By: Petr Kubálek
Kurdish Studies as an established discipline of academic teaching and research are in fact non-existent in the present Czech Republic. It does not mean, however, that the academic and sub-academic circles of the country would totally disregard the undoubtedly hot Kurdish issues. One can rather say that the interest for Kurdistan and the Kurds has been by now expressed either in the framework of other disciplines (as, for instance, Iranic Studies), or on a provisional and low-profile level (in the form of M.A. theses, lectures, or minor articles).
Kurdish Traces in Iranic Philology Studies
Present-day independent nations of the Czech Republic and Slovakia composed the integral state of Czechoslovakia until its dissolution in 1992. The Charles' University1 as well as the Oriental Institute2 based in Praha (Prague), formerly Czechoslovak and now Czech capital, became the centre of distinguished Iranic Studies that reached their worldwide-respected level before and shortly after the World War II.3 Its ultimate expression was incorporated in the History of Persian and Tajik Literature,4 a reference book that has not lost its validity even after the passed half-century.5 From among the total of 8 writers, their co-ordinator and editor of the work Prof Jan Rypka (1886–1968)6 was devoted to medieval poetry and modern prose, while Dr Jan Cejpek (1921–1986)7 dedicated his efforts to generally Iranic folk literature. Contributions of the two authors include some direct mentions of the Kurds.8
There are, nevertheless, further aspects of the aforementioned scientists' work that could provide some challenging clues for Kurdologists. Just as one single example: Jan Rypka gained the nickname "Nezâmîparast" by his undisguised admiration to the medieval Persian poet Nezâmî (1141–1209), whom he had in fact introduced to the educated European public and even discovered his value for Persians themselves.9 Interestingly enough, Nezâmî was a half-Kurd,10 and some passages of his works may not be unfamiliar in the shadow of Kurdish folklore heritage.11
Czech Travellers in Kurdistan
Dr Jan Vilém Helfer (1810–1840)12 must have been among the first Czechs to come into contact with Kurdistan. His travels were joint primarily with India, but on his journey heading there via Syria in 1836, he joint a British group led by Colonel Chesney, working on construction of a pair of steamboats that would set the historical beginning of steam navigation on the Euphrates. The team was based in Birecik (present-day Kurdistan of Turkey), and from there the both manned boats set on the trip, carrying on their board among others also Dr Helfer with his wife, Paulina des Granges. A disaster crossed all plans when one of the boats sank, and the expedition members were, facing unexpectedly difficult conditions, transported by the remaining vessel down the stream to Baghdad.13 Dr Helfer's posthumous memories called Jan Vilém Helfer's Travels in Near Asia and India14 was published in Leipzig in 1877 through his widow's initiative.
Czech geographer Dr Josef Wünsch (1842–1907) made a much closer acquaintance with northern regions of Kurdistan as he formed an individual journey to explore the sources of the Tigris river.15 In the framework of his individual theoretical preparation in the libraries of Vienna during 1881, he was making excerpts from the first European handbook on Kurdish, Maurizio Garzoni's Grammatica e vocabolario della lingua kurda from 1787. Then, during 1882 and 1883, he was travelling in the area bordered approximately by cities Antep – Harput – Erzurum – Van, and further beyond to what is present-day Armenia. The undertaken efforts were concluded successfully: with final definite identification of the Tigris sources, besides accurate mapping of vast territories around them, i.e. of the north of Kurdistan. Wünsch summed up his experience in several articles written in the Czech and German languages. The most notable Czech ones, that were published in 1883–1890 by various Prague-based magazines, were Erzerum, Výlet do Vanu (A Trip to Van), V Dersimu (In Dersim), and Horami kurdskými (Across the Kurdish Mountains).16
In the 20th century, a big deal of increasing the publicity of Kurdistan in Czechoslovakia could have been provided by Jirí Hanzelka (born 1920)17 and Miroslav Zikmund (born 1919).18 They were originally machine engineering specialists who rounded the world in series of expeditions between 1947 and 1964, aimed in fact at testing and promoting the Czechoslovak-made Tatra lorries. Their encounters with Kurdistan of Iraq, picked up in 1960, have been most compactly described and documented by many photos in Kurdistan: Country of Uprisings, Legends, and Hope, published surprisingly in German only.19
