CHALDIRAN, BATTLE OF

(1514)

   At this important battle northeast of Lake Van, the Ottomans inflicted a crushing defeat upon the Safavid Persians. The resulting boundary established between the two was formalized by the Treaty of Zuhab in 1639 and has persisted into modern times. As a result, most Kurds lived within the boundaries of the Ottoman Empire, while the remainder lived within Persia. After the battle, pastoral nomadic Kurds increasingly began to join and even replace the indigenous Armenian agriculturist population on the plateau situated there.