Lak (tribe)

Mohammad-Ali Emam-Shooshtari divided the Lurs into four groups, Luristani, Bakhtiari, Kohgiluyeh, and Lurs of Fars, and added that a large part of the Luristanis were of Lak origin, and that Laks were considered Kurds.^[13] Abdollah Shahbazi wrote that the tribes of Luristan comprised two groups, the Lur and Lak, which differed in language, culture, and some religious aspects, and that the Laks were originally considered the southernmost group of Kurdish tribes, but later intermingled and assimilated with the Lur tribes.^[14] Mohammad Moin, who reviewed the Burhan-i Qati, listed several definitions for the word "Lak", one of which was "the name of a tribe of nomadic Kurds." He described the Laks as "a tribe from the Kurdish tribes of Iran, which lives in Kolya'i, Kermanshah, Hamadan, Isfahan, Kurdistan, Esfandabad, Chaharkaveh, and Aliverdi", and that Lak was also "a name of a tribe of the Qashqai tribes." Moin added that during the Zand period, the Lak and Zand formed two parts of the "Zand-Laki" or "Zanlaki" tribe, which had some descendants near the Iran-Iraq border and Soltanabad.^[15]

Vladimir Minorsky described the Lak tribes as a Kurdish island in Luristan,^[16] which lived interspersed among the population of northern Luristan, and spoke a variety of Kurdish, distinct from the Luri dialects which were closer to Persian.^[17] He also described them as the southernmost group of Kurdish tribes which had come from further north.^[18] Minorsky also noted that the Lak Kurds, who mainly comprised the tribes of Tarhan, Delfan, Selseleh, and Beyranvand, were only considered Lurs in an administrative sense.^[19] H. L. Rabino added that they were settled in Luristan by Shah Abbas after he installed the Vali dynasty, to support the government.^[18][20] According to A. H. Schindler, the "Akrâd nâme" mentioned that Lurs originated in the region of Manrud, and that later many Kurdish families came from Jabal al-Sumaq to Luristan and settled there as Khorshidi subjects. He claimed that those Kurds, who were called Laks by the local Lurs, eventually integrated among the Lurs, and while they were often called Lurs by outsiders, there remained a distinction among the people themselves. He claimed that the tribes of Delfan were hated by the Lurs, who considered them immigrants, and that the Kurzebur, another local tribe, was divided into sections based on Lur or Lak origin.^[21]

John R. Perry wrote that the Lak tribes, whose speech resembled Kurdish more than Luri, apparently immigrated to northern Luristan or were settled there by Shah Abbas, and by the later Safavid period, they were mentioned alongside the Zands as Lurs.^[22] According to The Cambridge History of Iran, the "northern Lur or Lak tribes" may have been immigrants of Kurdish origin, either way distinct from the Feyli Lurs of Khorramabad.^[23] Richard N Frye wrote that Pish-e-Kuh "includes the chief city of Khurramabad, but today much of the population in the northern valleys, up to Kermanshah speak Lakki dialects which are south Kurdish dialects", and that "speakers of Lakki dialects in northern Luristan are probably relatively late intruders, as are the Kurds in their homeland to the north of the Kermanshah-Hamadan road."^[24] Gernot L Windfuhr described the population of Lorestan as including "the Lori and South Kurdish Lakki tribes".^[25] According to Andrew Dalby, "although there are Kurd tribes in Luristan, the true Lurs speak dialects which belong to the south-western Iranian group, like Persian and the dialects of Fars."^[26] Xavier de Planhol, describing Yarsani communities, wrote that "it is difficult to specify to what extent the sect extends further east among the Bakhtiyâri, nevertheless it is certainly predominant among the Gurân, the northern neighbors of the Lours, and between Kermânchâh, Sannah and Hamadân, and more or less spread among the neighboring Kurdish tribes (Laks)."^[27]

In "Mamassanī dar goḏargāh-e tārīḵ", a major study on southern Iran,^[28] Hasan Habibi Fahliyani, describing Lak elements among the Qashqai, added that the Laks, who he called "Kurd-Lurs", were of Kurdish ancestry and their language was more Kurdish and less Luri, but since they were relocated to northern Lorestan during the time of Shah Abbas, they were commonly mistaken for Lur tribes.^[29] Manouchehr Kayani also described the Laks as being "of Kurd-Lur origin, one group living in Kurdistan and the other in Luristan."^[30]

