Ehmedê Xanî's Political Philosophy in Mem û Zîn.
Mucahit Bilici.
2021.
Mücahit Bilici Ehmedê Xanî’s (1650–1707) Mem û Zîn has rightly been called “the national epic of the Kurds. ” A work whose significance exceeds its literary attainments, Mem û Zîn’s prominent status within Kurdish classical literature continues to generate controversy. This is due not only to the fact that the text stands at the intersection of literature and politics, but also to the work’s place as a recurrent touchstone for Kurdish intellectuals interested in articulating a national narrative. Mem û Zîn’s rediscovery in the post–First World War era of ethnic or national “revivals” is no coincidence. Like their contemporaries, the late-Ottoman-era Kurdish elites were interested in the ideas of self-determination and nationhood and deployed a national movement of their own to retrieve, imagine, and construct a collective identity for their people. To the dubious relationship between historiography and nation-building, the Kurds provide no exception. Nations require origins, traditions, historical depth. [1]