ABSTRACT

One can understand that throughout the 19th century, the Kurdish dynamics have evolved within much more complex equations so that the new Ottoman politics would henceforth include both "nation-state" and "colonial" features. The post-Tanzimat Ottoman Empire considered its Arab and Kurdish provinces as its colonial domains. Even before the Tanzimat, a religious conservatism could be observed all over Kurdistan. After the 1877–1878 Ottoman-Russian war, Kars and Ardahan, which had a quite important Armenian and Kurdish population, also passed under the control of Russia. As one could expect, the destruction of the 19th century emirates was all but "pacific" and was the main factor of a long series of Kurdish revolts. The Kurdish space, as most parts of the Muslim world, found itself in a process of Westernization, which was much more perceptible in the Ottoman Empire than in Persia.