Armenians and Kurds: A Complex and Strategic Relationship

Abstract

Different religions and socio-economic development are among the historical factors hindering an Armenian-Kurdish rapprochement. Kurds were in fact dependent on Armenian peasants and craftsmen during Ottoman rule, but also on Armenian creditors, contributing to feelings of antagonism toward the Armenians. At the same time, suffering under the same Ottoman and Safavid yoke on the territories of present-day Turkey and Iran can contribute to rapprochement. In this profoundly unequal society where the Christian raya was subject to the Kurdish element, the institution of “kirvelik” –– a sort of sponsorship which placed a Kurdish child under the protection of an Armenian adult and bound the two families for life — was a way of forging organic ties between the two communities belonging to different religions, an essential element for Armenian-Kurdish co-existence.

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