Others claimed the Laks were previously considered Lurs but increasingly shifted towards Kurds. According to Bahman Karimi, the Laks were neither Kurds nor Lurs but emerged from an amalgamation of both. G. B. Akopov also believed the Laks included both elements, and claimed that the question was not about whether the Laks were Kurds or Lurs, but rather about clarifying the direction of their ethnic development. He claimed that although historical sources varied, such as Friech who considered them Lurs, or Lerch and Minorsky who considered them Kurds, it was evident in most 19th-century sources that the Laks were not shifting towards Lurs, and that there were clear differences between them. By the 20th century, Persian influence in the region began to affect both the Kurds and Lurs alike. Akopov noted that J. M. Kinnier having mentioned Laks in Lorestan who "were actually Lurs" was a different topic.^[31]

The name of the Laks was commonly believed to derive from "lak", a Persian word meaning "one hundred thousand", which was said to have been the original Lak population.^[32][33] It was also suggested that "Lak" emerged as an ethnic term emerged after a process of cultural and ethnological amalgamations between the migrant tribes and people of the region, and that the term was originally used to refer to certain nomadic tribes before developing into an ethnic term for a large population, both settled and nomadic.^[33] Scholars generally agreed that it derived from the Persian numeral for 100,000 used in the Safavid era, dismissing a prominent folk etymology among many Laks claiming that "Lak" (لک) was formed by the letter "L" (ل) representing Lurs and the letter "K" (ک) representing Kurds.^[34][35][36]

There was also an old claim that the term "Lak" was used among Lurs to refer to Kurds.^[37] A. H. Schindler also claimed that Lurs used the term "Lak" for Kurds, adding that when the Lurs accepted Islam, the Laks did not, which sometimes caused the terms "Lak" and "Kurd" to be used derogatorily in Luristan for people who did not fulfill religious duties.^[21] Similarly, Albert Socin wrote that the Lurs stressed their differences from the Kurds, who they called "Lak".^[38] According to V. F. Dittel, "In Persia, numerous Kurdish tribes call themselves 'Laki' and speak a language that differs from the other dialect, Luri, which includes the large Bakhtiari tribe, who also have their own literature like the others."^[39]

The Laks were first mentioned in the Sharafnama alongside the Zands among the less prominent Kurdish tribes subject to Persia.^[40][41] Mustafa Dehqan added that the Sharafnama linking the Laks to the Kurds of Iran rather than the Ottomans was significant, and chronicled the rise to dominance of both the Kurdish identity of the Laks, as well as their interest in Iranian culture and literature.^[42] However, Dehqan clarified that the first mention of the Laks, in the Sharafnama, was only minor, and that the first detailed mention of the Laks was in Bustan al-Siyaha of Zain al-Abidin Shirvani.^[43]

Zain al-Abidin Shirvani describing the Laks, mentioned the tribes of Zand, Mafi, Bajalan, and Zandi-yi Kala, reportedly the tribe of Karim Khan Zand. While at Shiraz, Karim Khan called for the Lak tribe of Beyranvand. In 1797, the Beyranvand and Bajalan actively supported Mohammad Khan Zand against the Qajars. Under the Qajars, several Lak tribes were broken up, and the Zand tribe suffered extensively and was almost wiped out. According to Minorsky, before their settlement in Luristan, the Lak tribes of Selseleh were said to have previously lived near Mahidasht before coming to Luristan, while the Delfan were named after the Dulafid dynasty which ruled over them, and the Bajalan of Zohab and northern Luristan were one tribe which claimed to come from Mosul, with the Luristan branch seemingly exchanging their Kurmanji for Laki during their sojourn with the Laks.^[32][33] In Tarikh-e Alam-ara-ye Abbasi, the Laks were mentioned as a Kurdish tribe around Salmas.^[44] The same Laks of Salmas were also mentioned in a work of Ali Naqi Nasiri reviewed by Willem M Floor,^[45] who described them as a tribe of southern Kurdish origin which migrated to Salmas and around Iran, but added that the Laks of Salmas soon disappeared from historic records, with their last trace possibly being the name of the Lakestan Rural District.^[46] The Laks of Salmas were historically categorized among the tribes in the region with no affiliation to the Qizilbash.^[47] Later, a Qajar Persian text known as Tawayif wa Qabayil-i Buzurg-i Akrad, also included the Laks among the Kurdish tribes of Iran.^[43]

