- Kurd
Kürd or Kyurd or Kyurt may refer to:*Kürd Eldarbəyli, Azerbaijan*Kürd Mahrızlı, Azerbaijan*Kürd, Goychay, Azerbaijan*Kürd, Jalilabad, Azerbaijan*Kürd, Qabala, Azerbaijan*Qurdbayram, Azerbaijan...
redirects here. For the 1848–1910 German author, see Kurd Lasswitz.
The
Kurds are an
Ethnic-IranianThe Iranian peoples are an ethnic and linguistic branch of Indo-European peoples, living mainly on the Iranian plateau and beyond in central, southern, and southwestern Asia and southeastern Europe. As a group of people, they are predominantly defined along linguistic lines as speaking the Iranian...
ethnolinguistic group mostly inhabiting a region known as
KurdistanKurdistan is an extensive plateau and mountainous area in the Middle East, inhabited mainly by Kurds...
, which includes adjacent parts of
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
,
IraqIraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
,
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
, and
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
. Substantial Kurdish communities also exist in the cities of western Turkey, and they can also be found in
ArmeniaArmenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
,
GeorgiaGeorgia Georgia Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Situated at the juncture of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the east by Azerbaijan...
,
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
,
AzerbaijanAzerbaijan , formally the Republic of Azerbaijan , is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south...
,
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
,
LebanonLebanon , officially the Republic of Lebanon
[Republic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies...]
and, in recent decades, some European countries and the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(see
Kurdish diasporaKurdish diaspora is the Kurdish populations found in regions, which may be or not outside their ancestral homeland Kurdistan.- Turkey :There are approximately 12 million Kurds in Turkey. They mostly live in Southeastern Anatolia Region....
). Most speak
KurdishKurdish is the language spoken by Kurds in western Asia. Unlike many other languages it does not have a single standardized linguistic entity with the status of an official or state language...
, an
Indo-EuropeanThe Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major languages of Europe, Iran, and northern India, and historically also predominant in Anatolia and Central Asia...
language of the
IranianThe Iranian languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family and its subfamily, Indo-Iranian. They are spoken by the Iranian peoples. Avestan is the oldest recorded Iranian language....
branch, although many speak
TurkishTurkish is spoken as a first language by over 63 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Cyprus, with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and other...
as a mother tongue instead.
Language
"Kurdish" is not a firm and standardized linguistic entity with the status of an official or state language. Kurdish is a continuum of closely related dialects that are spoken in a large geographic area spanning several national states, in some of these states forming one, or several, regional substandards (e.g., Kurmanji in Turkey; Sorani in northern Iraq).
Today the term
Kurdish language (Kurdish:
Kurdî or کوردی) is a term used for several Iranian languages spoken by Kurds. It is mainly concentrated in parts of
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
,
IraqIraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
,
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
and
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
.
The Kurdish languages belong to the north-western sub-group of the
Iranian languagesThe Iranian languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family and its subfamily, Indo-Iranian. They are spoken by the Iranian peoples. Avestan is the oldest recorded Iranian language....
, which in turn belongs to the
Indo-IranianThe Indo-Iranian language group constitutes the easternmost extant branch of the Indo-European family of languages. It consists of three language groups: the Indo-Aryan, Iranian and Nuristani. The term Aryan languages is occasionally still used to refer to the Indo-Iranian languages...
branch of the
Indo-EuropeanThe Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major languages of Europe, Iran, and northern India, and historically also predominant in Anatolia and Central Asia...
family.
The older Hurrian language of the people inhabiting the Kurdish areas was replaced by Indo-European around 850 BCE, with the arrival of the Medes to Western Iran.
Most Kurds are bilingual or polylingual, speaking the languages of the surrounding peoples such as
ArabicArabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, the Arabic macrolanguage is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as...
,
TurkishTurkish is spoken as a first language by over 63 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Cyprus, with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and other...
and
PersianPersian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is widely spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and to some extent in Iraq and Bahrain, and has a status of official language in the first three countries under different names...
as a
second languageA second language is any language learned after the first language or mother tongue . Some languages, often called auxiliary languages, are used primarily as second languages or lingua francas....
.
Kurdish JewsKurdish Jews or Jews of Kurdistan are the ancient Jewish communities inhabiting the region known as Kurdistan, roughly covering parts of Iran, northern Iraq, Syria and eastern Turkey. Their clothing and culture is similar to neighbouring Muslim Kurds...
and some
Kurdish ChristiansKurdish Christians Kurdish Christians Kurdish Christians (Kurdish: are Kurds who follow Christianity and mostly live in the Kurdistan region. The word is derived from the Greek words and . The Arabic word is also sometimes used. Kurdish Christians should not be confused with other...
(not be confused with ethnic Assyrians of Kurdistan) usually speak
AramaicAramaic is a Semitic language with a 3,000-year history. It has been the language of administration of empires and the language of divine worship...
(for example:
Lishana DeniLishana Deni is a modern Jewish Aramaic language, often called Neo-Aramaic or Judeo-Aramaic. It was originally spoken in the town of Zakho and its surrounding villages in northern Iraq, on the border with Turkey. Most speakers now live in and around Jerusalem...
) as their first language. Aramaic is a
Semitic languageThe Semitic languages are a group of related languages whose living representatives are spoken by more than 467 million people across much of the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa...
related to
HebrewHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Culturally, it is considered a Jewish language. Hebrew in its modern form is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel while Classical Hebrew has been used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world for over...
and
ArabicArabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, the Arabic macrolanguage is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as...
rather than Kurdish.
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, The
Kurdish languageKurdish is the language spoken by Kurds in western Asia. Unlike many other languages it does not have a single standardized linguistic entity with the status of an official or state language...
has two main groups:
- The Kurmanji
Kurmanji or Northern Kurdish is the most commonly spoken variety of the Kurdish macrolanguage.- Scripts and books :...
dialect group.
- The Sorani
Soranî is the name of a Kurdish language that is spoken in Iran and Iraq and such is a member of the Iranian languages. Soranî belongs to one of the main Kurdish languages.- Name :...
dialect group.
and several sub-dialects:
- Kermanshahi/Feyli
Feyli can refer to:*Feyli, a group of Kurdish tribes located mainly in Lorestan.*A general name used since middle of twentieth century by Iraqi Arabs for the southern dialects of the Kurdish language spoken in Southern Kurdistan and Eastern Kurdistan Feyli (also Fayli or Faili) can refer...
- Laki language
Laki or Leki is a Northwestern Iranian language. Although usually it is grouped along with other Southern Kurdish dialects, according to distinguished scholar of Iranian languages, David Neil MacKenzie, Laki is a separate language....
- Gorani language
- Zazaki language
Although specialized sources consider
Zaza-GoraniZaza-Gorani is a subgroup of the Northwestern Iranian languages.It consists of six related languages Gorani, Bajelani, Kirmanjki , Dimli , Sarli and Shabaki. Whether to consider them separate languages or only dialects is disputed.Gorani is classified by the linguists as a non-Kurdish independent...
to be separate languages which share a large number of words with Kurdish , the general term Kurd has, nevertheless, historically been used to designate also these groups.
