Devastating Refutation of the UK-promoted Fallacy about ´Kurdish´ Historical Presence in Kerkuk

Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis

The idea that Kerkuk has been a historically ´Kurdish” area, and that there has been a significant “Kurdish” presence there, is a fallacy of criminal dimensions.

It consists in a sheer violation of the historical truth, which is promoted by the Apostate Freemasonic Lodge and the – totally controlled – colonial establishments of England, France and America.

This fallacy is being diffused only to misinform Western audiences and readerships, and thus promote a consensus and a public support for a ´Kurdish” state in the area of Northern Iraq that will – illegally, criminally and ominously – control the Oil-rich territory of Kerkuk only to further finance wars and discords, conflicts and calamities throughout the region, according to the messianic and eschatological plans of the Apostate Freemasonic Lodge.

Kerkuk belongs to the Turkmen; this is not what (only) the Turkmen of Iraq or the Turks, the Azeri, the Uzbeks, the Central Asiatic Turkmen, the Kazaks, the Kyrgyz, and other Asiatic nations say; this is what the English said by themselves, when they were – idiotically, pitifully and catastrophically – allowed to cross the Ottoman Empire and the Safevid Empire of Iran, only to treacherously and perfidiously collect information and report it to the evil Freemasonic establishment “back home” for later use against the countries and the administrations, the peoples and the religious groups that were naïve enough to believe and trust them and in addition, offer them hospitality.

Actually, all the Western travelers in those territories of the Ottoman and Iranian empires agreed in their confirmations, and thus reveal to all of us today that – contrarily to the shameful ICG Report´s fallacies – Kerkuk was never “Kurdish”.

While in ongoing series of articles I reveal the fallacy of the term “Kurdish Nation” (and “Kurds”), which is a colonial fabrication (http://www.buzzle.com/articles/what-the-ominous-icg-report-did-not-say-about-the-fabrication-of-the-so-called-nation-of-kurds.html), I find it greatly worthy for the criminally misinformed readerships to republish a pertinent historical study that has been elaborated by the famous SOITM Foundation in total refutation of the fallacious ICG Report (about which: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/oil-for-soil-in-iraq-and-peace-for-land-in-palestine-more-bloodshed-tyranny-and-chaos.html).

In the present article, I republish a first part of the study. In forthcoming articles, I will complete the republication.

The Historical Anatomy of Kerkuk Region

http://www.turkmen.nl/1A_soitm/art.30-K2908.htm

To the participants in seeking a solution to the Kerkuk problem:

Date: 29, November 2008

No. art.30-K2908

The today´s complications of Kerkuk problem, which threaten the already insecure situation in Iraq, originate mainly form the obstinate attempts of the Kurdish political parties, supported by the Peshmerge militia, to contain the province, while both the Turkmen and the Arabs of Kerkuk support the shared administration and an independent Kerkuk province annexed to Baghdad.

It is important to be known that if the indigenous inhabitants of a region are considered to be the first degree citizens, then, today most of the populations of the globe should be considered as secondary citizens.

Considering that the historical nature of Kerkuk region is one of the important factors which influence the fate of Kerkuk region, SOITM presents in this study history of presence of the Turkmen and the Kurds in Kerkuk region.

Introduction

The eternal fire, or Baba Gurgur, was considered the main cause of the celebrity of Kerkuk region since millennia. This was the main factor which attracted the travelers to Kerkuk region. The local production of oil for more than two centuries gained Kerkuk a significant fame and stable moderate economical importance. In 1878, Geary investigated the oil fields in Kerkuk and mentioned: 1

“There is a large market for petroleum in Baghdad, and the other cities; exportation, on a large scale, would not be difficult, for there is water-carriage the whole way from Hit, and nearly the whole way from Kerkuk to the sea”.

It seems that the same factors motivated the English troops to complete the occupation of Ottoman´s Mosul region, which included Kerkuk, after the armistice at the end of First World War. Geary, in 1878, said: 2

“if European science were brought to bear upon the matter, it is very possible that the inexhaustible supply for petroleum existing here and at Hit, on the Euphrates, would become of great commercial importance” “There is no limit to the supply which might be easily procured from kerkook”.

Kerkuk´s regional fame has further increased after finding huge oil deposits, and industrialization of the oil production began in 1927.

