“I am the king of this land not the Ottoman Sultan, if he possesses more power, I possess more honor”. This important and touching sentence is said by an honorable man from an honorable Kurdish dynasty in the 19th century who said to the French ambassador. “Chris Kutschera” in his book called “Kurdish National Movements” interprets this sentence as follows: such words in fact were the gist of Kurdish well-known characters’ mindset who sought greatness. And this is the result of the old Asian Feudalism. Those dynasties who ruled over a castle or a region by their own laws and considered themselves more honorable and righteous than the Ottoman Sultans. They saw the Sultans as oppressors and faced great wars with them in order to revolt against the Ottomans and break their power in the area. “Badir Khan Bag” was a descendant of one of those ancient and original dynasties in Kurdistan and was Botan’s lord in 1821. He was also the first one to add the national aspect to the battles happened between Kurdish lords and the Ottomans. This is why they call him “Father of Kurdish Nationalism”. This means that even if before him the other Kurdish lords had tried to take control of a region it was only to gain more power not to gain a national aim.

Two points are very important in this narrative: First, Badir Khan, a Kurdish lord, paid more attention to the original roots of his dynasty and people in the area and second, he regarded the military forces of a less importance than the moral force of preserving the motherland and he saw the Ottoman empire which was a powerful government in Asia less significant than himself. Other Kurdish leaders tried to follow the same idea later. That is to regard themselves and their own identities more important than of that Other identity and never see themselves less important than the enemy. Badir Khan showed his role as a true leader in his political and personal manners. The sources say that he also tried to keep his appearance like a king not just a tribe leader or regional ruler. Chris Kutschera talks about this point, too. He says: If Mir Badir Khan saw himself as a king, he tried to keep his appearance as a true king. He always wore clothes decorated with gold and had big turbans. He had silk cloth and specially made Pshtwen (a long shawl for the waist) with silk stripped pants in red and black. His shoes were specially made, too with red bottom and top parts. He had a King-like appearance and Kurdish people respected him and regarded him as a second Prophet.

On the other hand, Badir Khan paid great attention and importance to the diplomatic relationships with the French and British ambassadors to make them understand that this land is his realm and has a distinct identity as the Ottomans’ and that he had also run diplomacy inside the borders. He had a comprehensive relationship with the people of this land, the poor or the rich, the influential ones or the unknowns. Badir Khan enhanced that literate class of the society like the Mullahs and the religious masters because they were the role model for guiding the people at that time. He did this to create a sense of loyalty to Kurdistan not the Ottomans, i.e., he attempted to pave the way for keeping the religion as well as the national sensibility. Because the sources reveal that Badir Khan himself was a religious person and followed all forms of religious norms and laws accordingly, however none of these could make him obey the high gates (the Ottomans gates) who considered themselves the true source of Islam at that time. He rather took his religion seriously and also mixed it with his national patriotism in Kurdistan. He used the open-mind force of the literates and made them understand that they are valuable for the land by sending them high priced presents and souvenirs.

 He was also aware of the poor class of the society. As it is documented the poor, the widowed, or the old men who didn’t have any fortunes would gather in the front yard of “Dargolah” castle and Badir Khan would help them out generously and would donate some money equal to 125 dollars at that time which of course was a considerable amount to those people.

 Badir Khan was the first Kurdish lord who ruled over “Urmia” to “Newan Choman”. As Dr. M.M Right and Bris who traveled through “Urmia” to “Ibn Omar Island” in 1846 narrated that during the 20 days of their visit to part of Kurdistan which was ruled by Badir Khan, they had no problems and all the paths even those paths which were hard to pass through were completely safe. In 1945 the head of the French Council who had visited “Botan” approved the same thing as safety and security was preserved in all of the regions that were ruled by Badir Khan and it was impossible to compare the Ottoman realm with the land of Badir Khan. He points out the safety and the disciplined form of doing stuff like agriculture that resulted in people’s wealth compared to what was going on in the Ottoman lands.

However, Badir Khan once invaded the Christian areas in 1843 and ruined their town and dominated their land. Once more he invaded the Nestorius in 1846 and he faced severe consequences. Clearly, the west especially France and Britain reacted strongly to this invasion and showed their dissatisfaction towards Badir Khan Pasha’s invasion against the Christians and they reported their dissatisfaction to the Ottomans. The Ottomans who were irritated by the Badir Khanis for a long time attacked Badir Khan. Badir Khan Pasha was in his castle “Irouh”. But finally, he surrendered in August 1847 to the Ottoman Pasha and he banished him to “Kandia” town in “Kart Island”. Badir Khan was once again banished to Dimashq and he died in 1868 or 1870 in Dimashq.   

Most of historians believe that the Christian massacre was due to Badir Khan Pasha’s fall. It is obvious that the interference of the west in Ottoman’s and Kurdistan’s relationship had an impact on the fall of this kingdom and if we look at this history critically it should be pointed out that Badir Khan was occupied with having an active diplomatic relationship with the European ambassadors on the one hand and he should not have picked out those Christian areas to attack which were important for the west. On the other hand, he should not have surrendered as a king with great power because it led him to fall. After all, he was Kurdistan’s hope to have their own government. Badir Khan, by the way, created a path on which all the other Kurdish leaders followed.