Commenting on the differences between the "dialects" of Kurdish, Kreyenbroek clarifies that in some ways, Kurmanji and Sorani are as different from each other as English and German, giving the example that Kurmanji has grammatical gender and case-endings, but Sorani does not, and observing that referring to Sorani and Kurmanji as "dialects" of one language is supported only by "their common origin...and the fact that this usage reflects the sense of ethnic identity and unity of the Kurds."
Population
The number of Kurds living in
Southwest AsiaWestern Asia, West Asia, Southwest Asia or Southwestern Asia are terms that describe the westernmost portion of Asia. The terms are partly coterminous with the Middle East - which describes geographical position in relation to Western Europe rather than location within Asia...
is estimated at around 30 million, with another million living in
diasporaKurdish diaspora is the Kurdish populations found in regions, which may be or not outside their ancestral homeland Kurdistan.- Turkey :There are approximately 12 million Kurds in Turkey. They mostly live in Southeastern Anatolia Region....
.
Kurds are the fourth largest ethnicity in the Middle East after Arabs, Persians and
TurksThe Turkish people , also known as the "Turks" are defined mainly as citizens of the Republic of Turkey. An early historic text provided the definition of being a Turk as "any individual within the Republic of Turkey; whatever his/her faith or racial/ethnic background; who speaks Turkish, grows up...
.
According to the CIA World Factbook, Kurds comprise 20% of the population in
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
, 15-20% in
IraqIraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
, perhaps 8% in
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
, 7% in
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
and 1.3% in
ArmeniaArmenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
. In all of these countries except Iran, Kurds form the second largest ethnic group. Roughly 55% of the world's Kurds live in Turkey, about 20% each in Iran and Iraq, and a bit over 5% in Syria.
McDowall has estimated that in 1991 the Kurds comprised 19% of the population in
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
, 23% in
IraqIraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
, 10% in
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
, and 8% in
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
. The total number of Kurds in 1991 was in this estimate placed at 22.5 million, with 48% of this number living in Turkey, 18% in Iraq, 24% in Iran, and 4% in Syria.
Origins and History
"Certainly by the time of the Islamic conquests a thousand years later, and probably for some time before, the term 'Kurd' had a socio-economic rather than ethnic meaning. It was used of nomads on the western edge of the Iranian plateau and probably also of the tribes that acknowledged the Sassanians in Mesopotamia, many of which must have been Semitic in origin."
However the contemporary authors who take this term as an "ethnic group" have suggested the
MedesThe Medes were an ancient Iranian people who lived in the northwestern portions of present-day Iran. This area is known as Media...
, Cyrtians and Carduchi as possible ancestors of the "Kurds". Most Kurds consider themselve among the descendents of Medes. Among some scholars however there are some disagreements: MacKenzie challenges relation of
Median languageThe Median language was the language of the Medes. Together with Gilaki, Mazandarani, Kurdish language and Baluchi are classified as a northwestern Iranian language. -Attestation:...
to Kurdish and Dandamaev consider Carduchi (who were from the upper Tigris near the Assyrian and Median borders) less likely than Cyrtians as ancestors of modern Kurds. However according to McDowall, the term Cyrtii was first applied to Seleucid or
ParthiaParthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasts, after which the Arsacid Empire is then also known as the 'Parthian Empire'....
n mercenary slingers from Zagros, and it is not clear if it denoted a coherent linguistic or ethnic group.The
MedesThe Medes were an ancient Iranian people who lived in the northwestern portions of present-day Iran. This area is known as Media...
were an Iranian people who overthrew the Assyrians in 612 B.C. and were later absorbed in the
Achaemenid empireThe Achaemenid Empire or Persian Empire was the successor state of the Median Empire, ruling over significant portions of what would become Greater Iran. The Persian and the Median Empire taken together are also known as the Medo-Persian Empire, succeeding the Neo-Assyrian Empire...
. The Cyrtians (Greek: Kurtioi, Latin: Cyrtii) is an ancient tribe mentioned to be in
MediaThe Medes were an ancient Iranian people who lived in the northwestern portions of present-day Iran. This area is known as Media...
,
ArmeniaArmenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
and Persia by Greek geographers such as Strabo. The Carduchi are mentioned by
XenophonXenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens and Xenophon of Thebes, was a soldier, mercenary, and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates...
and opposed the retreat of the Ten Thousand through the mountains north of Mesopotamia in the 4th century BC. Gershevitch and Fisher consider the independent Kardouchoi or Carduchi as the ancestors of the Kurds, or at least the original nucleus of the Iranian-speaking people in what is now Kurdistan.
Medieval period
In the seventh century, the Arabs possessed the castles and fortifications of the Kurds. The conquest of the cities of
SharazorSharazor was name of a Medes and Sassanid district , Kurdish kingdom, Ottoman vilayet and finally a Sanjak of Mosul vilayet situated to the southern and eastern part of what is now known as Iraqi Kurdistan.The plain of Sharazor has an important status among adherents of...
and
Aradbaz took place in 643 CE.
In 846 CE, one of the leaders of the Kurds in Mosul revolted against the Caliph Al Mo'tasam who sent the commander Aitakh to combat against him. Aitakh won this war and killed many of the Kurds. The Kurds revolted again in 903 CE, during the period of Almoqtadar. Eventually Arabs conquered the Kurdish regions and gradually converted the majority of Kurds to Islam.
In the second half of the tenth century, the Kurdish area was shared among four big Kurdish principalities. In the north were the
ShaddadidThe Shaddadids were a Kurdish dynasty who ruled in various parts of Armenia and Arran from 951-1199 A.D. They were established in Dvin. Through their long tenure in Armenia, they often intermarried with the Bagratuni royal family of Armenia....
(951–1174) in parts of present-day
ArmeniaArmenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
and Arran, and the
RawadidRawadid , , was a kurdicized principality ruling Azerbaijan from the 10th to the early 11th centuries, centered around Tabriz and Maragheh. It was founded by a Kurdish chief named Muhammad ibn Husain in the mid tenth century...
(955–1221) in
TabrizTabriz is the fourth largest city of Iran and the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. Situated at an altitude of 1,350 meters at the junction of the Quri River and Aji River, it was the second largest city in Iran until the late 1960s, one of its former capitals and residence of the crown prince...
and
MaraghehMaragheh is a city in Northern Iran on the bank of the river Safi Chay. It is located in East Azerbaijan Province at , 130 km from Tabriz and has a population of 151,486....
. In the east were the
HasanwayhidHasanawayhid or Hasanuyid was a Kurdish principality from 959 to 1015, centered at Dinawar . The principality ruled western Iran and upper Mesopotamia. The founder of the dynasty was Hasanwayh bin Husayn from the Kurdish tribe of Barzikani...
s (959–1015) and the
AnnazidThe Annazid or Banu Annaz or Al-Anazis ,, were a Kurdish dynasty that ruled a territory on the present-day Iran-Iraq frontier that included Kermanshah,Ilam, Hulwan, Dinawar , Sharazour, Daquq, Daskara, Bandanijin, and No'maniya ...
(990–1117) in
KermanshahKermanshah , is the capital city of Kermanshah Province, located 525 km from Tehran in the western part of Iran and about 120 km from the border of Iraq. Kermanshah has a continental climate. The estimated population of the city is 822,921 and the majority of the inhabitants speak...
