Kurds in the French Diplomatic Archives

This book is a compilation of previously unpublished documents on the Kurds found in the French diplomatic archives, written between 1874 and 1945, and remained secret in various diplomatic archive centers in France until now.

These documents provide valuable information about the situation of the Kurdish issue, especially in the periods corresponding to the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the end of the First World War, the French mandate in Syria, the British mandate in Iraq, and between the end of the Ottoman Empire and the Second World War.

The vast majority of the documents are taken from the archives of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, embassies, consulates and intelligence services. These previously unpublished texts were presented and analyzed by Sabri Ciğerli and Didier Le Saout in line with the historical circumstances in which they were written. They provide an understanding of the formation of the Kurdish national movement: they underline the role played by France in the reorganization of the regional order in the Middle East and its consolidation of relations with the powers and the emerging nation-states that shared the Kurdish-inhabited regions between them after the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. All the letters written by Kurdish leaders and intellectuals to the League of Nations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the French presidency, and the French embassies testify to the failure of the Kurds to have their claims to a state recognized in the international arena.

This book offers a reading and analysis of the long-standing role played by the Kurds in political conflicts and interests in the Middle East, through the lens of a century of French foreign policy.