Sherko Janzem
The first stage of Kurdish journalism, the Kurdistan newspaper, was launched on April 22, 1898, in Cairo, Egypt by Miqdad Midhat Badrkhan. The languages of the newspaper were Kurdish and Turkish.
In total, 31 issues of Kurdistan newspaper were published, but not all of them were published in Cairo for many reasons. The first three issues were published by Al-Hilal Printing House, and issues 4 and 5 by Jarida Kurdistan Printing House. After the sixth issue, Miqdad Midhat left the newspaper for some reasons (pressure from the Ottoman king and illness). After him, his brother Abdulrahman Badrkhan took responsibility for the newspaper.
Abdulrahman Badrkhan moved the Kurdistan newspaper from Cairo to Geneva, Switzerland. The newspaper was printed there at the Muslim Youth Association printing house until its nineteenth issue was published in Geneva. The center of the newspaper again moved to Cairo from issue 20 to issue 23. The 24th issue of the newspaper was published in London. Issues 25 to 29 were published in the UK in Folkestone. Then, the Kurdistan newspaper returned to Geneva, and issues 30 and 31 were published there. No. 31, the last available issue, was published on April 14, 1902.
The Kurdistan newspaper changed five locations in four years. In total, 31 issues of Kurdistan newspaper have been published, maybe more. However, a total of 30 issues are available because issue 19 is missing.
26 issues of 30 issues of Kurdistan newspaper were published as a book in Baghdad in 1972 by Dr. Kamal Fuad. After Kamal Fuad, Mohammed Amin Bozarsilan rewrote them and published them in 1991 as a book of two volumes. Issues 17 and 18, which Kamal Fuad and Mohammed Amin Bozarsilan did not access, were found later by Malmisanj and published in 1992. After the two missing numbers are found, numbers 10 and 12 are handed over to the Badrkhan family by Jalil Jalil. Both issues were rewritten by Karam Soylu and published in the Zand magazine in the spring issue of 2007.
Abdulrahman Badrkhan
The language of the Kurdistan newspaper is Turkish and Kurdish, but not from beginning to end. The first three issues are in Kurdish. Issues 4, 5, 6, and 7 are Kurdish and Turkish. Numbers 8, 9, 11, 12, 15, and 16 are Kurdish. No. 10 is in Kurdish and Turkish, except for No. 19 because it is missing, we don't know whether it is in Kurdish or Kurdish and Turkish. One of the reasons why the language of the newspaper was Kurdish and Turkish is the lack of Kurdish education and literacy in Kurdish.
In all issues of the Kurdistan newspaper, the Badrkhan brothers have assessed the Kurdish situation within a religious-political background and found solutions. In addition to this, because Kurdistan bordered Russia, Russia always saw the newspaper as a threat.
Miqdad Midhat started publishing parts of Ahmad Khani's Mam and Zeen from the second issue. In the second issue of the Kurdistan newspaper, for publishing Mam and Zin, he said, “Every time, I write a part of the book until it finishes.”
From the day the Kurdistan newspaper started publishing until the day it stopped, it was always banned and oppressed by the Ottoman government and its king Abdulhamid. Abdulhamid put pressure on the Egyptian government to stop publishing the newspaper and return Miqdad Midhat to Istanbul.
However, the pressures did not succeed and the Kurdistan newspaper did not stop its issues. Miqdad Midhat in No. 4 says, “In the countries I send letters to, they write to me that government officials don't care about the letters I send because they don't know Kurmanji. They are shocked by what I write in them."
Sources:
Dilgash F. Kurdistan's First Kurdish Newspaper, Nawbahar Publications, Istanbul, Second Edition, 2017.
Kani A. Kurdistan: The first newspaper in the Kurdish Language, J&J, Amed Publications, 2018.
Akar h. Stages of Kurmanji journalism from the beginning to the present.
