KURDISH PEOPLE
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(Redirected from Kurds)
The 'Kurds' are an ethnic group who are indigenous to a region often referred to as Kurdistan, an area which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. Kurdish communities can also be found in Lebanon, Armenia, Azerbaijan (Kalbajar and Lachin, to the west of Nagorno Karabakh) and, in recent decades, some European countries and the United States (see Kurdish diaspora). Ethnically related to other Iranian peoples,[1] they speak Kurdish, an Indo-European language of the Iranian branch. However, the Kurds' ethnic origins are uncertain. [2] According to Encyclopedia Columbia, Kurds are commonly identified with the ancient Corduene which was in turn inhabited by the Carduchi.[3]
Main articles: Origins of the Kurds
There are various ethnonyms reminiscent of ''Kurd'' in ancient sources, such as ''Karda'' in the 3rd millennium BCE[4], or the ''Kardouchoi'' of Xenophon, Persian ''Gord'' or ''Kord'', Syriac (Aramaic) ''Qardu'' or ''Qadu'' and Hebrew ''Kurdaye''.[5]
According to Vladimir Minorsky ''There is no doubt that the term Mar (Medians) refers to Kurds''. Furthermore he writes that in the curious Armenian manuscript containing samples of alphabets and languages, written some time before A.D. 1446, a prayer in Kurdish figures as specimen of ''the language of the Medians''.[6]
However ''G. Driver'' disputes this evidence, and states that ''some Armenian writers seem to have confused the Kurds and the Medes.'' He then explains that
One of the earliest records of the name ''Kurd'' is to be found in a Pahlavi Sassanid text in which the battle between Sassanid King Ardashir I and ''Madig'' King of the Kurds in the early 3rd century CE is mentioned[8].
The name of the Kurds proper however can only be dated with certainty to the Kurdish tribes' conversion to Islam in the 7th century AD.[9]
According to Encyclopedia Columbia, Kurds are commonly identified with the ancient Corduene which was inhabited by the Carduchi.[3]
From about the 10th century BCE, Iranian tribes spread in the area, among them Medes, speakers of a Northwest Iranian dialect. Gradual linguistic assimilation of the various indigenous peoples to this Median language in the course of the Iron Age marks the beginning of Kurdish ethnogenesis.[11]
Main articles: History of the Kurds
The present-day home of the Kurds, the high mountain region south and south-east of Lake Van between Persia and Mesopotamia, was in the possession of Kurds before the time of the ancient Greek historian Xenophon, and was known as the country of the ''Carduchi'', ''Cardyene'' or Cordyene. Xenophon referred to the Kurds in the ''Anabasis'' as "Kardukhi...a fierce and protective mountain-dwelling people" who attacked Greek armies in 400 BCE.[12]
The kingdom of Cordyene or Corduene was a high mountain region south and south-east of Lake Van between Persia and Mesopotamia, and it was situated to the east of Tigranocerta[13] (east and south of present-day Diyarbakır).
The word Corduene is no doubt the ancient representative of the modern Kurdistan, and means a country in which Kurds dwelt. Now Kurds seem to have been at one time the chief inhabitants of the Mons Masius, the modern Jebel Kara Dagh and Jebel Tur, which was thence called Gordyene, or the Gordisean mountain chain. The tract to this day known as Kurdistan, the high mountain region south and south-east of Lake Van between Persia and Mesopotamia, was in the possession of Kurds from before the time of Xenophon, and was known as the country of the Carduchi, as Cardyene, and as Cordyene[14].
Corduene became a province of the Roman Empire in 66 BCE and was under Roman control for four centuries until 384 CE.[12]
The Roman historian Pliny, has considered Cordueni (inhabitants of Corduene) as descendants of Carduchis. He has stated, ''Joining on to Adiabene are the people formerly called the Carduchi and now the Cordueni, past whom flows the river Tigris...''.[16][17] The people of Corduene were known to have worshipped the Hurrian sky God Teshub[18].
In the seventh century, the Arabs possessed the castles and fortifications of the Kurds. The conquest of the cities of Sharazor and ''Aradbaz'' took place in the year 643 AC.
