Kurdish rebellions during World War I

Kurdish rebellions during World War I
	Part of the Middle Eastern theater of World War I
	Dersim Botan Nazımiye Mazght Pertek Perri Elazığ Kharput Mardin Diyarbekir Bitlis Sulaymaniyah Kurdish rebellions during World War I (West and Central Asia)
Date	August 1914 – October 1918
Location	Northern and southern Kurdistan
Territorial; changes	De facto: Establishment of a quasi-independent Kurdish state until 1919; De jure: Territorial concessions given to Kurds in 1920, reversed in 1923
Belligerents
Ottoman Empire	Various Kurdish tribes; Limited support:; Russian Empire (1917) Kurdish state (1918)
Commanders and leaders
Ahmed Izzet Pasha; Galatalı Şevket Bey; Among others;	Ali Ağa; Among others Mahmud Barzanji
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Dersim, March - May 1916: At least 400 killed; At least 200 captured; Heavy casualties; Full figures unknown;
	Several villages burned, destroyed or looted; Large populations of Kurds displaced

During World War I, several Kurdish rebellions took place within the Ottoman Empire.

The rebellions were preceded by the emergence of early Kurdish nationalism and Kurdish revolts in Bitlis in 1907 and early 1914. The primary Kurdish war aim was the creation of an independent Kurdish state, a goal that Britain and Russia promised to fulfil in order to incite Kurdish resistance. Other reasons for resistance include a fear that they would suffer the same fate as the Armenians, the desire for more autonomy, and according to Ottoman sources, banditry.

The first Kurdish rebellion was launched in August 1914, before the Ottoman entry into World War I. From 1915 to 1916, further Kurdish rebellions took place in Botan, Dersim, and south of Kiğı. 1917 saw 2 additional waves of rebellion in summer and August, the latter of which received Russian military support. Besides direct military opposition, Kurdish civilians also partook in passive resistance by assisting advancing Russian forces, hiding or adopting Armenian refugees during the genocide, and resisting Ottoman military drafts. Shortly before the Armistice of Mudros in October 1918, Mahmud Barzanji broke away from the Ottoman Empire and established a quasi-independent Kurdish state under British supervision.

British wartime promises of an independent Kurdistan were included in the Treaty of Sèvres (1920), which assigned a small amount of territory for a planned Kurdish state, but these plans were abandoned with the Turkish nationalist victory in the Turkish War of Independence and the ensuing Treaty of Lausanne (1923). Kurdish rebellions in Turkey continued after 1923 and are still ongoing in the present day.

Several villages were looted, burned or destroyed by both the Kurdish rebels and the Ottoman authorities. In reprisal to the rebellions, Ottoman authorities deported large populations of Kurds.

^ Zardykhan, Zharmukhamed (2006). "Ottoman Kurds of the First World War Era: Reflections in Russian Sources". Middle Eastern Studies. 42 (1): 67–85. doi:10.1080/00263200500399561. JSTOR 4284431. S2CID 145313196.

[1] Zardykhan, Zharmukhamed (2006). "Ottoman Kurds of the First World War Era: Reflections in Russian Sources". Middle Eastern Studies. 42 (1): 67–85. doi:10.1080/00263200500399561. JSTOR 4284431. S2CID 145313196.

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