シャー・タフマースブの対クルド政策(<特集>イラン世界とその周辺地域-その形成と展開)

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This paper challenges a widely held myth that distinct from the Sunni Ottomans, the Shiite Safavids adopted a harsh policy towards Kurdish tribes and their chieftains, most of whom were Sunni, forcibly depriving them of their hereditary fiefs. An analysis of contemporary narrative and archival sources, particularly a unique chronicle on Kurdish emirates written by Sharaf Khan Bedlisi, Sharaf-name, provides us with a fresh image of the Kurdish policy pursued by the first Safavid ruler, Esma'il I (1501-1524), and even more the second. namely Tahmasb (1524-76). Rapidly conquering vast territories extending from eastern Anatolia to Khorasan, from the outset the Safavids had to integrate ethnically and religiously diverse populations into their ruling system, that was highly dominated by Qezelbash tribes and the local Iranian bureaucratic aristocracy. The incorporation of the Kurdish tribes was all the more imperative given the strategic importance of their homeland, Kurdistan, situated between the Safavids and their rivals, namely the Ottomans. In fact, with their land bitterly contested by the two states, the Kurdish tribes often switched loyalties between them. What complicated the matter more was the situation of disunion within their ruling families with regard to the inherited post of amir and hakem, with each contender seeking help and legitimacy from either one of the two powerful dynasties. Under these circumstances, the Safavids as well as Ottomans were obliged to adopt a conciliatory policy towards these recalcitrant tribes, so as to prevent them from siding with their rivals. Over half a century of his reign Tahmasb tried to skillfully unite the Kurdish tribes with his dynasty, by recognizing their hereditary governorship, welcoming young members of their ruling families in his court, and above all by recruiting them as qurchi, or royal guards. Certainly their effect seems to have been neither permanent nor profound. Almost no prominent figure of Kurdish origin emerged in the Safavid court throughout his reign, and because of the political confusion following his death most of the Kurdish amirs and hakems swore allegiance to the Ottomans. In this sense, under his reign, the Kurdish tribes remained quite marginalized in the Safavid power structure, which was controlled mainly by Turkish tribes and the Iranian bureaucracy, and Tahmasb did not drastically modify such a political configuration. There is however no doubt that his deliberate Kurdish policy greatly contributed to a relative political stability that was achieved under his rule. Moreover, some of his policies such as the incorporation of the Kurdish tribal elite into the royal court and the appointment of some Kurdish tribes as guards in the sensitive Khorasan frontier, could also be seen as heralding his grandson 'Abbas I's reforms, that transformed the Safavid political structure into a more open one controlled by the ruling elites of various ethnic origins.

シャー・タフマースブの対クルド政策(<特集>イラン世界とその周辺地域-その形成と展開)

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