Notes
For background information, I am especially indebted to the works of two foremost scholars of Kurdish studies, David McDowall and Martin van Bruinessen. After Such Knowledge, What Forgiveness? by Jonathan Randal and “When Worlds Collide: The Kurdish Diaspora from the Inside Out,” a Ph.D. dissertation by Diane E. King also inform much of the Iraq section, while Atatürk’s Children: Turkey and the Kurds by Jonathan Rugman and Roger Hutchings, and Turkey’s Kurdish Question by Henri J. Barkey and Graham E. Fuller inform much in the Turkey chapters. The Kurds: State and Minority in Turkey, Iraq and Iran by James Ciment, The Kurds: A Concise Handbook by Mehrdad E. Izady, Michael M. Gunter’s works on Iraq and Turkey, Human Rights Watch publications, and the listserv articles of the Washington Kurdish Institute were also especially helpful.
CHAPTER ONE: Through the Back Door
8–10: population figures: based on estimates in David McDowall, A Modern History of the Kurds, pp. 3–4 and 466; Jonathan Randal, After Such Knowledge, What Forgiveness?, p. 16; and Diane E. King, “When Worlds Collide: The Kurdish Diaspora from the Inside Out,” Ph.D. dissertation, p. 19.
10: growing national consciousness of Kurds: Henri J. Barkey and Graham E. Fuller, Turkey’s Kurdish Question, pp. 1–4; McDowall, A Modern History, pp. 455–60; and Martin van Bruinessen in Susan Meiselas, Kurdistan: In the Shadow of History, p. 374.
10: Xenophon quote: cited in Randal, After Such Knowledge, p. 21, from Anabasis, IX, 1–3.
10: Kurds’ first loyalty to tribal leaders: McDowall, A Modern History, p. 21.
10: “golden age”: Mehrdad Izady, The Kurds: A Concise Handbook, p. 41.
11: tension between Muslim and Kurdish identities: King, “When Worlds Collide,” pp. 253–55.
12: successful balance of power in Ottoman-Safavid era: McDowall, A Modern History, p. 25 and following.
13: “a thousand sighs”: cited in Randal, After Such Knowledge, p. 12, from Rene Mauries, Le Kurdistan ou la mort, 1967, p. 1; and Thomas Bois, The Kurds, p. 136.
14: Prometheus in the Caucasus: Yo’av Karny, Highlanders: A Journey to the Caucasus, p. xv.
14: bilad es-siba’, “refreshed and in motion”: Carleton S. Coon, Caravan: The Story of the Middle East, p. 295.
15: number of villages destroyed: the often-cited figure of four thousand refers to the total number destroyed while the Baath Party was in power. Carole A. O’Leary, “The Kurds of Iraq: Recent History, Future Prospects,” p. 2.
CHAPTER TWO: Arrival
20: Mulla Mustafa’s revolt continuing to present day: Michael M. Gunter, The Kurds of Iraq: Tragedy and Hope, p. 19.
21: “inability of the feudalist”: cited in McDowall, A Modern History, p. 343, from a PUK publication, Revolution in Kurdistan.
22: elections deemed mostly free and fair: “Elections in Iraqi Kurdistan (May 19, 1992): An Experiment in Democracy,” a report from international election observers, sponsored by the European Human Rights Foundation, London/Brussels.
25: comparison of KDP and PUK: James Ciment, The Kurds: State and Minority in Turkey, Iraq and Iran, pp. 19–20; and International Crisis Group, “War in Iraq: What’s Next for the Kurds,” p. 2.
25: populations: 2003 estimates from World Food Program, United Nations.
26: double-edged sword of Ottoman arrangements: McDowall, A Modern History, p. 31.
31: “fear and dread”: Ely Bannister Soane, To Mesopotamia and Kurdistan in Disguise, p. 367.