In the second half of the 20th century, Kerkuk region became known for the assimilation policies of Ba´ath regime, which made huge changes to the demography of the region.

The other important characteristics of Kerkuk region are the large Kerkuk citadel , the shrine of Prophet Daniel, the ruminants of Nuzu civilization in Yorgan Tepe, Arrapkha of the Assyrians and Yeşil Kömbet (Green Tomb) of the Seljuks. Kerkuk is also well known for the immense fertile plains and ample water streams.

With the internationalization of the Iraqi problem and ongoing attempts of the Kurdish authorities to appropriate Kerkuk region, Kerkuk issues have gained attention worldwide. The region has been exposed to other fierce demographical changes. It started at the beginning of occupation by Kurdification of the administration in Kerkuk region by the American military authorities. Hundreds of thousands of Kurds were brought and established in the province of Kerkuk.

But in order to have such a wealthy region, the Kurdish authorities were obliged to present authoritative reasons to the Iraqi people and to the international community. The Kurdish claims were based on a variety of explanations including that Kerkuk region is:

predominantly Kurdish, and

historically Kurdish region.

It is worth noting that the present Kurdish region, which includes the provinces of Erbil, Sulaymaniya and Duhok lacks the economical sources to survive independently.

After failure to prove the above mentioned claims, the Kurdish authorities abandoned their former claims and started in the last few years claiming that Kerkuk region is a Kurdistan region.

This article discusses the historical demography of the latter several centuries of Kerkuk region. It forms essential background information for the experts and the authorities currently participating in finding a solution to the problems in Kerkuk.

The Turkmen in Kerkuk

History of the Turkmen presence in Kerkuk

Available credible sources, point to the uninterrupted settlements of Turkmen in Kerkuk region beginning from the Abbasids period (744 AD) to the Seljuks (1055 AD) and their Atabegs, the Mongols (1258 AD), the White and Black Sheep Turkmen reigns, Safavids and Ottomans. This idea was supported by the Mosul commission of the League of Nations in 1924. The English envoy to the same commission rejected the origin of Turkmen to be related to the Ottomans, and supported the idea that Kerkuk Turkmen are possibly the descendents of the soldiers employed by the Abbasid Caliphs. 3 The same was presented by the Encyclopedia of Islam by adding the Seljuks period. 4 Soane agrees with the Seljuk origin of Kerkuk Turkmen. Lyon says that Turkmen of the region descended from the camp followers of Timor the Lame in 14th century. 5 Edmonds gives the following origins; the Seljuk, Timor the Lane, Safavids and Ottomans. 6 Hay agrees with the English envoy to the Mosul commission and with the encyclopedia of Islam, he also rejects the Ottoman origin of the Turkmen. He believes that they are descendents of the Seljuks. 7 Gertreude says: 8

´They are Turks, you know, these Kirkuk people, but not Ottoman; they came in at the time of the early Seljuq invasions´.

Longrigg speaks about earlier immigrations. 9 Marr points to the Turkmen tribal states (White and Black sheep Turkmen) at 14th and 15th centuries as the ancestors of Kerkuk and Erbil Turkmen. 10

Turkmen and Kerkuk in Different Ages

The Turkmen constituted the second largest components of the Iraqi population in both the Buyids and the Seljuks eras. 11 Longrigg left Iraq in 1931 after 16 years work. He served as political officer in Kerkuk in early 1920s. His comment on the Turkmen nature of the population of Kerkuk city in the 15th and 16th century is presented in his book “Four centuries of modern Iraq” as follows: 12, 13

“Of the settled and governed part of the Shahrizor province, nothing is left on record. Neither the pleasant city of Kirkuk, nor the string of Turkmen towns on the main route nor the many villages of the rain cultivators, had changed character in the last 2 centuries. Turkish influence, where government found blood, tongue and religion congenial, had deepened more than the Arab plains or Kurdish mountains even made possible”.

“The quarters east of the wide stream-bed were yet unbuilt. Arbil — strikingly similar to Kirkuk in natural structure and in race— was as remote from its Arab and closer akin to its Kurdish Neighbors”.