During the Zand period, the tribes of Lorestan were divided into two groups, the Laks, who were known as "the Vand tribes", and the Lurs, who were known as "the Feyli tribes" and were attached to the Vali dynasty.^[48][49] The Vali of Lorestan, Ismail Khan, who ruled over a large Lak population, feared becoming subordinate to Karim Khan Zand. Ismail Khan, who believed that only Alids should rule Iran, was alarmed by the rise of the Zands and mainly opposed them because they were local Laks of humble origin, whereas the Vali dynasty considered themselves superior as they claimed descent from Abbas ibn Ali and were installed by the Safavids.^[50] Ismail Khan regarded submission to Karim Khan Zand as dishonorable, emphasizing his Alid ancestry and uniting the Feyli Lur tribes around his cause, creating difficulties for the Zand dynasty. Some tribes in Lorestan, which were mistreated by Ismail Khan, or had family ties to the Zands, supported the Zands, although they were few and were under severe pressure from Ismail Khan and his allied tribes.^[51]

In Lorestan, the main supporters of Karim Khan Zand were the Beyranvand tribe, whereas the Feyli Lur tribes supported Ismail Khan against him.^[52] After the death of Karim Khan Zand, relations between the Vali dynasty and the Zands improved. However, towards the end of the Zand dynasty, their old enmity resurfaced, and the Vali dynasty helped the Qajars during their rise to power.^[53] During the rise of Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, the Vali dynasty under Ismail Khan allied with the Qajars. Hasan Khan, the successor of Ismail Khan, maintained the alliance and had even handed over Mohammad Khan Zand to the Qajars. However, the initial good relations between the Vali dynasty and the Qajars, which were based on their shared enmity for the Zands, had soon deteriorated, and the Qajars even seized Lorestan (Pish-e-Kuh), although the Vali dynasty did not cause problems for the Qajars afterwards and remained cooperative.^[54][55]

When the Qajars came to power, Ismail Khan persecuted several tribes, including the Laks of Delfan, causing many of them to flee to Kermanshah.^[56] The Lak tribes of Hasanvand and Beyranvand, despite being counted among the Feyli tribes, had earlier supported the Zands, and having lost their privileges under the Qajars, began revolting and became the most troublesome tribes in Lorestan for the government.^[57] After Mohammad Khan, the last son of Ismail Khan, was killed by the Laks of Selseleh, Ismail Khan ordered his successor Hasan Khan to take revenge, and many of the Selseleh were killed.^[58] Later, Hasan Khan, as the Vali of Posht-e-Kuh, was invited to Lorestan by the Qajars to help suppress the revolt of his cousin Huseynqoli Khan, and he took the opportunity to devastate the Beyranvand tribe.^[59] His successor, Abbasqoli Khan, in one incident offered twenty horsemen to help the Qajar prince suppress the rebellious Delfan tribes who had advanced toward Posht-e-Kuh.^[60][61] When Reza Shah came to power, during his campaign against the tribes of Lorestan, the Beyranvand tribe reportedly did most of the fighting,^[62] while the Selseleh tribe was also among the rebellious tribes.^[63]

The geographical territory of the Laks was sometimes called Lakestan.^[32][33][64] The main Lak region included the southern and western parts of Hamadan, eastern parts of Kermanshah, western and northern parts of Lorestan, and eastern parts of Ilam. However, the Laks also lived in the wider region stretching from the city of Hamadan to the north of Khuzestan province to the city of Shahr-e Kord. The Lak region was previously part of the historical Iranian province officially known as "the fifth province" (ostan-e panjom), with the city of Kermanshah as its provincial capital.^[33]

Some Laks also lived near Esfandabad and Leylakh near Sanandaj in Kurdistan, and there were other exclaves of Laks further in areas such as Qazvin, Hashtgerd, Damavand, Kerman, and in the Caspian regions such as Manjil in Gilan and Kelardasht in Mazandaran, Salmas in West Azerbaijan, as well as in Dargaz and Kalat in Razavi Khorasan. Some Lak exclaves continued to speak Laki while others were linguistically assimilated. After the fall of the Zand dynasty, many of their supporters in central Iran were absorbed by greater nomadic confederations. The Laks were mainly absorbed into the Qashqai confederation, although some Laks were absorbed by the Bakhtiari or Boyer Ahmadi tribes. Rahimi Othmani noted thirteen Qashqai tribes of Lak origin. There were also said to be Lak communities in Iraq, as well as in Turkey around Adıyaman and between Adana and Central Anatolia, who adopted the local northern Kurdish dialects, or different languages altogether.^[33] In the 1840s, there were upwards of 3,000 Lak families in villages around Kirkuk, where they had adopted the local Kurdish dialect and Sunni Islam, while some Lak tribes lived in Zohab and "in great numbers" in Iran. The Laks were noted as a tribe divided between Ottoman and Persian authority. Historically, their Kurdish affiliation did not matter, as it was Sunni and Shia affiliation which determined Ottoman or Persian subjection respectively.^[65]

