The Role of Jaff in The
History of The Kurdish People
Further Observations on the Struggle in the Modern History of The Jaff Tribe
The British occupation after
the World War I (1914-1928) was the start of a new era of the despised
colonial occupation of our country that followed long and bitter decades
of Ottoman rule. The nation under the British faced severe political,
social, and economical circumstances, that resulted in huge scars on the
lives of our people.
This led the citizens to revolt to
resist the new occupiers, paying a high price in lives and wealth, where
the Jaff tribe bore a large burden of it. Kurdistan became the main arena
of revolution and struggle against the occupiers, who faced our people at
times with iron fist and fire, and with trickery and machinations at
another
Under such hard conditions, and as
a consequence, the Jaff tribe bore the largest burden of the injustices
given their significance, influence, and role in Kurdistan.
In the midst of that hardship,
Kareem Beg ben Fattah Beg ben Mohammed Pasha Jaff became the leader of the
Jaff tribe, who indeed proved worthy of it. He succeeded in maintaining
the unity and cohesion of his large tribe, continuing the tradition of
accompanying the seasonal travel as practiced by his fathers.
Al -Amir Kareem
beg
In 1918 and throughout the 1920s,
he decided to finally settle in the new Kalar village, which whish began to develop and prosper
as it became the main center of the leadership of the Jaff tribe.
Following the pattern of their
Emirs, Begzadas and other distinguished persons before them, the Jaff
nomadic tribe, and due to the prevailing conditions and emerging new
circumstances in the land, they continued to settle in the Gar'Mian and
Shahrazoor and other around Kirkuk, Sulaimania and Dyala areas, until this
new pattern of life became dominant to overcome the old roaming way.
In both cases (nomad then
settlement), the Kurds never abandoned their sense of firm national
belonging and attachment to the land of their beloved country, despite all
the hardships and tribulations, which they went through for a long
time.
This chapter is allocated as a
testimony on some of the stands, events, and evidences to corroborate
clearly the principled way of life of the Jaff tribe of the struggle in
the their modern history, after the British occupation of Iraq in
particular, for the objectives of the people and their legitimate
aspirations for better life.
In addition to the patriotic
stand taken by the members of the Jaff tribe, together with other Kurdish
fighters with Skaikh Mahmood AlHafeed in the Battle of Shuaiba in 1925,
they were also frontrunners when they participated actively in the
national revolution of 1920 when the sons of the Roghzaie and Tarkhani
clans of the Jaff tribe supported the uprising of the revolutionary
Ibrahim Khan in Kifri.
They were the avant-garde guard
revolutionaries who liberated Kifri town where a local government was
formed which included Haj Mohammed Tarkhani and Mohammed Jan Roghzadi.
Those individuals suffered from the oppression, terror, and intimidations,
like the other revolutionaries in Kifri from the aftermath when the town
was reoccupied.
The members of the Jaff tribe
also took a fully supporting stand with Shaikh Mahmood AlHafeed and his
reoccurring uprisings in Sulaimania, and particularly after the return of
Shaikh Mahmood from exile in 1922 when the proclamation of his independent
government in Sulaimania, and the clashes and fighting with the British
that followed.
At that period, there was an
emergence of leaders from clans of the Jaff tribe like Khalifa Younes,
Mohammed Ali Wasman, Rostum Roghzaie, Mahmood Khatter, and Ismaiel Ozeiri,
who were the leaders of the main fronts of the Jaff revolutionary
forces.
It is imperative in this
respect to point out the courageous and outstanding stands which the
revolutionary Khalifa Younes Roghzadi during the battles of the
revolutionaries with the British army after the new fall of Sulaimania in
1924 following the withdrawals of the fighters.
His daring stand was phenomenal
with Saber Beg in the Greeza battle of 1925 when they and their followers
inflicted a punishing defeat on the British forces under the command of
Colonel Lauwance, which fled in fright under the cover of four planes,
that were bombing the fortresses of the Jaff forces in the vicinity
causing heavy losses in lives and property.
