Republic of Ararat

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the Kurdish independence movement. The same name was sometimes also used to refer to the Democratic Republic of Armenia, established in 1918.

The Republic of Ararat was a self-proclaimed Kurdish state. It was located in the east of modern Turkey, being centred on Ağrı Province. It took its name from Mount Ararat, which was used as a state symbol. (Ağrı, the name of the Turkish province, is the Turkish name for Ararat, which is in turn derived from the Kurdish word Agrî, "fiery", a direct reference to Ararat being a volcano). The Rebellion was lead by General Ihsan Nuri Pasha.

The Republic of Ararat was declared independent in 1927, during a wave of rebellion among Kurds in south-eastern Turkey. However it was not recognized by other states, and lacked foreign support [1].

[edit] The Agiri Rebellion

The commander of Kurdish forces in this rebellion was general İhsan Nuri Pasha. General Ihsan Nuri Pasha was from the famous Kurdish warrior tribe Celali.

On June 11, 1930, armed hostilities were initiated by the Turkish military against the Ağrı insurgents. Xoybûn, the Kurmanci Kurdish nationalist organisation co-ordinating this rebellion, urgently appealed for help from Kurds throughout Kurdistan. This was a Kurdish rebellion by mostly Kurmancî Kurds. The Kurmancî Kurds far outnumbered the Kizilbash of Dersim. This is why, much to the Turks' dismay, Xoybûn's appeal was answered on a wide front, by a counter-offensive at Tendruk, Iğdır, Erdjish, Sipan Dagh, Van, and Bitlis, forcing the Turks to temporarily abandon their offensive against Agri. All this support notwithstanding, however, the rebels were gradually crushed by the superior numbers of the Turkish military.^[1]^[2]

General Ihsan Nuri Pasha, has documented the role of Turkish Air force in defeating the Agri revolt in his book titled La Révolte de L'Agridagh.^[3]

By the end of summer 1930, the Turkish Air Force was bombing Kurdish positions around Mt. Ararat from all directions. According to General Ihasan Nuri Pasha, the military superiority of Turkish Air Force, demoralized Kurds and lead to their capitulation.^[4]

During the rebellion, Turkish Air Force bombed several Kurdish tribes and villagers. For instance Halikanli and Herki tribes were bombed in July 18 and August 2 1930, respectively. Rebel villages were continually bombed from August 2nd to 29th.^[5] From June 10th to June 12th, 1930, Kurdish positions were extensively bombed, and this forced the Kurds to retreat to higher positions around Mt. Ararat. On July 9th, Cumhuriyet reported that the Turkish Air Force was raining down Ararat with bombs. Kurds who escaped the bombings, were captured alive. On July 13th, the rebellion in Zilan was suppressed. Squadrons of 10-15 aircraft were used in crushing the revolt. On July 16th, two Turkish planes were downed and their pilots were killed by the Kurds. Aerial bombardment continued for several days and forced Kurds to withdraw to the height of 5,000 meters. By July 21st, bombardment had destroyed many Kurdish forts. During these operations, Turkish military mobilized 66,000 soldiers and 100 aircraft. The campaign against the Kurds was over by September 17th, 1930.^[6]

Many Kurds had expected independence on the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, and believed that the new Turkish republic had betrayed them — the Republic of Ararat was a culmination of this anger.^{[citation needed]} The Ararat rebellion was defeated in 1931, and Turkey resumed control over the disputed area.