CHAPTER THREE: The Little Engine That Could
40–41: Algiers Accord overview: Randal, After Such Knowledge, pp. 145–82, and Ismet Sheriff Vanly in Gerard Chaliand, A People Without a Country: The Kurds and Kurdistan, pp. 167–77. Pike Report quote as cited in Chaliand, p. 170. Kissinger quote as cited in Randal, p. 166.
41: “I trust America”: cited in Randal, After Such Knowledge, p. 156, from Barzani interview by Jim Hoagland, The Washington Post, 1973.
53: Hussein as the perpetrator of all evil: King, “When Worlds Collide,” p. 10.
CHAPTER FOUR: After al-Anfal
55–56: Anfal overview: Human Rights Watch/Middle East, Iraq’s Crime of Genocide: The Anfal Campaign, pp. 1–22; Randal, After Such Knowledge, pp. 210–35; McDowall, A Modern History, pp. 257–63.
55: numbers killed in Anfal: Human Rights Watch estimates 100,000. The Kurds, using figures compiled by the PUK, estimate 182,000.
56: total number killed during Baath regime: O’Leary, “The Kurds of Iraq,” p. 2.
56: “ ‘a final solution’ ”: Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights, The Anfal Campaign in Iraqi Kurdistan: Destruction of Koreme, p. 7.
57: “I will kill them all”: from 1988 audiotape of meeting of Iraqi officials. Available from www.hrw.org/reports/1993/iraqanfal/APPENDIXA.htm.
CHAPTER SIX : Balancing Acts
88: “covered their heads with a veil”: Claudius James Rich, Narrative of a Residence in Koordistan, pp. 153–55; King, “When Worlds Collide,” pp. 40–41.
89: “the place was a desert”: A. H. Layard, Nineveh and Its Remains, p. 142.
96: decline in Muslim-Christian relations and Layard’s reaction: Martin van Bruinessen, Agha, Shaikh and State, pp. 230–31. “cause of much jealousy”: Layard, Nineveh, p. 156.
98: losses during Kurdish-Turkish conflict: official government figures are 37,000 people killed, 3,165 villages destroyed, and 378,335 rendered homeless. Human rights groups estimate the number of homeless to be at least 1 million. Kurdish Human Rights Project estimates 3 million; Human Rights Watch, between 1 and 2.5 million.
99: PKK-Iraqi Kurd relations: Barkey and Fuller, Turkey’s Kurdish Question, pp. 48–53, 160–61; Michael Gunter in Robert Olson, The Kurdish National Movement in the 1990s: Its Impact on Turkey and the Middle East, pp. 50–62; and McDowall, A Modern History, pp. 383–91.
99: “combat the PKK”: cited by Gunter in Olson, Kurdish National Movement, p. 52, from Foreign Broadcast Information Service—Western Europe, Dec. 18, 1991, p. 55.
99: “Öcalan is the enemy”: Ibid., p. 58, from FBIS-WEU, Sept. 5, 1995, p. 30.
100: “Kurdistani” identity: O’Leary, “The Kurds of Iraq,” p. 7.
CHAPTER SEVEN: Questions of Honor
109–10: honor as central to Kurdish society: King, “When Worlds Collide,” pp. 224–31; Nazaneen Rashid, paper presented at Department for International Development conference on “Violence Against Women in Iraqi Kurdistan,” Oct. 18, 2002. Available from www.kurdmedia.com/reports.asp?id=1103; David Morgan, “Honor Killings in Iraqi Kurdistan: Seminar Report,” Aug. 9, 2000. Available from www.kurdishmedia.com/ reports.asp?id=9; and Sheri Laizer, Martyrs, Traitors and Patriots: Kurdistan After the Gulf War, pp. 161–69.
111: In “Matriarchy in Kurdistan? Women Rulers in Kurdish History,” International Journal of Kurdish Studies, Vol. 6, 1993, Martin van Bruinessen argues that Kurdish women acquire leadership roles in Kurdish society only through high birth or marriage. 114: Iraqi-Turkish oil trade: New York Times, Nov. 29, 2002; and interview with Nesreen Mustafa Siddeek Berwari, minister of Reconstruction and Development, April 2002.
