Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T06:50:05.989Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

23 - Tribes and Their Changing Role in Kurdish Politics and Society

from Part IV - Religion and Society

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 April 2021

By
Hamit Bozarslan  and
Cengiz Gunes
Edited by
Hamit Bozarslan ,
Cengiz Gunes  and
Veli Yadirgi
Hamit Bozarslan
Affiliation:
Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris
Cengiz Gunes
Affiliation:
The Open University, Milton Keynes
Veli Yadirgi
Affiliation:
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Get access

Summary

This chapter discusses the changing role of tribes in Kurdish politics and society. It focuses mainly on Turkey but also considers ‘Kurdish situations’ in Iraq, Syria and Iran. It provides a historical overview of the developments and suggests that the tribal factor has been one of the major determinants of Kurdish politics throughout the twentieth century. It is thus no wonder that French and British Mandate officers, as well as Turkish, Iranian, Syrian and Iraqi authorities, have paid specific attention to tribes and tribalism in Kurdistan. The sociopolitical developments in the second half of the twentieth century that have significantly transformed their role in Kurdish politics and society are highlighted before an assessment of their role in the current period is provided.

Keywords

tribestribal identitiesKurdish societyKurdish politicspolitical transformationKurdish nationalism
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of the Kurds , pp. 581 - 600
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abdulla, N. (2013). Empire, frontière et tribu. Le Kurdistan et le conflit de frontière turco-persan (1843–1932). Erbil: Direction culturelle de la Presse.Google Scholar
Amarilyo, E. (2014). The dual relationship between tribalism and nationalism. In Bengio, O. (ed.), Kurdish Awakening: Nation-Building in a Fragmented Homeland (pp. 63–79). Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Ateş-Durç, S. (2009). Türkiye’de Aşiret ve Siyaset İlişkisi: Metinan Aşireti Örneği. Unpublished MA thesis, Hacettepe University.Google Scholar
Beșikçi, İ. (1991). Cumhuriyet Halk Fırkası’nın Tüzüğü (1927) ve Kürt Sorunu. Ankara: Yurt Yayınları.Google Scholar
Beşikçi, İ. (1992). Doğu’da Değişim ve Yapısal Sorunlar (Göçebe Alikan Aşireti). Ankara: Yurt Yayınları.Google Scholar
Bozarslan, H. (1999). Les relations kurdo-arméniennes: 1894–1996. In Kieser, H. L. (ed.), Die Armenische Frage und Die Schweiz (pp. 329–40). Zürich: Chronos Verlag.Google Scholar
Bozarslan, H. (2006). Tribal asabiyya and Kurdish politics: A socio-historical perspective. In Jabar, F. A. and Dawod, H. (eds), The Kurds: Nationalism and Politics (pp. 130–47). London: Saqi.Google Scholar
Bozarslan, H. (2015). The Arab world and Middle East 2010–2015: From revolutionary configurations to the state of violence. In Karakoç, J. (ed.), Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Before and after the Arab Uprisings (pp. 67–91). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Dillemann, L. (1979). Les français en Haute Djezireh. Outre-Mers. Revue d’histoire, 33–58.Google Scholar
Göyünç, N. and Hütteroth, W. D. (1997). Land an der Grenze. Osmanische Verwaltung im heutigen türkisch-syrisch-irakischen Grenzgebiet im 16. Jahrhundert. Istanbul: Eren Yayincilik.Google Scholar
Hachemaoui, M. (2013). Clientélisme et patronage dans l’Algérie contemporaine. Paris: Karthala.Google Scholar
Hudson, M. (1977). Arab Politics: The Search for Legitimacy. New Haven, CT, and London: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Izady, M. (1992). The Kurds: A Concise Handbook. London and Washington, DC: Taylor & Francis.Google Scholar
Jabar, F. A. (1999). Shaykhs and ideologues: Detribalisation and retribalisation in Iraq: 1968–1998. MERIP Report, no. 215, 28–31.Google Scholar