Adéla Kr´ikavová and Real Academic Kurdish Studies
The personality to promote consistent and academically based Kurdish Studies was Dr Adéla Kr´ikavová (born 1938),20 graduated from the Faculty of Arts21 (at the Charles' University, Prague) in Russian and Georgian (1962), completed then by Persian, Arabic, and Islamic Studies (1973). She established the subject of Kurdish Studies in the Oriental Institute of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, which became her base in 1962, immediately after her first graduation. Regrettably, she has remained the only solitary representative of this direction on the Czechoslovak academic soil, and moreover her work itself in the field was dispersed both objectively – by "social demand" pushing the Communist-countries researchers into topics and methods considered as "progressive” – and subjectively – by her broad variety of personal interests, comprising Islamic arts, horticulture, and environmental problems of the Middle East, too. Dr Kr´ikavová has on one hand laid a solid foundation for a prospective Kurdology in Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic, although, on the other hand, her work remained far from the desired "full-time Kurdology".22
And most unfortunately, the tree of her efforts was not given sufficient time to bring riper fruits: the plans to conceive the first larger Czech-language monograph on the Kurds were broken in November 1999 by the sudden attack of Alzheimer disease.
Apart from having become author or co-author of basic Czech publications on Islam and the Middle East,23 Dr Kr´ikavová contributed articles on Kurdish historic issues and related book reviews to the Archiv Orientální quarterly or elsewhere.24 Her paper on the Kurdish political struggle before the Sèvres Treaty became a part of a joint monograph on Kurds and Circassians.25 She was member of the International Society Kurdistan in Amsterdam (1967–1978), chairman of the Czech Orientalist Society (1992–2000),26 and was awarded by the Oriental Institute for distinguished service (1999), ominously few months before her forced early retirement.
Legacy of Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou
Czechoslovak general consciousness of Kurdish issues was cultivated by the presence of some Kurdish intellectuals. For instance Abdul Qadir Dilan ('Ebdulqadir Dîlan, 1928–1999) was a musician and musicologist who, having come from Kurdistan of Iraq, graduated in Prague and later worked for the Arabic-language broadcasting of the Czechoslovak Radio. Besides that, he received authority as a composer of Kurdish music. Concerning popularisation of the Kurds, Dilan cooperated on translating selections from Kurdish poetry that were published in the Nový Orient (New Orient) journal.27
Dr Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou ('Ebdulr´ehman Qasimlû, 1930–1989) is certainly a name not necessary to be given special introductions, as his moral prestige and high respect in the world of Kurdish politics make him an indeed widely known personality, unfortunately also due to his murder by Iranian agents in Vienna.28 An essential part of Dr Ghassemlou's life was connected with the Czech environment: he studied in Prague in 1948–1952; he got married there and in his wife Helena found a selfless and powerful fellow worker too; he then was teaching World Economics at the Vysoká s´kola ekonomická ("Prague School of Economics")29 until 1975 when all the family including both daughters was made, in the gradually grimmer sociopolitical atmosphere, to leave the country for France.30
But even before, Ghassemlou had managed to provide the Czechoslovak public a solid information basis with his book Kurdistan and the Kurds. Paradoxically, the Czech-language original was at first refused for publication in Prague on grounds of "not being interesting sufficiently for broader readership". A friend of Dr Ghassemlou was, however, successful to persuade other publishers in the Slovak metropolis Bratislava.31 After their agreement, the title was published in the Slovak language32 and, shortly after, printed in Prague already in its English translation.33 Moreover, this internationally known version has been until present days consensually recognized as a valuable quotation source, especially regarding the traditional socio-economic relations in Kurdistan.
