Bedirhan

Bedirhanlar (Bedirhaniler) are a Kurdish mîr family centered in Cizre-Botan, and the most known member of the family is Bedirhan Bey, one of the prominent Kurdish mîrs of the 19th century. The family, preserving its trace even after exile, engaged in political and cultural activities in the period extending from the late Ottoman era to World War I and the Armistice years.

Mîrlik and Liquidation

Bedirhan Bey demonstrated his power as the Mîr of Cizre-Botan during the implementation phase of Tanzimat; he was also recorded in Ottoman documents as the mütesellim of Cizre during the same period (Volume 3, p. 78; Volume 3, p. 75). In these years, the Nasturiler, including the Tiyari tribe, suffered from Bedirhan Bey's wrath; documents concerning the conflicts between Bedirhan and the Nasturiler, sent to Ottoman envoys, are found in the archive (Volume 3, p. 78; Volume 3, p. 59).

The family's power ended with Ottoman centralization. Following the process called "first centralization" in literature, which began in the 1830s, the Botan Mîrlik fell in the mid-1840s, and after the liquidation of the last Kurdish mîrlik, the Ottoman State established the Kürdistan Eyaleti in 1846 (Volume 3, p. 57). A source regarding this process states that upon the Kurds' hesitation to accept Ottoman proposals, Müşir Osman Paşa was sent to Kürdistan with a large force in 1845, and action was taken against Bedir Han, their first chief (Volume 4, p. 90). The mention of Osman and Hasan Bey from the Bedirhan Paşazadeler in the irades reflected in the Meclis-i Mahsus after the exile indicates that the family could be traced in the geographies where they were settled (Volume 3, p. 77).

Its Trace in the Archives

A search in the Ottoman archives using the keyword "Bedirhan Bey" can yield rich information about Kurdish history; it is possible to access thousands of documents with a single search using names like "Bedirhan Bey" and "Musa Bey" (Volume 3, p. 75).

Political Activities

During the years of World War I, members of the family were engaged in intense political activities. Encrypted telegrams sent to the Dâhiliye Nezareti regarding Abdürrezzak Bedirhan's activities in the region and the relations of some tribes with the Bedirhaniler are recorded in the archive (Volume 3, p. 129). During the Armistice and Paris Peace Conference period, the meetings of Faik, Musul Mahkeme Aza Mülazımı from the Bedirhaniler, with the Şemdinan, Gevar, and Çölemerik tribes were recorded (Volume 3, p. 132); the meeting organized by Cemilpaşazâde Ekrem Bey with Faik Bey (Bedirhan) from Süleymaniye at the Diyarbekir Kürt Kulübü, and the issue of Malatya Mutasarrıfı Halil Bedirhan were also reflected in the documents of the period (Volume 3, p. 134); furthermore, it is mentioned in documents that one of the Bedirhaniler was alongside the person propagating for the establishment of Kürdistan within the Mardin Livası (Volume 3, p. 133).

Press and Thought

The family's place in Kurdish press and intellectual life is also evident in sources. The difficulties Abdurrahman Bedirhan experienced during the process of publishing the Kürdistan newspaper were reported in the Osmanlı newspaper (Volume 4, p. 226); Kamran Ali Bedirhan, on the other hand, wrote articles in İctihad on the natural resources of Kürdistan and Kurdish studies in Western literature (Volume 4, p. 217).