Armenian–Kurdish relations

[3] Besides Corduene, the Kingdom of Armenia also governed Moxoene (Miks in Kurdish), located around present-day Bahçesaray, which today is inhabited heavily by Kurds.

[8] Sheikh Ubeydullah opposed both Armenian and Assyrian self determination stating that he would go as far as arming women to prevent it from manifesting.

Moreover, the Sheikh was aware of the fact that the Sublime Porte wished to use his rebellion as an excuse to massacre the Armenian and Nestorian population in the region.

In spite of being a failure, the uprising generated sympathy among the Armenian population and Grigor Artsruni reacted by stating that: "The Armenian, Assyrian and Kurdish populations of Armenia finally are beginning to understand that they are all inhabitants of Armenia, with the same interests, that the oppression of Turkey equally troubles them all."

[10] In 1891, the activity of the Armenian Committees induced the Ottoman Porte to strengthen the position of the Kurds by raising a body of irregular cavalry, which was well-armed and called Hamidieh, after the Sultan Abdul Hamid II.

Using the Kurd's death as a pretext by describing that a revolt had taken place, Turkish officials endorsed a Kurdish revenge attack against the Armenians of Sason.

[12] Fearing Armenian-Kurdish cooperation, the Ottoman Empire was induced to subordinate the Kurds and use them as an instrument to prevent any Armenian attempt to self-rule.

Then, "Hamidieh" regiments and regular troops from Bitlis and Muş Province, joined by the Fourth Army Corps, were sent to the Armenian regions around Sasun and began a 23-day operation, from August 18 to September 10.

All ablebodied Armenian men of Van rose with weapons and protected the civilians from attack and subsequent massacre.

[19][20][21] The Alevi community of Dersim, some who were Kurds and Zazas, had been financed by European officials to help Armenians flee to the Russian border.

[22] In the aftermath of the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, the Entente Powers proposed to divide up its Anatolian lands in the Treaty of Sèvres.

Kurds and Turks were united in the aftermath of World War I against the non-Muslims victors and local Armenian Christians, and Islam was the unifying factor.

[24] A series of Kurdish rebellions against Turkey throughout the 1920s culminated in the temporary establishment of the Republic of Ararat in 1927, located in the province of Ağrı, near the border of Soviet Armenia.

Without recognition or foreign backing, however, the state ended up being defeated by the Turkish government who resumed control over the region.

The Ararat movement was led by Xoybûn, a Kurdish political party which held its founding congress in August 1927 in Bihamdun, Lebanon.

The war between the PKK and the Turkish government, which spanned the 1980s through the 1990s, caused numerous deaths and internally displaced persons on the Kurdish side.

The Turkish media also claimed that Armenia was hosting PKK training camps, but the allegations were proven to be untrue.

[26] Some Kurds in a struggle against Turkey began to identify themselves with the Armenians, the very people whom they were encouraged by the Ottoman government to oppress.

[36] Armenian radio station Denge Erivan (The Voice of Yerevan) broadcast in Kurdish for one hour a day, drawing an audience of ethnic Kurds from southeast Turkey.

[37] According to a 2007 U.S. Department of State human rights report, "As in previous years, Yezidi leaders did not complain that police and local authorities subjected their community to discrimination".

[38] A high percentage of Yezidi children do not attend school, both due to poverty and a lack of teachers who speak their native language.