The Nation Without a State
From early modern times through the nineteenth century, Kurdistan existed as a semi-autonomous part of the Ottoman Empire. However, in recent times it seems to exist only in the history books and the accounts of travellers to that region.
It is difficult to imagine many things that Turkey, Iran, Syria, and Iraq all agree upon, but one thing they most certainly do is that there will be no statehood for the Kurds who inhabit a contiguous region which falls within those countries.
Occasionally the notion of ‘Kurdistan’ arises, recently as a result of the West seeking Kurdish help to combat ISIS or Assad, but like a mirage it disappears, leaving behind only a semi-autonomous state in northern Iraq ruled by the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), and even that is not doing great at the moment.
It might have been very different. From early modern times through the nineteenth century, Kurdistan existed as a semi-autonomous part of the Ottoman Empire, serving as an important barrier between the Sunni Ottomans and the Shia Safavid empire in Persia. When the Ottoman Empire started to collapse, the British and French stepped in and saw the opportunity to divvy up the region between themselves – Iraq to Britain, Syria and Lebanon to France – and so the Sykes-Picot Blueprint was formed in 1916. This led to the Treat of Sevres in 1920 which provided a complicated pathway to an independent Kurdistan, but this was knocked on the head by the rise of Kemal Ataturk whose victory over the allies in the Turkish War of Independence led to the establishment of modern-day Türkiye, ratified by the Treat of Lausanne in 1923, which made no mention of a Kurdish state.
So, for now Kurdistan only exists in the history books and the accounts of travellers to that region.
Sir Robert Ker Porter’s Travels in Georgia, Persia (2 vols, 1821-1822), whilst being best-known for its documentation of Persepolis, also records his discoveries as the first European to visit the Karaftu Caves in Iranian Kurdistan and the Sasanian rock reliefs near Kermanshah, the most important Kurdish centre in Iran. Porter also gives descriptions of Kurdish culture and society when it was little known in Europe. Our copy is uncut in the original boards and rare thus.
James Baillie Fraser’s Travels in Koordistan (1840), is one of only a few nineteenth-century travelogues on the region. In the Winter of 1833-34 he went on a diplomatic mission to Persia, riding some 2600 miles from Semlin (now in Belgrade) to Constantinople, and from Stamboul to Tehran. His is one of the earliest Western accounts of Kurdish village life. He also gives an account of the region, and the political unrest following the deaths of Fath-Al Shah, the second Qajar Shah, and his son, Abbas Mirza. Our copy has the distinguished provenance of Wilfred Thesiger, the great chronicler of the Marsh Arabs of Southern Iraq.
Three Years in Persia with travelling adventures in Koordistan (1841), by George Fowler, a diplomat based in Tehran, contains much on Kurdish life and culture, costume, and jewellery. It also provides us with a record of the reign of Sha-Al Fath and is an interesting companion to Fraser’s book.
Layard’s Discoveries in the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon (2 vols, 1853), gives an account of his second expedition to the famous ruins. Whilst primarily famous for its archaeological discoveries, it is centred around Mosul, the Kurdish heartland in Northern Iraq. It contains first-hand accounts of the local tribes, information on minority communities such as the Yazidis, and is one of the great Victorian travelogues combining scientific exploration with vivid regional descriptions. Our copy is a fine example in the original cloth.
John Ussher’s A Journey from London to Persepolis, published in 1865, gives one of the finest accounts of Kurdistan in the 1860’s. A Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Ussher gives us a detailed eyewitness account of his travels. Although not confined to Kurdistan, as his journey spanned both the Persian and Ottoman empires, he provides a glimpse of the unique reality of Kurdish populations living across different regimes. A beautifully illustrated book, the work is also notable for its elaborate cloth binding, a masterpiece of Victorian design. Ours is a fine copy from the renowned library of the Duke of Portland.
The Rev. Henry Fanshawe Tozer wrote several books about his extensive travels in Greece and Turkey. The scarcest is Turkish Armenia and Eastern Asia Minor, 1885. Whilst primarily a work on Armenia, it includes Tozer’s travels around Lake Van, Bitlis, and the Western Tigris region, detailing Kurdish life in the years just prior to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. It is also of considerable interest for chronicling the political and social relations between the Armenian and Kurdish populations, and the Ottoman authorities in the years after the Russo-Turkish War. Ours is an attractive copy in the original cloth.
Written by Julian MacKenzie
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