Misplaced Pages

Turkish Kurdistan: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editContent deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 18:01, 8 December 2015 view sourceBeshogur (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users33,168 editsNo edit summaryTag: Visual edit← Previous edit Latest revision as of 22:56, 12 December 2024 view source JJMC89 bot III (talk | contribs)Bots, Administrators3,671,278 editsm Moving Category:Southeastern Anatolia Region to Category:Southeastern Anatolia region per Misplaced Pages:Categories for discussion/Speedy 
(439 intermediate revisions by more than 100 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{short description|Kurdish inhabited area of Turkey}}
'''Turkish Kurdistan''' or '''Northern Kurdistan''' ({{lang-ku|Bakurê Kurdistanê}}) is an unofficial name for the ] and ] part of ]. The unofficial term references the region's geographical and historical location with respect to the larger Kurdish region.
{{pp-protected|small=yes}}
]]]
⚫ {{Kurds}}


'''Turkish Kurdistan''' or '''Northern Kurdistan''' ({{Langx|ku-Latn|Bakurê Kurdistanê}}) is the southeastern part of ]<ref name="van Bruinessen">{{citation|first=Martin|last=van Bruinessen|edition=2nd|entry=Kurdistan|editor=Joel Krieger|entry-url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195117394.001.0001/acref-9780195117394-e-0412|title=The Oxford Companion to Politics of the World|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780199891160|entry-url-access=subscription|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195117394.001.0001|year=2004|quote=The name given to the homeland of the Kurds, a Muslim people numbering approximately 20 to 25 million, Kurdistan comprises most of eastern and southeastern Turkey, northern Iraq, parts of northwestern Iran, and small slices of northeastern and northwestern Syria.|hdl=1721.1/141579|hdl-access=free}}</ref> where ] form the predominant ]. The ] estimates that there are 20 million Kurds living in Turkey, the majority of them in the southeast.<ref> by the ], 2017 estimate. "The territory, which the Kurds call Northern Kurdistan (Bakurê Kurdistanê), has 14.2 million inhabitants in 2016. According to several surveys, 86% of them are Kurds... So in 2016, there are about 12.2 million Kurds still living in Kurdistan in Turkey. We know that there are also strong Kurdish communities in the big Turkish metropolises like Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara, Adana, and Mersin. The numerical importance of this "diaspora" is estimated according to sources at 7 to 10 million... Assuming an average estimate of 8 million Kurds in the Turkish part of Turkey, thus arrives at the figure of 20 million Kurds in Turkey."</ref>
Kurds generally consider what they refer to as Northern Kurdistan to be one of the four parts of a greater ], which also includes parts of northern ] (]/Western Kurdistan), northern ] (]), and western ] (]).<ref>''Kurdish Awakening: Nation Building in a Fragmented Homeland'', (2014), by Ofra Bengio, University of Texas Press</ref>


Southeastern Turkey (Northern Kurdistan) is considered to be one of the four parts of ], which also includes parts of northern ] (]), northern ] (]) and northwestern ] (]).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Khalil|first=Fadel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TrZVAAAAYAAJ|title=Kurden heute|date=1992|publisher=Europaverlag|isbn=3-203-51097-9|pages=5,18–19|language=de}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last= Bengio |first= Ofra |date=2014 |title= Kurdish Awakening: Nation Building in a Fragmented Homeland |publisher= University of Texas Press |page=2 |quote= Hence the terms: ''rojhalat'' (east, Iran), ''bashur'' (south, Iraq), ''bakur'' (north, Turkey), and ''rojava'' (west, Syria).}}</ref>
⚫ {{Kurds}}


The term Turkish Kurdistan is often used in the context of ], which makes it a controversial term among proponents of ]. The term has different meaning depending on context.{{How|date=December 2020}}
⚫ ==Geography and economy==
] & Grant McConnel, Linguistic composition of the nations of the world, vol,5, Europe and USSR, Québec, Presses de l'Université Laval, 1984, ISBN 2-7637-7044-4</ref><ref name="census1965(2)" >Ahmet Buran Ph.D., Türkiye'de Diller ve Etnik Gruplar, 2012</ref>]]
In the census of 1965, ]-speakers made up the absolute majority in ], ], ]] ], ], ], ], ] ], ], ], ] and majority in ].<ref name="census1965(1)" /><ref name="census1965(2)" />


⚫ ==Geography==
]]]
The ] delineates the geography of Turkish Kurdistan as following:
The '']'' describes Turkish Kurdistan, historically, as covering at least 25 ] of ]: ], ], ], ], ],
{{Quote|text=According to Trotter (1878), the limit of their extent to the north was the line ]—]—]. In the region of Erzurum they are found especially to the east and the south-east. The Kurds also occupy the western slopes of Ararat, the districts of ] and ]. On the west they extend in a wide belt beyond the course of the Euphrates, and, in the region of Sivas, in the districts of ] and Divriği. Equally, the whole region includes areas to the east and south-east of these limits... Turkish Kurdistān numbers at least 17 of them almost totally: in the north-east, the provinces of ], ] and ]; in the centre, going from west to east and from north to south, the provinces of ], ], ], ], ], Karaköse (]), then ], ], ], ] and ]; Finally, the southern provinces of ] (Urfa), ] and Çölamerik (]).|author=Bois, T., ] and ]|title=Kurds, Kurdistān, 1960|source=<ref name="BRILL" >{{Cite journal|date=2002|title=Kurds, Kurdistān|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/kurds-kurdistan-COM_0544?s.num=167&s.start=100|journal=Encyclopaedia of Islam|edition=2nd|publisher=]|isbn=9789004161214|doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0544|last1=Bois|first1=Th|last2=Minorsky|first2=V.|last3=MacKenzie|first3=D. N.}}</ref>}}


