f?.1^ Agha, Shaikh and State Agha, Shaikh and State The Social and Political Structures of Kurdistan Martin Van Bruinessen Zed Books Ltd London and New Jersey Agha, Shaikh and State was first published by Zed Books Ltd, 57 Caledonian Road, London NI 9BU, UK, and 165 First Avenue, Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey 07716, USA, in 1992. Copyright © Martin Van Bruinessen, 1992. Cover designed by Andrew Corbett. Typeset by Derek Doyle & Associates, Mold, Clwyd. Printed and bound in the United Kingdom by Biddies Ltd, Guildford and King's Lynn. All rights reserved. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library US CIP data for this book is available from the Library of Congress ISBN 185649 018 IHb ISBN 1 85649 019 X Pb Contents Preface ix Introduction 1 How this book came to be written 1 Subject of this study 6 A note on the written sources 8 1. General Information on Kurdistan 11 Geography 11 Geopolitical situation 13 Population 14 Other economic activities: crafts/industries and trades 18 Language 21 Religion 23 The Kurdish national movement, 1960-85 25 Iranian Kurdistan and the Islamic Revolution 34 The Iran-Iraq war and the Kurds 38 Saddam Hussein's solution to the Kurdish question 42 Recent changes in Turkey's attitude 45 2. TVibes, Chieftains and Non-tribal Groups 50 The tribe and its subdivisions 5 1 Kurdish terms 59 Blood feud and other conflicts 64 Higher than the tribe? 74 Leadership and conflicts 78 Leadership: titles and functions 80 The guest-house 81 Economic aspects: tribute to the agha 85 Leadership situation among a number of different tribes 87 Power as a process: the colonization of the northern Jazira 94 Subject 'non-tribal' peasantry and their relations with tribal Kurds 105 The guran and the Guran 109 Nomads and peasants: one or two peoples? 115 Conclusion 122 3. IVibes and the state 133 Introduction 133 The incorporation of Kurdistan into the Ottoman Empire 1 36 The political history of some Kurdish emirates 145 Administrative organization of Ottoman Kurdistan in the sixteenth century 151 Internal organization of the Kurdish emirates 1 6 1 Political changes in the nineteenth century 175 The rise of Bedr Khan Beg and the fall of the emirate of Botan 1 77 The new land code and its effects 182 The establishment of Kurdish tribal militias: the Hamidiye 1 85 Mustafa Pasha of the Miran 1 86 Ibrahim Pasha of the Milan 1 87 Changes in the early twentieth century 1 89 Conclusions 192 4. Shaikhs: mystics, saints and politicians 203 Introductory remarks 205 God incarnate 205 Dervish and sufi orders 210 Sufi and dervish orders: organized popular mysticism 2 1 3 The history of the Qadiri order as an example 2 1 6 Qadiri shaikhs in Kurdistan 220 The Naqshbandi tariqa and the Naqshbandi order 222 Why did the Naqshbandi order spread so rapidly? 224 Rituals of the Qadiri order 234 The Naqshbandi ritual 240 Shaikh and khalifa: relations with other shaikhs 244 The shaikh and his followers 246 Millenarianism 249 Decline of the shaikhs' influence 252 Islamic revival: the Nurcu movement 257 5. Shaikh Said's Revolt 265 Introduction 265 History of Kurdish national consciousness 267 The end of the Ottoman Empire and the birth of the Republic of Turkey 270 The first Kurdish political organizations 275 Shaikh Said's revoh 281 External and internal support for the revolt 291 The Naqshbandi order and the revolt 296 The religious versus the nationalist character of the revolt 298 6. Concluding Remarks 306 Appendix: The major shaikhly families of Kurdistan 3 1 9 Some oriental terms frequently used in this book 341 Bibliography 344 Index 362 Tables 1. Population estimates for 1975 I5 Figures 1. Segmentary lineage structure 52 2. Consistent father's brother's daughter marriage 72 3. Partial family tree of the Durikiaghas (mala Abbas) 97 4. Partial family tree of the Heverkan aghas (mala Osman) 102 5. Social stratification of Kurdish society 120 6. Growth of the administrative network and the breaking up of large autonomous units in the periphery 194 7. Structure and phases of development of the Qadiri and Naqshbandi orders in Kurdistan 227 Charts 1. The Barzinji family 320 2. The Sadat-e Nehri and the shaikhs of Barzan 321 3. The shaikhs of Biyara and Tawela (Hawraman) 322 4. Important Naqshbandi shaikhs in the Jazira 323 5. Other influential Naqshbandi families 324 6. The shaikhs of Palu 325 Maps 1. Kurdistan X 2. The Kurds in the Middle East 12 3. Dialects spoken in Kurdistan 21 4. Places and tribes mentioned in chapter 2 63 5. The northern Jazira 95 6. The Qaraqoyunlu and Safavid empires 139 7. Location of the most important emirates 158 8. The emu-ate of Botan at the period of greatest expansion ( 1 846) 1 78 9. Important centres of propagation of the Naqshbandi order 225 10. The area affected by Shaikh Said's revolt 287 11. The districts in revolt by early April 288 Preface This book is a revised edition of my doctoral dissertation which originally appeared in 1978. 