Mohammed Pasha Rewanduz

The flag of the independent principality of Soran under Mohammed Pasha

Mohammed Pascha Rewanduz also called Mîrê korâ ( German The Blind Prince ) (* 1783 in Rewanduz , † 1838 on the Black Sea) was a Kurdish prince from Soran . In 1830, following the example of Muhammad Ali Pasha from Egypt, he rose up against his Ottoman overlord.

In 1814, at the age of 31, he succeeded his father Mustafa Pascha as Prince of Soran. Mohammed Pascha is portrayed as a cruel person who was probably not afraid of killing family members in order to stay in power. Hence there was also the suspicion that he had blinded his father in order to become a prince himself. But this was denied by an English doctor who had treated his father.

After taking power, he had potential competitors eliminated. So he accused his treasurer Abdullah Aga of conspiracy and had him executed. Then Mohammed Pasha began to make war against his uncles. On December 14, 1814, he besieged Schteyn Castle, where his uncle Teymur Aga was. After four weeks of siege, his uncle and cousin were hanged on January 10, 1815. Shortly thereafter, he defeated and hanged his other uncle, Yahya Bey.

Expansion and independence

Koysancak Rewanduz Cizre Ranya Amediye Altınköprü Acrê

Cities conquered by Mohammed Pasha. The map shows today's Kurdish northern Iraq

After he had thus eliminated the internal competitor, he set about expanding his principality. First he had the city walls of Rewanduz reinforced and a fort built on a hill outside the city. Then he moved against the neighboring tribes. He was considered a merciless prince who had his defeated opponents executed. He wanted to conquer the area between Big Zab and Little Zab . For this he had to fight against the principality of the Baban . He conquered the cities of Harir (1822), Koya (October 1823), Ranya (February 1824) and Arbil and Altin Köprü in September 1823. Thus he had ousted the Baban and little Zab was now the border between Soran and Baban. The Ottoman governor in Baghdad Ali Riza Pasha could not do anything about it. In addition, he awarded him the title of pasha . Nevertheless, Mohammed Pasha declared himself independent and had the Friday sermons ( Chutba ) read out in his name as a sign of his sovereignty . He set out to build a large army and built factories for the production of weapons. He also had coins minted on which he called himself al-Amīr al-Mansūr Muhammad Bīk .

Mohammed Pasha was later given an opportunity to expand his dominion. Mullah Yahya, a member of the Mzuri tribe from the Badinan Principality , asked Mohammed Pasha for help with a feud . The Mzuri tribal leader was murdered by a Yazidi tribal leader. The prince of Badinan Said Pasha refused to take revenge on the Mzuri. So Mullah Yahya turned to Mohammed Pasha and asked him to retaliate against the Yazidis from Jabal Sinjar . Mohammed Pasha was able to use this punitive expedition to conquer the Principality of Badinan. He issued a fatwa against the "unbelieving" Yazidis from his own mufti Mullah Mohammed Xalti and crossed the Great Zab in 1831/32.

Mohammed Pasha proceeded with great brutality against the Yazidis and massacred thousands of them. Some of the surviving Yazidis fled towards Tur Abdin and Mosul . In addition, Christian villages and monasteries were attacked and looted. After "avenging" the tribal leader, he took over the city of Akrê . After Akrê, the capital of the Badinan Amediye fell and the prince Said Pasha fled. With the fall of Amediyes, the whole principality fell to Mohammed Pasha. He now ruled the area from the Little Zab to the Chabur River .

Mohammed Pasha, drunk from his victories, marched north and conquered Cizre . He threatened the cities of Mardin and Nusaybin . But he had to go back to Amediye when Said Pasha took advantage of his absence to rebel. Mohammed Pasha fought back Said Pasha and took bitter revenge on the city.

defeat

The Ottoman Sultan in Istanbul could no longer remain inactive and mobilized against Mohammed Pasha. The rebellious Muhammad Ali Pascha had made it clear to the Ottomans that one should not underestimate the heated Mohammed Pasha. Suspicions that the two rebels were in contact made the problem more acute. In 1834 an Ottoman army was sent to Soran under the leadership of Reşit Mehmet Pasha. Soldiers from the Ottoman governors of Mosul and Baghdad joined his army.

Mohammed Pascha was besieged and defeated in Rewanduz in 1838. It is also worth mentioning that Reşit Mehmet Pascha had previously issued a fatwa which forbade the Muslim warriors of Mohammed Pasha to fight the army of the Ottoman caliph . Mohammed Pasha was called to Istanbul and was solemnly received by Sultan Mahmud II . It was decided that Mohammed Pasha should be exiled to Trabzon . But on the journey from Istanbul to Trabzon, he and his companions were murdered. Who was responsible for the murder is unknown. The fate of the corpses is unknown.

literature

• Wadie Jwaideh: Kürt Milliyetçiliğinin Tarihi Kökenleri ve Gelişimi (The Historical Roots and Development of Kurdish Nationalism), İletişim Yayınları, Istanbul 1999, ISBN 975-470-170-9 .

Web links

• Gérard Chaliand, Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou, Michael Pallis: A people without a country . Zed Books, London 1993, ISBN 1-85649-194-3 , pp. 19–22 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).