Nonetheless, it is emphasized that "the imprecise limits of the frontiers of Kurdistan hardly allow an exact appreciation of the area." The region forms the south-eastern edge of ], in ]. It is dominated by high peaks rising to over 3,700&nbsp;m (12,000&nbsp;ft) and arid ]x, forming part of the arc of the ]. It has an extreme ]—hot in the summer, bitterly cold in the winter.
] ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ] and ], stressing at the same time that "the imprecise limits of the frontiers of Kurdistan hardly allow an exact appreciation of the area."<ref name="ency">{{cite book|last= Khanam|first=R.|title=Encyclopaedic Ethnography of Middle-East and Central Asia|volume=A-I, V. 1|url=http://books.google.dk/books/about/Encyclopaedic_Ethnography_of_Middle_East.html?id=q_189OeDwSMC&redir_esc=y |year=2005 |publisher=Global Vision Publishing House |isbn=9788182200623 |page=470 }}</ref>


== Demographics ==
In Turkey, the 17 provinces covered around 190,000&nbsp;km².<ref>''Kurds, Kurdistan'', The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Edited by C.E. Bosworth, E. Van Donzel, B. Lewis and C. Pellat, Vol.V: KHE-MAHI, E.J. BRILL Publishers, Leiden, Netherlands, 1986, ISBN 90-04-07819-3 (see pp. 439-440)</ref> Since 1987, four new provinces - ], ], ] and ] - have been created inside the ] out of the territory of some of these provinces. The region has no unified administrative identity and the Turkish state rejects the use of the term "Kurdistan" to describe it. In addition to the provinces already mentioned, the region forms part of the wider geographic subdivisions of ] (''Güneydoğu Anadolu Bölgesi'') and ] (''Doğu Anadolu Bölgesi'').
In the first census of Turkey in 1927, ] was the largest ] in the provinces of Ağrı ({{Percentage|60926|104586}}), Bitlis ({{Percentage|67678|90631}}), Diyarbakır ({{Percentage|132209|192195}}), Elazığ ({{Percentage|112493|212717}}), Hakkâri ({{Percentage|17005|19121}}), Mardin ({{Percentage|109841|180456}}), Siirt ({{Percentage|75962|102433}}, includes present-day Batman) and Van ({{Percentage|57723|75329}}). Moreover, Kurdish was the largest first language with a plurality in Şanlıurfa with {{Percentage|82788|196868}}.<ref>{{Citation|last=Dündar|first=Fuat|title=Türkiye nüfus sayımlarında azınlıklar|date=2000|pages=156–157|language=tr|isbn=9789758086771}}</ref> {{Percentage|99433|143899}} of the population in Muş Province had Kurdish as their first language in the census of 1935, the first census conducted there after the province was split from Bitlis earlier.<ref>{{Citation|last=Dündar|first=Fuat|title=Türkiye nüfus sayımlarında azınlıklar|date=2000|page=164|language=tr|isbn=9789758086771}}</ref> Bingöl Province was separated from Muş in 1935, while Tunceli Province was separated from Elazığ in 1936 and Kurdish was also the first language in these newly-established provinces in their first census in 1945 with {{Percentage|42060|75510}} and {{Percentage|47830|90446}}, respectively.<ref>{{Citation|last=Dündar|first=Fuat|title=Türkiye nüfus sayımlarında azınlıklar|date=2000|pages=178–179|language=tr|isbn=9789758086771}}</ref>


Moreover, other ethnic groups also exist in Turkish Kurdistan including ], ],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Leonard |first1=Thomas M. |title=Encyclopedia of the Developing World |date=2013 |publisher=] |isbn=9781135205089 |page=920}}</ref> ], ] and ].<ref name="BRILL" /> Since the 1990s, forced immigration from the southeast has led millions of Kurds to settle in the cities ], ] or ].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tremblay |first=Pinar |date=22 September 2014 |title=Kurdish identity becomes more acceptable in Turkish society - Al-Monitor: The Pulse of the Middle East |url=https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2014/09/turkey-krg-iraq-kurds-anti-kurdish-discourse-hdp.html |access-date=2022-03-15 |website=] |language=en}}</ref>
⚫ The region forms the south-eastern edge of ]. It is dominated by high peaks rising to over 3,700m (12,000&nbsp;ft) and arid mountain plateaux, forming part of the arc of the ]. It has an extreme ]&nbsp;— hot in the summer, bitterly cold in the winter. Despite this, much of the region is fertile and has traditionally exported grain and livestock to the cities in the plains. The local economy is dominated by ] and small-scale ], with cross-border smuggling (especially of ]) providing a major source of income in the border areas. Larger-scale agriculture and industrial activities dominate the economic life of the lower-lying region around ], the largest Kurdish-populated city in the region. Elsewhere, however, decades of conflict and high unemployment has led to extensive migration from the region to other parts of Turkey and abroad.<ref name="ocpw">van Bruinessen, Martin. "Kurdistan." ''Oxford Companion to the Politics of the World'', 2nd edition. Joel Krieger, ed. ], 2001.</ref>

There used to be ].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kurdistan |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/kurdistan |access-date=2023-10-09 |website=www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org}}</ref>

== Resources ==
⚫ Much of the region is fertile and has traditionally exported grain and livestock to the cities in the plains. The local economy is dominated by ] and ], with cross-border smuggling to and from ] (especially of ]) providing a major source of income in the ] area. Larger-scale agriculture and industrial activities dominate the economic life of the lower-lying region around ], the largest Kurdish-majority city in the region. Elsewhere, however, ] and high unemployment has led to extensive migration from the region to other parts of Turkey and abroad.<ref name="ocpw">van Bruinessen, Martin. "Kurdistan." ''Oxford Companion to the Politics of the World'', 2nd edition. Joel Krieger, ed. ], 2001.</ref>


==History== ==History==
{{main|History of the Kurdish people}} {{main|History of the Kurdish people}}
]
⚫ During the ], the Kurdish-inhabited regions of the Middle East came under the rule of local Kurdish chieftains, though they never established an unified nation state. During 10th and 11th centuries, the region was ruled by the Kurdish dynasty of ]. From the 14th century onwards the region was mostly incorporated into the ].
Part of the ] of the ], Northern Kurdistan was quickly affected by the ] that saw the spread of agriculture. In the ], it was ruled by the ], followed by the ] in the ]. ] saw the arrival of first ], then the ]. The ] swept over the region with the ].


