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Ferhad Pirbal

The capital of the Ottoman Empire was so near Europe that, since the end of the 18th century, the Ottomans and Europe were able to attain concrete relations. That is how the Turks so long ago, created ties and relations with Europe before the Arabs, Kurds, and Persians.

The period between 1839-1876 has been called "The Tenzimat Stage" in the history of the Ottoman Empire, which included attempts at reforms within the state and plans for widespread reformation regarding culture, people's lives, and running the country. This phenomenon lasted until 1876; that's to say, until the time when Midhat Pasha ruled a constitutional government.

Back then, when any ideological and cultural movement was established in Europe, it was declared in Turkey at once and made great use of. This stage at the end of the 19th century can be considered the "flourish" stage, politically, culturally, and urban in the history of the Ottoman Empire., these figures, By using their writing and the translation of their works, many Ottoman writers and intellectuals (Turks, Kurds, Arabs, Charkas, etc.) who had lived for a long period of time in Europe, especially in France, succeeded in enriching minds and science with culture, innovation, and development. Among them are Dr. Abdullah Jawdat, Ishaq Skuty, Reza Gogallb Diyar Bakry, Ibrahim Shinasy (1826-1871), Namiq Kamil (1840-1888), Ali Beg (1844-1899), Ahmed Midhat Afandy (1844-1912), Shamsaddin Sammy (1850-1907), Mahmud Akram Rajaiy Zada (1847-1913), Muhammad Rif'at (1851-1907), Abu Ziya Tawfeeq (1849-1913), Tawfeeq Fikrat (1867-1915), Janab Shahabaddin (1870-1934), Abdulhaq Hamid (1852-1937), etc. These figures, through innovation and by translating Westerner's products, granted the intellectual and literature movement with a new motion as well as a modern essence.

Back then, in that Tenzimat era, the first association and liberation-advocate reformation organizations came into existence with the first school, theater team, forum, printing press, institute, university, newspaper, magazine, and play scripts. Also, the first Ottoman intellectuals appeared, calling themselves "the new Ottomans." Later, this intellectual movement took a political dimension known by the name "The Turkish Youths." In Arabic, they were called "Turkiya Al-Fatah," and in French "Jeunes Turcs."

Naming the Kurdish liberation-advocate and reformation movement "The Kurdish Youths" was not an imitation of the "Turkish Youths," yet it proved that the Kurdish nation too, just like the German, French, Turk, and Italian nations, was living in that era under the persecution of a renewal culture that wanted to create an epistemological project and achieve the renewal of the ancient culture. These young Kurdish people were the main elements for the creation of Turkish Youths Movement, and they were the concrete foundation for that widespread knowledge project that devastated the entire Ottoman Empire.

Dr. Abdullah Jawdat is a Kurdish intellectual and establisher of the Turkish Youths Movement; he has played a great role in developing the Kurdish Youths Movement. "The Islamic Knowledge Department" and its French publication, over eight pages, explains the role and activities of Dr. Abdullah: "He is the first one who could, just like "The Turkish Youths Movement," in his article "Beer Khattab," which has been published in Rojhy Kurd magazine, No. 1, Istanbul, 1913. Calling the Kurdish progeny by the name "The Kurdish Youths Movement" in his article, he says: "Thus, since this new progeny became a bridge between Europe and Kurdistan: for the first time, the culture of the whole world, including Turkey, has arrived to Kurdistan."

Then, Hajy Musa, head of the Korchikhan clan and supporter of Hevy Organization, said: "If the Kurdish youths will build a fireplace, we are ready to become its wood and will burn ourselves in it." Regarding the academic aspect, the pro-Kurdish Russian, V.A. Gardiliviscky, used the same term in the same way of "The Kurdish Youths" to "The Turkish Youths Movement."

The factors and reasons behind establishing "The Kurdish Youths Movement"

"The Kurdish Youths" are those young Kurdish writers, politicians, and intellectuals between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century who took the first step for the first time in the history of our nation toward civilizing the Kurdish community through a knowledge project and organized activities. As Dr. Jawdat says: "They have built the first bridge that takes us to the safe shore, where there is freedom, reformation, and renewal." In fact, when we talk about the history of modernism within the frame of Kurdistan's culture, this young Kurdish movement can be considered the first pathway toward the renewal and modernism of the Kurds.

