The Constitution of Iran and the Ottomans and the Kurdish Intellectuals

The constitutional movement took place more or less simultaneously in Iran and the Ottoman Empire. Along with the intellectuals and writers of these two countries, Kurdish intellectuals and writers, such as Ahmad Shawqi, Jamil Sedghi Zahawi, Haji Qader Kooi, Sheikh Reza Talabani in the Ottoman Constitution and Mirzadeh Eshghi, Abolghasem Lahouti, Ayatollah Mardukh Kurdistani and Qazi Kowsar Saqezi in the Iranian Constitution carried out significant activities in order to form the constitutional movement and to promote the constitutionalist ideas. The present article uses a descriptive-analytical method to examine the views of a number of Kurdish intellectuals and writers during the Ottoman and Iranian constitutions and answers the question of what was the role of Kurdish intellectuals and writers in the Iranian and Ottoman constitutions and how they were able to spread the constitutionalism thoughts in Kurdistan. Since the social, political, and cultural conditions in Iranian and Ottoman Kurdistan were not the same, most Kurdish intellectuals in the two countries did not pursue the same goals, and the content of their ideas did not necessarily change in the same direction. Most Kurdish intellectuals and writers in the Ottoman Kurdistan did not consider the Ottoman country as their homeland and sought to promote the ethnic nationalist ideas and independence and secession from the Ottoman government. Unlike them, Iranian Kurdish intellectuals and writers considered Iran as their homeland. They sought for a free Iran in which the law could govern the people.