View source for Society for the Rise of Kurdistan

{{Short description|Kurdish organisation}}
{{Expand Turkish|Kürdistan Teali Cemiyeti|date=February 2013}}
{{More citations needed|date=June 2011}}
'''Society for the Rise of Kurdistan''' ({{langx|ku|Cemîyeta Tealîya Kurdistanê}}<ref>{{cite journal |title=Mewlanzade Rifat û Rojnameya Serbestî |url=https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/416614 |access-date=21 December 2019 |language=ku, en}}</ref>) also known as the '''Society for the Advancement of Kurdistan''' (SAK), was  secretly established in [[Istanbul|Constantinople]] on 6 November 1917 <ref name=":07">{{Cite book|last=Ozoglu|first=Hakan|title=Kurdish Notables and the Ottoman State: Evolving Identities, Competing Loyalties, and Shifting Boundaries|publisher=SUNY Press|year=2004|isbn=0791459934|pages=147}}</ref> and officially announced organization formed on the 17 December 1918.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Özoğlu|first=Hakan|title=Kurdish Notables and the Ottoman State: Evolving Identities, Competing Loyalties, and Shifting Boundaries|date=2004-01-01|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-7914-5994-2|pages=88–89|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Özoğlu|first=Hakan|date=2001|title="Nationalism" and Kurdish Notables in the Late Ottoman–Early Republican Era|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/259457|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|volume=33|issue=3|pages=387|doi=10.1017/S0020743801003038 |jstor=259457 |s2cid=154897102 |issn=0020-7438}}</ref> It was headquartered in [[Istanbul]], with the aim of creating an independent [[Kurds|Kurdish]] state in eastern Turkey.<ref name=knm>[https://books.google.com/books?id=9edug343oJMC&dq=%22Society+for+the+Rise+of+Kurdistan%22&pg=PA1 ''The Kurdish nationalist movement: opportunity, mobilization, and identity''], by David Romano, p.28.</ref> The Society based its statements for an independent or autonomous [[Kurdistan]] on the [[Treaty of Sèvres]] and the [[Fourteen Points]] stipulated by [[Woodrow Wilson]].<ref name=":2">Robert W.Olson (1989), p.28–29</ref> The society formed many local dependencies in the eastern provinces of Turkey.<ref name=":2" />
== Leadership ==
The leadership of the society was almost identical to that of its predecessor a decade earlier, including both [[Abdulkadir Ubeydullah]]<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Chaliand|first=Gérard|title=A People Without a Country: The Kurds and Kurdistan|publisher=Zed Books|year=1993|isbn=1856491943|pages=32}}</ref> and [[Emin Ali Bedir Khan|Emin Ali]],<ref name=":3" /> together with [[Şerif Pasha]], who was in exile, whose representative was his brother [[Kurd Fuad Pasha|Fuad Pasha]].<ref name=":3" />
[[File:Prens-emin-ali-bedirxan.jpg|thumb|Society Vice President Emin Ali]]
[[File:Kurdfouadpasha.jpeg|thumb|340x340px|Society Vice President Kurd Fuad Pasha]]
The leadership structure of the society;
* President: [[Abdulkadir Ubeydullah]]<ref name=":07"/>
* Vice President: [[Emin Ali Bedir Khan|Emin Ali]]<ref name=":07"/>
* Vice President: [[Kurd Fuad Pasha|Fuad Pasha]]<ref name=":07"/>
* Secretary General: [[Hamdi Pasha]]<ref name=":07"/>
* Treasurer: Abdullah Effendi<ref name=":07"/>
== History ==
In January 1919 the society in a letter outlined its objectives to the British government through their High Commissioner in Constantinople Sir [[Somerset Gough-Calthorpe]] the letter consisted of four main points;
# A specified and geographically defined territorial area to be assigned to the Kurds.<ref name=":42">{{Cite book|last=Güneş|first=Murat Tezcür|title=A Century of Kurdish Politics: Citizenship, Statehood and Diplomacy|publisher=Routledge|year=2020|isbn=978-1000008449|pages=16}}</ref>
# The Kurds would be grateful to enjoy the same privileges and to receive the same treatment at the hands of the Allied Powers of the Entente, as those granted to the Arabs, Armenians, Chaldeans, Assyrians and other small nationalities without distinction of race and religion.<ref name=":42"/>
# The Kurds should be granted self government.<ref name=":42"/>
# The Kurds particularly beg the British government to kindly undertake the protection of their rights and interests, and to help them in their path to civilisation and progress.<ref name=":42"/>
In June 1919, during its annual conference, the society voted to place the [[Wilsonianism|Wilsonian]] [[Fourteen Points]] at the centre of its political program, and warned that if Kurds were to fail in securing their national rights, they would remain oppressed and deprived of rights, and possibly remain imprisoned for centuries.<ref name=":42"/> The conference also declared the Kurds had the right to choose their own form of administration in their homeland and that it was appropriate for them to work towards attaining their national rights as did other nations and neighbouring communities.<ref name=":42" />
The society in a meeting at their Constantinople headquarters unanimously passed a proposal from their members that [[Şerif Pasha|Serif Pasa]] be appointed as the sole representative of the Kurdish nation to the [[Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)|Paris Peace Conference]] in 1919.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Theolin|first=Sture|title=The Swedish Palace in Istanbul: A Thousand Years of Cooperation Between Turkey and Sweden|publisher=YKY|year=2000|isbn=9750802586|pages=114}}</ref>
[[File:Alîşêr Efendî & Zarîfe Xatun.jpg|thumb|Alîşêr Efendî and his wife Zarife Xatun, in hiding in Tunceli. Probably photographed in the 1930s.]]
