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

Lazarev, "Kurdistan", page 301). This was the Russian
position before the Socialist Revolution of 1917, and
still the same position presides even after the revolution,
apart from few adjustments that I will come to later.
However, the fact that made the Russian officials apply
some changes to their Kurdish policies was related to
their ambitions as stated in the secret Sikes–Picot
agreement that affiliated large areas of Kurdistan to Russia,
and uncovered this treaty after the communist revolution
in 1917. Thus Russia lost its part of Kurdistan apart
from a small part.
The advance of Russia in Kurdistan was an expression
of that treaty and the secret letter sent by the Russian
Minister of Foreign Affairs Sazanov in April 1916 to the
French ambassador in Petrograd as follows:
1- The Russian would take the areas of Arzarom, Trabzon,
Van and Batlis up to a place on the west of Trabzon
on the shores of Black Sea to be determined later.
2- The areas of Kurdistan from west of Van and Batlis,
and between Moush, Saarid, Tigris River, Jazeert Ibn
Omar and the mountain terrain surrounding Amedy
and Margwar should be left to Russia, and in turn she
(meaning Russia) would recognize the right of France
on the areas situated between Qaisaria and Kharput.
(See: V. Cluchnikov and A. Sabakin, op. cit vol 11, p
42).
The second division of Kurdistan came about according
to the Sikes–Picot Treaty of 1916, which divided the
possessions of the Ottoman Empire between Britain,
France and Russia. Thus the English occupied the Arabic
Iraq and affiliated south of Kurdistan to it, the French
occupied Syria and affiliated west of Kurdistan to it, and
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