,
DinawarDinavar was a major city in the 8th-11th centuries, located to the northeast of Kermanshah in western Iran. The ruins of the city is now located in Dinavar district, in Sahneh County, Kermanshah Province....
and
KhanaqinKhanaqin Kurdish خانه قين,Xaneqîn is a city in eastern Iraq, south of Kurdish regions. It is located at 34.3°N, 45.4°E in the Diyala Governorate, near the Iranian border on a tributary of the Diyala River.Khanaqin is the administrative capital of the Khanaqin District...
. In the west were the
MarwanidMarwanid, , was a Kurdish dynasty in Northern Mesopotamia and Armenia, centered around the city of Amed . Other cities under rule were Arzan, Mayyāfāriqīn , Hisn Kayfa , Khilāṭ, Manzikart, Arjish. The founder of the dynasty was a Kurdish shepherd, Abu Shujā Bādh bin Dustak...
(990–1096) of
DiyarbakırDiyarbakır is the largest city in southeastern Turkey. Situated on the banks of the River Tigris, it is the administrative capital of the Diyarbakır Province with a population of almost 1.5 million...
. After these, the Ayyubid (1171–1250) of
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
and the
ArdalanArdalan or was the name of a vassaldom in north-western Persia during Qajar period.Ardalan vassaldom was established in an area encompassing present day Iranian province of Kordestan from medieval period up to mid 19th century. Ardalan is also the name of the ruling family of that vassaldom...
dynasty (14th century to 1867) were established in present-day
KhanaqinKhanaqin Kurdish خانه قين,Xaneqîn is a city in eastern Iraq, south of Kurdish regions. It is located at 34.3°N, 45.4°E in the Diyala Governorate, near the Iranian border on a tributary of the Diyala River.Khanaqin is the administrative capital of the Khanaqin District...
,
KirkukKirkuk , , , Kurdish: Kerkûk/کهرکووک , Turkish: Kerkük is a city in Iraq and capital of Kirkuk Governorate....
and Sinne.
In Iraq
Kurds make around 17% of Iraq's population. They are the majority in at least three provinces in northern Iraq which are together known as
Iraqi KurdistanIraqi Kurdistan or Kurdistan Region also referred to as Southern Kurdistan as part of Greater Kurdistan is an autonomous, federally recognized region of Iraq...
. Kurds also have a presence in
KirkukKirkuk , , , Kurdish: Kerkûk/کهرکووک , Turkish: Kerkük is a city in Iraq and capital of Kirkuk Governorate....
,
MosulMosul is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some 400 km northwest of Baghdad...
,
KhanaqinKhanaqin Kurdish خانه قين,Xaneqîn is a city in eastern Iraq, south of Kurdish regions. It is located at 34.3°N, 45.4°E in the Diyala Governorate, near the Iranian border on a tributary of the Diyala River.Khanaqin is the administrative capital of the Khanaqin District...
, and
BaghdadBaghdad is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is coterminous. Having a municipal population estimated at 6.5 million, it is the largest city in Iraq and the second largest in the Arab World....
. Around 300,000 Kurds live in the Iraqi capital
BaghdadBaghdad is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is coterminous. Having a municipal population estimated at 6.5 million, it is the largest city in Iraq and the second largest in the Arab World....
, 50,000 in the city of
MosulMosul is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some 400 km northwest of Baghdad...
and around 100,000 elsewhere in southern Iraq.
Kurds led by
Mustafa BarzaniMustafa Barzani is a legendary Kurdish leader, and the most prominent political figure in the modern Kurdish politics. In 1946 he was chosen as the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party to lead the Kurdish revolution against Iraqi regimes...
were engaged in heavy fighting against successive Iraqi regimes from 1960 to 1975. In March 1970, Iraq announced a peace plan providing for Kurdish autonomy. The plan was to be implemented in four years. However, at the same time, the Iraqi regime started an Arabization program in the oil-rich regions of
KirkukKirkuk , , , Kurdish: Kerkûk/کهرکووک , Turkish: Kerkük is a city in Iraq and capital of Kirkuk Governorate....
and
KhanaqinKhanaqin Kurdish خانه قين,Xaneqîn is a city in eastern Iraq, south of Kurdish regions. It is located at 34.3°N, 45.4°E in the Diyala Governorate, near the Iranian border on a tributary of the Diyala River.Khanaqin is the administrative capital of the Khanaqin District...
. The peace agreement did not last long, and in 1974, the Iraqi government began a new offensive against the Kurds. Moreover in March 1975, Iraq and Iran signed the Algiers Accord, according to which Iran cut supplies to Iraqi Kurds. Iraq started another wave of Arabization by moving Arabs to the oil fields in Kurdistan, particularly those around Kirkuk. Between 1975 and 1978, 200,000 Kurds were deported to other parts of Iraq.
During the
Iran-Iraq WarThe Iran–Iraq War, also known as the Imposed War and Holy Defense in Iran, and Saddām's Qādisiyyah in Iraq, and the First Gulf War , was a war...
in the 1980s, the regime implemented anti-Kurdish policies and a
de facto civil war broke out. Iraq was widely condemned by the international community, but was never seriously punished for oppressive measures such as the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of civilians, the wholesale destruction of thousands of villages and the deportation of thousands of Kurds to southern and central Iraq. The campaign of Iraqi government against Kurds in 1988 was called
Anfal ("Spoils of War"). The Anfal attacks led to destruction of two thousand villages and death of 50,000 to 100,000 Kurds.
After the Kurdish uprising in 1991 led by the
PUKThe Patriotic Union of Kurdistan is a Kurdish political party in Iraq.-Foundation:The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan was founded in June 1975, by coordinations between Jalal Talabani and Nawshirwan Mustafa. Mr...
and
KDPKurdistan Democratic Party may refer to:*Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iraq, an Iraqi Kurdish political party*Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran, an Iranian Kurdish political party*Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria, a Kurdish political party in Syria...
, Iraqi troops recaptured the Kurdish areas and hundreds of thousand of Kurds fled to the Turkish border. A delegation lead by
Dlawer Ala'AldeenDlawer Ala'Aldeen دلاوهر عبدالعزيز علاءالدين, FRCPath, is Professor of Clinical Microbiology and Head of the Molecular Bacteriology and Immunology Group at Queen's Medical Centre ....
persuaded the British Government to intervene and alleviate the situation. A "safe haven" was established by the UN Security Council. The autonomous Kurdish area was mainly controlled by the rival parties KDP and PUK. The Kurdish population welcomed the American troops in 2003 by holding celebrations and dancing in the streets. The area controlled by
peshmergaPeshmerga, Peshmerge or Armed Forces of Kurdistan is the term used by Kurds to refer to armed Kurdish fighters...
was expanded, and Kurds now have effective control in
KirkukKirkuk , , , Kurdish: Kerkûk/کهرکووک , Turkish: Kerkük is a city in Iraq and capital of Kirkuk Governorate....
and parts of
MosulMosul is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some 400 km northwest of Baghdad...
. By the beginning of 2006, the two Kurdish areas were merged into one unified region. A series of referendums are scheduled to be held in , to determine the final borders of the Kurdish region.
In Turkey
According to CIA Factbook, Kurds formed approximately 18% of the population in Turkey (approximately 14 million) in 2008.