⚫ During the ], the region came under the rule of local chieftains. In the 10th and 11th centuries, it was ruled by the Kurdish ] dynasty. From the 14th century onwards, the region was mostly incorporated into the ].
⚫ ===Kurdish principalities of the region===

⚫ A tax register (or ''defter'') dating back to 1527, mentions an area called ''vilayet-i Kurdistan'', which included 7 major and 11 minor emirates (or ]). The document refers to Kurdish emirates as ''eyalet''(state), an indication of the autonomy enjoyed by these principalities. In a ''ferman'' (imperial decree) issued by ], around 1533, he outlines the rules of inheritance and succession among ''Kurdistan beys'' i.e. Kurdish nobility. Hereditary succession was granted to Kurdish emirates loyal to the Ottomans, and Kurdish princes were granted autonomy within the Empire. The degree of autonomy of these emirates varied greatly and depended on their geo-political significance. The weak Kurdish tribes were forced to join stronger ones or become a part of Ottoman ]s (or sanjak). However the powerful and less accessible tribes, particularly those close to the Iranian border, enjoyed high degrees of autonomy. According to a ''kanunname''(book of law) mentioned by ], there were two adiministrative units different from regular sanjaks: 1) Kurdish sancaks (''Ekrad Beyliği''), characterized by hereditary rule of the Kurdish nobility and 2) Kurdish governments (''hükümet''). The Kurdish sanjaks like ordinary sanjaks, had some military obligations and had to pay some taxes. On the other hand, the Kurdish hükümet neither pay taxes nor provided troops for the Ottoman Army. The Ottomans preferred not to interfere in their succession and internal affairs. As ] has reported, by the mid-17th century the autonomy of Kurdish emirates had diminished. At his time, out of 19 sancaks of Diyarbakir, 12 were regular Ottoman sanjaks, and the remaining were referred to as Kurdish sanjaks. Kurdish sanjaks were reported as ''Sagman'', ''Kulp'', ''Mihraniye'', ''Tercil'', ''Atak'', ''Pertek'', ''Çapakçur'' and ''Çermik''. He also reported the Kurdish states or ''hükümets'' as ''Cezire'', ''Egil'', ''Genç'', ''Palu'' and ''Hazo''. In the late 18th and early 19th century, with the decline of ], the Kurdish principalities became practically independent.<ref>Ozoglu, Hakan. ''State-Tribe Relations: Kurdish Tribalism in the 16th- and 17th- Century Ottoman Empire'', pp.15,18–22,26, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 1996</ref>
⚫ ===Kurdish principalities===
{{Further|List of Kurdish dynasties and countries}}
A tax register (or ''defter'') dating back to 1527 mentions an area called '']'', which included seven major and 11 minor emirates (or ]). The document refers to the Kurdish emirates as '']'' (state), an indication of the autonomy they enjoyed. In a ''Ferman'' (imperial decree) issued by ], around 1533, he outlines the rules of inheritance and succession among ''Kurdistan beys'' i.e. the Kurdish aristocracy. Hereditary succession was granted to Kurdish emirates loyal to the ], and Kurdish princes were granted autonomy within the Empire. The degree of autonomy of these emirates varied greatly and depended on their geopolitical significance. The weak Kurdish tribes were forced to join stronger ones or become a part of Ottoman ]s. However, powerful and less accessible tribes, particularly those close to the frontier with ], enjoyed a high degree of autonomy.

⚫ According to a ''kanunname'' (book of law) mentioned by ], there were two administrative units different from regular sanjaks: 1) Kurdish sanjaks (''Ekrad Beyliği''), characterized by the hereditary rule of the Kurdish aristocracy and 2) Kurdish governments (''hükümet''). The Kurdish sanjaks, like ordinary sanjaks, had military obligations and had to pay taxes. On the other hand, the Kurdish hükümet neither paid taxes nor provided troops for the ], and the Ottomans preferred not to interfere in their succession and internal affairs. According to Çelebi, by the mid-17th century the autonomy of the Kurdish emirates had diminished. At this time, out of 19 sanjaks of the ], 12 were regular Ottoman sanjaks, and the remaining were referred to as Kurdish sanjaks. The Kurdish sanjaks were Sagman, Kulp, Mihraniye, Tercil, Atak, Pertek, Çapakçur and Çermik. Çelebi lists the Kurdish states or ''hükümets'' as Cezire, Egil, Genç, Palu and Hazo. In the late 18th and early 19th century, with the ], the Kurdish principalities became practically independent.<ref>Ozoglu, Hakan. ''State-Tribe Relations: Kurdish Tribalism in the 16th- and 17th- Century Ottoman Empire'', pp.15,18–22,26, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 1996</ref>


==Modern history== ==Modern history==
] for an independent Kurdistan (in 1920).]] ] for an independent Kurdistan (in 1920).]]
The ] government began to assert its authority in the region in the early 19th century. Concerned with independent-mindedness of Kurdish principalities, Ottomans sought to curb their influence and bring them under the control of central government in Istanbul. However, removal from power of these hereditary principalities, led to more instability in the region from the 1840s onwards. In their place, ] sheiks and religious orders rose to prominence and spread their influence throughout the region. One of the prominent Sufi leaders was ''Shaikh Ubaidalla Nahri'', who began a revolt in the region between Lakes ] and ]. The area under his control covered both Ottoman and ] territories. Shaikh Ubaidalla is regarded as one of the earliest leaders who pursued modern nationalist ideas among Kurds. In a letter to a British Vice-Consul, he declared: ''the Kurdish nation is a people apart . . . we want our affairs to be in our hands'.'<ref>Dahlman, Carl. ''The Political Geography of Kurdistan'', Eurasian Geography and Economics, Vol. 43, No. 4, 2002, p.278</ref> The ] government began to assert its authority in the region in the early 19th century. Concerned with independent-mindedness of Kurdish principalities, Ottomans sought to curb their influence and bring them under the control of the central government in Constantinople. However, removal from power of these hereditary principalities led to more instability in the region from the 1840s onwards. In their place, ] sheiks and religious orders rose to prominence and spread their influence throughout the region. One of the prominent Sufi leaders was ''] Nahri'', who began a ] in the region between Lakes ] and ]. The area under his control covered both Ottoman and ] territories. Shaikh Ubaidalla is regarded as one of the earliest leaders who pursued modern nationalist ideas among Kurds. In a letter to a British Vice-Consul, he declared: ''the Kurdish nation is a people apart. . . we want our affairs to be in our hands'.'<ref>Dahlman, Carl. ''The Political Geography of Kurdistan'', Eurasian Geography and Economics, Vol. 43, No. 4, 2002, p.278</ref>


