This is an interesting piece... May shed some light on the PKK... and the efforts to take control of Iraqi oil. Excerpted from Major Frederick Millingen, Wild Among the Koords. London: Hurst and Blackett Publishers, 1870 On the character of Kurdish nomads http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0SBL/is_1-2_20/ai_n26963432/ The character of the Koordish race has many of the peculiar features common to all nomads. The desert, the plain, the highlands, the tent, the flock, the horse, the spear,--in short, all that is connected with the toils, pangs and excitement of nomadic life, moulds the character of the Koord, doomed to undergo the law of perpetual motion. Whilst roving about in search of pasturage, or after plunder, the Koord acquires the predatory instinct and the restlessness of the vulture, the acuteness and agility of the fox, together with other peculiarities of ravenous animals. In constant strife with their neighbours or amongst themselves, the Koords constitute an essentially warlike people, ever ready to meet an enemy, always on the alert, employing sometimes open strength, more frequently stratagems, quick in their movements, cunning and cruel in their exploits. The mixture of good and bad qualities which is to be remarked in the character of the Koords is, as has already been said, common to all nomadic tribes, whether Arabs, Koords, or Kirgiz. In some respects, however, the Koord must be considered somewhat inferior to the chivalrous Arab nomad who, according to the opinion universally adopted, respects the rights of hospitality, and protects those who seek shelter under his tent. The Koord is treacherous and does not feel the least scruple in staining his hands with the blood of the guest who has a claim to his protection. The perpetration of crimes of this sort frequently occurs in Koordistan. Of this description were the murder of the German traveller Schultz, who fell a victim to the treachery of Khan Mahmoud in 1830; the assassination of Musho, the Jewish merchant; and of Ahmed Effendi, director of the Qurantine at Kotur, who was knocked down and thrown into a river by the men of the Mudir ahmed-Agha. These instances of the violation of the rights of hospitality are the most notorious that have come to my knowledge. As for less sensational murders, they are of daily occurrence. Every chief of a tribe, or of a district, has at his disposal a band of assassins, of which he and his nearest relations are members. This band serves to settle accounts with anyone with whom the chief has a difference. Speedy work follows the orders of the chief, and the booty is divided in shares of various magnitudes, according to the importance of each member of the band. Gratitude is not a virtue in high repute with the Koords. Not only do they soon forget, on the least pretence, the good they have received, but often also replay it with ill-doing. An incident which happened to me is well suited, I think, to show the Koords are generally little aware of the nature of this virtue. It will likewise serve to give the reader an insight into the condition of human affair and social relations in those distant regions. Sheikh Ali was the chief of the Milans, a tribe which had been persecuted and completely ruined by a coalition of several hostile tribes. These had marched against the Milans in order to throw them back into the Persian territory and to seize their lands, when the appearance of my soldiers amongst the belligerents rescued the tribe from destruction and compelled their enemies to draw back their forces. On the approach of winter, however, the poor Milans found themselves in a pitiful position. Their territory and villages having been occupied by the enemy, they were left destitute without home or shelter, exposed to all the rigours of that severe season. The tidings of their distress having reached me, I insisted that the villages near Kotur should offer their hospitality to the families of the Milans, who had already begun to die at the rate often or twenty a day. continued...............