In 1980,
ethnologueEthnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International , a Christian linguistic service organization, which studies lesser-known languages, primarily to provide the speakers with Bibles in their native language.The Ethnologue contains statistics for 7,358 languages...
estimated the number of
KurdishKurdish is the language spoken by Kurds in western Asia. Unlike many other languages it does not have a single standardized linguistic entity with the status of an official or state language...
-speakers in Turkey at around five million, when the country's population stood at 44 million. Kurds form the largest minority group in Turkey, and they have posed the most serious and persistent challenge to the official image of a homogeneous society. During the 1930s and 1940s, the government had disguised the presence of the Kurds statistically by categorizing them as
Mountain Turks. This classification was changed to the new
euphemismA euphemism is a substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression in place of one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the listener, or in the case of Doublespeak, to make it less troublesome for the speaker...
of
Eastern Turk in 1980.
Several large scale Kurdish revolts in 1925, 1930 and 1938 were suppressed by the Turkish government and more than one million Kurds were forcibly relocated between 1925 and 1938. The use of Kurdish language, dress,
folkloreFolklore is the body of expressive culture, including stories, music, dance, legends, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, customs, and so forth within a particular population comprising the traditions of that culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which...
, and names were banned and the Kurdish-inhabited areas remained under
martial lawMartial law is the system of rules that takes effect when the military takes control of the normal administration of justice.Martial law is sometimes imposed during wars or occupations in the absence of any other civil government. Examples of this form of military rule include Germany and Japan...
until 1946. The Ararat revolt, which reached its apex in 1930, was only suppressed after a massive military campaign including destruction of many villages and their populations. In quelling the revolt, Turkey was assisted by the close cooperation of its neighboring states such as
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
and
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
. The revolt was organized by a Kurdish party called
Khoybun which signed a treaty with the Dashnaksutyun (Armenian Revolutionary Federation) in 1927.
By 1970s, Kurdish leftist organizations such as
Kurdistan Socialist Part-Turkey (KSP-T) emerged in Turkey which were against violence and supported civil activities and participation in elections. In 1977,
Mehdi Zana a supporter of KSP-T won the mayoralty of
DiyarbakirDiyarbakır is the largest city in southeastern Turkey. Situated on the banks of the River Tigris, it is the administrative capital of the Diyarbakır Province with a population of almost 1.5 million...
in the local elections. At about the same time, generational fissures gave birth to two new organizations: the
National Liberation of Kurdistan and the
Kurdistan Workers Party.
The Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (PKK), also known as
KADEK and
Kongra-Gel, is considered by the US, the EU, and
NATOThe North Atlantic Treaty Organization ); ), also called "the Atlantic Alliance", is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on April 4, 1949...
to be a terrorist organization. It is an
ethnicEthnic nationalism is a form of nationalism wherein the "nation" is defined in terms of ethnicity. Whatever specific ethnicity is involved, ethnic nationalism always includes some element of descent from previous generations...
secessionSecession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity.-Secession theory:...
ist organization using violence for the purpose of achieving its goal of creating an independent Kurdish state in parts of southeastern
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
, northeastern
IraqIraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
, northeastern
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
and northwestern
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
.
Between 1984 and 1999, the PKK and the Turkish military engaged in open war, and much of the countryside in the southeast was depopulated, as Kurdish civilians moved to local defensible centers such as
DiyarbakırDiyarbakır is the largest city in southeastern Turkey. Situated on the banks of the River Tigris, it is the administrative capital of the Diyarbakır Province with a population of almost 1.5 million...
,
VanVan is a city in eastern Turkey and the seat of Van Province, and is located on the eastern shore of Lake Van...
, and
ŞırnakŞırnak is a town in southeastern Turkey, the capital of Şırnak Province.Surrounded by high mountains, Şırnak is a new and small province of Turkey in Eastern Anatolia, and was once a town of Hakkari province...
, as well as to the cities of western Turkey and even to western Europe. The causes of the depopulation included PKK atrocities against Kurdish clans they could not control, the poverty of the southeast, and the Turkish state's military operations.
Officially protected death squads are accused of disappearance of 3,200 Kurds in 1993 and 1994 in the so called
mystery killings.
Kurdish politicians, human-rights activists, journalists, teachers and other members of intelligentsia were among the victims. Virtually none of the perpetrators were investigated nor punished. Turkish government also encouraged an Islamic extremist group called Hezbollah to assassinate suspected PKK members and often ordinary Kurds.
Azimet Köylüoğlu, the state minister of human rights, revealed the extent of security forces' excesses in autumn 1994:
In Iran
The Kurdish part of
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
has been a part of this country from historical times.
The Kurds constitute today approximately 7% of Iran's overall population. The
PersianThe Persian people are the majority ethnic group in Iran. However, there are sub-groups who speak the Persian language as their mother tongue throughout the Iranian plateau. The term Persian has also a supra-ethnic significance and has been historically referred to a part of Iranian peoples...
s, Kurds, and speakers of other
Indo-EuropeanIndo-European may refer to:* Indo-European languages** Aryan, a 19th century term for Indo-European speakers.* Proto-Indo-European language, the reconstructed common ancestor of all Indo-European languages....
languages in Iran are descendants of the
AryanAryan is an English language loanword denoting variously*in historical or dated usage,**the Indo-Iranian languages and their speakers, viz. the Iranian and Indo-Aryan peoples**the Indo-European languages more generally and their speakers,...
tribes that began migrating from Central Asia into what is now Iran in the 2nd millennium BCE. According to some sources, "some Kurds in Iran have resisted the Iranian government's efforts, both before and after the revolution of 1979, to
assimilateCultural assimilation is a political response to the demographic fact of multi-ethnicity which encourages absorption of the minority into the dominant culture...
them into the mainstream of national life and, along with their fellow Kurds in adjacent regions of
IraqIraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
and
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
, has sought either regional
autonomyAutonomy is a concept found in moral, political, and bioethical philosophy. Within these contexts, it refers to the capacity of a rational individual to make an informed, un-coerced decision...
or the outright establishment of an
independentIndependence is the self-government of a nation, country, or state by its residents and population, or some portion thereof, generally exercising sovereignty....
Kurdish state". While other sources state that "most of the freedoms Turkish Kurds have been eager to spill blood over have been available in Iran for years; Iran constitutionally recognizes the Kurds' language and minority ethnic status, and there is no taboo against speaking Kurdish in public." .
In the 17th century, a large number of Kurds were settled by Shah Abbas I to Khorasan in Eastern Iran and resettled in the cities of
Northern KhorasanNorth Khorasan is a province located in northeastern Iran. Bojnourd is the centre of the province.Other counties are Shirvan, Esfarayen, Maneh-o-Samalqan , Jajarm , Faroj and Germeh....
province (
QuchanQuchan is an Iranian district in the in the northern part of Razavi Khorasan Province, in northeastern Iran...
, Bojnurd, Shirvan, DareGaz, and Esfaraeen) to defend Iran's frontier against
UzbeksThe Uzbeks are a Turkic-speaking people in Central Asia. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, and large populations can also be found in Afghanistan, Tajikstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Russia and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China...