115: “Fearing death I roam the steppe”: as translated in Richard F. Nyrop, Iraq: A Country Study, p. 12.
116–17: Zembil Firosh tale: as related by van Bruinessen in “Matriarchy in Kurdistan?” p. 35, from A. Gernas, “Zerbilfiros,” Roja Nu 33, 1992, pp. 10–14.
117: “basic paradox of folklore”: William R. Bascom, “Four Functions of Folklore,” Journal of American Folklore, 67 (1954), p. 349; as cited by Michael Lewisohn Chyet, “ ‘And a Thornbush Sprang Up Between Them’: Studies on Mem u Zin, A Kurdish Romance,” Ph.D. dissertation, p. 363.
CHAPTER EIGHT: The Cult of the Angels
121: “cult of the angels”: Izady, The Kurds, p. 137 and following.
123: political meaning of “original Kurds”: Ibid., p. 136; and Christine Allison in Philip G. Kreyenbroek and Christine Allison, Kurdish Culture, p. 36.
140: “the enemy within”
: McDowall, A Modern History, p. 411, citing Turkish sources.
140–41: Sivas massacre: Hugh and Nicole Pope, Turkey Unveiled: A History of Modern Turkey, pp. 324–25.
CHAPTER NINE: From Kings to Parliamentarians
144: Turkish students arrested: Kurdish Human Rights Project, The Trial of Students, p. 5.
149–50: Turcoman population and boycott of elections: “War in Iraq: What’s Next for the Kurds?” p. 6.
156–57: oil-for-food program statistics: Kurdistan Regional Government. Available from www.krg.org/986; United Nations’ Office of the Iraq Program. Available from www.un. org/depts/oip. Official U.N. sum for unspent funds: New York Times, July 14, 2003, U.N. Letter to the Editor.
CHAPTER TEN: Invitations
164–65: Balisan attack: Human Rights Watch/Middle East, Iraq’s Crime of Genocide, pp. 38–47.
165: death of Muhammad Jamil Rozhbayani: April 16, 2001, letter from Coalition for Justice in Iraq to Mary Robinson, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. Available from www.krg.org/newsletters/20010419184439.htm#11.
166: oil production in Kirkuk: “War in Iraq: What’s Next for the Kurds?” pp. 1, 19.
166: “Arabization” statistics: Human Rights Watch, “Iraq: Forcible Expulsion of Ethnic Minorities,” pp. 3, 11. Available from www.hrw.org/reports.
174: Erbil folksong: as quoted in Ralph S. Solecki, Shanidar: The First Flower People, p. 154.
CHAPTER ELEVEN: Along the Hamilton Road, with Side Trips
177: “roads essential for law and order”: A. M. Hamilton, Road Through Kurdistan, p. 73.
178: spring in Gali Ali Beg: Ibid., p. 58–59.
182–83: Simko’s violent history: Randal, After Such Knowledge, p. 328.
183–84: land mine statistics: interview with Mines Advisory Group, May 2002; Iraqi Kurdistan Dispatch, July 2002.
186–87: “marched for fifty-two days”: cited in Gunter, The Kurds and the Future, p. 10, from Dana Schmidt, Journey Among Brave Men, pp. 109–10.
188: “betrayed the country”: cited in Human Rights Watch/Middle East, Iraq’s Crime of Genocide, p. 27, from Al-Iraq, Sept. 13, 1983.
189: Qushtapa as encouragement to use same techniques again: Ibid., p. 4. 190: “finding of flowers”: Solecki, Shanidar, p. 250.
CHAPTER TWELVE: In the Land of the Babans
202: 80 percent of books in Sorani: Randal, After Such Knowledge, p. 24.
202: “The Baban Land”: C. J. Edmonds, Kurds, Turks, and Arabs: Politics, Travel and Research in Northern-Eastern Iraq, pp. 57–58.
206: assault on Central Security Headquarters: Randal, After Such Knowledge, p. 40.
