provided through all the years of my life. My friend Dr. Brad Watkins provided great moral support over the years. Dr. Jefferson Rogers of the University of Tennessee at Martin remains a mentor, and I credit him with first setting me on this path. To all of you, I will be forever grateful. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................... 1 Statement of the Problem .......................................................................... 1 Research Questions .................................................................................. 4 Theoretical Overview ................................................................................. 4 Historical Background.............................................................................. 10 Turkey...................................................................................................... 14 Iraq .......................................................................................................... 15 Significance of the Study ......................................................................... 18 II. REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE................................................... 27 Primary Sources ...................................................................................... 27 Academic Sources................................................................................... 30 Nationalism.............................................................................................. 41 Territoriality.............................................................................................. 44 Political Geography.................................................................................. 48 III. REVIEW OF METHODOLOGY................................................................ 61 Historical Methods ................................................................................... 61 Advantages and Disadvantages of Historical Descriptive Research........ 66 Content Analysis and Organization of Information................................... 69 Limitations of the Study ........................................................................... 73 IV. KURDISTAN AND THE BIRTH OF AN IDEA .......................................... 76 Kurdish Nationalism Versus Postwar British and Turkish Geostrategies. 79 The Great Game, the Heartland, and the Geopolitics of Kurdistan.......... 84 Roots of Kurdish Nationalism................................................................... 94 World War I and Geopolitical Intrigue .................................................... 101 The Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Sèvres......................... 106 Mustafa Kemal and the Republic of Turkey ........................................... 120 The Aimless Drift of British Policy.......................................................... 123 Treaty of Lausanne................................................................................ 128 v Chapter Page V. REBELLION AND UNCERTAINTY........................................................ 157 The Rebellion of Sheikh Said and Azadi................................................ 159 The Final Status of Mosul ...................................................................... 163 Turkey’s Changing Kurdish Policy ......................................................... 170 Rumors of Intrigue and Renewal of the Great Game............................. 173 Improved Relations Between Turkey and Iraq....................................... 178 The Khoybun and the Mount Ararat Rebellion....................................... 181 Turkey’s Consolidation of Control.......................................................... 197 VI. STATE OVER NATION.......................................................................... 223 The Kurds and the League of Nations ................................................... 226 Turkey’s Drift from the Soviet Orbit........................................................ 232 The Rise of the Barzanis........................................................................ 235 Dersim and Turkey’s Illusory Solution.................................................... 239 Prelude to World War II ......................................................................... 243 VII. CONCLUSION...................................................................................... 252 REFERENCES............................................................................................ 265 APPENDICES ............................................................................................. 277 Appendix A ............................................................................................ 278 Appendix B ............................................................................................ 280 Appendix C ............................................................................................ 287 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 4.1 Sharif Pasha’s map of Kurdistan............................................................. 78 4.2 Kurdistan (labeled Koordistan) between Turkey and Persia.................... 85 4.3 Spheres of influence established by the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 ...................................................................................................................... 87 4.4 Mackinder’s Geographical Pivot.............................................................. 88 4.5 The Kurds and neighboring peoples ..................................................... 100 4.6 A variation of the Sykes-Picot-Sazonov Agreement depicting British, French, Russian, and Italian claims ......................................................................... 102 4.7 Woodrow Wilson’s plan for Armenia, 1919............................................ 108 4.8 Planned divisions of the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres .................................... 118 4.9 The undetermined status of Sulaymaniyah among planned mandates. 127 4.10 Turkish borders from the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne ............................ 129 5.1 The Turkish-Iraqi border reconciled along the Brussels/Brantling Line with Mosul incorporated into Iraq........................................................................ 167 5.2 The Turkish-Persian border bisecting Mount Ararat.............................. 184 5.3 The Turkish-Iranian (formerly Persian) Border with Ararat ceded to Turkey .................................................................................................................... 198 6.1 Kurdistan divided................................................................................... 224 6.2 The region of Dersim (Tunceli) in eastern Turkey ................................. 240 vii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION This dissertation is an examination of the rise and fracturing of Kurdish nationalism and territoriality in the context of the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres and the division of the defeated Ottoman Empire, and of the ensuing British and Turkish policies toward the Kurds. The regions of interest in this research are southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq, the former lands of the Ottoman Empire set aside by the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres for the creation of an independent Kurdistan. The main theoretical aspects of this study pertain to the rise of, and difficulties within, Kurdish nationalism, and to the territorial ambitions of the Kurds and regional governments upon Kurdish dominated lands. This work examines primary source documents and academic works to gain a better understanding of the policies of the governments involved, as well as attempts by the Kurds to acquire an independent state. In addition to archival and library research, concepts from political geography and comparative politics are employed to provide insight into issues such as territoriality and nationalism. Statement of the Problem The Kurds are the world’s largest stateless nation, today numbering around thirty-five million, and mostly inhabiting the region known as Kurdistan, 1 which stretches across the states