. Others migrated to
AfghanistanThe Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is a landlocked country in south central Asia. It is variously described as being located within Central Asia, South Asia, or the Middle East...
where they took refuge. The Kurds of Khorasan, numbering around 700,000, still use the
KurmanjiKurmanji or Northern Kurdish is the most commonly spoken variety of the Kurdish macrolanguage.- Scripts and books :...
Kurdish dialect.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, successive Iranian governments crushed Kurdish revolts led by Kurdish notables such as Shaikh Ubaidullah (against Qajars in 1880) and
SimkoSimko Shikak also Ismail Agha Shikak , was a bandit. He was born into a prominent Kurdish feudal family based in Chihriq castle located near Baranduz river in Urmia region in northwestern Iran. By 1920 parts of Iranian Azerbaijan located west of Lake Urmia were under his control. He organized raids...
(against
PahlaviThe Pahlavi dynasty ruled Iran from the crowning of Reza Shah Pahlavi in 1925, following the overthrow of Ahmad Shah Qajar, the last ruler of the Qajar dynasty, already weakened by Soviet and British occupation....
s in the 1920s).
In January 1946, during the Soviet occupation of north-western Iran, the Soviet-backed Kurdish
Republic of MahabadThe Republic of Mahabad , officially known as Republic of Kurdistan and established in Iranian Kurdistan, was a short-lived, Kurdish state of the 20th century after the Republic of Ararat in Turkey...
declared independence in parts of Iranian Kurdistan. Nevertheless, the Soviet forces left Iran in May 1946, and the self-declared republic fell to the Iranian army after only a few months and the president of the republic
Qazi MuhammadQazi Muhammad 1893-1947 was a nationalist and religious Kurdish leader and the Head of the Republic of Kurdistan, the second modern Kurdish state in the Middle East .- Biography :Qazi Muhammad acted as the President of the Soviet backed Republic of Mahabad, in Kurdistan of Iran, Qazi Muhammad...
was hanged publicly in
MahabadMahabad is a city in northwestern Iran with a population of 133,324 in 2006 census...
. After the 1953 Iranian coup d'état,
Mohammad Reza PahlaviMohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, , was the emperor of Iran from 16 September 1941, until his overthrow by the Iranian Revolution on 11 February 1979...
became more autocratic and suppressed most opposition including Kurdish political groups seeking greater rights for Iranian Kurds. He also prohibited any teaching of the Kurdish language.
After the Iranian revolution, intense fighting occurred between militant Kurdish groups and the Islamic Republic between 1979 and 1982. In August 1979,
Ruhollah KhomeiniSayyid Ruhollah Mousavi Khomeini was an Iranian religious leader and politician, and leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution which saw the overthrow of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran...
declared a "
holy warJihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād is a noun meaning "struggle." Jihad appears frequently in the Qur'an and common usage as the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of Allah "...
" against the Kurdish rebels seeking autonomy or independence, and ordered the Armed Forces to move to the Kurdish areas of Iran in order to push the Kurdish rebels out and restore central rule to the country. An image of a firing squad of Revolutionary Guards executing Kurdish prisoners around
SanandajSanandaj or Senna is the capital of the Iranian province of Kurdistan.At the latest population census, which was carried out on 25 October 2006, it had a population of 316,862. The city of Sanandaj is the capital of the province, and lies at a distance of 512 km from Tehran, 1,480 m...
gained international fame and won the
Pulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by Hungarian-American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City....
in 1980,and there is also other images available of Kurdish militants capturing the supporters of the Iranian regime. The
Islamic Revolutionary Guards CorpsThe Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution is a branch of Iran's military, founded after the Iranian revolution. Sepāh is thought to number as many as 120,000 with its own small naval and air units...
fought to reestablish government control in the Kurdish regions. Since 1983, the Iranian government has maintained control over the Iranian Kurdistan. Frequent unrest and the occasional military crackdown have occurred since the 1990s.
In Iran, Kurds express their cultural identity freely, but have no self-government or administration. As in all parts of Iran, membership of a non-governmental political party is punishable by imprisonment or even death. Kurdish
human rightsHuman rights refer to the "basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled." Examples of rights and freedoms which have come to be commonly thought of as human rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression, and equality before the...
activists in Iran have been threatened by Iranian authorities. Following the killing of Kurdish opposition activist
Shivan QaderiShivan Qaderi Shivan Qaderi Shivan Qaderi (a.k.a Sayed Kamal Astam, Sayed Kamal Astom, Shwane Qadri, or Sayed Kamal Asfaram, in Kurdish was an Iranian Kurd who with two other men were shot by Iranian security forces in Mahabad, On July 9 2005. According to the claims of the opposition, the...
and two other Kurdish men by Iranian security forces in
MahabadMahabad is a city in northwestern Iran with a population of 133,324 in 2006 census...
on July 9 2005, six weeks of riots and protests erupted in Kurdish towns and villages throughout eastern Kurdistan. Scores were killed and injured, and an untold number arrested without charge. The Iranian authorities have also shut down several major Kurdish newspapers and arrested editors and reporters. Among those was
Roya TolouiRoya Toloui is a prominent Iranian journalist, human rights activist and feminist, currently residing in US. She was born in Baneh in western Iran. She received high school diploma at Baneh and studied pathology at the University of Mashhad....
, a
Women's rightsThe term women's rights refers to freedoms and entitlements of women and girls of all ages. These rights may or may not be institutionalized, ignored or suppressed by law, local custom, and behavior in a particular society...
activist and head of the
Rasan ("Rising") newspaper in
SanandajSanandaj or Senna is the capital of the Iranian province of Kurdistan.At the latest population census, which was carried out on 25 October 2006, it had a population of 316,862. The city of Sanandaj is the capital of the province, and lies at a distance of 512 km from Tehran, 1,480 m...
, who was alleged to be tortured for two months for involvement in the organization of peaceful protests throughout Kurdistan province. According to an Iran analyst at
International Crisis GroupThe International Crisis Group is an international, non-profit, non-governmental organization whose mission is to prevent and resolve deadly conflicts around the world through field-based analyses and high-level advocacy.-History:...
, "Kurds, who live in the some of the least developed parts of Iran, pose the most serious internal problem for Iran to resolve, and given what they see next door--the newfound confidence of Iraqi Kurds--there's concern Iranian Kurds will agitate for greater autonomy."
In Syria
Kurds account for 9% of
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
's population, a total of around 1.6 million people. This makes them the largest ethnic minority in the country. They are mostly concentrated in the northeast and the north, but there are also significant Kurdish populations in Aleppo and Damascus. Kurds often speak Kurdish in public, unless all those present do not. Kurdish human rights activists are mistreated and persecuted. No political parties are allowed for any group, Kurdish or otherwise.
Techniques used to suppress the ethnic identity of Kurds in
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
include various bans on the use of the
Kurdish languageKurdish is the language spoken by Kurds in western Asia. Unlike many other languages it does not have a single standardized linguistic entity with the status of an official or state language...
, refusal to register children with Kurdish names, the replacement of Kurdish place names with new names in Arabic, the prohibition of businesses that do not have Arabic names, the prohibition of Kurdish private schools, and the prohibition of books and other materials written in Kurdish. Having been denied the right to Syrian nationality, around three-hundred thousand Kurds have been deprived of any social rights, in violation of international law. As a consequence, these Kurds are in effect trapped within Syria. In February 2006, however, sources reported that Syria was now planning to grant these Kurds citizenship.
