The era culminating in World War I saw a transition from multinational empires to
nation-states. Large empires such as the Austro-Hungarian and the Ottoman searched for ways to
cope with the decline of their political control, while peoples in these empires shifted their political
loyalties to nation-states. The Ottoman Empire offers a favorable canvas for studying new
nationalisms that resulted in many successful and unsuccessful attempts to form nation-states. As
an example of successful attempts, Arab nationalism has received the attention that it deserves in
the field of Middle Eastern studies.1 Students have engaged in many complex
debates on different aspects of Arab nationalism, enjoying a wealth of hard data. Studies on
Kurdish nationalism, however, are still in their infancy. Only a very few scholars have addressed
the issue in a scholarly manner.2 We still have an inadequate understanding of the
nature of early Kurdish nationalism and its consequences for the Middle East in general and
Turkish studies in particular. Partly because of the subject's political sensitivity, many
scholars shy away from it. However, a consideration of Kurdish nationalism as an example of
unsuccessful attempts to form a nation-state can contribute greatly to the study of nationalism in
the Middle East.