In 846 AC, one of the leaders of the Kurds in Mosul city revolted against the Caliph Al Mo'tasam who sent the famous commander Aitakh to combat against him. In this war, Aitakh proved victorious and killed many of the Kurds. In 903 AC, during the period of Almoqtadar, the Kurds revolted again. Eventually Arabs conquered the Kurdish regions and converted the majority of Kurds to Islam.
In the second half of the tenth century, the Kurdish area was shared amongst four big Kurdish principalities. In the North were the Shaddadid (951-1174) in parts of present-day Armenia and Arran, and the Rawadid (955-1221) in Tabriz and Maragheh. In the East were the Hasanwayhids (959-1015) and the Annazid (990-1117) in Kermanshah, Dinawar and Khanaqin. In the West were the Marwanid (990-1096) of Diyarbakır. After these, the Ayyubid (1171-1250) of Syria and the Ardalan dynasty (fourteenth century to 1867) were established in present-day Khanaqin, Kirkuk and Sinne.
Main articles: Kurdish language
The Kurdish language belongs to the north-western sub-group of the Iranian languages, which in turn belongs to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family. Kurdish may have borrowed heavily from Caucasian and Aramaic languages given certain peculiarities which make it distinct from other Iranian languages. Most of the ancestors of the Kurds spoke various languages of the Indo-European family.
The older language of the Kurds was replaced by the Indo-European around 850 BCE, with the arrival of the Medes to Kurdistan.[19] Nevertheless, Hurrian influence on Kurdish is still evident in its ergative grammatical structure and toponyms.[20]
Most Kurds are bilingual or polylingual, speaking the languages of the surrounding peoples such as Arabic, Turkish and Persian as a second language. Kurdish Jews and some Kurdish Christians (not be confused with ethnic Assyrians of Kurdistan) usually speak Aramaic (for example: Lishana Deni) as their first language. Aramaic is a Semitic language related to Hebrew and Arabic rather than Kurdish.
The Kurdish language is comprised of two major dialects and several sub-dialects:[21][22]
★ The Kurmanji dialect group
★ The Sorani dialect group
★ The Gorani, Zazaki, Feyli, Kermanshahi and Laki sub-dialects.
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"Kreyenbroek, Philip (1992). "On the Kurdish Language", in ''The Kurds: a contemporary overview'', eds. Philip Kreyenbroek and Stefan Sperl (p. 69)
Main articles: Genetic origins of the Kurds, Iranian peoples
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, "''The Persians, Kurds, and speakers of other Indo-European languages in Iran are descendants of the Aryan tribes that began migrating from Central Asia into what is now Iran in the second millennium BC[E].''"[23] According to the Columbia Encyclopedia, the Kurds, as well as other migrant ethnic groups of the region, are of the "least mixed descent of the original Iranians."[24]
According to the Encyclopedia of Islam, the classification of Kurds as Aryan is mainly based on linguistic and historical data and does not prejudice the fact there is a complexity of ethnical elements incorporated in them.[25]
According to a population study in 2001, the ancestors of the "Kurds, Armenians, Iranians, Jews, and other (Eastern and Western) Mediterranean groups seem to share a common ancestry" and were from an old Mediterranean substratum, i.e. Hurrian and Hittite groups and that these peoples have no connection with an Aryan invasion which was supposed to have happened about 1200 BCE.
"''It is concluded that this invasion, if occurred, had a relatively few invaders in comparison to the already settled populations, i.e. Anatolian Hittite and Hurrian groups (older than 2000 BCE). These may have given rise to present-day Kurdish, Armenian and Turkish populations.''"[26]
In 2001, a team of Israeli, German, and Indian scientists discovered that among the various Jewish communities, the Ashkenazi Jews showed a closer relationship to the Muslim Kurds than to the Semitic-speaking population further south in the Arabian peninsula, while the Jewish Kurds and Sephardic Jews seemed to be closely related to each other. Most of the ninety-five Kurdish Muslim test subjects came from northern Iraq. Moreover, according to another study, the CMH ("Cohen Modal Haplotype") is a genetic marker from the northern Middle East which is not unique to Jews.[27]
In another study, Kurdish Jews were found to be close to Muslim Kurds, but so were Ashkenazim and Sephardim, suggesting that much if not most of the genetic similarity between Jewish and Muslim Kurds descends from ancient times.[28]
Genetic distance comparisons in another study have revealed that the Turkic and Turkmen speaking peoples in the Caspian area cluster with the Kurds, Greeks and Iranis (Ossetians). In this study, the Persian speakers are genetically remote from these populations; they are, however, close to the Parsis who migrated from Iran to India at the end of the seventh century CE.[29]
Main articles: Demographics of Kurdish people
The exact number of Kurdish people living in the Middle East is unknown, due to both an absence of recent census analysis and the reluctance of the various governments in Kurdish-inhabited regions to give accurate figures.
