Besides the Turks and Armenians, no race in Turkey has commanded
more attention during the past two decades than the Koords. They
have attracted the notice of the world by their large part in the
Armenian massacres in 1895-96 as well as by their relations to the
sultan himself through the organization and arming of the Hamidich
cavalry within the last quarter of a century. They were almost unknown
and unheard-of except locally until they came into prominence at the
time of the siege of Erzerum by the Russians in 1876, when the Koords
were used by the Turks in defense. They rendered little real service,
however.
Whatever else may be said, this race has now to be reckoned with in all
plans for propagating Christianity in any form in Eastern Turkey and
western Persia, as well as in all questions of order in that region.
Sometimes they are in open conflict with the Turks, and troops are
mobilized and sent against them in their mountain fastnesses. Again
they are provided with arms by the government and sent out to subdue
and suppress revolutionary bands of Armenians who are more ambitious
than discreet in their endeavors to obtain liberty.
Little is known of the origin and history of this wild and most
interesting people. They probably are the direct descendants of the
Karduchi, who occupied the same plateaus and commanded the same
mountain passes that the Koords now hold. It is probable that they
are not a race by themselves, but a collection of tribes with little
among them all that is common except their hardihood, roughness, and
tendency to plunder. One chief, whom the writer knew, declared that
his ancestors came to the upper waters of the Tigris from Mesopotamia
some eight centuries ago, and, after conquering the region, ruled it as
feudal lords. That form of government is in existence among them even
at the present time. Undoubtedly the word Koord, Kurd, Gutu, Gardu, or
Karu, has been promiscuously applied to any mountain race, clan, or
tribe occupying the upper waters of the great rivers in that part of
the empire, if they were not already claimed by another race.
There are some marked distinctions between the peoples called Koords.
Some are nomadic and pastoral, taking their flocks into the north of
Armenia as the summer advances, and returning to the warmer regions of
the south as it recedes. These live almost entirely in black tents,
and, while they steal, are not generally robbers. Others settle in
villages and the men devote their time usually to robbing traders and
caravans passing through their country, and levying blackmail upon the
Armenians who dwell upon their borders. It is this class who cause both
the Turkish government and the Armenians the most trouble. A chief,
whom the writer knew personally, and at whose castle he has often
passed the night, boasted that he owned nearly four hundred villages
with the adjacent land, and could throw, within two days’ notice, two
thousand armed horsemen into a fight anywhere within the bounds of his
territory. He said that he had over three hundred armed men out upon
the road most of the time. His castle had dungeons, and was, to all
intents and purposes, a fort.
These various Koordish leaders not only have little in common, but
they are frequently in open conflict one with another. Could these
people unite under a bold leader and form an alliance with the Arabs of
the south, nothing in Turkey could stand against them. Many renowned
leaders from among the Koords have appeared from time to time. Saladin,
a noted ameer at the time of the crusades, was a Koord.
They occupy the mountainous regions throughout Eastern Turkey, reaching
far down the Tigris to Mosul and into Mesopotamia, extending into
Persia upon the east and coming west as far even as Anatolia. The mass
of the Koords dwell within this area, but not a few are found outside.
An estimate given of their numbers places it as high as 3,000,000.
Their languages are unclassified. There are two of them, neither of
which ever was put into writing except within the last generation, so
that the spoken tongues of those professing to speak the same language
greatly differ in different parts of the country. Their speech is
rough, like the life they live, and resembles in no small degree the
barren cliffs amid which they dwell.
Some years ago Sultan Hamid II conceived the idea of subduing the
Koords in the eastern part of his dominions by calling the chiefs
to Constantinople and making them each commander of a body of their
own people, giving this troop his own name as a special honor. The
chiefs were to provide the men and the horses and the sultan furnished
the equipment. The proposition was most acceptable to the Koordish
nobles, for it provided them with modern equipments of warfare and at
the same time stamped their acts, even of depredation, with official
authority. Under the new dispensation, whoever offered resistance to
a Koord armed with a government rifle, by that very act put himself
into open rebellion against the government. These conditions prevail
at the present time in the Erzerum, Bitlis, Diarbekr and Van vilayets
along the Russian frontier. Much of the trouble of the last fifteen
years in these regions is due to this fact. Were it not that the Koords
are urged by the government to take aggressive measures against the
resident Christian population, conditions there would be better than
they are at the present time.
It is often stated that all Koords are Mohammedans. The Turks take this
ground, as they do regarding the Albanians of Macedonia. The fact is
that few of the Koords are good Moslems. They do not hesitate to put
out of the way a Turkish tax-collector who makes himself obnoxious.
The fact that he is a brother Moslem interposes no obstacle. Many of
them observe few of the rites and customs of Islam, and one tribe, at
least, living along the upper waters of the Euphrates openly declares
that it is not Mohammedan. The writer, in conversation with a leading
man of that tribe, said, “You are a Mohammedan.” With great indignation
he spat into the air, and, beating upon his breast, he said, “I am
a Koord; Moslems are dogs.” They have certain religious rites which
greatly resemble some of the Christian customs, as, for instance, they
have a service in which bread dipped in wine is put into the mouths of
the kneeling participants by their religious leader. These people often
tell the Armenian Christians that their sympathy is with them rather
than with the Turks.
Owing to the claim of the Turks that all Koords are Mohammedans,
missionaries have not been able to inaugurate special work among them.
Throughout the country called Armenia and where the Armenians are the
most numerous, there also the Koords are found in the largest numbers.
Frequently they reside in the same city, side by side, but more often
the Armenians dwell in the plains, where they are the cultivators of
the soil, while the Koords live higher up the mountains. A study of the
regeneration of the Turkish empire cannot be complete without giving
large consideration to this ancient, wild and violent people.