Jump to content

Jwamer Aga

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jwamer Agha Hamawand
Khan, Agha, Sarhang (Colonel), Brigadier General, Ruler of Qasr-e-Shirin to Zuhab Appointed Agha by birth and appointed Khan by Zil al Sultan
Hama Reshid Qaidar Haidar Beg Jawamer Agha, Hama Khan, Hama Sherif
Born1815, Shirin Palace, Ali Mansouri, Hamawand Territory
Died1887, Qasr-e Shirin (72 years old)
SpouseUnknown
IssueHama Khan, Hama Sherif, Hama Reshid Qadir Haidar Beg Jawamer Agha including an unknown, unnamed daughter[1]
Royal house(Paternal) Princely House of the Begzada Chalabi
FatherBoth from the Chalabi, unknown, under speculation, either Ali Agha, son of Yadgar Begzada, or Ahmad, son of Prince Mohammed Chalavi Hamawand[2][3][4][5]
MotherUnknown
ReligionSunni Islam

Jwāmer Aga (Javānmard) (Sorani Kurdish: جوامێر ئاغای هه‌مه‌وه‌ند), was the head of the Kurdish tribe of Hamawand during the late nineteenth century Ottoman era and was a Kurdish royal and aristocrat. Jwamer was made the ruler of Zuhab and the Qasr-e Shirin district after the overthrow of its hereditary ruling family the Bajalan.[6] Jwamer which means one who is descended from nobility or is noble.[7] He was born in 1815 in a Palace of his own family called Shirin Palace, which was located in the village of Ali Mansouri, a territory of Hamawand. He was executed by martyr in Qasr-e-Shirin in 1887 due to which he died at the age of 72.[8]

His cause of death

[edit]

Jwamer received the title Khan from Massoud Mirza Zell-e Soltan, the son of Naser Al-Din Shah Qajar and the Viceroy of Southern Iran from 1881 to 1888, In addition, he became Sarhang and the Guardian of the Frontier for the most critical routes. He was remunerated with 6,000 Nassirian coins as well as 3,000 tomans 'to coerce him into good behaviour' for his role as the Guardian of the Frontier in 1886.[9][10][11]

Shortly after, most of the Ḥamāvand returned to the Bāzyān district, where they were subdued by Ottoman forces. In 1889, the Ottoman government exiled half of the tribe to Cyrenaica in North Africa and the other half to the vilayet of Adana. Those exiled to Cyrenaica fought their way back to their homeland in 1896, and a few months later, the group sent to Adana also returned to the Bāzyān district.[12]

However, he was subsequently criticised by the British lieutenant Maunsell, who deemed the appointment of Massoud Mirza Zell-e Sultan to Jwamer Agha an absurdity, citing the theory of surrounding a thief to draw back a thief. Nevertheless, he proved to be an effective and timely source of security.[13] He was commended for his 'appropriate' behaviour after being reprimanded.[14] He progressed from the rank of Colonel to that of Brigadier General. [15] He constructed a palace in Qasr-e Shirin, where he resided with his sons Hama Khan, Hama Sherif and Hama Reshid. He also undertook the reconstruction of the city and the establishment of new markets. His palace was destroyed and his land was left behind when he was executed.[16]

Faqe Qadri Hamawand, the ruler of Chamchamal and Baziani, was also a member of the nobility of Hamawand. It is evident that he had familial connections; he departed the country during a period of exile and left his estate behind. The value of his land was approximately 58,450 piastres. The government proceeded to sell the aforementioned land. [17] Faqe was exiled to Libya in Benghazi, where he probably died in 1890. Jwamer Aga and his sons were exiled and beheaded by the Jaffs after the Ottomans and Qajars opposed him six years later. This occurred following his appointment as ruler of Zuhab and the Qasr-e Shirin district by the Shah of Iran in 1881.[18] Prior to this, the Jaffs and Hamawands had been engaged in a long-standing conflict.[19] Jwamer held the Persian forces at Qasr-e Shirin for two months.[20]

Following the fall of Ẓell-al-Solṭān, the Ḥamāvand once again resumed their raids, which ultimately led the Iranian government to take decisive action. A few months later, Jwāmer Āqā was invited to meet with an emissary from Tehran. During this meeting, he and his peers were killed.[21][22]

George Nathaniel Curzon, notes that Jwamer was invited to a meeting with Tehran's emissary, where he was slain. He was reprimanded during the meeting for his 'rebellious' behaviour.[23]

