Mela Hesenê Bateyî


Mela Hesenê Bateyî was a Kurdish poet and cleric. His real name was Hussein. He belonged to the Artushi tribe. He was born in Bate, a village in Hakkari Province, in present-day south-eastern Turkey.

Works

His main work is called Mewlûda Kurmancî, written in the Kurmanji dialect of Kurdish. The work is a celebration of the birth of Muhammad. The book contains 19 chapters. It was used as a textbook for teaching Kurdish in the past. It is also very popular among Muslim Kurds in northern Kurdistan and many people recite its poems by heart. Its poems are also recited in other occasions such as in charity. This book was published for the first time in 1905 in Egypt. It was published for the second time in 1919 in Istanbul.