In 1303, during the reign of
Ilkhanid ruler
Ghazan, the area comprising Naqadeh County was distributed in fiefs. According to the orientalist
Vladimir Minorsky (died 1966), citing the 16th-century Kurdish prince and writer
Sharafkhan Bidlisi, during the rule of the
Turkoman Aq Qoyunlu and
Qara Qoyunlu (in about the 15th century), the Kurds of the
Mukri occupied the county of Naqadeh, and its old inhabitants were most likely "reduced to servitude". Minorsky, citing a mutilated and undated part of Bidlisi's work, narrates that a certain Budak of the Kurdish Baban tribe captured the county in which Naqadeh is located from the
Qizilbash. This event may refer to one of the abrupt outbursts of skirmishes which occurred on the
Safavid frontier. In 1828, following the
Treaty of Turkmenchay, Iranian crown prince
Abbas Mirza handed over the district in which Naqadeh is situated as a
fief to 800 Turkic
Karapapakh families and these new settlers, in return, had to have 400 horsemen ready for disposal for the government. Just prior to their arrival, the district had a population of 4–5,000 families of both Kurds and
Muqaddam Shia Turks. The district would gradually fall into the hands of the Karapapakh newcomers. The state-supported Karapapakh consolidated their power quickly by attacking the Kurdish Mangur and Zerza tribes. In 1914, 80
Assyrian families were left in the town, and 120
Jewish families of which most have since then migrated to
Israel. The Jews of Naqadeh County were "probably the oldest element in the present population" of the county. In 1917, there were 598
Assyrians in 108 families at Sulduz; 35 were elderly, 60 were orphans, and 84 were able-bodied. During the
Ottoman occupation from 1908 to 1912, the Karapapakh population suffered considerably as they were seen as Iranian agents. The Ottomans attempted to destroy the tribal structure and free the
rayah of the town. The town would change hands between the Ottomans and the
Russians in this period, until the Iranians took control in 1919. Ethnic relations were friendlier despite clashes during the 1940s when the town was part of the short-lived
Republic of Mahabad. The local
Azerbaijanis were favored by the state and dominated the town politically and socially, which added to the ethnic violence in the town.
Kurdish separatism and the political demands by Kurds were a source of concern for the Azerbaijanis, fearing the loss of influence in the region. In April 1979, after the
Iranian Revolution, the two ethnic groups clashed in the town and about 100 to 300 people were killed. The reason for the clashes was the relatively liberal political atmosphere in the country which pushed the
Kurds to openly aspire for self-governance. The new government furthermore recruited local Shia Azerbaijanis to the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps which went on to massacre the Kurds of nearby
Qarna,
Qalat and
Egriqash. In recent years,
nationalist Azerbaijani events have been repressed by the state, while Kurdish nationalism has become more radical as seen with the attraction among the youth towards the
Kurdistan Free Life Party. ==Demographics==