May Day in #Palestine: A #Workers' Movement Between #Ottomans, the #Mandate, and the #Nakba

https://www.thelevantfiles.org/2026/05/may-day-in-palestine-workers-movement.html

Today in Labor History April 24, 1915: The Turkish government arrested 250 Armenian intellectuals in Istanbul. This marked the beginning of the Armenian genocide. The Ottomans went on to slaughter over 1.5 million Armenians from 1915-1917, or 90% of the Armenian population. The genocide also destroyed two thousand year’s-worth of Armenian civilization in Asian Minor. The U.S. Congress did not officially recognize the Armenian genocide until 2019. Israel didn’t recognize it until 2025. Today, April 24, is now recognized as Armenian Genocide Memorial Day. In 1997, the Council of Armenian-American Organizations of Northern California (CAAONC), a coalition of over 30 Armenian-American Organizations, purchased the cross on top of Mount Davidson, the highest peak in San Francisco (928 feet). The cross, which is visible throughout the city (at least when the city isn’t socked in with pea soup fog) has been recognized as a memorial to the Armenian Genocide ever since.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #armenia #genocide #ottomans #turkey #racism #worldwarone

During the Ottoman rule, less than 5 percent of Palestine’s population was Jewish

During the Ottoman rule, less than 5 percent of Palestine’s population was Jewish

The Ottomans ruled the contemporary Israel and Palestine for 400 years after their occupation of the land in 1517. Their legacy is still felt today in several aspects.

The legal system of Israel, the religious court records (the sijjil), the land registry (the tapu) and a few architectural gems all testify to the significance of the Ottomans’ presence.

Suleiman the Magnificent who is known as Sultan to the Arabs and Caesar to the Christians never visited Jerusalem but, regarding himself as the second Solomon, he rebuilt most of the and gates that we see today.

During the Ottoman rule, less than 5 percent of the population was Jewish, probably 10 to 15 percent were Christian and remaining were Muslims.

As Yonatan Mendel comments:

“The exact percentage of Jews prior to the rise of Zionism is unknown. However, it probably ranged from 2 to 5%. According to Ottoman records, a total population of 462,465 resided in 1878 in what is today Israel/Palestine. Of this number, 403,795 (87 percent) were Muslim, 43,659 (10 percent) were Christians and 15,011 (3 percent) were Jewish”

The official website of the Israeli foreign ministry relating to the history of Palestine since the sixteenth century states: “Following the Ottoman Conquest in 1517, the Land was divided into four districts, attached administratively to the province of Damascus and ruled from Istanbul. At the outset of the Ottoman era, some 1,000 Jewish families lived in the country, mainly in Jerusalem, Nablus (Schechem), Hebron, Gaza, Safed (Tzfat) and the villages of the Galilee. The community was composed of descendants of Jews who had always lived in the Land as well as immigrants from North Africa and Europe. Orderly government, until the death (1566) of Sultan Suleiman the magnificent, brought improvements and stimulated Jewish immigration. Some newcomers settled in Jerusalem but the majority went to Safed where, by the mid-16th century, the Jewish population had risen to about 10,000, and the town had become a thriving textile centre.”

[Research by Fidato]

Yazids

Also spelled Yesidis.

They’re a Kurdish-speaking endogamous religious group indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey, & Iran, with small numbers living in Armenia & Georgia (the country). Endogamy is the cultural practice of only marrying within a specific social group, religious denomination, caste, or ethnic group. The majority of the Yazidis remaining in the Middle East today live in Iraq, primarily in the governorates of Nineveh & Duhok.

Yazidism came about through a complex historical process involving a pre-Islamic Kurdish religious substratum & teachings of Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir. Generally, scholars regard Yazidism as an independent religious tradition with deep roots in ancient Iranian beliefs, shaped by later Sufi influences. Yazidism was adopted by many Kurdish tribes & Emirates. It reached as far west as Antioch & as far east as Sulaymaniyah. Sulaymaniyah/Slemani is a city in the East of the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

Yezidi manuscripts (called misurs) were written in the 13th century. It contains lists of Kurdish tribes affiliated with Yezidi Pir saints. Only 2 of the 40 total manuscripts have been published so far. Namely, the Misur of Pir Sini Darani & the Misur of Pir Xetib Pisi. The list in the Misur of Pir Sini Darani includes several large tribes that have been largely or fully Islamized today.

From the 14th century on, Yazidis developed their own religious & political institutions in the areas where they lived. The Yezidi territories were divided into 7 administrative centers. Each has its own Sincaq (This is an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire). More commonly known as Tawis among the Yezids. Sincaqs are sacred bronze effigies bearing the image of a bird or peacock to symbolize Tawusi Melek. They serve as symbols of power for each administrative center.

