Focusing on one noble family based in Palu, a fortressed town in Kurdistan, the book provides the first systematic, longue duree analysis of the Kurdish hereditary nobility in the Ottoman Empire. The author offers a fresh perspective on what enabled the Kurdish nobility to survive for so long; the dynamics of Ottoman Kurdish relations on the ground; the processes that brought the privileged status of the Kurdish nobles to an end; and the consequences of the destruction of the Kurdish nobility. The abolishment of the Kurdish begs' hereditary privileges and the confiscation of their lands triggered a 5 decade-long conflict between begs, Armenian financiers, Armenian and Muslim sharecroppers and the Ottoman state over the fertile lands of Palu. The Kurdish Nobility in the Ottoman Empire examines the escalation of the intercommunal conflict in Palu within the context of the changing careers and diminishing wealth and authority of the Palu begs and the growing hostility between them and the district's Armenian population.

Book Information
ISBN 9781399508612
Author Nilay Ozok-Gundo?an
Format Hardback
Page Count 368
Imprint Edinburgh University Press
Publisher Edinburgh University Press
Weight(grams) 156g