According to the CIA Factbook, Kurds comprise 20% of the population in Turkey, 15-20% in Iraq, perhaps 8% in Syria,[30] 7% in Iran and 1.3% in Armenia. 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.[31]. These estimates place the total number of Kurds at somewhere between 27 and 36 million.
Main articles: Iraqi Kurdistan, 1988 Anfal campaign
Kurds led by Mustafa Barzani 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.[32] However, at the same time, the Iraqi regime started an Arabization program in the oil rich regions of Kirkuk and Khanaqin.[33] The peace agreement did not last long, and in 1974, Iraqi government began a new offensive against the Kurds. Moreover in March 1975, Iraq and Iran signed the Algiers Pact, 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.[34] Between 1975 and 1978, two-hundred thousand Kurds were deported to other parts of Iraq.[35]
During the Iran-Iraq 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 between fifty and one-hundred thousand Kurds.[36]
After the Kurdish uprising in 1991 (Kurdish:''Raperîn'') led by the PUK and KDP, Iraqi troops recaptured the Kurdish areas and hundreds of thousand of Kurds fled to the borders. To alleviate the situation, a "safe haven" was established by the 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[37][38][39][40]. The area controlled by peshmerga was expanded, and Kurds now have effective control in Kirkuk and parts of Mosul. 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 2007, to determine the final borders of the Kurdish region.
Main articles: Kurds in Turkey, Turkish Kurdistan, Human rights in Turkey, Kurdistan Workers Party
About half of all Kurds live in Turkey. According to the CIA Factbook they account for 20 percent of the 70 million people of Turkey, thus numbering about 15 million people.[41] Other estimates vary between 12 to 15 million. They are predominantly distributed in the southeastern corner of the country.[17]
The best available estimate of the number of persons in Turkey speaking a Kurdish-related language is about five million (1980). There are about one million speakers of Dimli (Southern Zaza), and about 140,000 speakers of Kirmanjki (Northern Zaza), which has about 70 percent lexical similarity with Dimli. These estimates are from 1999 in the case of Dimli and 1972 in the case of Kirmanjki. About 3,950,000 others speak Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) (1980).[43] While population increase suggests that the number of speakers has grown, it is also true that use of the language has been discouraged in Turkish cities, and that many fewer ethnic Kurds live in the countryside where the language has traditionally been used. The number of speakers is clearly less than the 15 million or so persons who identify themselves as ethnic Kurds.
From 1915 to 1918, Kurds struggled to end Ottoman rule over their region. They were encouraged by Woodrow Wilson's support for non-Turkish nationalities of the empire and submitted their claim for independence to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. The Treaty of Sèvres stipulated creation of an autonomous Kurdish state in 1920, but the subsequent Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 failed to mention Kurds. In 1925 and 1930 Kurdish revolts were forcibly suppressed.
Following these events, the existence of distinct ethnic groups like Kurds in Turkey was officially denied and any expression by the Kurds of their ethnic identity was harshly repressed. Until 1991, the use of the Kurdish language – although widespread – was illegal. As a result of reforms inspired by the EU, music, radio and television broadcasts in Kurdish are now allowed albeit with severe time restrictions (for example, radio broadcasts can be no longer than sixty minutes per day nor constitute more than five hours per week while television broadcasts are subject to even greater restrictions). Additionally, education in Kurdish is now permitted though only in private institutions.