The Ottoman archives confirm the Turkmen nature of Kerkuk in the 16th century. 14 According to Olson, 15 in the 16th century, 16 Tawuk, which was larger than Kerkuk, was inhabited by Turkmen sultan Gundogmus Bekdilu and his followers. 15 Longrigg mentioned that the Turkmen and Chaldeans, 17 held the Kerkuk citadel for 3 weeks against the overwhelming army of Nadir Shah of the Safavids in 1730s: 18

Kerkuk Population by Travelers Before the 20th Century

Despite that it is extremely difficult to present an accurate data on the population nature of a region after investigation for few days, travelers, who usually remained for few days in Kerkuk, are still considered the significantly reliable sources of information. In this section first-hand references of those who themselves visited or resided in Kerkuk are presented.

Most of the travelers were either coming from the south or from the north and some of them from the east. The majority passed through the main cities on the High (or old) Way. From the south: Kara Tepe, Kifri, Tuz Khurmatu, Tawuk, Kerkuk and Altun kopru to Erbil. (Map 1) Several other smaller towns or villages were mentioned by some travelers. From south: Delli Abbas, Chubuklu, Yengice, Bayat region, Tepelliler, Taze Khurmatu and Tisin.

Many travelers, who visited Kerkuk for several days, gave no information about the population nature of the region, for example, Rauwolf (15 – 16.12.1575), 19 Niebuhr (1792), 20 Jackson (1797), 21 Olivier (end 18th century), the travels of Rolando (1800), 22 Aboul Taleb Khan (1818), 23 De Beaujour (1829), 24 Ainsworth (1838) 25 Mignan (1930s), 26 and Clement (1866).

Rauwolf was considered the first European traveler passed through the High Road. He stayed two days in Kerkuk; he gave important information about the term Kurds, who he referred to as Curters. 19 Jackson came from the south. Rolando described horribly the plague in Kerkuk and carefully the naphtha. Abu Talib Khan, who used the word Kirkoot, and de Beaujour who uses Kerkoud, came from the north. Ainsworth presented a detailed topographical description of the southern region of Kerkuk province and later on the northern parts. He presented only the Arabic (Abu Geger) and the Turkmen (Korkuk Baba) names of the eternal fire. Mignan came from the east and entered into the southern region of Kerkuk province. He passed through Kifri and Kara Tepe then left to Diyala province in the south. Clement´s writing of Kerkuk is Kerkout.

Ali of Yazd used the name Kerkuk for the first time in 1425 saying that Timor passed through Tauk – Kerkuk – Altun Kopru to conquer the next regions. 27

“Timur s´embarqua & s’avança fur l´eau avec une extrême diligence, & lors. Qu´ayant passe par Toouc (a), il fut; arrivé a Carcouc (b), les habitans en sortirent te vinrent- au devant de lu en grande cérémonie, & avec de sincères témoignages de respect & d’obéissance & Timur donna en Seigneurie perpétuelle cette. Place à l’Emir Ali Mouseli: Alors Czal Mirali Oirat, Pirali & Gèhanghir coururent se jetter aux pieds de l’Empereur pour l’assurer de leur soumission, les Princes de tous. ces quartiers-là, les Gouverneurs des Villes, principalement le Prince d’Altoun Cupruc allèrent aussi le trouver, il les reçût fort bien, il leur fit’ donner des ceintures d’or & des vestes magnifiques, & leur donna aussi dé l’or, des pierreries & des étoffes pour leurs femmes & pour les trousseaux de leurs filles: Timur partit de l´ale quatrième de Sefer 769”.

Rauwolf (1575) a writer and traveler, presents a little bit more information on Kerkuk region, without touching the population characteristics. 19

“After the Sabbath of the Jews, my companions, was over, we went on again, and came the twenty sixth of December to Carcuck, a glorious fine city lying in a plain, in a very fertile country; at four miles distance is another that lieth on an ascent, whither we also travelled, my companions having business in both of them, and so we spent two days in them before we were ready to go on again” “Not far off from Tauk, we saw a very strong castle near unto a wood, that is guarded by a Turkish garrison”.

Despite the lack of information on population, the use of Turkmen names of the cities by Ali of Yazd in the beginning of the 15th century, which are still used, refers to the presence of Turkmen in Kerkuk region at that time and even in advance: Tawuk (Tauk or Toouc) is located 45 km to the south of Kerkuk city and Altun Kopru (Altoun Cupruc) 45 km to the north. With some other Turkmen name of the towns in Kerkuk region, such as Kara Tepe, Kifri, these names are used by every traveler who visited the region.