Threats

[edit]

While the Ottomans offered their support to the Jafs and pursued the Hamawands, on the Iranian side, the governor of Kermanshah, Nasr al-Mulk, having received news of the unrest, took steps to prepare an army with the intention of confronting Jwamer Agha and capturing him. This was due to the fact that the Hamawands were previously fugitives and were believed to be responsible for the murder of Malik Niaz Khan. It is said that, upon realising that he was unable to face the Iranian army, Jwamer Agha was left with no alternative but to offer an apology and request refuge. Nasr al-Mulk, in return, is said to have agreed to provide him with asylum and allow him to stay in Kermanshah, on the understanding that he would go to Prince Zilal-Sultan in Isfahan. It seems that, if the prince did not object to Jwamer's stay in Kermanshah, he would be permitted to do so. Meanwhile,

According to a report sent to Istanbul by an Ottoman agent in the Iranian army, Nasr al-Mulk, because the Ottomans had sheltered Sheikh Ubaidullah and had not handed him over to Iran, it seems that he guaranteed the Hamawands they would not be surrendered to the Ottomans.[24]

Ottoman Empire

[edit]

This period had a profound impact on the Hamawand nobility. The late 19th century was a period of significant challenges for both the tribe and the broader Kurdish population under the Ottoman Empire. The Hamawand tribe, like many Kurdish groups in the empire, faced internal strife, external pressures, and an increasingly difficult relationship with the Ottoman authorities.[25]

In 1889, in response to rising tensions with the Kurdish tribes, the Ottoman authorities exiled several Hamawand tribesmen to Tripolitania (modern-day Libya). This move was part of a broader Ottoman strategy to assert control over rebellious Kurdish factions.[26] However, many of the exiled Hamawand tribesmen managed to escape their captors and make their way back to the Mosul region, where they resumed their activities. This event reflected the difficulty the Ottoman Empire faced in controlling its Kurdish population, particularly in the empire's remote eastern and southern provinces[27]

Escalating Tensions

[edit]

By March 1891, the situation between the Hamawand tribe and the Ottoman government had further escalated.[28] In an effort to resolve the conflict, 90 notable residents of Kirkuk—an important city in the northern part of Ottoman Iraq—sent a petition to the Ottoman Palace via the French Embassy. The petition urged the Ottoman authorities to address the mounting tensions and offered a public expression of the challenges faced by the empire in managing its Kurdish subjects. This petition was a significant political move, as it highlighted the difficulty of the Ottoman Empire in maintaining control over the Kurdish tribes and was emblematic of the growing Kurdish dissatisfaction with Ottoman rule.[29]

Responses

[edit]

In response to the Kurdish uprisings and the desire to maintain control over its peripheral regions, the Ottoman Empire established the Hamidiye Light Cavalry Regiments (Hamidiye Hafif Suvari Alayları) in 1891. These regiments were composed of Kurdish tribes, including the Hamawand, and were created to function as a countermeasure against Russian expansion and to bolster the empire’s military presence in the eastern regions [30] The formation of the Hamidiye regiments represented an attempt to co-opt Kurdish tribal forces in the service of the Ottoman state, allowing the Kurdish leaders more autonomy while still serving imperial interests. While the Hamidiye regiments were initially designed to provide a military buffer against Russia and maintain internal order, they also played a significant role in reinforcing the traditional tribal structures that existed within Kurdish society.[31]

Aftermath

[edit]

This period marked a critical juncture in the history of the Hamawand tribe and broader Kurdish-Ottoman relations. The tribe’s participation in the Hamidiye regiments reflected the complex relationship between the Kurdish tribes and the Ottoman Empire, which involved both cooperation and resistance. [32]While the Ottoman Empire sought to integrate the Kurdish tribes into its military system, the tensions that led to the exile and petition demonstrate the persistent challenges the empire faced in managing Kurdish autonomy and unrest. [33]These struggles foreshadowed later tensions between the Kurdish population and the Ottoman Empire, which would continue to intensify throughout the early 20th century.[34]

Legacy

[edit]