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As late as 1994, however, Leyla Zana, the first female Kurdish representative in Turkey's Parliament, was charged for making "separatist speeches" and sentenced to fifteen years in prison. At her inauguration as an MP, she reportedly identified herself as a Kurd. Amnesty International reported that "[s]he took the oath of loyalty in Turkish, as required by law, then added in Kurdish, 'I shall struggle so that the Kurdish and Turkish peoples may live together in a democratic framework.' Parliament erupted with shouts of 'Separatist!', 'Terrorist!', and 'Arrest her!'".[44]
The Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (PKK), also known as ''KADEK'' and ''Kongra-Gel'', is considered by the US and EU to be a terrorist organization dedicated to creating an independent Kurdish state in a territory (traditionally referred to as Kurdistan) consisting of parts of southeastern Turkey, northeastern Iraq, northeastern Syria and northwestern Iran. It is an ethnic secessionist organization using force and threat of force against both civilian and military targets for the purpose of achieving its political goal.
Between 1984 and 1999, the PKK and the Turkish military engaged in open war, and much of the countryside in the southeast was depopulated, with Kurdish civilians moving to local defensible centers such as Diyarbakır, Van, and Şırnak, 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.[45] Human Rights Watch has documented many instances where the Turkish military forcibly evacuated villages, destroying houses and equipment to prevent the return of the inhabitants. An estimated 3,000 Kurdish villages in Turkey were virtually wiped from the map, representing the displacement of more than 378,000 people.[46][47][48][49]
Nelson Mandela refused to accept the ''Ataturk Peace Award'' in 1992 because of the oppression of the Kurds. After the rejection, Turkish press called him ''An Ugly African'' and ''Terrorist Mandela''[50].
Main articles: Iranian Kurdistan, History of the Kurds
The Kurds constitute approximately 7% of Iran's overall population. Kurds in Iran have resisted the Iranian government's efforts, both before and after the revolution of 1979, to assimilate them into the mainstream of national life and, along with their fellow Kurds in adjacent regions of Iraq and Turkey, has sought either regional autonomy or the outright establishment of an independent Kurdish state.[23].
In the seventeenth century, a large number of Kurds were deported by Shah Abbas I to Khorasan in Eastern Iran and forcibly resettled in the cities of Quchan and Birjand. The Kurds of Khorasan, numbering around 700,000, still use the Kurmanji Kurdish dialect[52][53].
During nineteenth and twentieth centuries, successive Iranian governments crushed Kurdish revolts led by Kurdish notables such as Shaikh Ubaidullah (against Qajars in 1880) and Simko (against Pahlavis in the 1920s).[54]
In Januray 1946, Republic of Mahabad declared independence in parts of Iranian Kurdistan but only lasted eleven months. The young republic was crushed by the Iranian Army in December of the same year, and president of the republic Qazi Muhammad was hanged publicly in Mahabad. After the military coup in 1953, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi became more autocratic and suppressed most opposition including ethnic minorities such as Kurds. He also prohibited any teaching of the Kurdish language.[54]
In recent years, intense fighting occurred between Kurds and the Iranian state between 1979 and 1982. In August 1979, Ruhollah Khomeini declared a "holy war" against the Kurds.[56] An image of a firing squad of Revolutionary Guards executing Kurdish prisoners around Sanandaj gained international fame and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1980. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps fought to reestablish government control in the Kurdish regions; as a result, around ten thousand Kurds were killed.[57] Since 1983, the Iranian government has maintained control over the area which the Kurds inhabit.[58] Frequent unrest and the occasional military crackdown have occurred since the 1990s.[59]
In Iran, Kurds express their cultural identity freely, but are denied the right of self-government or administration. Similar to other parts of Iran, membership of any non-governmental political party in Kurdistan could be punishable by persecution, imprisonment and even death. Kurdish human rights activists in Iran have been threatened by Iranian authorities in connection with their work.[60][61] Following the killing of Kurdish opposition activist Shivan Qaderi and two other Kurdish men by Iranian security forces in Mahabad 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 Toloui, a womens' rights activist and head of the ''Rasan'' ("Rising") newspaper in Sine, who was tortured for two months for alleged involvement in the organization of peaceful protests throughout Kurdistan province.[62] According to the International Crisis Group, Kurds, who live in the least developed part of Iran, pose the most serious internal problem for Iran to resolve, and their apparent success in self-rule fuels their demands for greater autonomy.[63]
Main articles: Kurds in Syria
Kurds account for 10% of Syria's population, a total of around 1.9 million people[64]. This makes them the largest ethnic minority in the country. They are mostly concentrated in northeast and 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.[65] No political parties are allowed for any group, Kurdish or otherwise.
