Review The Kurdish National Movement, Its Origins And Development

Jwaideh, Wadie, The Kurdish National Movement, Its Origins And Development, Syracuse University Press, 2006

 

The Kurdish National Movement, Its Origins And Development by Wadie Jwaideh was a 1960s Master’s Thesis from Syracuse University which was published decades after it was written. Jwaideh attempted to cover the history, culture and political movements of the Kurdish people in Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and the Soviet Union/Russia from ancient times up to the 1950s. It’s a very detailed account of personalities and events. His major thesis was that the Kurds had a strong sense of identity but were never able to achieve their political goals because of their deep divisions which also allowed them to be constantly manipulated by regional powers.

 

The book begins with the historical background to the Kurdish people. There are some interesting observations such as Jwaideh’s theory that ancient tribes came out of the mountains and conquered the lowland people who were farmers and peasants. The divisions between the two remained to the modern era. Another time he writes that Islam was used as a major way to organize people with sheikhs often becoming political leaders.

 

Most of The Kurdish National Movement deals with the late Ottoman period to the 1950s and the various revolts and movements that were formed. One theme is that the major powers of the region all tried to manipulate the Kurds for their own ends. The Ottomans backed Kurdish tribes to fight the Persians. The Russians supported Kurds against the Ottomans as Moscow was expanding south into the area. The Turks backed Kurds against the British after Iraq was formed in 1920. The Soviets supported the Mahabad Republic in an attempt to create a friendly state out of northern Iran. There were so many different Kurdish personalities vying for power it was easy to find someone that was willing to work with a foreign government. Second, the author documented continuous revolts by Kurds but they were all local in nature and never united many groups which was the major downfall of the Kurdish national movement. Often times one Kurdish leader fought another in clan rivalries. Jwaideh believed that the Kurds could not achieve their dreams without sustained outside help and that never occurred in a serious manner. 

 

One problem with the book was that it glossed over some of the crimes Kurdish groups committed. For example it noted that an early nationalist organization called the Kurdish Group took part in the Armenian massacre in Turkey but only says so in passing. Another time it mentions that Mulla Mustafa Barzani helped put down a pan-Arab revolt in Mosul in Iraq in the 1950s. It doesn’t say that the Kurds then massacred people in the town. Obviously the author was trying to put the Kurds in a good light and didn’t want to really go into their excesses.

 

The Kurdish National Movement provides very good background to the various attempts at a Kurdish state. The depth of research the author did is impressive and has some very interesting findings that are not found in other books about the Kurds. Most importantly Jwaideh’s themes of lack of unity within the community and outside interference continues to this day.

 

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