Those young intellectuals, under the influence of different factors, were the fruits of new circumstances. And, it is worth it to say that at the same time they were the producers of those circumstances and influenced each other. They were receiving the influences and giving them away at the same time.

Thus, the factors of creating this movement were the insurgency thoughts of these young renegades against situations back then. That is why we can highlight the relations between them and the circumstances on one hand, and with the factors on the other hand, it is as follows:

From the middle of the 19th century until the beginning of the 20th century, the nationalistic sense and armed uprisings reached its apex: Soran Emirate (1784-August 1836), Baban Emirate (1851), Badinan (1837), Badirkhan (1847, which had its flag and coined money in 1842), Yazdan Sher's uprisings (1853-1855), Sheikh Abidallahy Nahry (1878-1882), Sheikh Abdul Salam Barzany (1907-1914), Shikak's Simko Aga (1913), Sheikh Mahmud's uprisings (1918-1923), Darseem's uprisings in the beginning of the 1920s, then Sheikh Saeidy Piran's uprising in 1925. In 1919, Gen. Shareef Pasha presented his international proposal at the peace conference in Paris, asking for the establishment of an autonomous state for the Kurds. All these nationalistic uprisings paved the way for the new Kurdish young progeny (writers, politicians, journalists, intellectuals, and students, etc.) to think in different ways and to struggle in a modern style.

That's to say, on the contrary of other neighboring countries, the basis of that knowledge project for the young Kurdish in modernism and renewal consisted of a nationalistic liberation and a patriotism project, which at last led them to the other democratic principles, such as justice, reformation, women's rights, freedom in expressing opinion, democracy, urbanism, etc. At the beginning, they were a nationalistic liberation project; then, the same project evolved into the other aspects, including social, urban, humanitarian, and cultural aspects. Faiqy Tapo, a poet in the 1920s, says:

"Let's rise; we too want to form a Kurdish statesimilar to the other nations, like the Jews, Serbians, Bulgarians, Armenians, and the Greeks."

Another factor motivated the young Kurdish progeny, which was local unfair and unjust practices within the Kurdish authority, especially persecutions by Agas, Monks, and the Kurdish princes upon those poor people of Kurdistan, making accusations by religion and their high ranks.

This local unfairness by Kurdish authorities is clearly reflected in the literature of that young Kurdish class. That is why we can see that speeches performed by young Kurdish poets, such as Hajy Qadry Koiy, Bé Kas, Qane', Great Mela, etc., were knowledge and criticized speeches. Because monks, religious people, Kurdish Aga, and princes slaughtered the youthfulness in their society; they did it in such a way where the old-fashioned mind, the old-fashioned wishes, and the old ethics will remain in power forever. And, as Hajy Qadry Koiy says: "100 sheikhs, princes, and nobles\ for their living and joyfulness\ from their side by cheating\ and from here by their pride\ devastated the entire country\ till the citizens were perished."

This underdevelopment and injustice, this closed-mindedness of the Kurdish authority's intelligence, and along the past eras, have closed every entry in front of Western culture, except the Islamic culture, of course, and that is why, except for poetry, there wasn't any newspaper, magazine, publication, or a work of literature in the Kurdish language to clearly relate the events of those times.

However, since the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, young Kurdish poets got bored and presented us with a general and criticized image regarding underdevelopment and persecution. Hajy Qadry Koiy was a poet well informed about the world and a pioneer of the new progeny of the Kurdish youths. He spent long years of his life in Istanbul, criticized his own nation by saying that they imprisoned themselves within the frame of their old villages' values and they won't look to the world to see how far it is liberated, developed, and open-minded through science and technology, and he is saying to them:

"None of you have explored the world.

You still think that the Rome Caesar is still the king of Tehran."

Or he says, complaining: "The rate of ours and Europe is not the sea drops..."

Then, he urges the Kurdish youths, students, and intellectuals to go abroad and explore the world, and to open their minds to the developed world in Europe and reap the benefits from the developed experiments, arts, science, technology, and the European nations. He is telling them:

For learning wars' arts, industry, and nations' disciplines, they send their citizens to Europe.

Thus, taking Europe as a model for rebuilding Kurdistan, and a model for building the Kurdish character, was a phase and a feature of thinking for many of the young Kurdish writers and intellectuals.