The Laks were considered a Kurdish tribe on the census in Ottoman Iraq,^[66] and after the establishment of the Iraqi state.^[67] The Laks in the Ottoman Empire were considered Kurds who historically came from Iran, and in Turkish they were called "Lek Kürtleri",^[68][69][70] and historically "Ekrad-ı Lek",^[71] or "Lek Ekradi".^[72][70] The Laks were also said to be Kurdish migrants into Turkey from Khorasan.^[73] Another tribal document mentioned the "Lak" or "Lek" tribe, which lived in "Karaman, Konya, Sultanönü (Eskişehir), Niğde, Kayseriyye, Zamantı (Meraş), Harmancık (Kayserriyye), Çorum, Kırşehir, and Çukurova. From the nomadic Kurdish tribes."^[74] While tribes were largely autonomous in the first century of Ottoman rule, a qadi was later appointed to the Lek (Lekwan) Kurds, Reşwan Kurds, as well as Bozulus Turkmen.^[75] Meanwhile, the Lekvanik tribe were known for brigandage, and made alliances with other Kurdish tribes to organize robberies.^[76] At the end of the 17th century, the Laks joined the Yazidis and several Kurdish tribes in Elbistan in a revolt against the Ottomans.^[77]

The most distinguished point in the history of the Laks was the rise of Karim Khan Zand. Two revolutionary leaders later of emerged from among the Laks, namely Yar-Mohammad Khan Kermanshahi, who fought alongside the Constitutionalists in Tabriz and was killed in battle against Qajar prince Farmanfarma in Kermanshah in October 1912, and Khalu Qorban Harsini, the commander of partisan units of Mirza Kuchik Khan in the Jangali movement before the rise of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1920.^[33]

Minorsky noted the cohesion of the Lak tribes before 1914, adding that the tribes of Delfan, Selseleh, and Tarhan were united under Nazar Ali Khan of the Amra'i clan. Minorsky also claimed that they additionally had religious solidarity, as all of the Delfan and many Amala of Tarhan were Yarsani.^[32] Minorsky claimed that the majority of Laks were Yarsani. Most Laks were Shia Muslims by the 21st century. A considerable amount of Laks remained Yarsani, mainly around Sahneh and Nurabad.^[33] There were also Bible translations into Laki by the 21st century.^[78][79] In addition to Laki, there were some Laks who adopted neighboring dialects of Kurdish, Luri, and Gorani.^[80] Many Lak tribes of Posht-e-Kuh traditionally spoke the local Southern Kurdish dialect and not Laki.^[81]

Erik Anonby mentioned that the Laks in Iran had always been divided, with some identifying as Kurds, as Lurs, or as a distinct ethnic group related to both, and added that most Laks in Lorestan province firmly identified with the Lurs, with the identification strengthening by the beginning of the 21st century. He linked their increasing tendency to identify as Lurs to the fact that the Lurs were historically the ruling class of both Lorestan and Ilam provinces, as well as the main corpus of the Laks, in Lorestan province, being subjected to Lur rulers such as the Vali dynasty.^[82] Anonby claimed that Fattah gave a detailed overview but was politically motivated in considering them Kurds, and while Fattah defended their Kurdish identity, claiming there were deliberate attempts to distance them from Kurds, he acknowledged that Laks have often been considered by scholars as part of the Lurs, which had an effect on their identification. Anonby also pointed out that Fattah had more information on Posht-e-Kuh than Pish-e-Kuh. Anonby added that Amanollahi and Izadpanah gave the primary ethnic identity of Laki-speakers as neither Lak nor Kurdish, but rather Lur, considering Laki as a uniquely linguistic term, whereas Luri was ethnic and linguistic. While Anonby agreed with their view on the identity of Laks in Pish-e-Kuh, he admitted that it had been generalized to include the more complex Laks of Posht-e Kuh.^[83] According to Rüdiger Schmitt, the Laks spoke a "SE Kurdish dialect" but "strongly identify themselves as Lurs, a more prestigious SW Perside tribe adjacent to them, even though Lurs are low themselves on the prestige scale."^[84]