After the Ghassemlou family's emigration, a rather enigmatic project of samizdat publications of translated Kurdish works comes into existence – all in measures adequate to the possibilities of the publisher bearing the mark Ararat. The result was neat brochures that represent a unique contribution to the rich Czechoslovak underground and exile literature fund.34
New Times
Collapse of the Communist rule in 1989 and division of the state of Czechoslovakia in 1992 meant deep structural changes in the fields of scientific activities, but did not directly bring any new outlooks with the respect to Kurdology. The situation can be distinguished by generally increased concern for the Kurds on one hand, with difficulties in financing possible book publications as well as, in fact, any serious research on the other hand.
At the universities, the likeability of establishing Kurdish Studies as a stable subject has not moved beyond the scope of individual students' research before their Masters' graduations. Former M.A. theses from the Faculty of Arts35 and the Faculty of Social Studies36 were in last years joined by Tomás´ Kopr´iva's well-founded synthetic study, who graduated with it from the former working place of Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou.37 And, as a matter of bizarre coincidences, even the external examiner was no one else than Mrs Ghassemlou. One can add that there are few other M.A. theses devoted to the Kurds and Kurdistan pending currently in Czech universities.
No monographs related to the Kurds have appeared, if not counting a collection of proverbs printed in a very limited number of copies.38 There has been, nevertheless, much attractive around the Kurds for journalists, especially regarding the world developments since the 90's. Mr Br´etislav Tureçek from the Právo (Right) daily shall be named here as the definitely most competent Czech journalistic writer on Middle East in general. Kurdish issues have belonged to his deep and systemically built factographic base, ensuring him thus an almost academic level of expertise and credibility.39
A boosting factor for later developing the academic Kurdology could be the One World festival of documentaries on human rights, held yearly in Prague and receiving an undisputed prestige.40 After hosting the Exodus or Vina's World by Belgian director Lode Desmet in 2000, an "action documentary" depicting a refugee story from Kurdistan of Iraq, the year 2001 saw the already classical Good Kurds, Bad Kurds by Kevin McKiernan.41 Three projections of this movie in the Czech capital alone were visited by a total of 1,000 people. Which may hopefully stand as both proof and promise for the larvae of Kurdish Studies in the Czech Republic to grow further.
© Petr Kubálek (January 2002)
* * *
Notes:
1. <
http://www.cuni.cz/index.php?lng=eng>
2. <
http://www.cas.cz/en/OU.html>
3. The ultimate reference book on the Czechoslovak and Czech Iranic studies is BE
ÇKA, JIR´Í. Iranica Bohemica et Slovaca. Litterae. 1st ed. Praha: Akademie vêd Çeské republiky, Orientální ústav [Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Oriental Institute], 1996. 52+16+10 pp. ISBN 80-85425-22-X. It offers a Czech-language historic overview of the studies (pp.7-22), summarized also in English (pp.143-148) and Persian (pp.1-8 of the Persian numbering). List of translations from the Kurdish literature or of articles relevant to it can be found there on pp.104-105, and it was also brought by the KURDICA in its issue of September 1998 at:
4. Thus reads the title of its Czech edition: RYPKA, JAN (ed.).
Dêjiny perské a tádz´ické literatury. 1st ed. Praha: Nakladatelství Çeskoslovenské akademie vêd, 1956. 804+17 pp. The international edition is, however, known as: JAHN, KARL (ed.). History of Iranian Literature. 1st ed. Dordrecht – Holland: Reidel, 1956. 928 pp.
5. The work has been, apart from its parallel English version, translated into German, with its essential parts brought also in Polish, Russian, Persian, and Urdu translations (
Beçka, op.cit., p.18). The corresponding reference in the English summary (ibid., p.145) is rather confusing, as it offers a differing list of the translations.
6. Pp.424-425 in: FILIPSKÝ, JAN (ed.). Kdo by
l kdo. Çes´tí a slovens´tí orientalisté, afrikanisté a iberoamerikanisté [Who Was Who. Czech and Slovak Orientalists, Africanists, and Iberoamericanists]. 1st ed. Praha: Libri, 1999. 620 pp. ISBN 80-85983-59-1
7. Filipský, op.cit., pp.90-91.
8. Rypka refers to a dîwân "by Mullâ Parîshân in the Kurd language" (Jahn, op.cit., p.92), while Cejpek mentions "Kurdish folk-tales" (ibid., pp.656, 658, 659).
