Kurdish Journalism

A History and Union Catalogue, 1898-1958

This study is divided into three chapters. Chapter one deals with the Kurds and their country Kurdistan. It covers a short account on the geography of the area, the population of the people, situation of the Kurds in the countries where they live, their origin and their language and literature. In chapter two the following two points are discussed: 1.The appearance of the first Kurdish newspaper. 2.A general survey of the previous works on the Kurdish newspapers and periodicals. Chapter three covers in chronological order, the Kurdish newspapers and other periodical publications from 22nd April 1898, the date of the first Kurdish newspaper KURDISTAN until 14th July 1958. Each entry where possible, is given a full bibliographical description, followed by the locations of the surviving issues in all libraries in Kurdistan and abroad. There follows a detailed discussion on the political and historical circumstances, the editor(s), owner, manager(s), contributors, contents, frequency, number of issues published, the income and financial position and the printing press(es)used. This chapter also reveals the following facts: 1.Most of these publications had short lives. 2.All these publications were subsidised by their owners and editors. 3.During this period (1898 1958) there were no daily Kurdish newspapers. 4.Their contents were mostly political and literary.