Howel´s (1789) transliteration for Kerkuk is Kircook. He entered Kerkuk region from the south and passed from the usual travel road which was also called High Way and saw the following inhabitations: Yengija, Deli Abbas, Kara Tepe, Kifri, Tuz Khurmatu, Tawuk, Tepeller, Kerkuk, Altun Kupri, Kus Tepe and Erbil. He mentioned that few Kurds are found in the towns with the Turks in these regions. What he means by the name Kurds should be also investigated. 28

“A few of them join the Turks in occupying the towns; but the greater number prefer a wandering, pastoral life”

Giuseppe Campanile (1810s) was in Mosul in 1802 for about a decade, he measured the inhabitants of Kerkuk as not Kurdish: 29

“Ou bien avec les étrangers qui ne savent pas le kurde, comme par exemple les gens de Bagdad, de Kirkuk, etc”.

Buckingham (1816) portrayed the followings for the southern region of Kerkuk province: 30

“The caravanserai at which we put up, during our detention here, was like the one described at Baiaat, in the general style of its architecture, which was purely Turkish. It consisted of many apartments, some of them having fire-places in the walls, like European chimneys ; others, with benches and niches, or recesses, for the accommodation of travelers, and all ornamented and vaulted, in the Turkish rather than the Arabic manner” “The language, Features, and complexions of the inhabitants are chiefly Turkish. This circumstance, added to the fact of the caravanserai here, and at the last station, being of Turkish architecture”.

Later, Buckingham continued talking about the same region: 31

“Our afternoon was lounged away, without my seeing much of the town of Kara Tuppe. It appeared to me, to be hardly more than half the size of Kiffree, and the population still less in proportion; that of Kiffree being estimated at three thousand, while the inhabitants of this are thought not to exceed one thousand. The appearance and language of the people are as decidedly Turkish as the name of the place itself, and all seemed to confirm the opinion already expressed as to the common origin and progress of these halting-stations on the road”.

Buckingham saw four Kurds in side Kerkuk city and determined the country of the Kurds as four days distance from Kerkuk: 32

“This was a large white shaggy animal, which had been brought by the Koords, who exhibited it, from the snow-clad mountains of their own country, at a distance of four days’ journey to the eastward”.

Ker Porter (1817 – 1820) arranged the ethnic composition of Kerkuk city as follows: 33

“The houses are packed together, and the bazars narrow and gloomy, though exhibiting every sort of merchandise and provision necessary for the comfort of the inhabitants. They are chiefly composed of Turks, Armenians, Gourds, Arabs, and a few Jews; and their number may amount to ten or twelve thousand”.

Claudius James Rich (1821 – 1822)

The celebrated business agent, diplomat, traveler and antiquarian scholar Claudius James Rich can be considered among the most reliable and accurate sources of information about the geography and demography of northern Iraq in the early 19th century. He resided about half of his 33 years life in the Middle East and about 10 years in Iraq, of which six were spent in Baghdad. His travel in the Kurdish region, which lasted for about six months, is considered the first accurate knowledge from a scientific point of view on the subject of the topography and geography of the Kurdish region. 34 He provided the first regular information on these topics. He is considered the founding scholar of Mesopotamian archaeology and he discovered many important elements of the remains of ancient Babylon. His work proved to be a key to the translation of cuneiform script. 35 He knew Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Persian, Syriac, and several modern European languages from boyhood. He was Fluent in Turkish and Arabic.

Rich presented important information on the population of the most of the regions which he visited. He portrayed the Kurdish regions and defined carefully the boundaries of what was called Kurdistan.

Rich enters Kerkuk region from the south to Kara Tepe village saying that: 36, 37 (Map 1)

“Kara Tepeh is peopled by Turcomans”.

“The people of Karatepeh call themselves Turcomans, and Turkish is the only language used. There are some of the people called Ali Ulahees, Ismaelians, or Tcheragh Sonderans, residing here”.

On his route Rich passed through the following locations and inhabitations, almost all of which still have Turkmen names; Kifri, Kör Dere, Kara Oğlan, Kız Kalası, Oniki İmam, Eski Kifri, Çemen, Bayat Plain, Kuru Çay, Kızıl Haraba, Aksu River, Yenijeh, Tuz Khurmatu, Çubuk, Demir Kapı, Tawuk, Kehriz, Tawuk Çayi, Ali Saray, Jumaila, Matara, Taze Khurmatu, Laylan and Kara Hasan. Then he entered the Sulaymaniya district.