The breakup of the Ottoman Empire after its defeat in the ] led to its dismemberment and establishment of the present-day political boundaries, dividing the Kurdish-inhabited regions between several newly created states. The establishment and enforcement of the new borders had profound effects for the Kurds, who had to abandon their traditional nomadism for village life and settled farming.<ref name="eb">"Kurd," ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007.</ref> The breakup of the Ottoman Empire after its defeat in the ] led to its dismemberment and establishment of the present-day political boundaries, dividing the Kurdish-inhabited regions between several newly created states. The establishment and enforcement of the new borders had profound effects for the Kurds, who had to abandon their traditional nomadism for village life and settled farming.<ref name="eb">"Kurd," ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007.</ref>
] fleeing to Turkey in April 1991, during the ]]]

===Education===
There has been significant conflict in Turkey over the Kurdish populations' linguistic rights. At various points in its history Turkey has enacted laws prohibiting the use of Kurdish in schools.<ref name=hassanpour>{{cite journal|last=Hassanpour|first=Amir|title=The Non-Education of Kurds:A Kurdish Perspective|journal=International Review of Education|year=1996|volume=42|issue=4|pages=367–379|doi=10.1007/bf00601097|bibcode=1996IREdu..42..367H|s2cid=145579854| issn=0020-8566}}</ref> To counter the ], a ] process was started by the Turkish government and the ] ({{Langx|tr|Elazığ Kız Enstitüsü, EGI}}) was opened in 1937. The institute was a boarding school for Kurdish girls and young women who had to learn to speak ] with their children which before they were not able to as most of them didn't know Turkish.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Turkyilmaz|first=Zeynep|date=2016|title=Maternal Colonialism and Turkish Woman's Burden in Dersim: Educating the "Mountain Flowers" of Dersim|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/629829|journal=]|volume=28|issue=3|pages=162–186|doi=10.1353/jowh.2016.0029|issn=1527-2036|via=Project Muse|s2cid=151865028}}</ref><ref name=":02">{{Cite journal|last=Aslan|first=Senem|date=2011|title=Everyday forms of state power and the Kurds in the early Turkish Republic|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23017343|journal=]|volume=43|issue=1|pages=75–76|doi=10.1017/S0020743810001200|issn=0020-7438|jstor=23017343|s2cid=163107175}}</ref> The girls' school was open until 1959.<ref>Turkyilmaz, Zeynep (2016), p.179</ref>

In 2014, several Kurdish NGOs and two Kurdish political parties supported a boycott of schools in Northern Kurdistan to promote the right to education in the Kurdish language in all subjects. While Kurdish identity has become more acceptable in Turkish society, the Turkish government has only allowed the Kurdish language to be offered as an elective in schools. The government has refused to honor other demands. In several southeastern cities, Kurds have established private schools to teach classes in Kurdish but the police have been closing down these private schools.<ref name="education">"", ], 2014</ref>


===Conflict and controversy=== ===Conflict and controversy===
{{main|Kurds in Turkey|Kurdish-Turkish conflict|OHAL}} {{main|Kurdish–Turkish conflict|OHAL}}
{{Turkey–PKK peace process}} {{Turkey–PKK peace process}}
⚫ There has been a long-running separatist conflict in Turkey which has cost 30,000 lives, on both sides. The region saw several major Kurdish rebellions during the 1920s and 1930s. These were forcefully put down by the Turkish authorities and the region was declared a closed military area from which foreigners were banned between 1925 and 1965. Kurdish place names were changed and turkified,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=IX. Restrictions on the Use of the Kurdish Language |url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/turkey/turkey993-08.htm|access-date=2020-11-20|website=www.hrw.org}}</ref> the use of Kurdish language was outlawed, the words '']'' and '']'' were erased from dictionaries and history books, and the Kurds were only referred to as ''Mountain Turks''.<ref>G. Chaliand, A.R. Ghassemlou, M. Pallis, ''A People Without A Country'', 256 pp., Zed Books, 1992, {{ISBN|1-85649-194-3}}, p.58</ref> Politicians were often prosecuted and sentenced to prison terms for speaking Kurdish.<ref name=":0" />
] in 1987 under ] legislation to deal with the developing terrorist activities in the region. From 1994 onwards the scope of the OHAL super-region was gradually narrowed, with provinces being downgraded to "neighbouring province" and then removed from OHAL altogether. OHAL was finally discontinued on 30 November 2002.<ref>{{cite news|title='OHAL'den 'bu hal'e neler değişti...(1)|url=http://www.radikal.com.tr/haber.php?haberno=57587|accessdate=20 October 2013|newspaper=Radikal|date=24 November 2002|language=Turkish}}</ref><br>Red: OHAL provinces, orange: neighbouring provinces]]
⚫ The incorporation into Turkey of the Kurdish-inhabited regions of eastern ] was opposed by many Kurds, and has resulted in a long-running separatist conflict in which thousands of lives have been lost. The region saw several major Kurdish rebellions during the 1920s and 1930s. These were forcefully put down by the Turkish authorities and the region was declared a closed military area from which foreigners were banned between 1925 and 1965. The use of Kurdish language was outlawed, the words '']'' and '']'' were erased from dictionaries and history books, and the Kurds were only referred to as ''Mountain Turks''.<ref>G. Chaliand, A.R. Ghassemlou, M. Pallis, ''A People Without A Country'', 256 pp., Zed Books, 1992, ISBN 1-85649-194-3, p.58</ref>