James, B. (2014). Les Kurdes dans l’Orient mamelouk et mongol de 1250 à 1340: Entre marginalisation et autonomie. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Paris X.Google Scholar
Jongerden, J. (2012). Elite encounters of a violent kind: Milli Ibrahim Paşa, Ziya Gökalp and political struggle in Diyarbékir at the turn of the 20th century. In Jongerden, J. and Verheij, J. (eds), Social Relations in Ottoman Diyarbekir, 1870–1925 (pp. 55–84). Leiden and Boston, MA: Brill.Google Scholar
Karadeniz, S. (2012). Aşiret Sisteminde Dönüşüm: Aşiretlerin Kentte Aldığı Yeni Șekiller – Batman Örneği. Unpublished PhD thesis. İnönü University.Google Scholar
Klein, K. (2011). The Margins of Empire: Kurdish Militias in the Ottoman Tribal Zone. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Lapidus, I. M. (1990). Tribes and state formation in Islamic history. In Khoury, P. S. and Kostiner, J. (eds), Tribes and State Formation in the Middle East (pp. 25–47). Berkeley, LA, and Oxford: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Mehmed Hurşid Paşa, . (1997). Seyahatname-iHudud. (Transcribed with the original copy by Alaaddin Eser.) Istanbul: Simurg.Google Scholar
Özar, S., Uçarlar, N. and Aytar, O. (2013). From Past to Present: A Paramilitary Organization. Diyarbakır: Diyarbakır Institute for Political and Social Research (Disa).Google Scholar
Özoğlu, H. (2011). From Caliphate to Secular State: Power Struggle in the Early Turkish Republic. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.Google Scholar
Radikal, (2015). ‘Secimin en ilginc rekabeti: bir aile 3 rakip’. www.radikal.com.tr/politika/secimin-en-ilginc-rekabeti-Diyarbakırda-bir-aile-uc-rakip-1312363/.Google Scholar
Ripper, T. (2000). Die Marwaniden von Diar Bakr. Eine Kurdische Dynastie im islamischen Mittelalter. Würzburg: Ergon Verlag.Google Scholar
Serdi, H. H. (1994). Görüş ve Anılarım 1907–1985. Istanbul: Med Yayınları.Google Scholar
Sevgin, N. (1982). Doğuve Güneydoğu Anadolu’da Türk Beylikleri – Osmanlı Belgeleri ile Kürt Türkleri Tarihi. Ankara: TKAE.Google Scholar
T24 (2015a). ‘AKP’li Alpahan Aşireti’nden 300 kişi HDP’ye geçti’. https://t24.com.tr/haber/akpli-alpahan-asiretinden-300-kisi-hdpye-gecti,296077.Google Scholar
T24 (2015b). ‘AKP’li aşiretler HDP’ye geçmeye devam ediyor’. https://t24.com.tr/haber/akpli-asiretler-hdpye-gecmeye-devam-ediyor,296236.Google Scholar
Taştekin, F. (2015). ‘Kurds abandon AKP’. Al-Monitor. www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/05/turkey-pious-kurds-abandon-akp-in-droves-hdp.html.Google Scholar
Tejel, J. (2007). Le mouvement kurde de Turquie en exil. Continuités et discontinuités du nationalisme kurde sous le mandat français en Syrie et au Liban (1925–1946). Berne and Berlin: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Uluç, A. V. (2010). Güneydoğu Anadolu Bölgesinin Toplumsal ve Siyasal Yapısı: Mardin Örnegi’nde Siyasal Katılım. Unpublished PhD thesis, Istanbul University.Google Scholar
van Bruinessen, M. (1992). Agha, Sheikh and State: The Social and Political Structure of Kurdistan. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
van Bruinessen, M. (2000a). Kurdish Ethno-nationalism versus Nation-Building States. Istanbul: The ISIS Press.Google Scholar
van Bruinessen, M. (2000b). Les kurdes, Etats et tribus. Etudes kurdes, no. 1, 9–31.Google Scholar
Verheij, J. (2012). Diyarbékir and the Armenian crisis of 1895. In Jongerden, J. and Verheij, J. (eds), Social Relations in Ottoman Diyarbekir, 1870–1925 (pp. 85–145). Leiden and Boston, MA: Brill.Google Scholar
Yalçın-Heckmann, L. (1991). Tribe and Kinship among the Kurds. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Yüksekova Haber, (2010). ‘Ahmet Zeydan Vefat etti’. www.yuksekovahaber.com/haber/ahmet-zeydan-vefat-etti-26283.htm.Google Scholar
Yüksel, M. (2011). Dengbêj, mullah, intelligentsia: The survival of Kurdish-Kurmanji language in the Middle East, 1925–1960. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Chicago.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×