In February 1931 the sons of
the Jaff tribe led by Kareem Beg and Dawood Beg, together with other
allied tribes and Shaikh Mahmood AlHafeed, engaged in the legendary battle
of Awbareek, when they excelled in fighting and defeating the large
government forces, supported from the air by the R.A.F., breaking the
sudden siege of the enemy despite their superiority in number and
armament.
Al- Amir Dawood Beg Jaff
The patriotic path of the Jaff
elite, the Emirs, distinguished individuals, and other persons of the
tribe in the Hewa party in the early years of the 1940s, an honorable
landmark which their people pride themselves with, and a testimony of
their acclaimed political and nationalistic awareness, together with their
brethrens of Gar'Mian district in the Hewa party.
They played a significant role in
the reconciliation conference of the party that was held in Kalar village
in the summer of 1944 and succeeded in solving the internal differences
that inflicted the party at that period. The village of GezaKan, near
Kalar, also embraced the conference in 1945 known as the Qandeela
conference, which was allocated to the support of the Barzan revolution of
1945.
As a consequence, the Jaff
cavalrymen, led by Mustafa Beg Jaff, and other cavalrymen of other tribes,
conducted some revolutionary activities against government positions and
departments in the area, without achieving the intended objectives.
The distinguished
participation and initiatives of the Jaff members of the Iraqi parliament
during the monarchy period, in the contribution to the demands and
requirements of their people; individuals like Mohammad Beg ben Fattah Beg
Jaff representing Kirkuk, whose courageous stand regarding the case of
Kirkuk in 1930 when he called for the deputy prime minister at that time
Ja'afar AlAskari, and the deputy British High Commissioner to the
necessity to implement the requirements and the rights of the Kurdish
people which were previously adopted by the League of Nations.
Mohammad Beg Jaff
Also Ezzat Beg ben Othman
Pasha Jaff who was elected to represent Sulaimania, and Ahmed Beg and
Hameed Beg ben Majeed Beg the members of the Jaff from Halabcha. There was
also the revolutionary Dawood Beg ben Fattah Beg ben Mohammed Pasha Jaff
the member from courageous Kirkuk, who retained his membership throughout
nine successive parliamentary sessions during the forties and
fifties.
The events and other
happenings that the Jaffs participated in the following stages, are too
numerous to be outlined in this research; but we mention in this regard to
their sincere participation in the September liberation uprising, and
their sacrifices in it, including their active involvement in the events
of Darbandikhan in 1961, and the battle of Zale Safar in Gar'Mian district
in 1963 under the leadership of
Khasro Jaff and Dr. Hassan Jaff, whose braveries were outstanding
in that battle.
Mustafa Beg Jaff was elected to
represent the tribe in the Kurdish Revolutionary Council, led by Mullah
Mustafa Barzani in 1964.
Mustafa Beg
Lastly, we wish to state that
what had been outlined about the history of the Jaff tribe is a fraction
of a wider history of struggle full of events and happenings, which
requires much further studies and research to shed light on its various
aspects.
There is no that the heads
(chiefs) of the Jaff tribe had great role in the sever ct between
the Ottoman and the Iranian states, over the domination of Kurdistan. This
conflict was clearly magnified after the battle of Jalderan in 1514, which
took place between Sultan Yawez Selim and Shah Ismaeel AlSafawi, whereby
Kurdistan endured great damages and catastrophes and then was divided
between the Ottomans and the Safawaites.
The conflict was in many ways at the expense of the Kuerdish
people, and took the form of sectarian between sheiasm and the sunnism,
whereby both states inflamed and horrendously manipulated the
differences for their own interests , trying to influence the
Kurdish people to take sides.
The Safawaites tried very seriously to destroy the
independent Kurdish emirates because the majority were sunnis. This policy
continued till the reign of Nadir Shah Afshar and the Qajaries.
The Ottomans were more cunning and clever than the Safawaites in
their dealings with the Kurdish people and were able to allure the
emirates to their side through Mulla Idrees Albadleesi, which made them
puppets of the Ottoman state to be used according to its own interests,
whenever it suited it.
At this point in
history, the destruction of all the Kurdish emirates which existed
since 1848 became the central policy of both states, consequently that
policy was achieved and Kurdistan was under the direct rules of each of
them.