208: sherim: King, “When Worlds Collide,” pp. 203–04.
209: ambush of Ali Askari: McDowall, A Modern History, pp. 344–45.
211: Goptaka attack: Iraq’s Crime of Genocide, p. 117–20.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Judgment Day
217: “on the threshing floor . . .”: Encyclopedia of Islam, Vol. 9, p. 218.
219: Adela Khanoum, “of pure Kurdish origin”: Soane, To Mesopotamia, p. 226; van Bruinessen, “Matriarchy in Kurdistan?” p. 27.
222–23: for more details on the chemical bombing and Halabja Post-Graduate Medical Institute, see Washington Kurdish Institute website, homepage at www.kurd.org.
227: names of chemical companies released: New York Times, Dec. 21, 2002.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Safe Havens
229: “horsemen came galloping”: Soane, To Mesopotamia, p. 173.
231: Piramerd poem: Edmonds, Kurds, Turks, and Arabs, p. 45.
244–45: reasons and estimated number of honor killings: Morgan, “Honor Killings in Iraqi Kurdistan”; Rashid, paper, Department for International Development. See note for p. 109.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Syrian Interlude
252: not an attractive town: Agatha Christie Mallowan, Come, Tell Me How You Live, p. 57.
253: Syrian help crucial to PKK: McDowall, A Modern History, p. 479.
253: growing Syrian Kurdish anger toward PKK: Ibid., p. 479.
256: “sitting at a distance separately”: cited by Vera Beaudin Saeedpour in “The Legacy of Saladin,” The International Journal of Kurdish Studies, Vol. 13, No. 1, 1999, p. 55.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Of Politics and Poetry
261: “a nation apart”: McDowall, A Modern History, p. 53, from Parliamentary Papers, Turkey No. 5 (1881).
265: “no longer . . . a tribal society”: A. R. Ghassemlou, in Chaliand, People Without a Country, p. 97.
266: urban-rural breakdown: no census figure exists. One 1993 report estimated that the five western provinces of Iran, including the Kurdish provinces, were only 47 percent urban (Kooli-Kameli, Farideh, The Political Development of the Kurds in Iran, p. 138), but many Kurds I met used the two-thirds figure.
269: no Kurdish governors or ministers: President Khatami appointed a Kurd, Abd Allah Ramazanzadeh, as governor general of Kurdistan province after his election in 1997, but Ramazanzadeh was later removed from office.
276: “City of Death”: Isabella Bird, Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan, Vol. 2, p. 206.
276–77: Khadje and Siyabend tale: as related by Bois, The Kurds, pp. 65–66.
280: Hemin poem: as translated on the Kurdistan Democratic Party-Ankara website. Available from www.kdp-ankara.org.tr/literature.htm.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: Land of Lions
284: “settling accounts”: Rich, Narrative of a Residence, pp. 211–12, 245.
284–85: “avenues of poplars”: Ibid., pp. 199–200.
287: “arrested and shot”: Ciment, The Kurds, p. 70
287: ten thousand dead by 1981: McDowall, A Modern History, p. 262, citing Daily Telegraph, Feb. 11, 1981.
287: 27,500 dead by 1984: David McDowall, The Kurds: A Nation Denied, p. 77.
291: “city impresses”: Bird, Vol. 1, pp. 101–2.
292: interpretation of Farhad and Shirin tale: Izady, The Kurds, p. 189.
293: Iran 94 percent Shiite: Human Rights Watch estimates Iran to be about 80 percent Shiite, 20 percent Sunni.
294: slum conditions possibly leading to ferment: McDowall, A Modern History, p. 279.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: Happy Is He Who Calls Himself a Turk
305: losses during Kurdish-Turkish conflict: see note for p. 98, Chapter Six.
306: creation of monolithic state: Rugman and Hutchings, Atatürk’s Children, p. 26.
306: minister of Public Works sentenced to hard labor: Ibid., p. 26; McDowall, A Modern History, pp. 413, 417.