In 1983, a number of provinces were placed under martial law in response to the activities of the militant separatist ] (PKK).<ref name="hue">"Kurd," ''Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia including Atlas'', 2005.</ref> A ] took place through the rest of the 1980s and into the 1990s. By 1993 the total number of security forces involved in the struggle in southeastern Turkey was about 200,000, and the conflict had become the largest war against terror in the Middle East.<ref>"Turkey," ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007.</ref> in which much of the countryside was evacuated, thousands of Kurdish-populated villages were destroyed and numerous extra judicial summary executions were carried out by both sides.<ref name="ocpw" /> More than 37,000 people were killed in the violence and hundreds of thousands more were forced to leave their homes.<ref name="bbc">"", '']'', 8 May 2007.</ref> The situation in the region has since eased following the capture of the ] leader ] in 1999 and the introduction of a greater degree of official tolerance for Kurdish cultural activities, encouraged by the ].<ref name="eb" /> However, some political violence is still ongoing and the Turkish-Iraqi border region remains tense.<ref>"", '']'', 24 May 2007.</ref> In 1983, a number of provinces were placed under martial law in response to the activities of the militant separatist ] (PKK).<ref name="hue">"Kurd," ''Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia including Atlas'', 2005.</ref> A ] took place through the rest of the 1980s and into the 1990s. By 1993, the total number of security forces involved in the struggle in southeastern Turkey was about 200,000, and the conflict had become the largest ] in the ],<ref>"Turkey," ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007.</ref> in which much of the countryside was evacuated, thousands of Kurdish-populated villages were destroyed, and numerous extra judicial ]s were carried out by both sides.<ref name="ocpw" /> More than 37,000 people were killed in the violence and hundreds of thousands more were forced to leave their homes.<ref name="bbc">"", ], 8 May 2007.</ref> The situation in the region has since eased following the capture of the ] leader ] in 1999 and the introduction of a greater degree of official tolerance for Kurdish cultural activities, encouraged by the ].<ref name="eb" /> However, some political violence is still ongoing and the Turkish–Iraqi border region remains tense.<ref>"", ], 24 May 2007.</ref>


==Ethnic groups== ===Kurdification===
{{Main|Kurdification}}{{See also|Chechen Kurds}}
Turkish Kurdistan is inhabited predominantly by ethnic ], with ], ], ] and ] minorities.<ref name="census1965(1)" /><ref name="census1965(2)" />
When refugees from ] reached the ], Constantinople decided not to settle these in Kurdistan due to the ] and lack of material resources for the refugees. Yet after some time, the Ottomans started seeing the refugees as a chance to diminish the Kurdish claim to the region and allowed the refugees to settle in the region.<ref name="klein">{{cite book|author1=Janet Klein|title=The Margins of Empire: Kurdish Militias in the Ottoman Tribal Zone|date=2011|isbn=978-0-8047-7775-9}}</ref>


From early stage on, some Caucasians went through a voluntary process of Kurdification and thereby had Kurdish as their mother tongue.<ref name="cerkes">{{cite book|author1=Yeldar Barış Kalkan|title=Çerkes halkı ve sorunları: Çerkes tarih, kültür, coğrafya ve siyasetine sınıfsal yaklaşım|date=2006|page=175}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Dursun Gümüşoğlu|title=Anadolu'da bir köy: Eskikonak : antropolojik inceleme|date=2008}}</ref>
===1965 Census===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Mother tongue<ref name="census1965(1)" />
! Population{{ref|Ethnic number|a}}
! Percentage
|-
| align=center|] || align=center|1,149,166 || align=center|60.8%
|-
| align=center|] || align=center|535,880 || align=center|28.4%
|-
| align=center|] || align=center|124,586 || align=center|6.6%
|-
| align=center|] || align=center|60,326 || align=center|3.2%
|-
| align=center|''Other'' || align=center|19,965 || align=center|1.1%
|-
!Total
!1,889,923
!100%
|}


==== 20th–21st century and PKK ====
;Notes
When the Kurdish question arose in Turkey, it also had an effect on their Caucasian neighbors. Even today, there is an aversion from joining the Kurds in their conflict against the Turkish state,<ref>{{cite news|author1=Paul Globe|title=Turkish Circassians Reject Proffered Alliance With Kurds|url=https://jamestown.org/program/turkish-circassians-reject-proffered-alliance-with-kurds/|access-date=12 December 2016|date=7 April 2015}}</ref> but some individuals of Caucasian origin joined the ].<ref>{{cite news|title=Çerkes gerilla: PKK kendimle yüzleşmemi sağladı|url=http://www.ozgur-gundem.com/haber/106811/cerkes-gerilla-pkk-kendimle-yuzlesmemi-sagladi|access-date=12 December 2016|agency=Özgür Gündem|date=9 May 2014|language=tr}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Kurdish Politics in Turkey: From the PKK to the KCK|date=2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-27116-1}}</ref> As part of their campaign, ] (HDP) won elections in most Caucasian villages in Turkish Kurdistan.<ref>{{cite news|title=Bitlis'te Oturan Çerkes Aileden HDP'ye Destek|url=http://www.bitlisradikal.com/haber/65/bitliste-oturan-cerkes-aileden-hdpye-destek.html|access-date=12 December 2016|agency=Bitlis Radikal|date=20 October 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=HDP Çerkesler için broşür hazırladı|url=http://www.haber46.com/siyaset/hdp-cerkesler-icin-brosur-hazirladi-h79668.html|access-date=12 December 2016|agency=Haber46|date=8 May 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=SEÇSİS – Sandık Sonuçları|url=https://sonuc.ysk.gov.tr/module/GirisEkrani.jsf|access-date=12 December 2016|language=tr}}</ref>
:{{note|Ethnic number|a|The source is the Turkish 1965 census. The provinces included are: Ağrı, Bitlis, Diyarbakır, Hakkari, Mardin, Siirt (including Batman and Şırnak) and Van.<ref name="census1965(1)" />}}


==See also== ==See also==
* ]
⚫ {{portal|Kurdistan|Turkey}}
* ] * ]
* ] * ]
* ] * ]
* ] ** ]
* ] by David McDowall
⚫ * ]
* ]
* ]
* ]


