QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Every year on April 22, the Kurds in the world celebrate the publishing of the first issue of the Kurdistan newspaper in Kurdish language in the Egyptian capital, Cairo in 1898.
The first issue of the Kurdistan newspaper was published in Cairo in 1898 by Meqdad Medhat Bedirkhan, the son of the Bedirkhan family which ruled Jazira Botan region in southeast Turkey from 1260 to 1847.
Kurdophobia
Throughout history, the Kurds in their geography, divided among Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Iran, used to publish their stories in the languages of the regimes they controlled them; i.e. Arabic, Turkish and Persian, as it was prohibited to publish in their own languages due to the suppression they suffered from.
The ruling regimes that controlled the Kurds were always under constant phobia towards the Kurdish people to be revived and rise up against them.
Therefore, they used to suppress the Kurds and persecute them through preventing them to express their own ideas and opinions in their own language.
Due to the family’s persecution by the Ottomans, Meqdad Bedirkhan was forced to emigrate to Egypt, and from there, he published his newspaper in the Kurdish language written in Arabic script that was approved at the time.
The first issue of Kurdistan was published on April 22, 1898 in the diaspora in Cairo in order to ward off any crackdown by the Turkish ruling regime.
Pressures and pursuit
After five issuances, the newspaper moved to Geneva in Switzerland due to pressures conducted by the Ottoman authority to close it. The last issue of the newspaper was published on April 14, 1902.
During that period, about 30 issuances of the newspaper were published. In addition to Kurdish-based areas, it was distributed in Damascus and Beirut secretly.
Those in charge of the newspaper were pursued by the Ottomans who thought it pose a threat on them regarding the revival of the Kurds. So, it was moved among Cairo, Geneva and London. However, despite its closure, Kurdistan became the first nucleus for a new birth regarding Kurdish journalism.
Kurdish journalism at the service of freedom
The date April 22 is considered a special day for the Kurdish journalism, and it is celebrated by Kurdish journalists every year.
Over the decades and with the emergence of technology, many Kurdish written, audio and visual media institutions were founded, and dozens of satellite and local channels are now existed.
Since the start of the Syrian crisis and the establishment of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), the Kurdish journalism has played a positive role in presenting the suffering of the people to the public opinion and the struggle of the Kurds to gain their freedom.
124 years since the publication of the first issue of Kurdistan newspaper, the Kurdish journalism has witnessed remarkable developments due to the margins of freedom that prevailed in the AANES-held areas, according to observers.