Anonby noted that the Laks were not a homogenous people, and were traditionally divided into two main groups, the Laks of Pish-e-Kuh (Lorestan province) and the Laks of Posht-e-Kuh (Kermanshah and Ilam provinces and adjacent parts of Iraq), and that they were mainly linked by the Laki language, otherwise the two groups were relatively independent of each other. This later caused debates over whether the Lak ethnicity existed in the first place. He added that by the 21st century, most Laks of Pish-e-Kuh identified firmly as Lurs, while the Laks of Posht-e-Kuh showed strong ties to both Kurds and Lurs.^[80] Erhard Franz, describing Laki-speakers, claimed that part of them (such as the Kalhor and Kolyai) were considered Kurds and the other part were considered Lurs.^[85] Belelli also noted the same pattern of self-identification as Anonby did, adding that regardless of what they identified as, the Laks were aware of having an intermediate position between Kurds and Lurs, whether ethnic, linguistic, cultural, or geographic, and that the shifting self-definitions which varied according to circumstances should not be surprising. The Laks she had consulted generally identified as Lak, without specifying if they were part of the Kurdish or Lur cultural complexes, but they typically perceived the Laki language as a peculiar kind of Kurdish.^[34] Others also noted how the labels (Kurdish, Lur, Lak) that locals applied to themself varied depending on circumstances.^[86]

The village of Chashin in Hamadan was made up of Laks who followed Yarsanism, with a population of 1,400 in 2015. The surrounding villages spoke Persian, Azerbaijani, or Luri. The Laks of Chashin identified either as Laki-speaking Kurds or as Laks altogether, and had explicitly distinguished themselves from the residents of Khaku, a nearby village, because they spoke northern Luri.^[87]

Anonby added that many Laks in Lorestan province considered Luristani Luri as more valuable than Laki, and adopted the Luri language to "get ahead", abandoning the Laki language as it was associated with cultural conservativism, rurality and economic deprivation, despite Luri also facing pressure and shifting towards Persian.^[88]

Minorsky mentioned the lists of Lak tribes in Lorestan gathered by Oskar Mann and Rabino, which included the Delfan, Selseleh, and the Amra'i clan of the Tarhan (or Tarkhan). The Beyranvand and Dalvand tribes, which were claimed to be part of the tribes of Bala Gariva, were also considered Lak.^[32][89] The Beyranvand were historically distinguished as the only Laki speakers in the Bala Gariva confederation, which spoke Luri.^[90] The tribes of Tarhan included both Luri and Laki speakers.^[91] According to Iranica, the Delfan, including Kakavand, Bijanvand, Ivatvand, spoke Laki, and the tribes of Tarhan comprised the Luri speaking tribes of Suri, Amrayi, Alivand, Khoshnamvand, Garma'i, and Shiravand, as well as the Laki speaking tribes of Garavand, Adinavand, Kunani, Azadbakht, and Owlad-e Qobad, among others, while the Selseleh, including Hasanvand, Yusofvand, Kowlivand, spoke Luri,^[92] or Laki.^[93]

Minorsky also mentioned a list compiled by J. L. Rousseau at Kermanshah in 1807, listing the local Lak tribes as Kalhor, Mafi, Nanaki, Jalilvand, Payravand, Kolya'i, Sufivand, Bahramvand, Karkuki, Tawali, Zuyirvand, Kakuvand, Namivand, Ahmadvand, Bohtu'i, Zuliya, Harsini, and Shaykhvand.^[32] The Kalhor, Mafi, Sufivand, Karkuki, Jalilvand, and Kolya'i tribes mentioned in the list were also considered Kurdish.^[33] Rousseau claimed that the term Lak was a general label applied to the tribes around the southeast of Kermanshah.^[31] Other lists also included the Bajalan and Zangana tribes as Lak.^[94]

In Iran, different groups of Laks were historically independent of each other, and often identified with either the Kurds or Lurs to varying degrees.^[95] It was difficult to properly classify the Lak tribes, as many Lak tribes were often also listed as Kurds or Lurs.^[94]

Abbas al-Azzawi listed the Zargush, Suramiri, Rojbayani, Lak (a small tribe in Erbil), and Sheikhbizin tribes as the Lak confederation of the Kurdish tribes in Iraq.^[67] Among the Kurdish tribes in Turkey, the Lekvanik around Çukurova, the Sheikhbizin around Haymana, and the Bermeki around Bingöl, were considered Lak.^[96]

• Karim Khan Zand
• Alireza Beiranvand