Nehrî Documents from the Institute of Persian National Records: A Catalogue

Abstract

The Kurdish nationalist tradition is surely not very old. The earliest origins of Kurdish nationalism coincide with the beginning of modernity in Kurdistan, which emerged with the secular humanism of the ‘Western Enlightenment,’ ushering in a gradual decline of traditional Islamic identity. The nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries in Kurdish history were a period for the incubation and growth of nationalism in Kurdistan. The famous temporary conquest of Iranian Kurdistan by Sheikh ‘Ubaydullah Nehrî (d. 1883), son of Sheikh Sayyid Taha, is the most important event in the history of early Kurdish nationalism. What I want to present here is in no way a complete investigation of the revolt of ‘Ubaydullah and his nationalist efforts. This is no more than an introduction to some newly-found Persian documents from the Institute of Persian National Records (IPNR) in Tehran, a schema of basic subjects surrounding the rebellion of ‘Ubaydullah and the Kurdish tribes as reflected in Persian diplomatic reports. Here I can only list the documents without entering into much detail. This collection has attracted little attention yet, but is well worth intensive investigation.