Narratives of Ottoman-Kurdish Bedirxani Family History in Imperial and Post-Imperial Contexts

This book traces the history of the Ottoman-Kurdish Bedirxani family during the Ottoman Empire and post-imperial periods. By following various members of the extended Bedirxani family in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, we use the family's history as a starting point to investigate the dynamics of post-imperial identity formation before and after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, and the current geopolitical structure of the Middle East marked by nationalism and the emergence of nationalist identities. as a decisive moment in its formation.

The strategies used by family members to negotiate the transition from empire to post-imperial contexts; They are analyzed along with the stories they tell about themselves, their families' history, and the network structures in which they operate. At the core of the debate lies an observation that, with the end of the Ottoman Empire, imperial solidarity structures and identity frameworks did not disappear overnight and were not replaced by nationalist identities and loyalties. On the contrary, the history of the Bedirxani family shows that post-imperial identity formation is a long-term process and a complex phenomenon consisting of many layers.