The struggle for the culture and history of the Kurdish nation is the national duty of every Kurd. Our past is a very valuable treasure. As much as we go deep into our culture and history, we see patriotic people. Many Kurdish families have fought for the literature, culture, and history of their people; one of these families is the Badrkhanis.

They are great people who have fought for their people and we must introduce them to the new generation. The Badrkhanis have done a lot for the development of their people. They have worked to create the Kurdish alphabet, Kurdish newspapers, and hundreds of other things and tried to aware people. They were practically political leaders in raising awareness in their community.

Generation after generation of the Badrkhan family has done great work and one of the members of the family who published the first Kurdish newspaper called Kurdistan was Miqdad Madhat Badrkhan.

In 1890, the Ottoman state began to assimilate the Kurds and summoned Kurdish emirs to Istanbul and prevented emirs from taking power, thus adopting a policy of dissolving the Kurdish nation and putting more pressure on the Kurds; in this regard, many Kurdish intellectuals, scholars, and nationalists left Turkey and Kurdistan and went to foreign countries and continued their lives and struggles abroad.

One of these intellectuals, scholars, Kurdish patriotic, and nationalists was Miqdad Madhat Badrkhan, son of emir Badrkhan, who went abroad in 1891 and arrived in Egypt. He continued his work in Egypt and fought to promote the interests of the Kurdish people, introduce the cause of his people to the world, defend the Kurds, oppose the Ottoman Sultans, and increase Kurdish youth awareness.

For these purposes, he publishes a newspaper and thus works for national awareness. That was when the first issue of the Kurdistan newspaper was published in April 1898. This newspaper became the beginning and pioneer of the history of Kurdish journalism.

Miqdad Madhat Badrkhan believed that to achieve independence and complete liberation, the people should be informed and aware through the press revolution.

Miqdad Madhat Badrkhan wrote about the purpose of publishing the newspaper in an article on the first issue of Kurdistan newspaper: “The Kurds are more intelligent, conscious, brave, insistent, and strong in their religion than other nations, but unfortunately they are not as educated and rich as other nations. They don't know what their neighbors are like and what they are doing and they don't know about them, so we publish this newspaper every 15 days. Our newspaper's name is Kurdistan and we talk about the benefits of science and knowledge. Wherever there are people, wherever there are good schools, I will show the Kurds and wherever there is war, what the attitude of the big countries will be, how they fight, how they do business, I will write all. No one has ever published such a newspaper.”

When the first issue of the newspaper was published, Miqdad Madhat Badrkhan wrote a card in French explaining his intentions and sent it with the first issue to those who followed the newspaper; the text on the card was:

“Sir! I am very happy to send you the first issue of Kurdistan newspaper, which is currently based in Cairo. My nation, the Kurds, has a population of 6 million and their language is very old in Asia. This is the first time I have published a newspaper in this language, to learn the information and encourage the Kurds to take the path of progress and new civilization and at the same time show the literature of their nation to other nations. My father, emir Badrkhan, participated in the Kurdistan War of Independence against the government of Abdul Hamid, the man who banned the life of our family in our country. I came to Cairo and I want security and peace to fly over Kurdistan; therefore, I have decided to devote all my abilities through this newspaper and from a distance and do anything that will benefit them, affect their happiness, and improve the intellectual education of Kurdish citizens.”

Miqdad Madhat Badrkhan tried his best to publish this newspaper so that the Kurdish nation and children would be aware and educated, and culture and science would spread among his people.

At the time of the publication of the Kurdistan newspaper, the Ottoman state closely monitored the newspaper and banned its publication in Kurdistan. So, Miqdad Madhat delivered the issues of the newspaper to Kurdistan through businessmen and secret organizations.

The Ottoman state wanted to try Miqdad Madhat Badrkhan and his brother Abdulrahman Bag as criminals in Istanbul, so the two Kurds were under great threat.

By establishing and publishing the Kurdistan newspaper, Miqdad Madhat informed many Kurdish youth about the oppression of the Ottomans against the Kurds and also did a lot of work for Kurdish literature and history.

The newspaper became the greatest enemy of the Ottomans. The Ottomans opposed the newspaper and repeatedly asked Egypt to stop it. Therefore, Miqdad Madhat opposed the Ottomans in every way and changed many places to continue publishing the newspaper.

Miqdad Madhat Badrkhan published many stories such as Mam and Zeen, poems, broadcasts, and many articles and news in this newspaper.

In addition to these issues, to oppose the Ottoman rule Miqdad Madhat had great importance to the legitimate issues and demands of the Kurdish people and Kurdish youth.

Some of the important articles that Madhat Badrkhan published in the Kurdistan newspaper at that time are as follows:

In the third issue, a poem by Haji Qadir Koyi was published. It is written in the introduction that Haji Qadir Koyi passed away last year. That is, No. 3 was published in 1898, and last year means 1897, therefore, that year is considered the year of the death of Haji Qadir Koyi.

The Kurdistan newspaper condemned the war against Armenians and called for brotherhood between Armenians and Kurds.

A year after the publication of Kurdistan, Miqdad Madhat got sick and his brother Abdulrahman went to Switzerland to take charge of the newspaper.

By establishing and publishing the Kurdistan newspaper, With the establishment and publishing Kurdistan Newspaper, Miqdad Madhat Badrkhan proved once again that the Badrkhan family can influence Kurdish consciousness, culture, history, and literature of Kurds not only in Botan but anywhere in the world.