9. Beçka, op.cit., p.18.
10. His mother was "a noble Kurd" (in the opposite to his father, an Azerbaijani Kurd), as Rypka writes at p.325 of: RYPKA, JAN. Íránský poutník [Pilgrim to Iran]. 1st ed. Praha: Vydavatelstvo Druz´stevní práce, 1946. 436 pp.
11. Nezâmî's works use the motives of seven colours marking days of the week (Rypka, op.cit. 1946, p.335), as well as of the important and peculiar prophetic character of Khezr (ibid., p.344) – the both existent in the Kurdish folklore and being given as its examples on pp.238 and 240 respectively of: IZADY, MEHRDAD R. The Kurds. A Concise Handbook. 1st ed. Washington - London: Taylor & Francis, 1992. 270 pp. ISBN 0-8448-1727-9
12. Pp.190-193 in:
MARTÍNEK, JIR´Í & MARTÍNEK, MILOSLAV. Kdo byl kdo. Nas´i cestovatelé a geografové [Who Was Who. Our Travellers and Geographers]. 1st ed. Praha: Libri, 1998. 509 pp. ISBN 80-85983-50-8. SADÍLEK, TOMÁŠ. "J.V.Helfer a první paroplavba po Eufratu" [J.V.Helfer and the First Steam Navigation on the Euphrates]. Nový Orient 54 (1999): pp.71-74
13. Martínek, op.cit., p.191; Sadílek, op.cit., passim.
14. Sadílek, op.cit., p.74 mentions this book without specifying the language of the original.
15. In detail described and evaluate
d in: KR´IKAVOVÁ, ADÉLA. "Professor Josef Wünsch. His Journey and Exploration of the Tigris' Sources (1881–1883)". Archiv Orientální 50 (1982):pp.22-136. Also to be found in: Martínek, op.cit., pp.468-470; SNÊHULE, JOSEF. Çeský cestovatel Josef Wünsch [Czech Traveller Josef Wünsch]. Širým svêtem 19 (1942): pp.625-630.
16. K
r´ikavová, op.cit. (1982), passim. The bibliography attached to the study includes a full list of the articles.
17. Martínek, op.cit., pp.170-178.
18. Ibid., pp.471-477.
19. HANZELKA, JIR´Í & ZIKMUND, MIRO
SLAV. Kurdistan. Land der Aufstände, der Legenden und der Hoffnung. 1st ed. Praha: Artia, 1962. 14+60 pp.
20. Filipský, op.cit., pp.281-282.
21. <
http://www.ff.cuni.cz/awelcome.php>
22. The term being raised by: IZADY, MEHRDAD R. "Desperately Seeking Full-Time Kurdologists". <
http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/kurdish/htdocs/cult/kurdo.html>
23. KR´IKAVOVÁ, ADÉLA
& MENDEL, MILOŠ & MÜLLER, ZDENĚK. Islám – ideál a skuteçnost [Islam – Ideal and Reality]. Praha: Panorama, 1990. 368 pp. KR´IKAVOVÁ, ADÉLA. Islám. 1st ed. Praha: without note on publisher, 1992. 367 pp. PAVLINCOVÁ, HELENA (ed.). Judaismus, kr´est´anství, islám. Slovník tr´í nejvýznamnêjs´ích monoteistických náboz´enství [Judaism, Christianity, Islam. Dictionary of Three Major Monotheistic Religions]. Praha: Mladá fronta, 1994. 472 pp. NEUŽIL, OLDR´ICH & MIZEROVÁ, ALENA (eds.). Islám a jeho svêt [Islam and Its World]. 1st ed. Brno: Moravské zemské muzeum & Nadace Litera, 1995. 119 pp. "Za poznáním do muzea" Series, Vol. 7. ISBN 80-7028-075-1
24. KR´IKAVOVÁ, ADÉLA
. "A Contribution to the Question of the Formation of the Kurdish Nation". Archiv Orientální 47 (1979): pp.145-160. KR´IKAVOVÁ, ADÉLA. "The Golden-Handed Khân (The Kurdish Uprising Against Shâh Abbâs I. the Great, 1608-1610)". Pp.121-130 in: PROSECKÝ, JIR´Í (ed.). Ex pede pontis. Papers presented on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the Oriental Institute, Prague. Praha: Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Oriental Institute, 1992. 295 pp. - See also note 10. - From among numerous book reviews, e.g.: KR´IKAVOVÁ, ADÉLA. "Kurdische Bibliographien". Archiv Orientální 41 (1973): pp.71-73.
