Beyond the Borders: How an Ottoman Sultan’s Letter to a French King Proves the Enduring Legacy of Kurdistan

Daniel Rasul
Dec 1, 2025
6 min read

**A reproduction of the letter from Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent to King Francis I of France, dated 1526, highlighting the Sultan's list of domains including "Kurdistan."**

In the modern political landscape, the mere mention of the name “Kurdistan” can often spark intense debate. For some, it is a homeland and a cultural legacy; for others, it is a political concept said to have little or no historical precedent. A common, yet historically unfounded, assertion is that “Kurdistan has never existed” as a recognizable geographical or political entity.

However, historical truth often lies hidden in the dusty archives of empires, etched into diplomatic correspondence that bridges continents and cultures. In this case, the truth is found in a monumental document from the year 1526, signed by one of the greatest rulers the world has ever known: Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.

This single, official letter, sent to a desperate King of France, offers an undeniable, 16th-century refutation of the claim that Kurdistan is a purely modern invention. It confirms that Kurdistan was not only a recognized entity but a strategically vital component of the world’s most powerful empire nearly five centuries ago.

📜 The Diplomatic Bombshell: A Cry for Help and an Imperial Answer

To understand the weight of this letter, we must first appreciate its dramatic context.

The year is 1525. Francis I, the King of France, has just suffered a catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Pavia against the armies of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. Francis is captured and imprisoned. Facing total collapse, the French Crown, the traditional enemy of the Ottoman Empire, makes a desperate and unprecedented move: they dispatch an envoy to Istanbul, petitioning the Sultan for military and financial assistance against the mighty Habsburgs.

The response came from Sultan Suleiman I, known across Europe as "The Magnificent" and within his own realm as "The Lawgiver." His reply to Francis I, dated between January 15 and 24, 1526, is a document of unparalleled political arrogance and power.

The letter begins not with a casual greeting, but with the Tuğra (the Sultan’s imperial cipher) and a lengthy, thunderous declaration of his titles—a crucial detail for our discussion. This introductory address was not a casual flourish; it was the formal, legally binding definition of the Sultan’s absolute dominion. It read, in part:

“I, the Sultan of Sultans, the Sovereign of Sovereigns, the Distributor of Crowns to the monarchs of the Earth, the Shadow of God on Earth, Sultan and Padishah of the White Sea and the Black Sea, of Rumelia and Anatolia, of Karaman and the countries of Rum, Zulcadir, Diyarbekir, Kurdistan, Azerbaijan, Persia, Damascus, Aleppo, Egypt, Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, and all of Arabia and Yemen.”

And there it stands, nestled between the vital regions of Diyarbekir and Azerbaijan: Kurdistan.

👑 The Sultan’s Domain: Why Kurdistan Was Named

The inclusion of Kurdistan in this authoritative list is a historical fact that demands attention.

Suleiman was not a poet listing mythological lands; he was an emperor asserting jurisdiction. Every single territory mentioned in his title—from Rumelia in the Balkans to Egypt and Yemen—represented a real, administered, and recognized part of his realm. To omit a territory would be to concede authority over it; to list it was to stamp it with the indelible seal of Ottoman sovereignty.

The inclusion of Kurdistan serves three powerful historical purposes:

1. Geographical and Cultural Recognition

In the 16th century, the name Kurdistan (literally "Land of the Kurds") was not a theoretical construct. It was the widely accepted, historical term for the mountainous region predominantly inhabited by the Kurdish people, straddling the rugged frontiers between the Ottoman, Safavid (Persian), and Mamluk spheres of influence.

When Francis I’s ambassadors read this letter, they knew exactly where Kurdistan was. It was a well-documented region known for its tough terrain, strategic mountain passes, and distinct local culture. The Sultan was simply stating a geographical reality recognized by courts and cartographers across the Middle East and Europe.

2. An Assertion of Recent Conquest

The mention of territories like Diyarbekir, Kurdistan, and Azerbaijan points directly to the defining event of the previous Ottoman generation: the victory of Suleiman’s father, Sultan Selim I, over the Safavids at the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514.

This battle, followed by swift military and diplomatic maneuvers, brought massive, strategically vital Kurdish-populated territories under Ottoman control. These acquisitions were key to securing the Ottoman Empire’s eastern flank against Persia, making them immensely proud and significant additions to the imperial list. By including Kurdistan, Suleiman was boasting about the vast expanse of the Ottoman Empire’s control over this recently secured and crucial eastern frontier.

3. Administrative Reality: The Kurdish Emirates

Crucially, the Ottoman Empire acknowledged Kurdistan’s distinct identity through its administrative policy. The mountainous nature of the region and the fiercely independent character of the Kurdish tribes made direct, centralized rule difficult.

Instead, the Ottomans often employed a system where local Kurdish princely families, known as Emirs (or mîrs), were confirmed as semi-autonomous hereditary rulers. Principalities like Bitlis, Bohtan, Hakkari, and Soran maintained their own administrative systems, currencies, and even armies, in exchange for military loyalty to the Sultan, particularly in border defense against the Safavids.

This system meant that Kurdistan was not just an arbitrary name on a map, but a distinct administrative unit, or a collection of semi-autonomous Sancaks (provinces), whose governance acknowledged the unique ethnic and historical identity of the region.

🌍 Challenging the Narrative: Kurdistan’s Long Historical Arc

The undeniable evidence of Suleiman’s letter from 1526 completely dismantles the modern claim that “Kurdistan has never existed.”

The heart of the confusion often lies in conflating a historical region or people with a modern nation-state.

The Difference Between a Land and a State

Kurdistan as a Land and People: For centuries, Kurdistan existed as a recognized geographical and cultural home for the Kurds, a people speaking a distinct Indo-European language, sharing a common heritage, and often following distinct local governance systems. Historical texts from the Islamic Golden Age (centuries before the Ottomans) routinely refer to Kurdistān as a major province or region. The term was used in the Seljuk Empire, the Ayyubid Dynasty (founded by the Kurdish Saladin), and certainly by the Ottomans.
The Modern Nation-State: The concept of a sovereign, centrally governed, mono-ethnic nation-state is largely a product of the 19th and 20th centuries. The fact that the Kurdish people were never unified into a single, internationally recognized modern state does not negate the centuries-long existence of their historical, cultural, and geographical homeland.

To argue that Kurdistan did not exist because it was governed by the Ottomans or Persians is like arguing that "Bavaria" or "Scotland" did not exist because they were part of larger kingdoms or empires before achieving modern political recognition. History proves otherwise.

⛰️ Conclusion: A Legacy Etched in History

The historical record is clear. When Suleiman the Magnificent, the Sultan who oversaw the peak of Ottoman power, sent his official response to the King of France, he was listing the crowns and lands that defined his identity and legitimacy. Among them, without question or qualification, was Kurdistan.

This single word in a document from 1526 stands as a monumental historical fact, a powerful testament to the longevity of Kurdish identity and the existence of their land. It is a piece of evidence that transcends modern political posturing and speaks only the language of historical truth.

Kurdistan was a recognized administrative and geographical reality in 1526. It was a region of great strategic importance, recognized by rulers both hostile and friendly across the known world.

The narrative of the Kurdish people is one of resilience and profound historical depth. They have witnessed the rise and fall of countless empires, yet their land and their identity have endured.

Kurdistan has not just 'existed'—it has endured, and the historical record proves its place in the grand tapestry of world history.