After that he got to Kifri and said that it was about four hours from Ibrahim Khanjee, which he considered as the boundary of so-called Kurdistan. Without giving information on the population of Kifri he passed to the Bayat region saying: 38 -40

“At 7h left them, and entered the Beiat plain, which slopes down very gradually from the Kifri hills to the Tchemen” “Here was an encampment of the Beiat Turcomans” “Soon after eight we quitted the hills, and came into the large and finely cultivated plain occupied by the Beiats, a tribe of Turcomans who emigrated thus far from Khorassan”.

Tuz Khurmatu was the next place of rest for Rich. The following is his description of this region: 41, 42

“We rode through gardens of date, orange, lemon, fig, apricot, pomegranate, and olive trees, which completely conceal the town” “The rest of the place is merely built of mud. The people are Turkish, and are mostly Ismaelians, or Tcheragh Sonderans”.

“The mills in this region (Duz Hurmati) have each a little mud tower attached to it, in which to post a guard against thieves; all the places on the Kurdish border being very subject to inroads from robbers of that nation”.

He phrased the plundering of Tawuk region by the Kurdish robbers as follows: 43

“He (Mohammed Aga of Mahmood pasha of Sulaymaniya) was the officer who last year commended the detachment which took and plundered this village, when Mahmood Pasha was leagued with the king of Persia´s son, the Shahzadeh of Kermanshah, against the Turks; and the poor villagers seemed anxious to propitiate him, in case of another such visit. Many came and kissed his hand; but the moment his back was turned, exclaimed, “May he never see good luck; he was the fellow who stripped us last year!”.

Rich continued his voyage to the region of Tawuk without commenting on the nature of the population passed to the Leylan region which is 15 km toward southern east of Kerkuk city. He states: 44

“The village of Leylan like all the other villages on the Kurdish line, it is much harassed, and has been several times utterly ruined by the incursions of Kurds. The Kahya of the village entreated me to use my interest with Mahmud Pasha to get back 300 of his sheep, which had been carried off by the Kurds. The people of his and all the neighboring villages are of Turkmen race”.

He turned eastwards and passed through the plain of Kara Hasan entering Sulaymaniya province through the district of Chamchamal: 45

“The Qara Hasan is worth about 85,000 piaster annually, and extended in length about 6 hours. The late war, and the constant inroads of Kurds, have greatly depopulated this district, and proved very destructive to the agriculture”.

In his return route from Sulaymaniya Rich passed through the villages of Shaikh Weisi, Ghezalan, Ghulumkuva, Ghuilkowa, Kafar, Gok Dere, Omer Beg Koyu, Kizbir and Altun Kopru. Then he left for Erbil province.

Before entering the Kerkuk province through Shuwan region, Rich visited a Turkmen village in the plains of Bazian, which has now completely disappeared. 46

“The inhabitants of all the villages we passed were out gathering cotton, which was a very pleasant, cheerful and even novel sight, as, except on occasions like the present, the roads are very still and solitary throughout the East. The people of Derghezeen are of Turcoman origin, and still retain their language, and their appearance is sufficiently distinguishable from that of the Koordish peasantry”.

Rich described Shuwan region as not Kurdish and out of the term Kurdistan: 47

“We were still in the district of Shuan, which is regulated by a kind of territorial canon which I do not thoroughly comprehend: the soil belongs to Kerkook, but the peasantry to Koordistan”.

He went through the western part of Shuwan district toward the region of Altun Kopru describing it as not inhabited with Kurdish peoples and not within Kurdistan land: 48

“We mounted again at half past eight. The country now was rather less cut up, or at least not to that great depth; and at ten minutes before ten we arrived at the village of Kafar, our place of rest for to-day. The peasants are mostly in tents about the village. Here both lands and people belong to Kerkook, and we have fairly bid adieu to Koordistan”.

Unexpectedly, the people of some villages in this region were described by Rich as extremist Shiites. He does not mention their ethnicity. Here Rich used the term Tcheragh Sonderans, which are Turkmen words and used for Turkmen Alevites (an extremist Shiite sect). The Shiites in Kerkuk region are almost all Turkmen and exclusively found in the south of Kerkuk province.