A SAK delegation represented the Kurds at the [[Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)|Paris Peace Conference]], where it demanded political rights of the Kurds.<ref>Özoğlu, Hakan (2004), p. 112</ref> Three months after the Treaty of Sèvres was signed, the Society supported the leaders of the Koçkiri tribe ([[Alevis|Alevi]]&ndash;[[Kurdish people|Kurd]]) who revolted in the [[Dersim]] area in eastern [[Asia Minor]].<ref name="knm" /> It is documented that the rebellion was supported by the English in order to fight against [[Turkish nationalism]]. During the [[Turkish War of Independence]] former members of the organization attempted an uprising which became known as the [[Koçgiri rebellion]] and were encouraged by British major [[Edward Noel (Indian Army officer)|Edward William Charles Noel]],<ref name=":02">{{Cite book|last=Olson|first=Robert W.|title=The emergence of Kurdish nationalism and the Sheikh Said Rebellion, 1880-1925|date=1989|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=978-0-292-77619-7|pages=53–54|language=en}}</ref> in 1921, but was defeated by the Turkish army within three months on 17 June 1921.
[[File:Kurdish_efendi_and_his_fighters.jpg|alt=|border|left|350x350px|Kurdish fighters]]
It further aimed to promote the [[Kurdish language]] and [[Kurdish culture|culture]].  In the societies statutes, it was mentioned that their aim was to support the well-being of the Kurds.<ref>Özoğlu, Hasan (2004), p.82</ref> The society issued a weekly magazine named ''Jîn'' (Life) in 1918/1919. ''Jîn'' was published in [[Ottoman Turkish language|Ottoman Turkish]] and [[Kurdish languages|Kurdish]] ([[Kurmanci]] and [[Sorani]] dialects). Notable founding and early members of the SAK were [[Abdulkadir Ubeydullah]] and Sayyid Abdullah (descendents of [[Sheikh Ubeydullah]]), [[Emin Ali Bedir Khan]], [[Kamuran Alî Bedirxan|Kamuran Bedir Khan]] and Mehmet Ali Bedir Khan (descendants of [[Bedir Khan Beg]]) and the Dr. {{III|Mehmet Şükrü Sekban|lt=Mehmet Şükrü Sekban|de||WD=}} amongst others.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">Özoğlu, Hakan (2004), p.81</ref><ref>Özoğlu, Hasan (2004), pp. 95–97</ref> Abdulkadir was a member of the Ottoman parliament since 1910 and kept on to his position in Ottoman politics also after the establishment of the SAK<ref>Özoğlu, Hakan (2004), pp.91–92</ref> of which he was it first president.<ref name=":1" /> In 1919, a women's branch of the SAK was established.<ref>Özoğlu, Hasan (2004), p.113</ref> However, disputes between Sayyid Abdulkadir, who was an advocate for autonomy within a future Turkish state, and Bedir Khan, who was in favor of Kurdish independence surged and eventually, the organization was broken up and in 1920, Bedir Khan established the Society for Kurdish Social Organization.<ref>Özoğlu, Hasan (2004), p. 98</ref>
Following the uprising, the SAK was banned by the Turkish national assembly. The former leaders of the SAK, notably its president Sayyid Abdulkadir, his son Sayyid Mehmed, Dr. Fuad Berxo and the journalist Hizanizâde Kemal Fevzi were executed on the 27 May 1925 following their prosecution by the [[Independence Tribunal of Diyarbakır|Independence Tribunal in Diyarbakır]] for allegedly supporting the [[Sheikh Said rebellion|Sheikh Said Rebellion]].<ref name=":03">{{Cite web|last=Üngör|first=Umut|title=Young Turk social engineering : mass violence and the nation state in eastern Turkey, 1913- 1950|url=https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/867135/65687_13.pdf|access-date=9 April 2020|website=University of Amsterdam|page=241}}</ref> One of its leaders, [[Mikdad Midhat Bedir Khan]], was the publisher of the first Kurdish newspaper ''[[Kurdistan (newspaper)|Kurdistan]]'' in Cairo.
== Membership ==
Other notable members of the society numbered 176 in total.<ref name=":07"/> They included [[Mevlanzade Rifat Bey]], [[Mustafa Yamulki]].
Membership to the society was not limited to Kurds. [[John Duncan (British Army officer, born 1872)|John Duncan (British Army officer)]] noted that the statutes of the society included "To be admitted, prospective members were to provide a recommendation from one of the established members."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Henning|first=Barbara|title=Narratives of the History of the Ottoman-Kurdish Bedirhani Family in Imperial and Post-Imperial Contexts: Continuities and Changes|publisher=University of Bamberg Press|year=2018|isbn=978-3863095512|pages=416}}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Kurdish nationalist organisations}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Defunct political parties in Turkey]]
[[Category:Kurdish nationalism in Turkey]]
[[Category:Kurdistan independence movement]]
[[Category:History of Kurdistan]]
[[Category:Non-governmental organizations involved in the Turkish War of Independence]]
[[Category:History of the Kurdish people]]
[[Category:Kurdish organisations]]