25. KR´IKAVOVÁ, ADÉLA
. "Poçátky kurdského národnê osvobozeneckého hnutí" [Beginnings of the Kurdish National Liberation Movement]. Pp.1-56 in: KR´IKAVOVÁ, ADÉLA & ÇERNÝ, VÁCLAV. Národnostní problematika v zemích západní Asie. Kurdové, Çerkesové [Ethnicity Issues in the Countries of West Asia. Kurds, Circassians]. Praha: Orientální ústav ÇSAV [Oriental Institute of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences], 1967. 92 pp.
26. Filipský, op.cit., pp.281-282.
27. KR´IKAVOVÁ, ADÉLA
& MENDEL, MILOŠ & DÍLÁN, ABDALKÁDIR. "Kdyz´ kurdistánské rùz´e zavoní" [When the Fragrance of Kurdistan Roses Spreads]. Nový Orient 44 (1989): pp.83-84.
28. Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou. Man of Peace and Dialogue. Without note on place, publisher, and date. 89 pp. Its opening chapter, "
The life and death of Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou (1930-1989)", is available at:
29. <
http://www.vse.cz/>
30. More attention to the Prague chapters of Ghassemlou's life was turned by: CAF, HAREM
(JAFF, HAREM). "Hêlênay xêzanî $ehîd d. Qasimlû: Kurd û Kurdistan ledway gor´î mnî$ her demênin" [Helena, Martyr Dr Qasimlû's Wife: Kurds and Kurdistan Will Overlast My Grave]. Peyam issue 25/26 (2000): pp. 1, 6-7.
31. Private testimony from Mrs Helena Krulich–Ghassemlou.
32. GHASSEMLOU, ABDUL RAHMAN. Kurdistán a Kurdovia [Kurdistan and the Kurds]. Bratislava:
Vydavatel´stvo politickej literatúry [Political Literature Publishings], 1964. 217 pp.
33. GHASSEMLOU, ABDUL RAHMAN. Kurdistan and the Kurds. Prague: Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, 1965. 304 pp.
34. They are included in the Libri Prohibiti. Knihovna samizdatové a exilové literatury [Libri Prohibiti. Library of Samizdat and Exile Literature], being listed there under:
35. HAMOLAILA, MUIN M. Problém formování kurdského národa [Problems of the Kurdish Nation Forming]. Praha: 1976. 132 pp.
36. SHIKH M. GORAN, RZKAR M.
Struçný pr´ehled dêjin kurdského tisku [Concise Overview of the History of Kurdish Press]. Praha: 1992
37. KOPR´IVA, TOMÁŠ.
Analýza kurdské problematiky [An Analysis of Kurdish Issues]. Praha: 2000. 82+15 pp.
38. Kurdská
pr´ísloví [Kurdish Proverbs]. 1st ed. Trans. by Dr Yekta Uzunog´lu. Praha: Meridian, 1993. 62 pp.
39. From a number of shorter accounts as well as longer articles, a report from post-Gulf-War Kurdistan of Iraq should be the most evaluated: TUREÇEK, BR´ETISLAV.
"Irácký Kurdistán – nadêje i zoufalství" [Iraqi Kurdistan – Hope With Desperation]. Koktejl 7.10 (October 1998): pp.46-50.
40. <
http://www.oneworld.cz>
41. <
http://www.silcom.com/~ke
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