On March 12, 2004, beginning at a stadium in
QamishliQamishli is a city in northeastern Syria on the border with Turkey and close to Iraq...
(a largely Kurdish city in northeastern Syria), clashes between Kurds and Syrians broke out and continued over a number of days. At least thirty people were killed and more than 160 injured. The unrest spread to other Kurdish towns along the northern border with Turkey, and then to
DamascusDamascus is the capital and largest city of Syria. It is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world and its current population is estimated at about 1,669,000...
and
AleppoAleppo is a city in northern Syria, the second largest Syrian city and the capital of the Aleppo Governorate; the Governorate extends around the city for over 16,000 km² and has a population of 4,393,000, making it the largest Governorate in Syria by population...
.
In Afghanistan
Kurds had been living in regions bordering modern day Afghanistan since the 1500s notably in north eastern Iran where the Safavid ruler
Shah AbbasShah Abbas may refer to:* Abbas I of Persia * Abbas II of Persia * Abbas III of Persia...
exiled thousands of Kurds. Many of those who were exiled ultimately made their way into
AfghanistanThe Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is a landlocked country in south central Asia. It is variously described as being located within Central Asia, South Asia, or the Middle East...
, taking residence in
HeratHerāt , classically called the Aria, is a major city in western Afghanistan, in the province also known as Herāt. It is situated in the valley of the Hari River, which flows from the mountains of central Afghanistan to the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan. It is the third largest city of Afghanistan,...
and other cities of western Afghanistan. The Kurdish colony in Afghanistan numbered some tens of thousands during the 16th century. Some Kurds held high governmental positions within Afghanistan, such as
Ali Mardan KhanAli Mardan Khan was a Kurdish noble at the court of Safavid King Shah Tahmasp but after surrendering the Afghan city of Qandahar to Emperor Shah Jahan in 1638, he was a well recognised figure at the Mughal court.-Life:...
who was appointed the governor of
KabulKabul , is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan, with a population of over 2.5 million, and is located in the province of Greater Kabul...
in 1641. The Kurds devotedly sided with the Afghans during their conflicts with the Safavid Empire, and in their subsequent conflicts with other regional powers. The number of Kurds currently in Afghanistan is difficult to calculate, though one figure notes that there are approximately 200,000. The extent to which the Kurds in Afghanistan have retained the Kurdish language remains unclear.
In Armenia
At the behest of the Turks, the Kurds actively participated in the massacre of tens of thousands of Armenians during the
Armenian genocideThe Armenian Genocide , also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Calamity , was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I...
. Between the 1930s and 1980s,
ArmeniaArmenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
was a part of the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
, within which Kurds, like other ethnic groups, had the status of a protected minority. Armenian Kurds were permitted their own state-sponsored newspaper, radio broadcasts and cultural events. During the conflict in
Nagorno-KarabakhNagorno-Karabakh is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, lying between Lower Karabakh and Zangezur and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains...
, many non-Yazidi Kurds were forced to leave their homes. Following the end of the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
, Kurds in Armenia were stripped of their cultural privileges and most fled to
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
or Western Europe.
In Azerbaijan
In 1920, two Kurdish-inhabited areas of Jewanshir (capital
Kalbajar]Kalbajar is a rayon of Azerbaijan. Before the outbreak of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh in 1992, it was a predominantly Kurdish inhabited area. Kalbajar is a Kurdish name meaning Stone City. The entire region is now under the control of Armenian forces who call the western half Karvajar...
) and eastern Zangazur (capital
LachinLachin is a town in Azerbaijan and the regional center of the Lachin Rayon. Since 1992 the area has been under the control of the de facto independent unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which has renamed the town Berdzor...
) were combined to form the Kurdistan Okrug (or "Red Kurdistan"). The period of existence of the Kurdish administrative unit was brief and did not last beyond 1929. Kurds subsequently faced many repressive measures, including deportations. As a result of the conflict in
Nagorno-KarabakhNagorno-Karabakh is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, lying between Lower Karabakh and Zangezur and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains...
, many Kurdish areas have been destroyed and more than 150,000 Kurds have been deported since 1988.
Diaspora
According to a report by the
Council of EuropeThe Council of Europe is the oldest international organisation working towards European integration, having been founded in 1949. It has a particular emphasis on legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
, approximately 1.3 million Kurds live in
Western EuropeWestern Europe is the collection of countries in the westernmost region of Europe, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a cultural entity—the region lying west of Central Europe...
. The earliest immigrants were Kurds from Turkey, who settled in
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
,
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
, the
BeneluxThe Benelux is a union in Western Europe that comprises three neighboring countries, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg , which lie in the north western European region between France and Germany...
countries,
Great BritainGreat Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island. With a population of about 59.6 million people, it is the third most populated island on Earth. Great Britain is surrounded by over 1000 smaller...
,
SwitzerlandSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
and
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
during the 1960s. Successive periods of political and social turmoil in the Middle East during 1980s and 1990s brought new waves of Kurdish refugees, mostly from Iran and Iraq under Saddam Hussein, came to Europe. In recent years, many Kurdish asylum seekers from both Iran and Iraq have settled in the United Kingdom (especially in the town of
DewsburyDewsbury is a market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. It is to the west of Wakefield, and lies by the River Calder and the Calder and Hebble Navigation....
and in some northern areas of
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
), which has sometimes caused media controversy over their right to remain. There have been tensions between Kurds and the established Muslim community in Dewsbury, which is home to very traditional mosques such as the
MarkaziThe Markazi Mosque or Dewsbury Markaz, also called Dar ul Ulum is located at South Street, Savile Town, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England. It is one of the largest mosques in the U.K., one of the biggest purpose-built mosques in Europe and can hold up to 4,000 worshippers...
.
There was substantial immigration of Kurds into North America, who are mainly political refugees and immigrants seeking economic opportunity. An estimated 100,000 Kurds are known to live in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, with 50,000 in
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and less than 15,000 in
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
.
Islam
Today, the majority of Kurds are Sunni Muslim, belonging to the Shafi school. Mystical practices and participation in Sufi orders are also widespread among Kurds. There is also a minority of Kurds who are Shia Muslims, primarily living in the
IlamĪlām, also Elam Kurdish, is one of the 30 provinces of Iran. It is in the south-west of the country, bordering Iraq. Its provincial center is the city of Ilam. Covering an area of 19,086 square kilometers, the cities of the province are Ilam, Mehran, Dehloran, Dareh Shahr, Shirvan and Chardavol,...
and
KermanshahKermanshah , is the capital city of Kermanshah Province, located 525 km from Tehran in the western part of Iran and about 120 km from the border of Iraq. Kermanshah has a continental climate. The estimated population of the city is 822,921 and the majority of the inhabitants speak...
provinces of
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
, Central and south eastern Iraq (Fayli Kurds).
Alevi
The
AleviThe Alevi are a religious, sub-ethnic and cultural community in Turkey, numbering in the tens of millions . Alevism is considered one of the many branches of Islam. However, Alevi worship takes place in assembly houses rather than mosques. The ceremony , features music and dance...
s are another religious minority among the Kurds. They are mainly living in
TunceliTunceli is the provincial capital of Tunceli Province in Turkey. Tunceli has a population of 25,041 and most of the population are Zaza and Turks. Most of the population is Alevi....
