# Muhammad Pasha of Rawanduz

Muhammad Pasha of Rawanduz (Kurdish: Mîr Mihemed Paşa; also known as Mirê Kor - the "blind prince"; born in Rawandiz; 1783–1838) was Kurdish Mir of the Soran Emirate (1813–1838). He led an unsuccessful attack against the Emirate of Botan of Bedir Khan Beg in 1834.
Muhammad Pasha of Rawanduz was repeatedly responsible for massacres of the Yazidis. In 1832, thousands of Yazidis were killed in the Shekhan area by Muhammad Pasha of Rawanduz in cooperation with the Kurdish Botan prince Bedir Khan Beg.

## Path to power

In 1814, at the age of 31, he succeeded his father Mustafa Pasha as Prince of Soran. Mohammed Pasha is portrayed as a cruel person who was probably not afraid to kill family members in order to stay in power. Therefore there was also the suspicion that he had his father blinded in order to become a prince himself. But this was denied by an English doctor who had treated his father.
After coming to power, he had potential competitors eliminated. So he accused his treasurer Abdullah Aga of conspiracy and had him executed. Then Mohammed Pasha started waging war against his uncles. On December 14, 1814, he besieged Shteyn Castle, where his uncle Teymur Aga was. After four weeks of siege, his uncle and cousin were hanged on January 10, 1815. Shortly thereafter, he defeated and hanged his other uncle, Yahya Bey.

## Military campaigns and independency

Having thus eliminated the internal competitor, he set about expanding his principality. First he had the city walls of Rawanduz reinforced and a fort built on a hill outside the city. Then he went against the neighboring tribes. He was considered a merciless prince who had all of his defeated opponents executed. He wanted to conquer the area between Great Zab and Little Zab. To do this he had to fight against the Baban principality. He conquered the cities of Harir (1822), Koya (October 1823), Ranya (February 1824) and Makhmur and Altun Kupri in September 1823. He had thus displaced the Baban and the small Zab was now the border between Soran and Baban. The Ottoman governor in Baghdad, Ali Rıza Pasha, was unable to do anything about it. He also gave him the title of Pasha. Nevertheless, Muhammed Pasha declared himself independent and, as a sign of his sovereignty, had the Friday sermons (Chutba) read out in his name. He set out to build a large army and set up factories to produce weapons. He also had coins minted on which he called himself al-Amīr al-Mansūr Muhammad Bīk.
Later, Mohammed Pasha was given an opportunity to expand his territory. Mullah Yahya, a member of the Mzurî tribe from the Principality of Bahdinan, asked Mohammed Pasha for help in a feud. The Mzurî tribal leader Ali Agha was murdered by the Yazidi tribal leader Ali Beg. However, the Prince of Bahdinan Said Pasha refused to allow the Mzuri to take revenge. So Mullah Yahya turned to Mohammed Pasha and asked him to take revenge on the Yazidis from Jabal Sinjar. Mohammed Pasha was able to use this punitive expedition to conquer the principality of Badinan. He issued a fatwa against the "infidel" Yazidis by his own Mufti Mullah Mohammed Khalti and crossed the Great Zab in 1831/32.
In 1832, Muhammad Pasha and his troops committed a massacre against the Yazidis in Khatarah. Subsequently, they attacked the Yazidis in Shekhan and killed many of them. In another attempt he and his troops occupied over 300 Yazidi villages. The emir kidnapped over 10,000 Yazidis and sent them to Rawandiz and gave them the ultimatum of converting to Islam or being killed. Most of them converted to Islam and those who refused to convert to Islam were killed.
Mohammed Pasha acted with great brutality against the Yazidis and massacred thousands of them. Some of the surviving Yazidis fled towards Tur Abdin and Mosul. Christian villages and monasteries were also attacked and plundered. After "avenging" the tribal leader, he took over the town of Akre. After the conquer of Akre, the capital of the Bahdinan Principality, Amedi fell and Prince Said Pasha fled. With the fall of Amedi, the entire principality fell complietly under Mohammed Pasha‘s power. At this time he controlled the area from the Little Zab to the Khabur River.
Later, Mohammed Pasha marched north and conquered Cizre. From their he threatened the cities of Mardin and Nusaybin. But he had to return to Amedi when Said Pasha took advantage of his absence to revolt. Mohammed Pasha repulsed Said Pasha and took bitter revenge on the city.

## Defeat and aftermath

The Ottoman Sultan in Istanbul could no longer remain inactive and mobilized against Mohammed Pasha. The rebellious Muhammad Ali Pasha had made it clear to the Ottomans that the hot-tempered Muhammad Pasha should not be underestimated. The suspicion that both rebels were in contact made the problem more acute. In 1834, an Ottoman army led by Reşid Mehmed Pasha was sent towards Soran. His army was joined by soldiers from the Ottoman governors of Mosul and Baghdad.
Muhammed Pasha was besieged and defeated at Rawanduz in 1838. It is also worth mentioning that Reşit Mehmet Pasha had previously issued a fatwa that forbade Mohammed Pasha's Muslim warriors from fighting against the army of the Ottoman caliph. Mohammed Pasha was summoned to Istanbul and ceremoniously received by Sultan Mahmud II. It was decided that Mohammed Pasha should be exiled to Trabzon. But on the journey from Istanbul to Trabzon he and his companions were murdered. The perpetrators and the fate of the bodies are unknown.

## Legacy

There were traits of Kurdish awareness by the Soran Emirate including the desire to unite all Kurdish areas under one rule and the use of Kurdish uniforms for his army. On this, Emir Kor's brother Rasul told British writer and traveller Frederick Milingen:
   With an aspiring genius he had conceived the grande idée of emancipating his country from the authority of the sultans, and of consolidating the power of his family. Uniting the qualities of a conqueror and of a legislator, Mehemet Pasha succeeded in extending his sway over the neighbouring provinces of Kerkuk[sic] and Mussul [sic], and in gathering under his flag a large number of Koordish [sic] troop.
Moreover, researcher Ghalib writes:
   [T]hrough many centuries of Ottoman rule, they [Kurds] could not build up a sense of community between the Kurds and the dominant ruler. Kurds remembered their happiness under Soran and other Kurdish emirates. Therefore, they did not welcome the Ottoman officials. Remembering the past is important for keeping one’s own history in mind.