Former KDP Secretary General Ibrahim Ahmad named the main character in his famed nationalistic novel Jani Gal in reference to Jwamer.[35] A village was also named in his honour in the northernmost part of the Kifri district in the Diyala Province. Jwamer is considered an early Kurdish nationalist figure by the citizens of the Kurdistan Region. In 1958, his family was considered by the French to belong to the noblesse, the nobility of a foreign country.[36]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Arabic Personal Names By United States. Central Intelligence Agency · 1964 - Page 27
  2. ^ 1.. Manuscript History of Hamwand (Haydar Aziz Khasraw Agha)
  3. ^ 2.. Mohammad Saeed Jaf Aware
  4. ^ 3.. Eilat-Kermashan, Mohammad Ali Sultani
  5. ^ 4. Hossam Malik, Sartib Mohammad Amin Hamwandi
  6. ^ Edmonds, Cecil John (1957). Kurds, Turks, and Arabs: politics ... - Cecil John Edmonds - Google Books. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
  7. ^ Sabar, Yona (2002). A Jewish Neo-Aramaic dictionary ... - Yona Sabar - Google Books. ISBN 9783447045575. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
  8. ^ A Moveable Empire Ottoman Nomads, Migrants, and Refugees
  9. ^ The Kurdish Tribes in the Ottoman-IRANIAN Relations (1876-1914)
  10. ^ Curzon, II, p. 276;
  11. ^ Edmonds, p. 40).
  12. ^ Edmonds, pi. 40
  13. ^ 70. Hamwand tribe and Kurdish liberation movement, Karim Agha Hamwand. 1st edition 2010 pp. 251, 266.
  14. ^ 2/ Rauf Tofiq Hamwandi, Hamwand in the difficult struggle of history, Sara Printing House, first edition, Sulaimani.
  15. ^ Curzon, II, p. 276; also Edmonds, p. 40)
  16. ^ Strategic behavior of the Hamwand tribe in taking advantage of the opportunities of the Ottoman-Iranian border conflict, written by Barbara Henig, translated by Haider Hamwand. First Edition 2016 Page 25.
  17. ^ The Kurdish Tribes in The Ottoman-IRANIAN RELATIONS (1876-1914)
  18. ^ Curzon, II, p. 276; also Rosen, p. 251)
  19. ^ Edmonds, Cecil John (1957). Kurds, Turks, and Arabs: politics ... - Cecil John Edmonds - Google Books. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
  20. ^ The anthropology of Iraq - Henry Field, Richard Arthur Mmartin - Google Books. Field useum. 1940. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
  21. ^ Curzon, II, p.276
  22. ^ Rosen p. 251
  23. ^ Yar-Shater, Ehsan (2009-09-01). Encyclopaedia Iranica - Ehsan Yar-Shater - Google Books. ISBN 9780933273719. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
  24. ^ The Kurdish Tribes in The Ottoman-IRANIAN RELATIONS (1876-1914)
  25. ^ Hassanpour, A. (1994). Nationalism and Language in Kurdistan, 1918-1985. Mellen Research University Press.
  26. ^ ndl.ethernet.edu.et A People Without a State
  27. ^ McDowall, D. (2000). A Modern History of the Kurds. I.B. Tauris.
  28. ^ History of Kirkuk from the Beginning of The Nineteenth Century until Becoming Part of the Ottoman Empire in 1925 - Rasoul Muhammad Rasoul, from the faculty of Philosophy, University of Frankfurt
  29. ^ Zinser, R. (2006). "Kurdish Nationalism and the Ottoman Empire," Middle Eastern Studies, 42(2), 217-234.
  30. ^ Hassanpour, A. (1994). Nationalism and Language in Kurdistan, 1918-1985. Mellen Research University Press.
  31. ^ McDowall, D. (2000). A Modern History of the Kurds. I.B. Tauris.
  32. ^ The Emergence of Kurdism with Special Reference to the Three Kurdish Emirates within the Ottoman Empire, 1800-1850
  33. ^ Rethinking State and Border Formation in the Middle East - Turkish-Syrian-Iraqi Borderlands, 1921, 1946
  34. ^ Faviconlibrary.oapen.org [PDF] Ottoman Administration of Iraq, 1890–1908 - OAPEN Library 5 november 2019 — Hamawand tribe.
  35. ^ Bengio, Ofra (2014). Kurdish Awakening: Nation Building in a Fragmented Homeland. U.S.A: University of Texas Press. p. 131. ISBN 978-0292763012.
  36. ^ L'Afrique et l'Asie - Paris Université, Centre de Hautes Études Administratives sur l'Afrique et de l'Asie Modernes