Kerkük

Kerkük, in the historical geography of Kurdistan, is a city that was the center of a sanjak attached to the Musul vilayet in the Ottoman administrative division. During the Ottoman period, it was often mentioned together with Şehrizor (Süleymaniye) or by another name for it.

In the Tahrir Defterleri

Kerkük is regularly mentioned among the regions densely populated by Kurds in Ottoman archival sources. The city, along with settlements such as Musul, Şehrizor, and Erbil, was subject to tahrir (census) defterleri (Volume 3, p. 25). Both mufassal and icmal tahrir defterleri belonging to Kerkük exist, and these defterleri are registered under the classification of the Tapu Kadastro Genel Müdürlüğü; in the same classification, tahrir defterleri belonging to Şehrizor (Süleymaniye) are also found, in addition to Kerkük and Musul (Volume 3, p. 26).

In Archival Records

The city is counted among the Hurufat Defterleri belonging to numerous Kurdish settlements such as Mardin, Nusaybin, Ayntab, Erbil, Musul, and Hısnulekrad; these defterleri provide information about the religious, cultural, and social structure in the region (Volume 3, p. 34). From the second half of the 16th century to the end of the 19th century, hundreds of tımar ruznamçe records are found in Kerkük, along with places like Amid, Harput, Çemişgezek, Musul, Hısn-ı Keyf (Hasankeyf), Ruha, and Van (Volume 3, p. 29). In the maarif fund of the Cevdet classification, numerous records about madrasahs in Kerkük are found, along with cities like Musul, Ruha, Ayıntab, and Malatya; while in the Nafia fund, documents regarding the fees of couriers traveling to and from the menzils in the regions of Bağdat, Basra, Musul, Kerkük, Hemedan, and Kirmanşah are found (Volume 3, p. 44).

Religious Life and Tribes

An important record concerning the religious life of the region pertains to the dervish lodge of the Berzenci sheikhs in Kerkük; this dervish lodge is mentioned in archival documents along with the tekkes and madrasahs of the Halidiyye order in Süleymaniye (Volume 3, p. 65). In the 19th century, the activities of the tribes in the Kerkük sanjak constitute an important group of documents within the irades of the Meclis-i Mahsus (Volume 3, p. 91).

In Geographical Works

In Ottoman periodicals and geographical works, Kerkük is counted among the main settlement centers inhabited by Kurds, along with Süleymaniye, Revanduz, Erbil, Siirt, and Urmiye (Volume 4, p. 112). In a geographical work of the period, the city is defined as follows: “It is the center of the Sanjak in the Musul Vilayet of Kurdistan, 160 km southeast of Musul. Three-quarters of its population are Kurds, and the rest are Turks, Arabs, and others” (Volume 4, p. 113). In another work, “Şehr-i Zor or by its other name Kerkük” and Süleymaniye are shown among the Musul mutasarrıflıks (Volume 4, p. 117).

After World War I

At the end of World War I, Kerkük became one of the centers of the struggle for dominance in the region. Upon the advance of British forces, the regency of Musul Governor Memduh Bey was left to the Kerkük Kaymakam (Volume 3, p. 121). Within the framework of the peace treaty draft shaped in Versay (Sevr), various documents related to developments such as the occupation of Kerkük by the British and the establishment of the Şeyh Mahmud Berzenci government in Süleymaniye are found in the archive (Volume 3, p. 143).