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Kurdistan and The Kurds A Divided Homeland and a Nation without ...

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<strong>The</strong> battle of Demdem Castle starting on<br />

5 December 1608 AD<br />

<strong>The</strong> Demdem Castle is situated in the Eastern <strong>Kurdistan</strong><br />

near the city of Urmia. <strong>The</strong> hero of this epic was Amir<br />

Khan Yekdest one of the princes <strong>and</strong> chiefs of the famous<br />

Kurdish Bradost tribe against the Persian armies that were<br />

numbered as twenty three times more than the Kurdish<br />

forces. Because of this numerical advantage the Persians<br />

managed to occupy the castle, but not before the Kurdish<br />

heroes defended it to the end tower by tower <strong>and</strong> foot by<br />

foot. Although the Persians offered immunity to the<br />

defenders, the patriotic passion prevented them from<br />

seeing the enemies occupying the l<strong>and</strong> of <strong>Kurdistan</strong> <strong>and</strong><br />

preferred the death rather. It lasted until all the defenders<br />

were martyred <strong>and</strong> the Persians did not spare even the<br />

non-fighters among them.<br />

<strong>The</strong>re is no space to describe all the events of this<br />

eternal patriotic story <strong>and</strong> the rare kind of courage <strong>and</strong><br />

sacrifice, as it deserves a separate book by itself to be<br />

read by the coming generations for ever to commemorate<br />

its heroism for eternity.<br />

<strong>The</strong> Massacre of the Mukri Tribes<br />

When the prince of the Mukri tribes Qubad Khan<br />

refused to participate with the Persians in the siege of<br />

Demdem Castle, Shah Abbas Safawid decided to eliminate<br />

the Mukri tribes completely for violating his orders. He<br />

led his army by himself towards the town of Maragha in<br />

Eastern <strong>Kurdistan</strong> in 1610 AD. At the same time he<br />

expressed his “royal” sympathies towards Qubad Khan<br />

who was deceived by them <strong>and</strong> went with some other<br />

Mukri leaders <strong>and</strong> a force of 150 Kurdish horsemen to<br />

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