Techniques used to suppress the ethnic identity of Kurds in Syria include various bans on the use of the Kurdish language, refusal to register children with Kurdish names, replacement of Kurdish place names with new names in Arabic, prohibition of businesses that do not have Arabic names, not permitting Kurdish private schools, and the prohibition of books and other materials written in Kurdish.[66][67] 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.[68][69] As a consequence, these Kurds are in effect trapped within Syria.[66] In February 2006, however, sources reported that Syria was now planning to grant these Kurds citizenship.[71]
On March 12, 2004, beginning at a stadium in Qamishli (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 Damascus and Aleppo.[72][73]
Between the 1930s and 1980s, Armenia was a part of the Soviet Union, 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-Karabakh, many non-Yazidi Kurds were forced to leave their homes. Following the end of the Soviet Union, Kurds in Armenia were stripped of their cultural privileges and most fled to Russia or Western Europe.http://www.slis.indiana.edu/faculty/meho/meho-bibliography-2001.pdf, p.22
Main articles: Kurdistan Autonomous Oblast
In 1920, two Kurdish inhabited areas of Jewanshir (capital Kalbajar) and eastern Zangazur (capital Lachin) were combined to form the Kurdistan Okrug (or "Red Kurdistan"). The period of existence of 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-Karabakh, many Kurdish areas have been destroyed and more than 150,000 Kurds have been deported since 1988.
According to a report by the Council of Europe, approximately 1.3 million Kurds live in Western Europe. The earliest immigrants were Kurds from Turkey, who settled in Germany, Austria, the Benelux countries, Great Britain (especially in London), Switzerland and France 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.[17]
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 States, with 50,000 in Canada and less than 15,000 in Australia.
Main articles: Yazdanism, Yazidism, Yarsan, Alevi, Kurdish Jews, Kurdish Christians
Yazdanism refers to a group of native monotheistic religions practiced among the Kurds: Alevism, Yarsan and Yazidism. 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''[75] The original religion of the Kurds was Yazidism, a religion greatly influenced by Jewish, Daevic, Zoroastrian, Christian and Islamic beliefs[76][77]. However there are significant differences between Yazdanism and Zoroasterianism, such as the belief in re-incarnation. Most Yazidis live in Iraqi Kurdistan, in the vicinity of Mosul and Sinjar[78]. The Yarsan (or Ahl-e Haqq) religion is practised in western Iran, primarily around Kermanshah. Christianity and Judaism both are still practised in very small numbers.[79] Rabbi Asenath Barzani, who lived in Mosul from 1590 to 1670, was among the very first Jewish women to become a rabbi.
Today the majority of Kurds are officially Muslim, belonging to the Shafi school of Sunni Islam. Mystical practices and participation in Sufi orders are also widespread among Kurds[76]. There is also a minority of Kurds that are Shia Muslims, primarily living in the Ilam and Kermanshah provinces of Iran, Central Iraq (Fayli Kurds). The Alevis are another religious minority among the Kurds, mainly found in Turkey.
It has been said that Kurds "hold their Islam lightly", meaning that their faith tends not to be as assertive as it can become in other areas[76]. One consequence, for example, has been the greater freedoms enjoyed by Kurdish women; they do not cover their faces, their hijab is less restrictive, and they do not wear full-cover garments such as the Iranian chador or Arabic abaya[82] [83].
Main articles: Kurdish culture, Kurdish literature, Kurdish Women
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 (Medes) and Islamic roots.
Kurdish culture is close to that of other Iranian peoples. 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 Güney (''Yol'' [85] ) and Bahman Qubadi (''A Time for Drunken Horses, Turtles Can Fly'') are among the better-known Kurdish directors.