307: “the place was desolate”: cited by Kemal in Chaliand, People Without a Country, p. 63, from Son Posta, April 1948.
318: “think completely in Turkish”: as cited in Rugman and Hutchings, Atatürk’s Children, p. 30.
319: “chauvinist class”: Ibid., p. 29.
319: “afford to lose” 70 percent: Randal, After Such Knowledge, p. 238.
320: Thirty thousand PKK recruits: Human Rights Watch, “Displaced and Disregarded: Turkey’s Failing Village Return Program,” October 2002, p. 12. Available from www.hrw.org/reports/2002/Turkey.
321: number of villages destroyed: McDowall, A Modern History, p. 440.
321: PKK 768 extra-judicial killings: Human Rights Watch letter sent to Italian Prime Minister Massimo D’Alema, Nov. 21, 1998. Available from www.hrw.org/press98/nov/ italy-ltr.htm.
321: “driven from homes by government gendarmes”: Human Rights Watch, “Displaced and Disregarded,” p. 3. A 1999–2001 study by the Migrants’ Association for Social Cooperation and Culture (Goç-Der), a Turkish nongovernmental agency found that 83.7 percent of Kurdish refugees cited the actions of the Turkish security forces and emergency rule as primary reasons why they left their homes, while only 1.1 percent cited fear of the PKK.
322: $8.7 billion in U.S. military aid to Turkey, Turkey third-largest recipient of U.S. military aid: Human Rights Watch, Weapons Transfers and Violations of the Laws of War in Turkey, addition of figures on pp. 28, 30.
322: use of U.S
. fighter-bombers: Ibid., p. 61.
323: “Öcalan’s arrest: Time, March 1, 1999. Available from www.time.com/time/ daily/special/ocalan/bitterend.
CHAPTER NINETEEN: Alone After Dark
329–30: village resettlement: Human Rights Watch, “Displaced and Disregarded,” Oct. 2002; forced to sign form relinquishing rights to compensation: p. 35; number of village guards, p. 42; “villagers are extremely wary,” p. 42.
331: forty judgments against Turkish security forces: Kurdish Human Rights Project, press release, London, July 11, 2002.
337: “those killed were not real journalists”: cited in McDowall, A Modern History, p.
433, from Middle East International, no. 433, Sept. 11, 1992.
338: 2000 resolution on Armenian genocide tabled: New York Times Book Review, Oct. 19, 2003.
339: “we want to put an end”: cited in Michael M. Gunter, The Kurds and the Future of Turkey, p. 144, from Kurdistan Report, Nov./Dec. 1996, p. 56.
339: “there are women everywhere”: Michael Ignatieff, Blood and Belonging, pp. 153–55.
340: sexual abuse in prison: Amnesty International, “Turkey: End Sexual Violence Against Women in Custody!” Feb. 23, 2003. Available from www.amnesty.org. Index # EUR 44/006/2003.
342: “let the river run”: “Chave Mini, You Are My Eyes: Songs from Turkish Kurdistan.” Recorded in the field by Gregory Scarborough and Jordan Bell. Translated by staff of Medya TV, Cultural Cornerstones, 2002.
344: seventeen journalists and distributors killed: Rugman and Hutchings, Atatürk’s Children, p. 55.
344: 180 killed in Batman: Ibid., p. 55.
344: five hundred murdered by Hezbollah: McDowall, A Modern History, p. 432.
344–45: connection between Hezbollah and Turkish state: Ibid., p. 433.
347: two hundred honor killings annually: Washington Post, Aug. 8, 2001.
CHAPTER TWENTY: Not for Money
349–50: Alexander the Great and Bitlis legend: Robert Dankoff, Evilya Çelebi in Bitlis: The Relevant Section of the Seyahatname, pp. 49–57.
350: “not brave and warlike like other Kurds”: Ibid., p. 63.
350–51: “ruddy complexion,” “If they see a woman”: Ibid., p. 79.
351: “magician’s bowls, fire”: Ibid., p. 93.
A Thousand Sighs, A Thousand Revolts Page 47