Table of Contents

Preface Introduction How this book came to be written Subject of this study A note on the written sources 1. General Information on Kurdistan Geography Geopolitical situation Population Other economic activities: crafts/industries and trades Language Religion The Kurdish national movement, 1960-85 Iranian Kurdistan and the Islamic Revolution The Iran-Iraq war and the Kurds Saddam Hussein's solution to the Kurdish question Recent changes in Turkey's attitude 2. Tribes, Chieftains and Non-tribal Groups The tribe and its subdivisions Kurdish terms Blood feud and other conflicts Higher than the tribe? Leadership and conflicts Leadership: titles and functions The guest-house Economic aspects: tribute to the agha Leadership situation among a number of different tribes Power as a process: the colonization of the northern Jazira Subject 'non-tribal' peasantry and their relations with tribal Kurds The guran and the Guran Nomads and peasants: one or two peoples? Conclusion 3. Tribes and the State Introduction The incorporation of Kurdistan into the Ottoman Empire The political history of some Kurdish emirates Administrative organization of Ottoman Kurdistan in the sixteenth century Internal organization of the Kurdish emirates Political changes in the nineteenth century The rise of Bedr Khan Beg and the fall of the emirate of Botan The new land code and its effects The establishment of Kurdish tribal militias: the Hamidiye Mustafa Pasha of the Miran Ibrahim Pasha of the Milan Changes in the early twentieth century Conclusions 4. Shaikhs: mystics, saints and politicians Introductory remarks God incarnate Dervish and sufi orders Sufi and dervish orders: organized popular mysticism The history of the Qadiri order as an example Qadiri shaikhs in Kurdistan The Naqshbandi tariqa and the Naqshbandi order Why did the Naqshbandi order spread so rapidly? Rituals of the Qadiri order The Naqshbandi ritual Shaikh and khalifa: relations with other shaikhs The shaikh and his followers Millenarianism Decline of the shaikhs' influence Islamic revival: the Nurcu movement 5. Shaikh Said's Revolt Introduction History of Kurdish national consciousness The end of the Ottoman Empire and the birth of the Republic of Turkey The first Kurdish political organizations Shaikh Said's revolt External and internal support for the revolt The Naqshbandi order and the revolt The religious versus the nationalist character of the revolt

About the Author

Dr Martin van Bruinessen is a distinguished social anthropologist and a Fellow of the Kurdish Institute in Paris.