1 have rewritten certain parts, left out some of the excessive detail, and added a few remarks on the developments since the book's first appearance, but have not made substantial changes to the major arguments. Since 1978 much literature has been published that is immediately relevant to the topics discussed here. Where appropriate I have made reference to these publications in the form of additional notes. There were one or two cases where later publications and my own subsequent findings forced me to revise my original views (notably on the nurcu movement, chapter 4); otherwise I have kept most of my interpretations and formulations as they were originally, even if now I might formulate them differently. In gathering the information I owe great debts to many people and a few institutions. The Netherlands Organization for the Advancement of Pure Research (ZWO) enabled me to spend almost two years in the Middle East with a generous research grant. The Public Record Office in London gave me access to its rich files and permission to quote from them. My supervisors at the University of Utrecht, Professor Thoden van Velzen and especially Professor van Baal, gave me support and stimulation and had the wisdom to allow me all the freedom I wanted. The major debt, however, I owe to all the Kurdish friends who helped me in the various stages of my research. Many of them may prefer not to be mentioned by name; I thank all of them and dedicate this book to them. to mi :"xvx s ^ V -s CO to iiiiiii:':' t E ca CO X 1 .c ; _ to la c "-V to to to c E < to c 1 to en s\ v^ =3 N < X to LakeUrumiya .2 1 !S * 0) Mahabad CO ^ ^ c 3/ .vTliw'^ 'If "5" to ^ i E "^ ^c y to i^ -/ E r 3 2. 5 ^ 1 to 't' 3 (0 5= CO E \ N 1,-' 1 i ^igrisj / 2 CO ^ / ^V ^ c= , 5 ^^"^l* CD ,''->- -Y § r-* > r .^ 1 T3 to 1 1 ; v!^^!| \ X E iti ^ < 3 (A ) tn o :^ < l*:^/ N £ 0) \ - « x/ to li^X < i 1 < < m J I CO 1 -^ 1 to -T M ' c: 1 < 3 J .1 ' UJ k CO \ to \ \ \ c 3 E \ ' 0* O -& S -s \ \ to 2 \ \ o to tsi 1 1 \ to CO t: CO f V o K= 1 LU to J c: 1 2* f 1 '<o\ fSJ 1 *D X 1 'U\ UJ ^LLl J / Co:-] to y vt Z) Qamis/ 1 45 CD ?y ^ 1 to saybin (0 1 <A \ 1 to (O \ CD > to / < a. 09 \ c to / K/<<5^VCS ^ 'S ^y. »MN> X-X 1 ^'\y to -fc^ IjiCpl^ > ^^ t*:'tis (xii*'*J'*''r o. I't'. C8 *t' ^ TvX s >:': J»^ Introduction How this book came to be written This book bears the marks of the conditions under which it was researched. Several of the basic ideas occurred to me only in the course of my fieldwork, and I would probably not have conceived of them had the circumstances of the fieldwork been different. My interest in the Kurds was first aroused during a trip to the Middle East in 1967, when I was still a student of physics. Like so many visitors before me, I was awed by the landscapes of Kurdistan, pleasantly surprised by the hospitality of its inhabitants, impressed by their tales of national oppression and resistance. It was the beginning of a completely romantic fascination, which only gradually, in the course of subsequent visits, gave way to a more realistic appreciation. The fascination, however, remained, not least because of the difficult political situation of the Kurds in all those countries among which Kurdistan is divided, and the fact that they were permanently at odds with their governments. Another result of my travels was that my intellectual interests shifted from the physical to the social sciences. I took courses in anthropology and sociology, and under the influence of the political and intellectual cUmate of the late 1960s became strongly interested in the theories concerning the related issues of peasant revolts, messianic movements, nationalism and class consciousness. It occurred to me that Kurdish history would provide an almost ideal testing ground for many of these theories, because, in this century alone, Kurdistan has seen many rebellions by peasants, with both messianic and nationalist overtones. But somehow the Kurdish case seemed to be different from the other, more popular cases often adduced to illustrate theories.