,
ErzincanErzincan is the capital of Erzincan Province in the eastern Anatolian region of Turkey. Nearby cities include Erzurum, Sivas, Tunceli, Bingöl, Elazığ, Malatya, Gumushane, Bayburt, and Giresun. The city is located at 39° 45' 12" North and 39° 20' 28" East, with an altitude of 1185 meters. The...
, eastern Sivas, northern and southern
MalatyaMalatya is a city and a province in middle eastern Turkey.- Overview :In ancient times, it was also known by its older name of Melitene, that dates back to the Roman period. An even older name was Melid...
, eastern and northwestern
KahramanmaraşKahramanmaraş is the capital city of Kahramanmaraş Province in southeastern Turkey. The city lies on a plain at the foot of the Taurus Mountains and has a population of 326,198 as of 2000...
, northern
AdanaAdana is a city in the Mediterranean Region of Turkey and is the administrative seat of the Adana Province. The city is situated on the Seyhan River, 30 kilometres inland from the Mediterranean Sea, in south-central Anatolia, and has a population of over 1.5 million; making it the fifth most...
, western
KayseriKayseri , named in classical antiquity as Mazaka or Mazaca, Eusebia, Caesarea Cappadociae, and later as Kaisariyah, is a large and industrialized city in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It is the seat of Kayseri Province...
, central and western
AdıyamanAdıyaman is city in southeastern Turkey, capital of the Adıyaman Province. It is one of the fastest-growing cities in Turkey...
, northeastern
GaziantepGaziantep ,, is the capital city of Gaziantep Province in Turkey. It is amongst the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world...
, northern
ElazığElâzığ is a city in Eastern Anatolia, Turkey and the seat of Elâzığ Province. It has a population of266,495 according to the 2000 census, and the plain on which the city extends has an altitude of 1067 metres....
, southwestern
ErzurumErzurum is a city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. The name "Erzurum" derives from "Arz-u Rûm"...
, northern
BingölBingöl is a city in Eastern Turkey. Until 1950, it was known as Çabakcur, which means violent water in Armenian. It is surrounded by mountains and a large number of glacier lakes, hence the name. Lately, the town has become a popular tourist destination. In 2000, it had a population of 68,876...
, northwestern
MuşMus or MUS may refer to:* Muş, a city in Turkey, capital of Muş Province* Mus, Gard, a commune of the Gard département in France* Mus , a Spanish card game* Mus , the genus that contains the mouse* Mitsubishi UFJ Securities...
and various other areas in
AnatoliaAnatolia is a geographic region of Western Asia, comprising most of the modern Republic of Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Caucasus to the northeast, the Iranian plateau to the southeast, the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the Aegean Sea to the west...
.
Yazdanism
Yazdanism is a controversial and yet unproven theory that refers to a group of native monotheistic religions practiced among the Kurds: Yarsan and Yazidism. There are no historical evidence that proves the existence of this theory. But the only scholar mentioning this faith,
Mehrdad IzadyMehrdad Michael R.S.C. Izady , is a contemporary academic, writer and historian. He was born to a Kurdish father and a Belgian mother, and spent much of his youth in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Korea, as his diplomat parents moved from one assignment to another...
, claims that the main element in Yazdani faiths is the belief in seven angelic entities that protect the world, therefore these traditions are named as
Cult of Angels. Some groups classify the various Kurdish faiths under the Yazdani umbrella.
The original religion of the Kurds was Yazidism, a religion greatly influenced by Jewish,
ZoroastrianA Zoroastrian is an adherent to Zoroastrianism, the first monotheistic religion that is based on the teachings and philosophies of Zoroaster....
,
ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe was the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, and the Son of God.The term "Christian" is also used adjectivally to...
and Islamic beliefs. However, there are significant differences between Yazidism and
ZoroastrianismZoroastrianism is the religion and philosophy based on the teachings ascribed to the prophet Zoroaster , after whom the religion is named. The term Zoroastrianism is, in general usage, essentially synonymous with Mazdaism, i.e...
, such as the belief in re-incarnation. Most Yazidis live in Iraqi Kurdistan, in the vicinity of
MosulMosul is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some 400 km northwest of Baghdad...
and
SinjarSinjar or Sindjar is the name of a region and a town in northwestern Iraq's Ninawa Governorate near the Syrian border. Its population at the time of the 2006 census was 39,875....
. The Yarsan (or
Ahl-e HaqqThe Ahl-e Haqq or Yârsân , are members of a religion founded by Sultan Sahak in the late 14th century in western Iran...
) religion is practised in western Iran, primarily around
KermanshahKermanshah , is the capital city of Kermanshah Province, located 525 km from Tehran in the western part of Iran and about 120 km from the border of Iraq. Kermanshah has a continental climate. The estimated population of the city is 822,921 and the majority of the inhabitants speak...
.
Judaism and Christianity
ChristianityKurdish Christians Kurdish Christians Kurdish Christians (Kurdish: are Kurds who follow Christianity and mostly live in the Kurdistan region. The word is derived from the Greek words and . The Arabic word is also sometimes used. Kurdish Christians should not be confused with other...
and
JudaismKurdish Jews or Jews of Kurdistan are the ancient Jewish communities inhabiting the region known as Kurdistan, roughly covering parts of Iran, northern Iraq, Syria and eastern Turkey. Their clothing and culture is similar to neighbouring Muslim Kurds...
both are still practised in very small numbers. Rabbi
Asenath BarzaniTanna’it Asenath Barzani was a renowned Kurdish Jewish woman who lived in Mosul, Iraq. She was among the very first Jewish women in history known to have been given a rabbinic title . She was the daughter of the illustrious Rabbi Samuel Barzani. She studied Kabbalah...
, who lived in
MosulMosul is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some 400 km northwest of Baghdad...
from 1590 to 1670, was among the very first Jewish women to become a
rabbiRabbi is the term in Judaism for a religious teacher. The word rabbi derives from the Hebrew root word , rav, which in biblical Hebrew means ‘great’ in many senses, including "revered." The word comes from the Semitic root R-B-B, and is cognate to Arabic ربّ rabb, meaning "lord" Rabbi ' onMouseout='HidePop("6597")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Dhimmi">the Jews had lived as protected subjects
A dhimmi is a non-Muslim subject of a state governed in accordance with sharia law...
of the tribal chieftains (
aghas) and survived in the urban centers and villages in which they lived. In return for the protection granted by their
aghas, the Jews would occasionally
give them gifts, services and commissions of their commercial and agricultural transactionsUnder Islamic law, jizya or jizyah is a per capita tax levied on a section of an Islamic state's non-Muslim citizens, who meet certain criteria...
.
Culture
Kurdish culture is a legacy from the various ancient peoples who shaped modern Kurds and their society, but primarily of three layers of indigenous (Hurrian), ancient Iranian, and
IslamicCultural Muslim is a general term used to define a group of people who are identified by association with a Muslim community rather than Islamic faith or rituals.-Concept:...
roots.
Kurdish culture is close to that of other
Iranian peoplesThe Iranian peoples are an ethnic and linguistic branch of Indo-European peoples, living mainly on the Iranian plateau and beyond in central, southern, and southwestern Asia and southeastern Europe. As a group of people, they are predominantly defined along linguistic lines as speaking the Iranian...