==References== ==References==
{{reflist|2}} {{reflist}}


==External links== ==External links==
Line 85: Line 82:
* by GlobalSecurity.org * by GlobalSecurity.org


⚫ {{Portalbar|Geography|Kurdistan|Turkey}}
⚫ ]
{{Irredentism}}
] ]
⚫ ]
] ]
⚫ ]
] ]
] ]
] ]
]
] ]
] ]
] ]
]
] ]

]

Latest revision as of 22:56, 12 December 2024

Kurdish inhabited area of Turkey

Kurdish-inhabited regions of Turkey according to The World Factbook
  Part of a series on

Kurdish history and Kurdish culture
People
Population
  • Homeland
History

Ancient

Karduchian dynasties

Corduene
Zabdicene
Cyrtians
Moxoene

Medieval

Modern
Culture
Languages
Religion

Turkish Kurdistan or Northern Kurdistan (Kurdish: Bakurê Kurdistanê) is the southeastern part of Turkey where Kurds form the predominant ethnic group. The Kurdish Institute of Paris estimates that there are 20 million Kurds living in Turkey, the majority of them in the southeast.

Southeastern Turkey (Northern Kurdistan) is considered to be one of the four parts of Kurdistan, which also includes parts of northern Syria (Western Kurdistan), northern Iraq (Southern Kurdistan) and northwestern Iran (Eastern Kurdistan).

The term Turkish Kurdistan is often used in the context of Kurdish nationalism, which makes it a controversial term among proponents of Turkish nationalism. The term has different meaning depending on context.

Geography

The Encyclopaedia of Islam delineates the geography of Turkish Kurdistan as following:

According to Trotter (1878), the limit of their extent to the north was the line Divriği—Erzurum—Kars. In the region of Erzurum they are found especially to the east and the south-east. The Kurds also occupy the western slopes of Ararat, the districts of Kağızman and Tuzluca. On the west they extend in a wide belt beyond the course of the Euphrates, and, in the region of Sivas, in the districts of Kangal and Divriği. Equally, the whole region includes areas to the east and south-east of these limits... Turkish Kurdistān numbers at least 17 of them almost totally: in the north-east, the provinces of Erzincan, Erzurum and Kars; in the centre, going from west to east and from north to south, the provinces of Malatya, Tunceli, Elazığ, Bingöl, Muş, Karaköse (Ağrı), then Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, Siirt, Bitlis and Van; Finally, the southern provinces of Şanlıurfa (Urfa), Mardin and Çölamerik (Hakkarî).

— Bois, T., Minorsky, V. and MacKenzie, D.N., Kurds, Kurdistān, 1960,

Nonetheless, it is emphasized that "the imprecise limits of the frontiers of Kurdistan hardly allow an exact appreciation of the area." The region forms the south-eastern edge of Anatolia, in Upper Mesopotamia. It is dominated by high peaks rising to over 3,700 m (12,000 ft) and arid mountain plateaux, forming part of the arc of the Taurus Mountains. It has an extreme continental climate—hot in the summer, bitterly cold in the winter.

Demographics

In the first census of Turkey in 1927, Kurdish was the largest first language in the provinces of Ağrı (58%), Bitlis (75%), Diyarbakır (69%), Elazığ (53%), Hakkâri (89%), Mardin (61%), Siirt (74%, includes present-day Batman) and Van (77%). Moreover, Kurdish was the largest first language with a plurality in Şanlıurfa with 42%. 69% of the population in Muş Province had Kurdish as their first language in the census of 1935, the first census conducted there after the province was split from Bitlis earlier. Bingöl Province was separated from Muş in 1935, while Tunceli Province was separated from Elazığ in 1936 and Kurdish was also the first language in these newly-established provinces in their first census in 1945 with 56% and 53%, respectively.

Moreover, other ethnic groups also exist in Turkish Kurdistan including Arabs, Assyrians, Circassians, Ossetians and Turks. Since the 1990s, forced immigration from the southeast has led millions of Kurds to settle in the cities Ankara, Izmir or Istanbul.

There used to be 11 Jewish communities in the Turkish Kurdistan.

Resources

Much of the region is fertile and has traditionally exported grain and livestock to the cities in the plains. The local economy is dominated by animal husbandry and small-scale agriculture, with cross-border smuggling to and from Iraqi Kurdistan (especially of petroleum) providing a major source of income in the Iraq-Turkey border area. Larger-scale agriculture and industrial activities dominate the economic life of the lower-lying region around Diyarbakır, the largest Kurdish-majority city in the region. Elsewhere, however, military activity and high unemployment has led to extensive migration from the region to other parts of Turkey and abroad.

History

Main article: History of the Kurdish people
Ottoman Kurdistan in 1855

Part of the Fertile Crescent of the Ancient Near East, Northern Kurdistan was quickly affected by the Neolithic Revolution that saw the spread of agriculture. In the Bronze Age, it was ruled by the Arameans, followed by the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the Iron Age. Classical antiquity saw the arrival of first Greater Armenia, then the Roman Empire. The early Muslim conquests swept over the region with the spread of Islam.

During the Middle Ages, the region came under the rule of local chieftains. In the 10th and 11th centuries, it was ruled by the Kurdish Marwanid dynasty. From the 14th century onwards, the region was mostly incorporated into the Ottoman Empire.

Kurdish principalities

Further information: List of Kurdish dynasties and countries

A tax register (or defter) dating back to 1527 mentions an area called Vilayet-i Kurdistan, which included seven major and 11 minor emirates (or principalities). The document refers to the Kurdish emirates as eyalet (state), an indication of the autonomy they enjoyed. In a Ferman (imperial decree) issued by Suleiman I, around 1533, he outlines the rules of inheritance and succession among Kurdistan beys i.e. the Kurdish aristocracy. Hereditary succession was granted to Kurdish emirates loyal to the Ottoman Empire, and Kurdish princes were granted autonomy within the Empire. The degree of autonomy of these emirates varied greatly and depended on their geopolitical significance. The weak Kurdish tribes were forced to join stronger ones or become a part of Ottoman sanjaks. However, powerful and less accessible tribes, particularly those close to the frontier with Persia, enjoyed a high degree of autonomy.

