Muhammed Emin Zeki Beg: The Connoisseur of Kurdish History

In Turkey, the “Ottoman” concept removed and replaced with complete elimination of anyone, not “Turkish” and not “Turan” from the moment it started to use these concepts, so I was naturally aware of separate national identity of Turkey likewise to all non-Ottoman citizens. This consciousness led me to an enthusiastic and sensitive search of national identity and a tendency to bring national qualifications to the forefront.

However, I did not know anything about the origin of the nation I belonged to. Because until that day, in no way had the thought of researching the history of the Kurdish nation, evaluating historical findings aroused in my mind. Neither during my education nor in later periods did I feel such a need. There was no other reason for this search than the use of the concept of Osman Ottomanism. This undoubtedly united each one of us belonging to other nations.

From time to time I asked myself: I wonder what is the origin of the Kurdish nation? What artefacts did it make and what history does it have? Unfortunately, I could not find satisfactory answers to these questions. Eventually, I felt the need to apply to some Kurdish leaders and scholars. Two of them, in particular, were considered masters in the science of history. One is based on a mixed narrative and a weak chin, the origin of the Kurds from the Kahtani family Kurd. The other claimed that the Kurds were descended from a demon called “Casad”.

I was really sorry for those ridiculous answers. So I decided to investigate this power issue and solve this riddle of history on my own. I was in Istanbul at the time. This was a good opportunity to start working. I devoted my free time to my studies on this important subject.

I started researching in 1910 and first visited the public libraries in Istanbul. During this period, the time I devoted to extracting scientific data, researching and studying was really narrow. Moreover, every year for more than six months, I moved out of Istanbul due to my duty in the border commission. However, I must say that I have come to a very useful conclusion from these efforts.

For example, as of the end of 1912, I have reached hundreds of works and numerous historical sources, compiled valuable texts and insights, as well as notes. Then fate led me to Europe in 1913 for an official mission. During this visit, I had the opportunity to visit many libraries, museums in Germany and France where valuable artefacts were preserved. In the meantime, I came across unique books and collected important information about Kurds and Kurdistan from these valuable resources. I also bought dozens of books about the Kurds and their homeland by orientalists and statistical experts.

After returning from Europe, World War I broke out soon after. Therefore, I was unable to continue my historical studies and scientific research. When the war ended, I went back to Istanbul and started researching, extracting and evaluating my findings. Especially after World War I, I searched the books on the subject. Then I started to write my notes and the information I collected from different places in a certain order and I wrote about two hundred pages.

Not long after that, my writings were burned in 1919, during the feast of the sacrifice, when I was not at home, as a result of a great fire in our neighbourhood. In this fire, my house was burned. When I return, what should I see: The document I prepared and the notes I wrote on the subject were completely burned! The results of my six-year study, scientific data, and all my labour had been ashes.

In fact, this unexpected catastrophe finished all my hopes … It shook me into a sea of ​​unbearable pain and pessimism… All my hopes for realizing the greatest ideal in my life fell once more. Ten years have passed since this event, and one day in 1929, I had an eye on the Islamic Encyclopedia in the Baghdad Parliament library and borrowed it to study. I realized that this work is a valuable and new work that has been written since 1905. The encyclopedia was prepared by a scientific council of world-renowned experts and strategists and was not yet complete. I was particularly attracted to a substance on the second volume which was extremely useful. This article, which speaks of the Kurds and Kurdistan, was written by Vladimir Minorsky, the world-renowned undersecretary. So I’ve studied it over and over again. I’ve studied it two or three times and I’ve focused on it with love and enthusiasm. These studies have led me to remember my past ideal. In order to realize my ideal, I resumed my work with great pleasure and at that moment I decided to write the book ‘Kurds and Kurdistan’ from the Old Era of History to the Present day.

This work will be based on valuable research in the Islamic Encyclopedia and will continue in that manner. In the encyclopedia mentioned in the context of achieving my desire, I started by translating all kinds of information about Kurds and Kurdistan into Kurdish; then, with great care, I tried to obtain all the source works in the indexes given at the end of the different articles about the subject mentioned in the book and as I reached some of those works, I found other works related to the subject during my research.

I should also mention some friends who contributed with valuable help in researching relevant resources: Director of the Iraqi Historical Monuments Department. I greatly benefited from Sidney Smith’s guidance and valuable scientific contributions, and he helped me by presenting his valuable work and other works of high quality. He has also published an abstract of his research and studies on Kurdistan.