Every 6 months, the Yezidi Quwals, who are trained reciters of Qewls & other forms of sacred oral Yezidi tradition, were sent out to other Yezidi-inhabited areas with military protection from the central administrative region of Shekhan & the spiritual center of Lalish.

This tradition serves to preserve the Yazidi faith & doctrine. The Qewals, supported by voluntary alms, led a Sincaq through Yazidi villages to maintain spiritual legitimacy & symbolize the authority of Lalish & the Mir.

During WWI, the Armenian genocide of 1915 caused a mass exodus of Yazidis from Van, Kars, & Bazid, Turkey. Together with many Armenians, they fled from the Ottoman Empire in masses to Transcaucasia (a.k.a. South Caucasus. This is located on the border of Eastern Europe & West Asia, which straddles the southern Caucasus Mountains.).

They followed their families/relatives who had already migrated to the territories of the Russian Empire after fleeing during the Russo-Turkish wars in 1828-1829 & 1877-1878. In May 1918, Ottomans crossed the Akhuryan River to invade the Armenian Republic. The Yezidi participation in the decisive Battle of Sardarabad is still commemorated by Armenians.

Yazidism is a monotheistic faith based on belief in 1 God, who created the world & entrusted it into the care of a Heptad of the 7 Holy Beings. Often known as angels or heft sirr (the 7 Mysteries). Preeminent among these is Tawusi Melek (also known as Melek Taus), the Peacock Angel. Traditionally, Yazidis who marry non-Yazidis are considered to have converted to the religion of their spouse.

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Histoire sur RFI : "De Carthage à 1830, la Tunisie au fil des influences"

"Direction le nord de l’Afrique pour raconter la Tunisie, de Carthage à 1830. Une histoire fascinante pour avoir abrité dominations romaine, arabe, ottomane ou encore française, faite de bouleversements, de rebondissements, de guerres, de traités de paix. Comment ce petit pays, à la géographie singulière, a-t-il façonné ses identités ? De quelles façons sa morphologie, sa position et ses caractéristiques expliquent-elles son histoire ?"
https://www.rfi.fr/fr/podcasts/afrique-m%C3%A9moires-d-un-continent/20260128-de-carthage-%C3%A0-1830-la-tunisie-au-fil-des-influences
#histoire #Carthage #Tunisie #RFI #archeologie #RomeAntique #Ottomans #MondeArabe #Maghreb

غازی انور پاشا کا آخری خط: عشق، ایمان اور شہادت کی گواہی

غازی انور پاشا کا آخری خط: عشق، ایمان اور شہادت کی گواہی

#Ataturk #History #Muslims #Ottomans #Turkey #اردو #اسلام #خلافتعثمانیہ

Today's Flickr photo with the most hits: the ballroom of the Dolmabahce Palace.

#dolmabahce #palace #ottomans #sultans #architecture

Kut (mythology)

According to the Turkic belief kut/qut meaning ‘blessing’ or ‘fortune,’ is a kind of force vitalizing the body.

Through kut, humans are connected with the Heavens. Also the sacred ruler is believed to be endowed with much more kut than other people. Thus the Heaven would’ve appointed him as the legitimate ruler.

The Turkic khagans claimed that they were “heaven-like, heaven conceived” & possessed kut. This was a sign of the Mandate of Heaven to rule.

Rulers of the Qocho were entitled idiqut ‘sacred good fortune’ in Old Uyghur. It also existed in Mongols as suu. It was believed that if the ruler had lost their qut, they could be dethroned & killed. This had to be done without shredding his/their blood. This was done usually by strangling with a silk cord. This custom (of strangling) continued among the Ottomans.

The Ottomans also continued this tradition by re-expressing the “ruler’s heavenly mandate” (kut) into Irano-Islamic terms with titles like “shadow of God on earth” (zill Allah fi’l-alem) & “caliph of the face of the earth (halife-i ru-yi zemin).

Kutlug is a frequently used & well-known personal Uyghur name. It was also the name of first rulers of the Second Turkic Khaganate Ilterish Qaghan, & the Uyghur Khaganate, Kutlug I Bilge Kagan.

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#HalifeIRuYiZemin #Heaven #Idiqut #IlterishQaghan #IranoIslamic #Kut #Kutleg #KutlugIBilgeKagan #Mongols #OldUyghur #Ottomans #Qocho #Qut #SacredRuler #SecondTurkicKhaganate #Suu #Turkey #Turkic #Uyghur #UyghurKhaganate #ZillAllahFiLAlem