According to a kanunname (book of law) mentioned by Evliya Çelebi, there were two administrative units different from regular sanjaks: 1) Kurdish sanjaks (Ekrad Beyliği), characterized by the hereditary rule of the Kurdish aristocracy and 2) Kurdish governments (hükümet). The Kurdish sanjaks, like ordinary sanjaks, had military obligations and had to pay taxes. On the other hand, the Kurdish hükümet neither paid taxes nor provided troops for the Ottoman Army, and the Ottomans preferred not to interfere in their succession and internal affairs. According to Çelebi, by the mid-17th century the autonomy of the Kurdish emirates had diminished. At this time, out of 19 sanjaks of the Diyarbekir Eyalet, 12 were regular Ottoman sanjaks, and the remaining were referred to as Kurdish sanjaks. The Kurdish sanjaks were Sagman, Kulp, Mihraniye, Tercil, Atak, Pertek, Çapakçur and Çermik. Çelebi lists the Kurdish states or hükümets as Cezire, Egil, Genç, Palu and Hazo. In the late 18th and early 19th century, with the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the Kurdish principalities became practically independent.

Modern history

Provisions of the Treaty of Sèvres for an independent Kurdistan (in 1920).

The Ottoman government began to assert its authority in the region in the early 19th century. Concerned with independent-mindedness of Kurdish principalities, Ottomans sought to curb their influence and bring them under the control of the central government in Constantinople. However, removal from power of these hereditary principalities led to more instability in the region from the 1840s onwards. In their place, sufi sheiks and religious orders rose to prominence and spread their influence throughout the region. One of the prominent Sufi leaders was Sheikh Ubeydalla Nahri, who began a revolt in the region between Lakes Van and Urmia. The area under his control covered both Ottoman and Qajar territories. Shaikh Ubaidalla is regarded as one of the earliest leaders who pursued modern nationalist ideas among Kurds. In a letter to a British Vice-Consul, he declared: the Kurdish nation is a people apart. . . we want our affairs to be in our hands'.'

The breakup of the Ottoman Empire after its defeat in the First World War led to its dismemberment and establishment of the present-day political boundaries, dividing the Kurdish-inhabited regions between several newly created states. The establishment and enforcement of the new borders had profound effects for the Kurds, who had to abandon their traditional nomadism for village life and settled farming.

Iraqi Kurds fleeing to Turkey in April 1991, during the Gulf War

Education

There has been significant conflict in Turkey over the Kurdish populations' linguistic rights. At various points in its history Turkey has enacted laws prohibiting the use of Kurdish in schools. To counter the Dersim rebellion, a turkification process was started by the Turkish government and the Elazığ Girls' Institute (Turkish: Elazığ Kız Enstitüsü, EGI) was opened in 1937. The institute was a boarding school for Kurdish girls and young women who had to learn to speak Turkish with their children which before they were not able to as most of them didn't know Turkish. The girls' school was open until 1959.

In 2014, several Kurdish NGOs and two Kurdish political parties supported a boycott of schools in Northern Kurdistan to promote the right to education in the Kurdish language in all subjects. While Kurdish identity has become more acceptable in Turkish society, the Turkish government has only allowed the Kurdish language to be offered as an elective in schools. The government has refused to honor other demands. In several southeastern cities, Kurds have established private schools to teach classes in Kurdish but the police have been closing down these private schools.

Conflict and controversy

Main articles: Kurdish–Turkish conflict and OHAL
Part of a series on
the Kurdish–Turkish conflict
Kurdish–Turkish
peace process
History
Unilateral cease-fire1999–2004
Solution process2013–15
Primary concerns
International brokersIraqi Kurdistan
ProposalsKurdish autonomous region

There has been a long-running separatist conflict in Turkey which has cost 30,000 lives, on both sides. The region saw several major Kurdish rebellions during the 1920s and 1930s. These were forcefully put down by the Turkish authorities and the region was declared a closed military area from which foreigners were banned between 1925 and 1965. Kurdish place names were changed and turkified, the use of Kurdish language was outlawed, the words Kurds and Kurdistan were erased from dictionaries and history books, and the Kurds were only referred to as Mountain Turks. Politicians were often prosecuted and sentenced to prison terms for speaking Kurdish.

In 1983, a number of provinces were placed under martial law in response to the activities of the militant separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). A guerrilla war took place through the rest of the 1980s and into the 1990s. By 1993, the total number of security forces involved in the struggle in southeastern Turkey was about 200,000, and the conflict had become the largest counter-insurgency in the Middle East, in which much of the countryside was evacuated, thousands of Kurdish-populated villages were destroyed, and numerous extra judicial summary executions were carried out by both sides. More than 37,000 people were killed in the violence and hundreds of thousands more were forced to leave their homes. The situation in the region has since eased following the capture of the PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan in 1999 and the introduction of a greater degree of official tolerance for Kurdish cultural activities, encouraged by the European Union. However, some political violence is still ongoing and the Turkish–Iraqi border region remains tense.

Kurdification

Main article: KurdificationSee also: Chechen Kurds

When refugees from Caucasus reached the Ottoman Empire, Constantinople decided not to settle these in Kurdistan due to the extreme poverty and lack of material resources for the refugees. Yet after some time, the Ottomans started seeing the refugees as a chance to diminish the Kurdish claim to the region and allowed the refugees to settle in the region.

From early stage on, some Caucasians went through a voluntary process of Kurdification and thereby had Kurdish as their mother tongue.

20th–21st century and PKK

When the Kurdish question arose in Turkey, it also had an effect on their Caucasian neighbors. Even today, there is an aversion from joining the Kurds in their conflict against the Turkish state, but some individuals of Caucasian origin joined the Kurdistan Workers' Party. As part of their campaign, Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) won elections in most Caucasian villages in Turkish Kurdistan.