Fraser in 1834 came from Tebriz and passed through southern part of Kerkuk province. He presented almost the same description as Buckingham about the Kifri district of the south of Kerkuk province: 49, 50

“The Change in the customs and aspect of the people, confirmed the fact that we were now within the Turkish dominions” “The servant were Turks, and everything around us announced a change of country as well as of People”

“The date trees rising above the walls, the first we had seen, proclaimed our entry into Arabestan; and the change in the costume and aspect of the people, confirmed the fact that we were now with in the Turkish dominions”.

In another voyage Fraser (1842) came from the north and passed through Altun Kopru, Kerkuk, Tuz Khurmatu, Kifri and Kara Tepe without presenting information about the nature of population. 51

In 1836 Shiel entered Kerkuk region from the north and from Kerkuk city he went to Sulaymaniya in the east. His presentation of the ethnic composition of Kerkuk city was as follows: 52

“The inhabitants are Arabs and Osmànlis, with some Christians and Jews, but no Kurds”.

Southgate (1840) came from Baghdad and crossed Kerkuk province through the usual high way. It seems that he is the only traveler who mentioned Tisin, at the time a village of Kerkuk which is a neighborhood now. Southgate presented important information on the Turkmen nature of a large region in Iraq. This may be the bases on which today´s map of Turkmeneli is constructed: 53

“A large part of the Mohammedan population between Bagdad and Mosul is not, however, originally Arab or Chaldean, but Turkish. Their language is Turkish, and they call themselves Turcomans. May they not be remnants of those Tartar hordes which poured into this country in the invasion of Hologou?”

Moroni (1846) in his dictionary arranged the components of Kerkuk population as follows: 54

“E difesa da una forte cittadella posta sopra una scoscesa altura, ai cui piedi scorre il Kerkuk-soui. Una delle moschee è osservabile, perchè dicesi contenere il sepolcro di Daniele e de’suoi compagni, non permettendo i turchi che la visitino gli ebrei. Vi sono turchi, armeni, nestoriani e kurdi”.

Notes

1. Grattan Geary, “Through Asiatic Turkey”, Adamant Media Corporation 2005, Vol. II, P. 19

2. Ibid, P. 16 – 17

3. League of Nations, “Question of the Frontier between turkey and Iraq”, Report submitted to the Council by the Commission instituted by the Council Resolution of September 30th, 1924, P. 47 – 48

4. Martijn Theodoor Houtsma, “First Encyclopedia of Islam, 1913-1936”, Brill 2007, Vol. IV, P. 1028

5. Wallace A. Lyon and David Kenneth Fieldhouse, “Kurds, Arabs and Britons: The Memoir of Wallace Lyon in Iraq 1918-44”, I.B.Tauris 2002, P. 87

6. Cecil John Edmonds, “Kurds, Turks and Arabs”: Politics, Travel and research in North-Eastern Iraq”, 1919-1925, Oxford University Press 1957, P. 267 -278

7. William R. Hay, “Two Years in Kurdistan 1918 – 1920”, (William Clowes and Sons, Limited, London and Beccles 1921), P. 81

8. Gertrude Bell Archive: the letters, Nov 13. [13 November 1921]

9. Stephen Hemsley Longrigg, “Four Centuries of Modern Iraq”, Oxford at the Clarendon Press 1925, P. 9

10. Phebe Marr, “The Modern History of Iraq”, Westview Press Inc., USA 1985, P. 9

11. Al-Duri Khidr Jasmin, Society and Economy of Iraq under the Seljuqs (1055 – 1160), University of Pennsylvania 1971, P. 120

12. Stephen Hemsley Longrigg, “Four Centuries of Modern Iraq”, P. 96

13. Ibid., P. 10 – 11

14. SOITM report, “Ethnic Allocation of Kerkuk Population at the time of Suleiman the Magnificent”, http://www.turkmen.nl/1A_soitm/Rep.43-F1606.doc

15. Robert W. Olson, “The Siege of Mosul and Ottoman-Persian Relations”, Routledge 1997, P. 123

16. Richard Tapper, “Frontier Nomads of Iran: A Political and Social History of the Shahsevan”, Cambridge University 1997, P. 69

17. It is well known that the mother language of the Chaldean who was living in Kerkuk citadel before it was evacuated by Ba´ath regime was Turkmen.