Main articles: Kurdish music
Traditionally, there are three types of Kurdish Classical performers: storytellers (''çîrokbêj''), minstrels (''stranbêj'') and bards (''dengbêj''). There was no specific music related to the Kurdish princely courts, and instead, music performed in night gatherings (''şevbihêrk'') is considered classical. Several musical forms are found in this genre. Many songs are epic in nature, such as the popular ''Lawiks'', heroic ballads recounting the tales of Kurdish heroes such as Saladin. ''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 songs are also popular.
★ Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) (1991 to date)
★ Republic of Mahabad (1946)
★ Republic of Ararat (1927-1931)
★ Kingdom of Kurdistan (1922-1924)
1. Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia, s.v. ''Iran,'' (by Eric Hooglund), section 3A (accessed 24 July 2006).
2. Encyclopedia Britannica Online, s.v. ''Kurds,'' (accessed 4 August 2006)
3. The Columbia Encyclopedia, s.v. ''http://www.bartleby.com/65/ku/Kurds.html Kurds],'' (accessed 17 July 2007)
4. Driver, G.K.: ''The Name Kurd and its Philological Connections''; JRAS, 1923
5. Hennerbichler 2004: ''Die Kurden'' by Ferdinand Hennerbichler, ISBN 963-214-575-5, pubd by the author, Dr. Ferdinand Hennerbichler, Edition fhe, Albert es Hennerbichler Bt., H-9200 Mosonmagyarovar, Slovakia, 2004.
6. V. MINORSKY, Studies in Caucasian History. London: Taylor's Foreign Press, 1953
7. G.R. Driver, ''Studies in Kurdish History'', Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London, 1922, pp.491-511, see p.493
8. Book of the Deeds of Ardashir son of Babag, Darab Dastur Peshotan Sanjana, Chapter 5, 1896.
9. Encyclopedia Britannica Online, s.v. ''Kurd,'' (accessed 4 August 2006).
10. The Columbia Encyclopedia, s.v. ''http://www.bartleby.com/65/ku/Kurds.html Kurds],'' (accessed 17 July 2007)
11. A. Arnaiz-Villena, J. Martiez-Lasoa and J. Alonso-Garcia, ''The correlation Between Languages and Genes: The Usko-Mediterranean Peoples'' Human Immunology 62 (2001) No. 9:1057.
12. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16167/16167-h/raw7a.htm
13. http://italian.classic-literature.co.uk/history-of-rome/05-the-establishment-of-the-military-monarchy/ebook-page-24.asp
14. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16167/16167-h/raw7a.htm George Rawlinson, The Seven Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World, Volume III, Chapter VI
15. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16167/16167-h/raw7a.htm
16. The Sixth Book of Pliny: Natural History, Chapter XV.
17. http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc06/EDOC11006.htm
18. Olaf A. Toffteen, ''Notes on Assyrian and Babylonian Geography'', The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, pp.323-357, 1907, p.341
19. ''The correlation Between Languages and Genes: The Usko-Mediterranean Peoples'', Human Immunology, vol. 62, p.1057, 2001
20. A. Arnaiz-Villena, E,Gomez-Casado, J.Martinez-Laso, ''Population genetic relationships between Mediterranean populations determined by HLA distribution and a historic perspective'', Tissue Antigens, vol.60, issue 2, p. 117, 2002
21. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9046467
22. http://countrystudies.us/turkey/28.htm
23. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-230041
24. http://www.bartleby.com/65/ir/Iran.html
25. http://www.encislam.brill.nl/data/EncIslam/C4/COM-0544.html
26. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11380939&dopt=Abstract
27. http://www.barzan.com/kevin_brook.htm
28. http://www.cryptojews.com/Comparing_DNA.htm
29. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/110485882/ABSTRACT
30. The CIA Factbook reports all non-Arabs make up 9.7% of the Syrian population, and does not break out the Kurdish figure separately. Since Syria contains a large Armenian population, 8% may be a reasonable percentage.
