Hakkari Province is located inTurkish Kurdistan[10] and has an overwhelminglyKurdish population.[11] The province istribal and most of theKurds adhere to theShafiʽi school ofSunni Islam with theNaqshbandi order having a strong presence aroundŞemdinli.[12] The Kurdish tribes in the province include theDoski, Ertuşi, Gerdi,Herki, Jirki and Pinyaniş.[13] The area had a significantChristianAssyrian population from various tribes before theAssyrian genocide in 1915. The Assyrian tribes in the region wereJilu, Dez,Baz,Tkhuma, Tal andTyari.[14] Relations betweenAssyrians andKurds have been described as a 'tense coexistence' due to the ability to coexist despite the recurring disputes over land and life stock, and robbery of each other and of travelers. Assyrian resentment in the region was more directed towards the Ottomans than the Kurds, due to the Ottoman hostility towards the Christian minority, viewing them as a disloyal non-Muslim component.[15]
Hakkari Sanjak, part ofVan vilayet, had a population of 5,896 in 1881-1882 of which81.9% was Muslim and18.1% Christian.[16]
In the 1945 census,98.8% of the population was Muslim, whileJews constituted the largest religious minority with0.1%. Only one Christian was enumerated in 1945, from theProtestant denomination.[17] In the same census,Kurdish andTurkish were the first language for87.8% and11.4% of the population.[18] The Jewish population left forIsrael shortly after 1948.[19] In the 1950 census,89.5% of the population spokeKurdish as first language, while the second largest first language was Turkish at9%.[20] In the subsequent census of 1955, Kurdish constituted the first language for88.4% of the population and Turkish for11.5%. The same census found100% of the population to be Muslim.[21] Kurdish and Turkish remained the two largest first languages in the 1960 census for80.7% and19.2% of the population, respectively.[22] As with the previous census, Muslims constituted100% of the population.[23] In the last census conducted in Turkey in 1965, Kurdish remained the largest first language with86.2%, while Turkish remained the second largest first language at12.3%.[24]99.1% of the population was Muslim and0.8% was Christian in 1965.[25]
In 1980, the only language spoken in rural parts was Kurdish while both Kurdish and Turkish were spoken in urban areas, due to the presence of military and civil officials from other parts of Turkey.[26]
In the 14th century,Timur devastated the urban centers of Mesopotamia. His conquest of Baghdad and especially the destruction ofTikrit affected the Syrian Orthodox Church, which sheltered near Nineveh atMar Mattai Monastery. Following the destruction of Christians in the region, the Ismailis and Sunni and Shi'a Muslims were attacked indiscriminately byTimur during the second part of the 14th century. The few survivors sought refuge among the Assyrians of Hakkari and the surrounding region. This region also produced many bishops and patriarchs as hereditary succession was used to prevent a full ecclesiastical collapse of the church. By the 16th century, the Assyrians disappeared from many cities where they previously thrived, such as inTabriz andNisibis. The head of theChurch of the East moved fromBaghdad toMaragheh by 1553.[27]
Although the region was nominally underOttoman control since the 16th century, it was administered asEmirate of Hakkâri by its Kurdish inhabitants.[28][29] Kurds also settledArmenian farmers in the region.[30] The situation changed after the Badr Khan rule and theTanzimat reforms as the Ottomans were now able to extend their full control unopposed.[31] The region was part ofVan Vilayet during the Ottoman era asHakkari sanjak withBaşkale serving as capital, except from 1880 to 1888 where it was elevated tovilayet status.[15] As of 1920, Hakkari was producinglead. The lead, which came from a government owned mine, was used to makebullets.[32]
In the 19th century, several competing Kurdish centers began emerging in the region. Mir Muhammed, the Kurdish Emir of theSoran Emirate, situated aroundRawandiz was able to depose his rivals and control a region stretching fromMardin toPersian Azerbaijan.[33]The Ottomans, seeking to consolidate their control of the region, engaged him in a costly war which eventually led to the dissolution of his Emirate.[34] After the fall of his main rival,Bedir Khan Beg ofBohtan sought to extend his dominion by annexing the Assyrian regions in Hakkari.[35] He took advantage of a rift between the patriarchShimun XVII Abraham and Nur Allah, the Emir of Hakkari. Bedir Khan allied with Nur Allah and attacked the Assyrians of Hakkari in the summer of 1843, massacring them and taking those who survived as slaves. Another massacre was inflicted in 1846 on the Tyari tribe, also residing in Hakkari. The western powers, alarmed by the massacres pressured the Ottomans to intervene and the Emir of Bohtan was ultimately defeated and exiled toCrete in 1847.[36]
On the eve of the First World War, patriarchShimun XIX Benyamin was promised preferential treatment in anticipation of the war.[37] Shortly after the war began, however, Assyrian and Armenian settlements to the north of Hakkari were attacked and sacked by Kurdish irregulars allied with the Ottoman Army in theAssyrian genocide.[38][39] Others were forced intolabour battalions and later executed.[40]
The turning point was when the patriarch's brother was taken prisoner as he was studying inConstantinople. The Ottomans demanded Assyrian neutrality and executed him as a warning.[41][42] In return, the patriarch declared war on the Ottomans on 10 April 1915.[41]
The Assyrians were immediately attacked by Kurdish irregulars backed by the Ottomans, driving most of the Assyrians of Hakkari to the mountain tops, as those who stayed in their villages were killed.[41] Shimun Benjamin was able to move unnoticed toUrmia, which at the time was underRussian control, and tried to persuade them to send a relief force to the besieged Assyrians.[41] When the Russians replied that the request was unreasonable, he returned to Hakkari and led the surviving 50,000 Assyrians through the mountains to safety in Urmia.[41] Thousands perished from cold and hunger during this march.[41] In 1924, Turkey expelled the last Christian inhabitants in the region.[43]
In order toTurkify the local population,[44] in June 1927 the Law 1164 was passed[45] which allowed the creation of Inspectorates-General (Umumi Müffetişlik, UM).[46] The province therefore was included in the so-calledFirst Inspectorate General, which span over the provinces of Hakkâri,Siirt, Van,Mardin,Bitlis,Sanlıurfa,Elaziğ, andDiyarbakır.[47] The first UM was created on the 1 January 1928 and centered in Diyarbakır.[48] The UM was governed by anInspector General, who governed with a wide-ranging authority over civilian, juridical and military matters.[46] The office of the Inspector General was dissolved in 1952 during the government of theDemocrat Party.[49] Hakkari though was still banned for foreign citizens until 1965.[47]
From July 1987 to August 2002 Hakkari was within theOHAL state of emergency region.[50] It was Governed by a so-called Supergovernor, who was invested with additional powers than a normal Governor. He was given authority over all the other provincial Governors in the OHAL area and also the power to permanently relocate and resettle the village's population.[51]
^abBayir, Derya (2016-04-22).Minorities and Nationalism in Turkish Law. Routledge. p. 139.ISBN978-1-317-09579-8.
^abJongerden, Joost (2007-01-01).The Settlement Issue in Turkey and the Kurds: An Analysis of Spatical Policies, Modernity and War. BRILL. p. 53.ISBN978-90-04-15557-2.
^Bozarslan, Hamit (2008-04-17). Fleet, Kate; Faroqhi, Suraiya; Kasaba, Reşat; Kunt, I. Metin (eds.).The Cambridge History of Turkey. Cambridge University Press. p. 343.ISBN978-0-521-62096-3.