18. Stephen Hemsley Longrigg, “Four Centuries of Modern Iraq”, P. 149

19. Leonhard Rauwolf, “A Collection of Curious Travels and Voyages, J. Walthoe 1738, P. 161 – 162

20. Carsten Niebuhr, Voyage en Arabie & en d’autres Pays circonvoisins, vol. II.

21. John Jackson, “Journey from India, Towards England in the Year 1797: By a Route Commonly”, G. Woodfall 1799, P. 118 – 126

22. Anne Bowman el, “Travels of Rolando; or, A tour round the world”, George Routledge & Co 1854, P. 131

23. AbÅ« Ṭālib Khān, “Travels of Mirza Abu Taleb Khan in Asia, Africa, and Europe”, R. Watts 1810, P. 295 – 297

24. Louis-Auguste Félix Beaujour, “Voyage militaire dans l’Empire Othoman, ou, Description de ses frontières”, Firmin Didot 1829, P. 78 – 80

25. William Ainsworth, “Researches in Assyria, Babylonia, and Chaldæa”, Oxford University 1838, P. 232 – 245

26. Robert Mignan, “A Winter Journey Through Russia, the Caucasian Alps, and Georgia”, R. Bentley 1939, P. 20 – 36

27. Sharaf al-DÄ«n ‘AlÄ« YazdÄ«, “Sharaf al-DÄ«n Histoire de Timur-Bec, connu sous le nom du grand Tamerlan, empereur des », A. Des Hayes 1722, P. 260 – 261

28. Thomas Howel, “A Journal of the Passage from India”, C. Forster 1789, P. 69

29. Giuseppe Campanile, “Storia delle regione del Kurdistan, e dellr sette di religione iviesistenti”, Napoli: Dalla Stampella de´pratelli Fernandes, Strada Tribunali, N.. 287, 1818, P. 44

30. J.S. Buckingham, “Travels in Mesopotamia: Including a Journey from Aleppo to Baghdad”, Gregg International Publisher 1971, P. 348 – 349

31. Ibid., P. 352 – 353

32. Ibid., P. 338

33. Robert Ker Porter, “Travels in Georgia, Persia, Armenia, Ancient Babylonia”, the Monthly Review 1823, Ser. 2, Vol. 100 (1823), P. 147

34. The free Encyclopedia Wikipedia, section Claudius James Rich

35. The New York Society Library, “Claudia James Rich, the Archeologist” http://www.nysoclib.org/collections/rich_claudius.html

36. Claudius James Rich, “Residence in Kurdistan”, (Printed by Anton Hain KG, Meisenheim / Glan, West Germany; Republished in 1972 by Gregg International Limited West mead, Farnborough, Hants, England 1972), Vol. I, P. 340

37. Ibid., 284

38. Ibid., Vol. II, P. 314

39. Ibid., Vol. I, P. 23

40. Ibid., P. 346

41. Ibid., P. 26

42. Ibid., P. 33

43. Ibid., P. 39

44. Ibid., P. 45 – 46

45. Ibid., P. 47

46. Ibid., Vol. II, P. 4

47. Ibid., P. 8

48. Ibid., P. 9

49. J. Baillie Fraser, “Travels in Koordistan”, Samuel Bentley, Bangor House, Shoe Lane, 1840, P. 149 – 150

50. Ibid., P. 194

51. J. Baillie Fraser, “Mesopotamia and Assyria”, Harper and brothers 1842.

52. Lieutenant-Colonel J. Shiel, “Notes on a Journey from Tabriz, through Kurdistan, via Van, Bitlis, Se’ert, and Erbil, to Suleimaniyeh in July and August, 1936”, The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society 1838, P. 100

53. Horatio Southgate, “Narrative of a Tour Through Armenia, Kurdistan, Persia and Mesopotamia”, the New York Public Library 1840, P. 198 – 211

54. Gaetano Moroni, “Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica da S. Pietro sino ai nostri giorni”, Tipografia Emiliana 1846, Vol. 37, P. 36

Note

Picture: Sketch of the travel route of Claudius James Rich at 1820. From: http://www.turkmen.nl/1A_soitm/art.30-K2908.htm

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/83393