# Ottoman Kurdistan

Ottoman Kurdistan refers to the areas of Kurdistan which were controlled by the Ottoman Empire. At the peak of the Ottoman Empire, it controlled all of modern-day Turkish Kurdistan, Iraqi Kurdistan, and Syrian Kurdistan, as well as a small part of Iranian Kurdistan. The remainder of Iranian Kurdistan was known as Safavid Kurdistan and was ruled by the Safavid Empire. The Ottomans saw Kurdistan as an official region comprising settlements inhabited by Kurds, and included it many maps, although it was largely not an administrative division.

## History
### Pre-Ottoman era

Most of Ottoman Kurdistan was previously controlled by the Safavids. The Kurds were an oppressed minority in the Safavid Empire and had a long conflict with them. Unlike Persians and Azerbaijanis, the Kurds viewed firearms as cowardly and often only used swords. Much of the Kurdish population in the Safavid Empire that lived near the Ottoman borders was forcefully deported to other parts of Iran or killed. As the Ottomans advanced deeper into the Safavid regions, the Kurdish regions were subjected to terrible plunder and deportation due to the fear of Kurdish cooperation with the Ottomans. They began under Tahmasp I. Between 1534 and 1535, Tahmasp began the systematic destruction of old Kurdish cities and their countryside, using it against his Ottoman rivals. Tahmasp ordered the destruction of crops and settlements of all sizes while withdrawing from the Ottoman army. The Safavid and Kurdish conflicts continued until the Kurds under Idris Bitlisi managed to help the Ottomans during the Battle of Chaldiran.

### Ottoman era

In 1514, during the Battle of Chaldiran, the Kurds collaborated with the Ottoman invaders against the Safavids. The Ottomans won the battle and annexed the Kurdish-majority regions of Eastern Anatolia and Northern Iraq into their empire, and those regions were considered Ottoman Kurdistan.
Kurdistan was cherished as a barrier protecting the Ottoman Empire from the Safavids, with Murad IV saying "Allah created Kurdistan to protect my empire like a strong barrier and an iron castle against the mischief of evil Iran. Kurdish commanders are loyal and true friends of the Ottoman state, and they have given various services that are commendable to the throne from the supreme times of our great ancestors, and they have made incalculable efforts; therefore, the effort to protect the empire requires them to be treated with respect and care."
From the 16th to the 19th centuries, various small autonomous Kurdish emirates formed within Ottoman Kurdistan. Kurdish emirates were tribal and almost always had rivalries with emirates led by other tribes. Most Kurdish emirates were established and dissolved in the areas of the Diyarbekir Eyalet. However, there were other Kurdish emirates outside Diyarbakır. Among the emirates were Ardalan, Bahdinan, Baban, Bitlis, Bohtan, Bradost, Dimli, Hakkari, Hasankeyf, Kilis, Mukriyan, Pazuki, and Soran. The Ottomans tolerated the Kurdish emirates as they did not pose a separatist threat, and also as a reward for the loyalty of Kurds during the wars with the Safavids. In the 1820s, the Ottomans had put the Kurdish emirates, as well as other autonomous entities all across the empire, under direct control.
In the Ottoman Empire, Kurdistan was always used to refer to the geographical area where the Kurds made up a majority, whether in or out of Ottoman territory. In a letter sent by Suleiman the Magnificent to Henry II of France, Suleiman included the name of various lands under Ottoman control, and he listed Kurdistan as one of them.
The Kurdistan Eyalet was formed in 1846 and became the first administrative entity to hold the name of Kurdistan.
In the 1882 edition of "Lugât-ı Tarihiyye ve Coğrafiyye", it stated that "Ottoman Kurdistan" was the lands "between Armenia, Jazira, Iraq-i Arab, and Ajamistan. It is three hundred and eighty kilometers in length, four hundred kilometers in length, it includes high mountains and fertile valleys." According to the same source, Safavid Kurdistan was referred to as "located west of Azerbaijan, northwest of Iraq-i Ajam, north of Khuzistan, and east of Ottoman Kurdistan. Its length is three hundred and seventy kilometers wide, two hundred and twenty-five kilometers wide and four hundred thousand people, and its center is Kermanshah."
In "Kâmûsü'l-A'lâm", which is considered the first Turkish encyclopedic dictionary, published in 1896, it was mentioned that "Kurdistan extends from the shores of Lake Urmia and Lake Van to the sources of the Karkheh River and Diyala River and the flow bed of the Tigris, and its borders towards the northwest, following the flow bed of the Tigris, reaching the Karasu bed that forms the Euphrates and from there to the north, to the water separation line separating the Aras basin separates from the Euphrates and Tigris basin. In the Ottoman Empire, most of the Mosul Eyalet, that is, the places on the left of the Tigris, and the Van Eyalet and Bitlis and Diyarbekir vilayet and Elaziz and the Dersim vilayet are considered from Kurdistan. In Iran, the province known as Kurdistan and half of the province of Azerbaijan, that is, the southwestern part if it, is Kurdistan. Thus, Kurdistan is bordered by Azerbaijan to the northeast, Iraq-i Ajam to the east, Luristan and Iraq-i Arab to the south, Mesopotamia to the southwest and Anatolia to the northwest." In Evliya Çelebi's 17th century travelogue, he stated that "Kurdistan is a big area. Seventy parts are considered part of it and they are spread from Erzurum, Van, Hakkari, Cizre, İmadiye, Mosul, Şehrizor, Harir, Ardelan, Derne, and Derteng. If those six thousand Kurdish tribes were not a strong barrier in these high mountains between Iraq-i Arab and the Ottoman Empire, it would be very easy for the people of Persia to invade Anatolia."

### Post-Ottoman era

Although the word Kurdistan was used normally in the Ottoman period, after the Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and the creation of the modern Republic of Turkey by Kemal Atatürk and the Turkish National Movement, the word "Kurdistan" was removed from official use and became a taboo. The use of the word "Kurdistan" in general became restricted. The Turkish nationalist policies led to the increase of Kurdish nationalism which led to various uprisings like the Sheikh Said rebellion, Dersim rebellion, Koçgiri rebellion, and later the Kurdish Hezbollah insurgency and the Kurdistan Workers' Party insurgency.
Before his hardcore nationalist turn, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan proposed a revival of the Kurdistan Eyalet in 2013, claiming that Southeastern Anatolia was always known as Kurdistan before the Republic of Turkey was established in 1923. His remarks about the administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire was criticised by many who interpreted them as signs of Erdoğan’s desire to implement a federal system, or Neo-Ottomanism. As a challenge to the Turkish nationalists, Erdoğan recalled that during the Ottoman era there were eyalets called Kurdistan and Lazistan. He stated that autonomy within the state of Turkey should be possible, and that it was not harmful but rather a source of strength for Turkey.

## Maps

* 1785
* 1787
* 1791
* 1794
* 1811
* 1813
* 1823
* 1856
* 1861