31. https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
32. G.S. Harris, ''Ethnic Conflict and the Kurds'' in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, pp.118-120, 1977
33. http://hrw.org/reports/1993/iraqanfal/ANFALINT.htm
34. ibid., p.121
35. M. Farouk-Sluglett, P. Sluglett, J. Stork, ''Not Quite Armageddon: Impact of the War on Iraq'', MERIP Reports, July-September 1984, p.24
36. http://www.hrw.org/reports/1993/iraqanfal/
37. [3]
38. [4]
39. [5]
40. [6]
41. https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/tu.html#People
42. http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc06/EDOC11006.htm
43. Ethnologue census of languages in Asian portion of Turkey
44. http://www.amnestyusa.org/action/special/zana.html
45. Radu, Michael. (2001). "The Rise and Fall of the PKK", ''Orbis.'' 45(1):47-64.
46. http://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/turkey0305/3.htm#_Toc97005223
47. http://hrw.org/reports/2002/turkey/
48. http://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/turkey0305/
49. http://store.yahoo.com/hrwpubs/tur.html
''See also:'' Report D612, October, 1994, "Forced Displacement of Ethnic Kurds" (A Human Rights Watch Publication).
50. Kemalism: The Parctice of a Century, Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
51. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-230041
52. http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc06/EDOC11006.htm]
53. [http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/0/f52bcc85689b17998025679f003f5a36?Opendocument
54. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2267/is_1_70/ai_102140955/pg_25
55. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2267/is_1_70/ai_102140955/pg_25
56. http://www.itnet.org/kurds_today.html
57. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2267/is_1_70/ai_102140955/pg_26
58. http://www.alefbe.com/revolution6.htm
59. http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE130432005?open&of=ENG-IRN
60. http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE130102005?open&of=ENG-370
61. http://www.pdk-iran.org/english/doc/unhrc_iran_2002_minorities.htm
62. http://web.amnesty.org/wire/October2005/Iran
63. Iran's Waning Human Rights (''The New York Times'')
64. http://www.gazetteer.de/wg.php?x=1136895927&men=gpro&lng=en&des=gamelan&dat=200&geo=-106&srt=pnan&col=aohdqcfbeimg&geo=0
65. http://www.amnestyusa.org/regions/middleeast/document.do?id=80256DD400782B8480256F63006435DB
66. http://hrw.org/reports/1996/Syria.htm
67. http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/01/13/syria9812.htm
68. http://voanews.com/english/archive/2005-09/2005-09-02-voa15.cfm?CFID=46444555&CFTOKEN=26238763]
69. [http://themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=12568
70. http://hrw.org/reports/1996/Syria.htm
71. http://themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=12568
72. http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/03/19/syria8132.htm
73. http://www.amude.net/serhildan/index.html
74. http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc06/EDOC11006.htm
75. Yazdanism, Encyclopaedia of the Orient.
76. http://www.itnet.org/kurds_islam.html
77. http://www.bostonreview.net/BR28.3/pocha.html
78. http://kurdistanica.com/english/religion/yazdani/yezidi/yezidi.html
79. http://www.kurdistanica.com/english/religion/judaism/judaism.html
80. http://www.itnet.org/kurds_islam.html
81. http://www.itnet.org/kurds_islam.html
82. http://www.culturalorientation.net/kurds/krelig.html
83. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3770621.stm
84. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-22937
85. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/6302824435/002-0586942-6112800?v=glance&n=404272
★ Barth, F. 1953. ''Principles of Social Organization in Southern Kurdistan.'' Bulletin of the University Ethnographic Museum 7. Oslo.
★ Hansen, H.H. 1961. ''The Kurdish Woman's Life.'' Copenhagen. Ethnographic Museum Record 7:1-213.
★ Leach, E.R. 1938. ''Social and Economic Organization of the Rowanduz Kurds.'' London School of Economics Monographs on Social Anthropology 3:1-74.
★ Longrigg, S.H. 1953. ''Iraq, 1900-1950.'' London.
★ Masters, W.M. 1953. ''Rowanduz.'' Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan.
★ 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 Government.
★ Yazidism: Historical Roots, International Journal of Kurdish Studies, Jan. 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
★ A report on the Kurdish IDP's - 2005
★ A German newspaper's take on the Kurdish issue - 2005
★ The Guardian - ''What's in a name? Too much in Turkey'' - 2001
★ The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists' take - 1999
The 'Kurds' are an ethnic group who are indigenous to a region often referred to as Kurdistan, an area which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. Kurdish communities can also be found in Lebanon, Armenia, Azerbaijan (Kalbajar and Lachin, to the west of Nagorno Karabakh) and, in recent decades, some European countries and the United States (see Kurdish diaspora). Ethnically related to other Iranian peoples,[1] they speak Kurdish, an Indo-European language of the Iranian branch. However, the Kurds' ethnic origins are uncertain. [2] According to Encyclopedia Columbia, Kurds are commonly identified with the ancient Corduene which was in turn inhabited by the Carduchi.[3]
Origins
Main articles: Origins of the Kurds
Kurdish costumes, 1873.