On this path the massive Jaff
tribe, spreading on both sides of the borders, stood in the middle of the
conflict, and being a significant force, which has its own weight at this
stage with its prominent position, became a direct target. It was logical
for the Ottomans and the Safawaits, each recognizing the danger and weight
of this tribe, to exert all their efforts and pressure to alienate and
distance it from the other.
That Aman Allah Khan the ruler
of Ardalan suppressed and annihililated huge number of Jaff tribe members,
arrested and imprisoned it’s leader Walad Beg in Qaslan fortress together
with Habib Beg and his sons. Basil Nikitin mentioned in his book (the
Kurds) that Jaff tribe for a long period in time settled in the vicinity
of Jwanro a province of Ardalan , which was under the the Ardalan
rulers.
Those rulers had two motives in strengthening their authority;
first an ambition to dominate the fertile province of Jwanro; and
secondly their apprehension of the strength and fighting power of Jaff
tribe.
One of the Jaff tribe clans
The hatred between the two
tribes reached an epic level following the killing of Zahir Beg the leader
of Jaff by Khan Ahmed Khan. After the disappearance the leader Zahir Beg,
the tribe went through a period of weakness and disarray, though it did
not despair or abandoned its ambition to retain its traditional role to
remain the power which should not be disregarded.
The well known French
historian Jan Core said that after the killing of Nadir Shah Afshar,
Mirza Mehdi AlIstarabaddi , the Shah’s confidant , assistance from the
leaders of the Kurdish tribes which formed fifty sects of the inhabitants
of Kirmanshah and Kurdistan ( Ardalan ), when only Jaff and Mangor tribes
answered his call (
Khwaja Tajdar book, edition 1).
The peculiarity of the terrain inhabited by the Jaff tribe,
distinguished this tribe in its bravery, proficiency, and sheer number of
its members, made it feel capable of facing the Iranian and the Ottoman
states, obliging them to show respect toward its leaders and seeking their
friendliness (The Kurds – Shakir Khesbak , page 37, Baghdad
1972).
The Jaff shephered in the sheep-walk
The Ottoman Sultans showed
even more good will toward the tribe, when it supplied Sultan Morad Pasha
IV with a large number of fighters during his campaign on Baghdad, showing
unique bravery in the battles.
From there they bestowed the title of Jaff The Muradien, which was
entitled to generous gifts and gratuities only awarded to special persons
or groups. This friendliness between the tribe and the Ottoman State made
Jaff take a prominent position in the conflict between two
States.
Quoting what Mohamed Amin Golestana in this respect in Mojmel
Altawareekh : Afsharie we Zendeie – p. 300, that Abdulla Pasha, the
Ottoman ruler of the Zehab province which was then under the Ottoman rule,
had an armed conflict with Mohamed Khan Alzind because of the latter’s
incursion in Zehab, and the Pasha’s subsequent appeal for help from Jaff
tribe under the leadership of Qadir Beg bin Tahir Beg Jaff, and also from
the Bajilan tribe, then managed to evict the invading forces of the
Iranian Zindins.
Claudius James Rich , says :
“Jaff tribe had a thousand cavalries and four thousands armed men, their
men are the bravest of the Kurds and acclaimed amongst all the Kurdish
tribes, the armed men are the bravest of the fighters.”
Kaikhesro Beg
Keikhesro Beg Jaff cooperated
with Abdulla Baban against Mahmood pasha Baban, which showed in the battle
of Qara gol which took place between Abdulla Pasha with support from the
Iranian army under the leadership of Ali Merza the Crown Prine of Iran in
1821, and the army of Mahmood Pasha Baban with the support of Dawood Pasha
the ruler of Baghdad, who were convincingly defeated, then Abdulla Pasha
was appointed the ruler of the Baban Emirate ( History of Sulaimaneia and
Surroundings , Mohamed Amin Zaki Beg , p.143 ).
Kaikhesro Beg Jaff died when he was just
44, and succeeded by his son Mohamed Pasha Jaff who became the leader of
the tribe.
