“Even if, as some people claim today without providing convincing evidence, Ismail was born a Kurd, he was sufficiently Turkified to appear as a Turk. Many traits of his character and many of his actions were characteristic of those who came from the Central Asian steppes.”
Source: Jean-Paul Roux, history of Iran and Iranians
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1qsvz43
Posted by Objective-Chip3445
3 Comments
Well, of course, although his family tree is somewhat diverse (Greek, Georgian, Kurdish, Turkic, etc.), his primary and dominant identity was Turkic. Ismail I literally won over his followers by blending Turkic customs with Shiite Islam.
I will never understand why some Kurds want to claim him as one of their own when Ismail only identified with his Turkic origins and, what’s more, his son (and many members of the Safavid elite) used the word “Kurd” as an insult.
He was a shabak from Iraq but y’all not ready for that discussion
Who cares? We have bigger problems today than to argue about empires long gone and who ruled them.