Fritillaria Kurdica.Bulletin of Kurdish Studies no. 17
In the 17th issue of our bulletin we publish the papers in English and Kurdish languages that were presented during the conference Uncovering The Past Towards the Future, Uniting Experiences and Values. Kurdistan in Western and Eastern Research Tradition which took place in Kraków, at the Jagiellonian University between 24-26.10.2016. The main aim of the conference was to bring together scholars in Kurdish studies from Kurdistan as well as from the West and the East of Europe and to stress the importance of the three elements which today should contribute to more successful research in the field of Kurdish studies: the wide theoretical background, good knowledge of language and the contact with the studied reality and people.
Contents:
Z. Asli Elitsoy
The Kurdish Hizbullah and Its Shifting Attitude Towards Kurdishness and the Kurdish Issue in Turkey
The Kurdish Hizbullah, which has not any organic tie with Shiite Lebanese one, is one of the largest militant Islamic groups that arose in Turkey during the 1980s. In its early years, aimed to liberate the Islamic society in Turkey as a whole, not just a single region or ethnicity. Advocating ethnic nationalism was contrary to Hizbullah members’ understanding of the ummah –the community of Muslims. Every activity they conducted was connected to their struggle for Islam. However, at the beginning of the 2000s, following the assassination of its leader by the security forces, Hizbullah disarmed and concentrated on re-establishing its grassroots support through a variety of charity organizations and adopted a much more positive approach towards Kurdishness. Especially with the establishment of its political party, Huda-Par, the group moved away from its previous understanding of the unity of Muslims and positioned itself as a Kurdish-Islamist political party. The reasons of this shift can be ascribed to the repression from security forces, leadership change, their need for support from religious Kurdish constituency, and a breakdown in the solidarity between Turkish and Kurdish Islamists which led to the end of the “Islamic brotherhood” argument that is no longer enough to manage the ethnic demands of Kurds in Turkey.
Seyedehbehnaz Hosseini
The oral transmission of Yārsāni’s traditional education
Iran is a host to a wide variety of faiths and religions. Iran’s unrecognized minorities, such as the Yārsāni, also known as Kaka-i, Ali-Allahi, and Ahl-Haqq are communities that can be predominantly found in the Kermanshah as well as other regions in Iran and the Middle East.
The Yārsāni have established seventy-two important requisites for those who are faithful and want to live in accordance with them. The requisites act to bring individuals together and help them understand the oneness of God. Furthermore, the requisites assist in maintaining traditional rituals within the religion through generations. When a child is born, parents will teach their child the traditions in a practice, and it is their duty to give the child a name and surrender to the Yārsāni religion (Sar–separi). Each Yārsāni must learn these traditions which are taught informally and passed down through generations orally. For example, parents put their children in "Jam khaneh" (a holy place) where a child learns the Kalām (religious verses). The seventy-two requisites are particularly important when children reach the time for marriage, when the women must learn how to make a vow, and the men must learn how to play the "Tanbur" (a sacred lute). It is of interest to the present study not only to understand the importance of “Yārsāni requisites”, but also to consider how the experience of these requisites were passed down from generation to generation. This study will examine the ways in which the Yārsāni use this education in their everyday life.
Umîd Demirhan
Jiyana Mela Mihemedê Celalî (The Life of Mela Mihemedê Celalî)
Mela Mihemedê Celalî is a Kurdish Scholar who was born in Bazid in the late 19th century and died in mid 20th century in Amed. Though he was one of the Baghdad Sayyids, he pioneered in studies of Kurdish Language. Renouncing the positions offered by State, he maintained classical Kurdish Madrassah Tradition till the end of his life. He lectured scholars like Xelîfe Ûsiv (Khalifa Yuosef) and Seîdê Kurd (Said Nursi) but there isn’t any written record or biography on his life. Hereby our study is based on the verbal sayings of Celalî’s family about their grandfather Mela Mihemedê Celalî.