See also

References

  1. van Bruinessen, Martin (2004), "Kurdistan", in Joel Krieger (ed.), The Oxford Companion to Politics of the World (2nd ed.), Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acref/9780195117394.001.0001, hdl:1721.1/141579, ISBN 9780199891160, The name given to the homeland of the Kurds, a Muslim people numbering approximately 20 to 25 million, Kurdistan comprises most of eastern and southeastern Turkey, northern Iraq, parts of northwestern Iran, and small slices of northeastern and northwestern Syria.
  2. The Kurdish Population by the Kurdish Institute of Paris, 2017 estimate. "The territory, which the Kurds call Northern Kurdistan (Bakurê Kurdistanê), has 14.2 million inhabitants in 2016. According to several surveys, 86% of them are Kurds... So in 2016, there are about 12.2 million Kurds still living in Kurdistan in Turkey. We know that there are also strong Kurdish communities in the big Turkish metropolises like Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara, Adana, and Mersin. The numerical importance of this "diaspora" is estimated according to sources at 7 to 10 million... Assuming an average estimate of 8 million Kurds in the Turkish part of Turkey, thus arrives at the figure of 20 million Kurds in Turkey."
  3. Khalil, Fadel (1992). Kurden heute (in German). Europaverlag. pp. 5, 18–19. ISBN 3-203-51097-9.
  4. Bengio, Ofra (2014). Kurdish Awakening: Nation Building in a Fragmented Homeland. University of Texas Press. p. 2. Hence the terms: rojhalat (east, Iran), bashur (south, Iraq), bakur (north, Turkey), and rojava (west, Syria).
  5. ^ Bois, Th; Minorsky, V.; MacKenzie, D. N. (2002). "Kurds, Kurdistān". Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.). Brill. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0544. ISBN 9789004161214.
  6. Dündar, Fuat (2000), Türkiye nüfus sayımlarında azınlıklar (in Turkish), pp. 156–157, ISBN 9789758086771
  7. Dündar, Fuat (2000), Türkiye nüfus sayımlarında azınlıklar (in Turkish), p. 164, ISBN 9789758086771
  8. Dündar, Fuat (2000), Türkiye nüfus sayımlarında azınlıklar (in Turkish), pp. 178–179, ISBN 9789758086771
  9. Leonard, Thomas M. (2013). Encyclopedia of the Developing World. Routledge. p. 920. ISBN 9781135205089.
  10. Tremblay, Pinar (22 September 2014). "Kurdish identity becomes more acceptable in Turkish society - Al-Monitor: The Pulse of the Middle East". Al-Monitor. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
  11. "Kurdistan". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
  12. ^ van Bruinessen, Martin. "Kurdistan." Oxford Companion to the Politics of the World, 2nd edition. Joel Krieger, ed. Oxford University Press, 2001.
  13. Ozoglu, Hakan. State-Tribe Relations: Kurdish Tribalism in the 16th- and 17th- Century Ottoman Empire, pp.15,18–22,26, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 1996
  14. Dahlman, Carl. The Political Geography of Kurdistan, Eurasian Geography and Economics, Vol. 43, No. 4, 2002, p.278
  15. ^ "Kurd," Encyclopædia Britannica. Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007.
  16. Hassanpour, Amir (1996). "The Non-Education of Kurds:A Kurdish Perspective". International Review of Education. 42 (4): 367–379. Bibcode:1996IREdu..42..367H. doi:10.1007/bf00601097. ISSN 0020-8566. S2CID 145579854.
  17. Turkyilmaz, Zeynep (2016). "Maternal Colonialism and Turkish Woman's Burden in Dersim: Educating the "Mountain Flowers" of Dersim". Journal of Women's History. 28 (3): 162–186. doi:10.1353/jowh.2016.0029. ISSN 1527-2036. S2CID 151865028 – via Project Muse.
  18. Aslan, Senem (2011). "Everyday forms of state power and the Kurds in the early Turkish Republic". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 43 (1): 75–76. doi:10.1017/S0020743810001200. ISSN 0020-7438. JSTOR 23017343. S2CID 163107175.
  19. Turkyilmaz, Zeynep (2016), p.179
  20. "Kurdish identity becomes more acceptable in Turkish society", Al-Monitor, 2014
  21. ^ "IX. Restrictions on the Use of the Kurdish Language". www.hrw.org. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
  22. G. Chaliand, A.R. Ghassemlou, M. Pallis, A People Without A Country, 256 pp., Zed Books, 1992, ISBN 1-85649-194-3, p.58
  23. "Kurd," Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia including Atlas, 2005.
  24. "Turkey," Encyclopædia Britannica. Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007.
  25. "Kurdish rebels kill Turkey troops", BBC News, 8 May 2007.
  26. "Turkish soldiers killed in blast", BBC News, 24 May 2007.
  27. Janet Klein (2011). The Margins of Empire: Kurdish Militias in the Ottoman Tribal Zone. ISBN 978-0-8047-7775-9.
  28. Yeldar Barış Kalkan (2006). Çerkes halkı ve sorunları: Çerkes tarih, kültür, coğrafya ve siyasetine sınıfsal yaklaşım. p. 175.
  29. Dursun Gümüşoğlu (2008). Anadolu'da bir köy: Eskikonak : antropolojik inceleme.
  30. Paul Globe (7 April 2015). "Turkish Circassians Reject Proffered Alliance With Kurds". Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  31. "Çerkes gerilla: PKK kendimle yüzleşmemi sağladı" (in Turkish). Özgür Gündem. 9 May 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  32. Kurdish Politics in Turkey: From the PKK to the KCK. Routledge. 2014. ISBN 978-1-317-27116-1.
  33. "Bitlis'te Oturan Çerkes Aileden HDP'ye Destek". Bitlis Radikal. 20 October 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  34. "HDP Çerkesler için broşür hazırladı". Haber46. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  35. "SEÇSİS – Sandık Sonuçları" (in Turkish). Retrieved 12 December 2016.

External links

Portals:
Irredentism
Africa
North America
South America
Western Asia
Southern Asia
Eastern and Southeastern Asia
Central and Eastern Europe
Southern Europe
Italy
Northern Europe
Western Europe
Oceania
Related concepts: Border changes since 1914 · Partitionism · Reunification · Revanchism · Revisionism · Rump state
Categories: