Gordon43 - Bi xêr hatî

[Gordon43]

Hello to Samuel and everyone else,

My name is Gordon. I live in Seattle. I'm the author of Fever & Thirst, a biography of Dr. Asahel Grant, the first American in Mosul and Kurdistan. Dr. Grant died in Mosul in 1844. The website is http://feverandthirst.com

Samuel, I know about Marbishu. It is mentioned in many 19th century travel books, and there is a wonderful description of the place in Isabella Bird's Travels in Persia and Kurdistan, Vol. II. That description is quoted in Fever and Thirst. I've been to Esendere in the past, and I have several high-resolution maps of the area, one of which I got from the Library of Congress. If you (or anyone else) want to ask me questions about this, just leave a note on this forum. OR, you can contact me directly using the "Contact Us" page at the website.

Take care,

Gordon

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[Diri]

Hello Gordon And welcome to Roj Bash Kurdistan...

Basan is beautiful...


Dest xosh, the link you provided is very nice... And dest xosh - for your book...

May you write many more...

[Gordon43]

Thanks, Sohrab. That is very kind of you. First, let me make a confession: I didn't understand any of the Kermanji that you used in your note. And actually, I don't even know what Roj Bash means!!! Please tell me so that I can learn.

When I was traveling in Hakkari, in 1973, '75, and '77, I used only Turkish. It was very hard then to learn any Kurdish, and if I had learned Kurdish it would have been very dangerous for me. At that time there was extreme political violence in the cities of Turkey, but in the East the violence was all blood feuds between clans. The PKK did not exist. Everyone who was a Kurd said "We are all Kurds" in a very low voice so that government spies could not hear. Hakkari was the only place I ever saw in Turkey where the people could wear Kurdish national dress. There were no helicopters, very few security forces, no checkpoints on the roads, no land mines. The Turkish Tourism Ministry had just started taking tourists into the mountains behind Sumbul Dagi (Chiyaye Simbi). Of course all that changed with the PKK.

A question about your name, Sohrab. If you're from Hakkari, how did you get that name? Didn't the government forbid your parents from giving you a Kurdish name??

Gordon

[Diri]

Thanks, Sohrab. That is very kind of you. First, let me make a confession: I didn't understand any of the Kermanji that you used in your note. And actually, I don't even know what Roj Bash means!!! Please tell me so that I can learn.

When I was traveling in Hakkari, in 1973, '75, and '77, I used only Turkish. It was very hard then to learn any Kurdish, and if I had learned Kurdish it would have been very dangerous for me. At that time there was extreme political violence in the cities of Turkey, but in the East the violence was all blood feuds between clans. The PKK did not exist. Everyone who was a Kurd said "We are all Kurds" in a very low voice so that government spies could not hear. Hakkari was the only place I ever saw in Turkey where the people could wear Kurdish national dress. There were no helicopters, very few security forces, no checkpoints on the roads, no land mines. The Turkish Tourism Ministry had just started taking tourists into the mountains behind Sumbul Dagi (Chiyaye Simbi). Of course all that changed with the PKK.

A question about your name, Sohrab. If you're from Hakkari, how did you get that name? Didn't the government forbid your parents from giving you a Kurdish name??

Gordon

Well let me explain!

Roj baş = Good day/morning (Means "Good Sun" too if you want it litterally)...
Dest = Hand
Xoş = Good
Dest Xoş is an expression which is a way of saying "thank you and may your hands not come to harm"...
Basan = Kurdish name for Esendere

I was born on the other side of Colemêrg, Gordon - I was born in the Iranian occupied part - yet my tribe has land on both sides of the border, Basan is one of those lands - along with "Rêza Diriya" or "Çiyayê Diriya" - which means "The Row of the Dirî"... It's one long mountain back - curving over the land... This mountain range is in the Turkish occupied part...

So I have background from both these parts of Kurdistan...

And therefore, I was named "Sohrab" in Iranian occupied Kurdistan - and it was a legal name at that time... But now, even "Sohrab" is forbidden in Iran... Because they only allow Islamic names now...

The Iranian government did however, when my brother's were born - Kesra and Yasir - forced to change their names, because "Yasir" is a Sunni Muslim name - and "Kesra" because it is an ancient name of a Median King, which of course is not Islamic - so they had to be named "Mosa" and "Ali" respectlively in the passports...

So there is this problem with names in both Turkish and Iranian occupied Kurdistan... It's a problem - because if you forbid Kurdish names, then you are killing Kurdish culture...

So it amounts to Ethnocide... Especially after all these years, it's had it's toll on our culture and influence as well as pride...

[Diri]

"Bi xêr hatî" = "You are welcome" - but litterally: "You come with good"

[Gordon43]

Dest xos, Sohrab. I will write all that down and try to remember it. [By the way, how do you make the s symbol, the one with the tail on it, for the sh sound, in this forum? I know how to do it in Microsoft Word, but not here. I'm 64 years old, so I don't know all these things.]

I have just been looking at my passport from 1973. On the exit stamp from Turkey it says Esendere, of course, and then it says "(Bajirge)". That is closer to your "Basan," but not that close. The Iranian stamp says "Sero", which on some maps is "Serow." When I crossed into Iran in 1973, the Turkish officer told me I was only the 2nd person to cross that day. And that was in the evening, just before sunset. The last bus to Rezaiyeh (Urumiyeh) had already gone, so I had to stay overnight at a chayhana in the Kurdish village there. On the Turkish side the border post was modest--just a simple office, nothing else. I remember mountains, a small valley with a stream down the middle, a small bridge, and rows of big poplar trees. On the Iranian side the customs building was GRAND--with high ceilings, marble tables, and big portraits of the Shah and Empress Farah on the walls. There were six customs officers to inspect one traveler (me).

Thanks for the mountain names. Here's a question about "Colemerq." I have never seen anyone use that word for the whole Hakkari region, as you are doing. In 1840, when my book takes place, the Mir of Hakkari, Nurullah Bey, was the ruler. He had two castles: one at Julamerk (also Julamerik, Colemerq, Colemerik) and the other at Bashkale, both on the River Zab. So Julamerk was always the name of that village where Nurullah lived. Today the town is called Hakkari, the capital of the province. So do the Kurds on the Iranian side of the border call the region "Colemerq," not Hakkari???

Gordon

[Diri]

Dest xos, Sohrab. I will write all that down and try to remember it. [By the way, how do you make the s symbol, the one with the tail on it, for the sh sound, in this forum? I know how to do it in Microsoft Word, but not here. I'm 64 years old, so I don't know all these things.]

I have just been looking at my passport from 1973. On the exit stamp from Turkey it says Esendere, of course, and then it says "(Bajirge)". That is closer to your "Basan," but not that close. The Iranian stamp says "Sero", which on some maps is "Serow." When I crossed into Iran in 1973, the Turkish officer told me I was only the 2nd person to cross that day. And that was in the evening, just before sunset. The last bus to Rezaiyeh (Urumiyeh) had already gone, so I had to stay overnight at a chayhana in the Kurdish village there. On the Turkish side the border post was modest--just a simple office, nothing else. I remember mountains, a small valley with a stream down the middle, a small bridge, and rows of big poplar trees. On the Iranian side the customs building was GRAND--with high ceilings, marble tables, and big portraits of the Shah and Empress Farah on the walls. There were six customs officers to inspect one traveler (me).

Thanks for the mountain names. Here's a question about "Colemerq." I have never seen anyone use that word for the whole Hakkari region, as you are doing. In 1840, when my book takes place, the Mir of Hakkari, Nurullah Bey, was the ruler. He had two castles: one at Julamerk (also Julamerik, Colemerq, Colemerik) and the other at Bashkale, both on the River Zab. So Julamerk was always the name of that village where Nurullah lived. Today the town is called Hakkari, the capital of the province. So do the Kurds on the Iranian side of the border call the region "Colemerq," not Hakkari???

Gordon

Bijî Gordon!

Bijî = Live (Imperative) - as in, "may you live long"!

The Ş ş is part of the Kurdish Latin alphabet - you may download it from the internet - and install it... It's very simple - Abdur, a member of Roj Bash has made a "How to" video - so if you go into the Computer & Jokes section of the forum, you'll be sure to find the thread...

Well actually, excuse me I am sorry - but yes, Bajirge is the ACTUALY border (where the border post is) - but it's so modest - that I can't help but include it into the area of "Basan"... Which is the first large village you meet on the Turkish side...

Yes, on the Iranian side it is Sêro - which is the "capital" of my tribe... Our "HQ" is based here - as a tribe... In e.g. the clan leader...

Actually, the name "Colemêrg" is a more nationalist name for the whole of the region - because "Hakkari" has been limited to the Turkish side... Yet, actually, the border is artificial and therefore one cannot call one part "Hakkari" and the other for Ûrmiye, as most people do - but to call them both by the name "Colemêrg" is a sign of unity... And Kurds do so realy - depending on how assimilated they are... Those who know the story, will call it Colemêrg...

Although "Hekarî" is also a Kurdish name - the name of the greatest tribe in the region back in the day... So their name was often used to refere to their territory - thus the name stuck and people started calling it Hekarî also - next to Colemêrg...

But the name Colemêrg is probably the original name - which referes to the landscape of the province:

Col/Çol = Desert
Mêrg = Oasis (where there are natural springs of water, coming out from the mountain)

As you know, there is no actual "desert" in Colemêrg - but it's so barren and stripped of trees, that it's a suiting name for it... The Turkish government burned down most of the little woodland which used to be on the Turkish side after the PKK started it's operations...

But yeah, Colemêrg referes to the whole of the province, where as the name Hekarî has become a symbol of Turkish oppression - and legitimizes the Turkish occupation...

Thanks for the history lesson - Nurallah...

And correct; Kurds on the Iranian occupied side know it as "Colemêrg"...

I have relatives in Başkale, Hekarî, Basan, Sêro etc. - these lands are owned by my tribe and my fiancè's tribe...

The Dîrî & the Ertoşî respectively...

Although Hekarî has become very mixed and is no longer under a single tribe... It's grown very large!

[Gordon43]

Biji yourself, Sohrab! That is wonderful information. Thank you so much for telling me all that.

I know that Nurullah, the Mir of Hakkari, used to travel freely to and from Urmiyeh, and I know that his sister was married to the Kurd who was the Persian governor of the area, so obviously there would be a close connection.

And yes, Colemerq as you explained it really is a good name for that area: a desert (or wilderness) with springs and waterfalls. I knew the word col (chol) already--it's in Turkish too--but I never made the connection with Julamerk.

I have been reading more of these threads, and I'm really amazed at what I am reading. Do you realize, Sohrab, that you are taking part in a revolution? I mean a real revolution, not just a fight where people die for nothing. This is a revolution of information, and a revolution of language. When I was in Turkey, no one really knew anything about Alevis, or Zaza or Kermanji. At least, they didn't talk about it.

Gordon

[K4L_2007]

welcome to this forum