Reşwan (tribe)

Reşwan (also known as Reşiyan, Kurdish: ڕەشوان ,Reşwan‎)[1] is a Kurdish tribe, native to the western frontier of Kurdistan,[2] mostly populating Adıyaman, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaraş and Malatya provinces in Turkey and also present in Konya and Ankara provinces, Raqqa in Syria and Qazvin Province in Iran.[3][4] The tribe mostly adheres to the Hanafi school of Islam but some are Alevi.[2][5] During the 1890s, the leader of the tribe Yakup Ragıp protected Armenians from Ottoman massacres.[6]

Etymology

Scholar and editor of Bîrnebûn Nuh Ateş suggests that the name Reşwan is a compound of the Kurdish words reş (transl. black) and the plural form -ân.[1] Nonetheless, the name of the tribe was written in over fifty different ways in Ottoman documents due to erroneous translations from Kurdish. The tribe also goes by the name Reşî.[7]

History

The name of the tribe was recorded in the defter for Kahta, Besni and Adıyaman in 1519, after Sultan Selim I conquered the area. The tribe was recorded again in 1524 and 1536. During this period, there were inconsistencies about which families were part of the tribe and its population. Nonetheless, they were mainly transhumant nomadic and engaged in agriculture as well.[8]

Sedentarization in Central Anatolia (1830-1880)

In early 19th century, Reşwan members who lived a nomadic life around Ankara and Konya were subjected to sedentarization attempts by the Ottomans, as part of the Tanzimat. The first attempt took place in 1830, wherein the authorities notified the Reşwan headmen of the Central Anatolian plains regarding their plans to settle them around Sivas. This led to discontent among the leaders who suggested Konya and Ankara as areas of settlement, which the Ottomans agreed on.[9] In other places, the tribe resisted and it is well-documented that they would bribe and even give up everything to continue their semi-nomadic life.[10] During the sedentarization, authorities would both construct new villages for the tribe but also divide and distribute them to already-existing villages to mitigate any rebellion.[11] An 1859 document shows that about 500 households of the tribe lived in Haymana, being sedentarized in 43 villages.[12] By 1880, this section of the tribe had been sedentarized. These tribe members were originally from Adıyaman, Islahiye and Gaziantep.[13]

Politics and elections

In the 2000s, the tribe mainly voted for the conservative AKP[14] until 2014, when the well-known Reşvan Kurdish politician Dengir Mir Mehmet Fırat resigned from Justitce and Development Party (AKP) and decided to run for the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in the local election in 2015.[15][16] The leaders of the tribe decided to vote for HDP in the general election in June 2015.[17]

See also

Notes
  1. Dede (2011), p. 23.
  2. van Bruinessen, Martin (2016). "The Kurds as objects and subjects of historiography: Turkish and Kurdish nationalists struggling over identity". Festschrift zum 65: 4.
  3. "Rişvan Aşireti'nden Vali Ramazan Sodan'a Ziyaret" (in Turkish). 9 June 2012. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  4. "De midtanatolske kurdere - en ufortalt historie" (in Danish). Jiyan.dk. 16 August 2011. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  5. "Aşiretler, derneklerle kültürel bağları güçlü tutmaya çalışıyor" (in Turkish). 14 August 2015. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  6. Şemsa Özar, Nesrin Uçarlar, Osman Aytar (December 2013). From past to present a paramilitary organization in Turkey (PDF). p. 26. ISBN 978-6055458195. Retrieved 18 May 2015.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. "Reşîlerin tarihi". kurdenanatolien.com. 20 January 2018. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  8. Dede (2011), p. 27.
  9. Dede (2011), pp. 36 & 47.
  10. Dede (2011), p. 58.
  11. Dede (2011), p. 65.
  12. Dede (2011), p. 46.
  13. Dede (2011), pp. 67-68.
  14. "Aşiret oyları cepte değil". Aksiyon. 1 March 2004. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  15. "Failure of pro-Kurdish HDP to enter Parliament could spell trouble". Today's Zaman. 28 March 2015. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  16. "Pro-Kurdish leaders to run in elections despite HDP's two-term limit". 26 February 2015. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  17. "HDP aşiretleri nasıl ikna etti?" (in Turkish). Radikal. 11 May 2015. Retrieved 5 June 2015.

Bibliography
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