Pherset Rosbeiani
هێلموت فۆن مۆلتكە كوردستان دەدۆزێتەوە (Helmuth von Moltke Discovers Kurdistan)
The celebrated General Field Marshall Helmuth von Moltke was a captain in service of the Ottoman Sultan from 1835 to 1839. As the captain he was responsible for reorganization of the Ottoman army and he also took part in the fights against the Kurds in the east of the Ottoman Empire. In addition to the regular reports to his superiors in the General Staff in Berlin and the Prussian embassy in Constantinople he wrote a large number of letters to relatives and friends. The letters appeared in Berlin and were entitled "Unter dem Halbmond".
This paper examines the circumstances in which these letters emerged and addresses questions about other correspondences of this kind which have not been published so far. The paper also examines deviations emerging from the content which manifest themselves in comparison with their official reports. Moltke was neither an orientalist nor a Kurdolog, but he described the issues as an attentive researcher with much sympathy for the Kurds who took part in the bloody campaigns. As one of the first in his time, he drew a large realistic picture of Kurdistan. A piece of land and people, which had a very unclear image in Europe at that time.
Saadi Uthman Haruti
ئهدهبی زارهكی وهك سهرچاوهیهك بۆ نووسینی مێژووی كوردستان (Oral Literature As a Source for Writing the History of Kurdistan)
Most communities practice oral literature and the Kurds are among the nations for which this kind of literature is of great importance. The Kurdish oral literature generally confines to folk poetry and lyrical epics, especially the kind of singing called (Lauk) in southern Kurdistan. Lauk describes real events that occurred in the past and became a part of national memory. Some popular verses describe prominent events in the history of Kurdistan, and they also memorized important details that are not mentioned in historical sources. The folk verse, which talks about bravery of Bradost Kurds and their leader (Khani Iape Zeren- Khan with the Golden hand) in (Castle of Dim Dim) 1609, is an example of this kind of works. Some of other folk verses which were told through centuries made some Kurdish historical figures immortal. One such example is the princess of Soran (Khanzad), which was not mentioned in any historical source, but we have learned about her story and prominent role in the Emirate of Soran through some folk verses recently. Some of other verses and lyrical epics provide us with a Kurdish viewpoint on the events, while the official sources offer a different perspective. It is important to be careful while dealing with oral texts, because some of them are mixed with myths and exaggerations.
Azad Ubed Salih
ساخكردنەوەی ژمارەكانی گۆڤاری (هەتاوی كورد)ی ئەستەنبۆڵ 1913 - 1914 (Hetwawi Kurd (1913-1914) Magazine and The Order of Its Issues)
The history of the Kurdish press shows political situation in Kurdistan which was always invaded and divided into parts by different states. For a long time all kinds of reference to the Kurdish issue were prohibited, and anyone who got any document or archive of any Kurdish publication was arrested and killed by the respective authorities of the state in which they lived. Therefore, the history of the Kurdish press is filled with many questions and complexities. That is why researchers need to work on history of Kurdish press to figure out solutions to the existing problems. Hence, this research discusses the circumstances in which the Kurdish magazine entitled Hetawi Kurd was released. It was edited by a group of Kurdish students named Hevi Group after the constitutional movement in Ottoman Empire. The group previously published another magazine entitled the Kurdish day (Roji Kurd), In fact, four issues of the magazine were released at the end of the same year. However, they issued Hetawi Kurd after the authorities banned the Roji Kurd magazine. There is a disagreement and debate between researchers regarding the history of Kurdish press. Hetawi Kurd issues were published with numbers 1 up to 4, the next issue was 4 – 5, and then immediately issue number 10 emerged. Finally, with sufficient documents and archives, I believe I can prove that Hetawi Kurd was followed by the Roji Kurd, rather than being two independent magazines; moreover, both of them published 10 issues from June 1913 to June 1914.