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

Unionists] it has been decided to definitively eradicate
the Armenians from Turkey.” The telegram goes on to
mention. “You must put an end to the Armenians, do not
pay any attention whatsoever to age, presence to men or
to women.” (Kurdistan during the years of WW I, Dr.
Kamal Mazhar Ahmad. pp. 278-2)
The Turkish authorities tried to absolve themselves of
the responsibility for the Armenian massacres and tried
to put the accusation on the Kurdish people in any way
they could. The Ottomans used to bring their prisoners
from the different regions, to dress them in the Kurdish
national costumes and send them in hordes to cities like
Erzeroum and Diyarbekir to participate in the
extermination operations. (Ref: Abdelaziz Yamelki in
“Kurdistan and the Kurds” (Ikhtlalelray p.62)
By the same token, the Turkish authorities sent out
soldiers in Kurdish attire to implement these massacres.
The Turkish authorities also recruited Kurds in the
Hamidian cavalry (14), however, the Kurdish tribes
refused to take part in these forces that were initially
used to counteract the Russian invasion and curb the
Kurdish, Armenian or Arab liberation movements. None
of the tribes joined in the Dersim region whatsoever.
The Kurdish leaders did not respond to the invitation of
the Ottoman Government, instead they openly fought
them. Of these fighters were the Badirkhanis, the
Shamzinis, Sheikh Mohmoud El Hafid, Sheikh
Abdelsalam El Barzani, and the leaders of Bashder,
Hamawend and El Gaf.
In this respect, we portray what was published in the
paper ‘Kurdistan’ that heavily criticized the Hamidian
groups (15). In its 18th issue, published on the 15th
September 1901, referring to it as a disgraceful institution,
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