Keyfi, his life and works in the Ottoman Archives

Abstract

Research on the history of Kurdish literature requires more efforts. Especially all those poets who have left behind little material and little has been written about them. For various reasons, the Kurds have not been able to rewrite their literary history completely and accurately. In this respect, new information about them is gradually going to be revealed through the workings on uncovering the manuscripts of the world archives. Although the nineteenth century is the richest century in the history of literature, it has the most shortcomings on the lives and works of our poets. This research entitled (Keyfi, his life and works in the Ottoman Archives) has tried to reveal several aspects of this poet's life through the Ottoman and Western archives, especially revealing part of his life in Mosul, Istanbul, and his work as a translator, lawyer, linguist and journalist. Additionally, the study reveals the time and the place of his death, and investigates his relationship with Kurdish poets and his reflection in Kurdish journalism during the Ottoman period. This study resolves some of the debates that existed in the past century about the life of this poet and with this new information fills a gap in the biography of Keyfi in the history of Kurdish literature