After completing my studies on the books and resources that I presented in the index at the end of this work, I started collecting and copyrighting the documents at the beginning of 1930. Because I did not have any official duty at that time, I had the opportunity to work continuously.

After nearly a year of uninterrupted work and constant labour, I completed the first volume of the book – the Summary of the History of the Kurds and Kurdistan – and a part of the second volume – the History of the Kurdish State. In addition, I also completed a section of my books, Tarih-i Suleymaniye and Meşahir’ul-Ekrad.

In the meantime, some of my friends advised me to write my works in Arabic or Turkish. But I didn’t. If I did, my behaviour would not be appropriate and consistent. Because it would not be appropriate for a Kurdish writer to write the history of Kurds and Kurdistan written for Kurds in a language other than the language of his own nation. However, the great scholar Sheikh Idris-i Bitlisi al-Kurdî had written in the Persian language for the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid on the history of the Ottoman Empire. It was not a national history that he wrote, but Emir Şeref Khan Bitlisi wrote al-Kurdî: his work on the Kurds in Persian, which, in my opinion, has no excuse. It is the national history of Kurdish society before everyone else, so I wrote my work in Kurdish.

I do not argue that this work on the history of the Kurdish nation is free from deficiencies and flaws. On the contrary, as I think there are great deficiencies in this book, which was written as a result of the study and investigation of two hundred and fifty books written in English, French, German, Arabic, Turkish and Persian; I also believe that this issue is still in desperate need of research and investigation and that these shortcomings need to be addressed.

In this book, I would say: This work is a core for researcher Kurdish youth, Kurdish intellectuals and Kurdish readers who care about this issue. They need to study and critically criticize this work; so that they can complete the shortcomings, reveal wrong points.

In fact, I made a lot of effort: I made great efforts to revive the old Kurdish history. So much so that I’ve renewed my research over and over, I’ve scanned the sources over and over and over again four times. Finally, my work came out in this form. Apart from that, I think that I have managed to raise this important issue by means of rare works and valuable contemporary discoveries. If I’m not quite successful in this, it’s not my fault. On the contrary, it is mostly due to the fact that the documents at hand do not provide more information. Nevertheless, I have a strong hope that the efforts of historians and the activities of statistical organizations will reveal many valuable works in the near future and will shed light on the research of the ancient history of the Kurds and Kurdistan.

Sometimes people can rightly think that there is no harmony and connection between the events and facts of the Kurds and Kurdistan, even in the historical events. The reason for this is that there is no specific research on the Kurdish people. Yes, in many East and West sources, the Kurds and parts of Kurdistan history have been discussed. Occasionally, due to historical relations and circumstances, the situation of some Kurdish notables and the news related to them are mentioned; however, there is no harmony and connection between the news and events in question. Because these are scattered and irregular scattering, missing rumours and sketchy news.

An example of this is that in the history book of Ibn Esir, al-Kamil, a Kurdish elders named “Jafar” is mentioned. It is stated that Jafar defeated the army of Abbasid caliph M’utasım twice on the “Dasin” Mountain. But there is no information about the origin of this Kurdish elderly, where it came from, its environment and situation. Likewise, the famous historian Ibn Miskeveyh, in his work Tecaribu’l-Umem, Ahmed ed-Dahhak called a Kurdish eldest, in Syria, fighting under the command of the Egyptian army under the command of Ibn Samsama, the Egyptian army was defeated against the Greeks, while the name the Kurdish eldest rider rides his horse to the full ranks of the enemy, the ranks of the army to reach the Commander-in-Chief and killed him, this movement of the Greeks to break up, the Egyptians tells the victory in 992. The famous historian tells them, but this dark-eyed hero does not give any information about where he came from and what his fate was.

The essence of the word: The information on Kurdish history in the East and West sources is not limited; however, this information is not organized and tidy. Maybe I didn’t get enough of this information from my position. However, it is not impossible for a meticulous researcher to find the information that will eliminate the deficiencies in this field and clarify the issue as necessary. Undoubtedly, this is a great service that today’s young people have to fulfil.

In the meantime, I donate the proceeds from the Kurdish edition of the book to the Yan Yaneyî Serkewtin association in order to appreciate its scientific studies and to encourage such activities. I would be glad if this would be a significant contribution to this limited scientific association.

I hope I will publish the second volume of this book. Then, I will take out my works named Tarih-i Süleymaniye and Meşahiru’l-Ekrad one after the other. I wish these works to accelerate the royalty and translation activities among the intellectuals and writers of my nation.