. Kurds, for instance, also celebrate Newroz (March 21) as New Year's Day.
Kurdish films mainly evoke poverty and the lack of rights of Kurdish people in the region.
Yılmaz GüneyYılmaz Güney, was a famous film director, scenarist, novelist and actor of Kurdish descent. Many of his works are devoted to the plight of ordinary, working class people in Turkey...
(
YolYol is a 1982 Turkish film. The screenplay was written by Yılmaz Güney, and it was directed by his assistant Şerif Gören, who strictly followed Güney's instructions, as Güney was in prison at the time. Later, when Güney escaped from prison, he took the negatives of the film and edited it in...
) and Bahman Qubadi (
A Time for Drunken HorsesA Time for Drunken Horses is a 2000 Iranian film directed by Bahman Ghobadi and produced in Iran...
, Turtles Can FlyTurtles Can Fly is a 2004 film written and directed by the Kurdish Iranian filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi, with notable theme music composed by Hossein Alizadeh...
) are among the better-known Kurdish directors.
Music
Traditionally, there are three types of Kurdish Classical performers:
storytellersStorytelling is the conveying of events in words, images, and sounds often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture and in every land as a means of entertainment, education, preservation of culture and in order to instill moral values...
(
çîrokbêj),
minstrelA minstrel was a medieval European bard who performed songs whose lyrics told stories about distant places or about real or imaginary historical events. Though minstrels created their own tales, often they would memorize and embellish the works of others. Frequently they were retained by royalty...
s (
stranbêj), and
bardIn medieval Gaelic and British culture a bard was a professional poet, paid by a monarch to praise the sovereign's activities....
s (
dengbêj). No specific music was associated with the Kurdish princely courts. Instead, music performed in night gatherings (
şevbihêrk) is considered classical. Several musical forms are found in this genre. Many songs are
epicAn epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...
in nature, such as the popular
Lawiks, heroic
balladA ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative and set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later North America, Australia and North Africa. Many...
s recounting the tales of Kurdish heroes such as
SaladinṢalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was a Kurdish Muslim who became the Sultan of Egypt and Syria. He led Islamic opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...
.
Heyrans are love ballads usually expressing the melancholy of separation and unfulfilled love, while
Lawje is a form of religious music and
Payizoks are songs performed during the autumn. Love songs, dance music, wedding and other celebratory songs (
dîlok/narînk), erotic poetry, and
work songA work song is a piece of music closely connected to a specific form of work, either sung while conducting a task or a song linked to a task or trade which might be a connected narrative, description, or protest song....
s are also popular.
See also
- Kurdistan
Kurdistan is an extensive plateau and mountainous area in the Middle East, inhabited mainly by Kurds...
- History of the Kurdish people
- Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
- Turkish Kurdistan
Turkish Kurdistan or Northern Kurdistan is an unofficial name for the southeastern part of Turkey, which is inhabited predominantly by ethnic Kurds. The area covers between 190,000 to 230,000 km² , or nearly a third of Turkey...
- Kurds in Turkey
Ethnic Kurds compose a significant portion of the population in Turkey . Unlike the Turks, the Kurds speak an Indo-European language. The Kurds live across all of Turkey but the majority live to the east and southeast of the country, from where they originate...
- Iranian Kurdistan
Iranian Kurdistan or Kurdistana Rojhilat or Rojhilatê Kurdistan , formerly: Persian Kurdistan) is an unofficial name for the parts of Iran inhabited by Kurds and has borders with Iraq and Turkey...
- Iraqi Kurdistan
Iraqi Kurdistan or Kurdistan Region also referred to as Southern Kurdistan as part of Greater Kurdistan is an autonomous, federally recognized region of Iraq...
- Kurds in Syria
Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Syria making up less than 10% of the country's population. Most of them are Sunni Muslims, with a small minority of Yazidi Kurds, Jewish Kurds, and an even smaller number of families of other religions.....
- Kurdistan Okrug
- List of Kurdish people
- Kurdish organisations
- Origins of the Kurds
An early record of the name Kurd appeared in Assyrian documents around 1000 BCE. Assyrians called the people living in Mt. Azu or Hizan by the name Kurti or Kurkhi. The country of the Kurkhi included regions of Mount Judi and districts that were later called by the names Sophene, Anzanene and...
- Kurukshetra
Kurukshetra is a district in Haryana state of India. Known as a holy place; Kurukshetra earns its name from King Kuru, the ancestor of Kauravas and Pandavas. What makes it really important is the theory that this was where the Kurukshetra war of the Mahabharata was fought and the Bhagavad Gita...
- Yazidis
- Kurdish Jews
Kurdish Jews or Jews of Kurdistan are the ancient Jewish communities inhabiting the region known as Kurdistan, roughly covering parts of Iran, northern Iraq, Syria and eastern Turkey. Their clothing and culture is similar to neighbouring Muslim Kurds...
- Kurdish Christians
Kurdish Christians Kurdish Christians Kurdish Christians (Kurdish: are Kurds who follow Christianity and mostly live in the Kurdistan region. The word is derived from the Greek words and . The Arabic word is also sometimes used. Kurdish Christians should not be confused with other...
- Kurdish American
Kurdish Americans are Americans of Kurdish descent, the majority of Kurdish Americans are recent migrants. Often they are immigrants and political refugees from the countries of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. Although Kurds in the U.S. are more numerous in California Kurdish Americans are Americans...
- Shookiyalah
Modern Kurdish governments
- Kingdom of Kurdistan
The Kingdom of Kurdistan can refer to two kingdoms formed in the 1920s in the geo-cultural region of Kurdistan.-Northern Iraq:During the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Kurds in Iraq attempted to establish a semi-independent state...
1920
- Republic of Ararat
The Republic of Ararat was a self-proclaimed Kurdish state. It was located in the east of modern Turkey, being centred on Ağrı Province....
1927–1930
- Republic of Mahabad
The Republic of Mahabad , officially known as Republic of Kurdistan and established in Iranian Kurdistan, was a short-lived, Kurdish state of the 20th century after the Republic of Ararat in Turkey...
1946
- Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)
Iraqi Kurdistan or Kurdistan Region also referred to as Southern Kurdistan as part of Greater Kurdistan is an autonomous, federally recognized region of Iraq...
(1991 to date)
External links
- Lawk Salih, Latest development of the economic progress of Kurdistan and KRG.
- Kurds and Kurdistan, Encyclopaedia of Islam.
- Kurds, Encyclopaedia Britannica.
- Kurd, Encyclopaedia Britannica.
- The Kurds: People without a country, Encyclopaedia Britannica.
- The Kurdish Institute of Paris Kurdish language, history, books and latest news articles.
- The Encyclopaedia of Kurdistan
- Istanbul Kurdish Institute
- The Kurdish Center of International Pen
- Kurdish Library, supported by the Swedish
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
Government.
- Yazidism: Historical Roots, International Journal of Kurdish Studies, January 2005.
- Ethnic Cleansing and the Kurds
- The Kurds in the Ottoman Hungary by Zurab Aloian
- "The Other Iraq" Kurdish Information Website
The Kurdish Issue in Turkey