According to Vladimir Minorsky ''There is no doubt that the term Mar (Medians) refers to Kurds''. Furthermore he writes that in the curious Armenian manuscript containing samples of alphabets and languages, written some time before A.D. 1446, a prayer in Kurdish figures as specimen of ''the language of the Medians''.[6]
However ''G. Driver'' disputes this evidence, and states that ''some Armenian writers seem to have confused the Kurds and the Medes.'' He then explains that
''The Kurds must certainly be connected with the Karduchi mentioned in Xenophon and the Gordyaei mentioned in other Greek and Latin authors, with the Kordukh or Kortschaikh of the Armenians and the land of Gardu of the Aramaic and Syriac writers.''[7].
One of the earliest records of the name ''Kurd'' is to be found in a Pahlavi Sassanid text in which the battle between Sassanid King Ardashir I and ''Madig'' King of the Kurds in the early 3rd century CE is mentioned[8].
The name of the Kurds proper however can only be dated with certainty to the Kurdish tribes' conversion to Islam in the 7th century AD.[9]
According to Encyclopedia Columbia, Kurds are commonly identified with the ancient Corduene which was inhabited by the Carduchi.[3]
From about the 10th century BCE, Iranian tribes spread in the area, among them Medes, speakers of a Northwest Iranian dialect. Gradual linguistic assimilation of the various indigenous peoples to this Median language in the course of the Iron Age marks the beginning of Kurdish ethnogenesis.[11]
History
Main articles: History of the Kurds
Ancient period
The present-day home of the Kurds, the high mountain region south and south-east of Lake Van between Persia and Mesopotamia, was in the possession of Kurds before the time of the ancient Greek historian Xenophon, and was known as the country of the ''Carduchi'', ''Cardyene'' or Cordyene. Xenophon referred to the Kurds in the ''Anabasis'' as "Kardukhi...a fierce and protective mountain-dwelling people" who attacked Greek armies in 400 BCE.[12]
The kingdom of Cordyene or Corduene was a high mountain region south and south-east of Lake Van between Persia and Mesopotamia, and it was situated to the east of Tigranocerta[13] (east and south of present-day Diyarbakır).
The word Corduene is no doubt the ancient representative of the modern Kurdistan, and means a country in which Kurds dwelt. Now Kurds seem to have been at one time the chief inhabitants of the Mons Masius, the modern Jebel Kara Dagh and Jebel Tur, which was thence called Gordyene, or the Gordisean mountain chain. The tract to this day known as Kurdistan, the high mountain region south and south-east of Lake Van between Persia and Mesopotamia, was in the possession of Kurds from before the time of Xenophon, and was known as the country of the Carduchi, as Cardyene, and as Cordyene[14].
Corduene became a province of the Roman Empire in 66 BCE and was under Roman control for four centuries until 384 CE.[12]
The Roman historian Pliny, has considered Cordueni (inhabitants of Corduene) as descendants of Carduchis. He has stated, ''Joining on to Adiabene are the people formerly called the Carduchi and now the Cordueni, past whom flows the river Tigris...''.[16][17] The people of Corduene were known to have worshipped the Hurrian sky God Teshub[18].
Medieval period
Kurdish Cavalry in the passes of the Caucasus mountains (''The New York Times'', January 24, 1915).
In the seventh century, the Arabs possessed the castles and fortifications of the Kurds. The conquest of the cities of Sharazor and ''Aradbaz'' took place in the year 643 AC.
In 846 AC, one of the leaders of the Kurds in Mosul city revolted against the Caliph Al Mo'tasam who sent the famous commander Aitakh to combat against him. In this war, Aitakh proved victorious and killed many of the Kurds. In 903 AC, during the period of Almoqtadar, the Kurds revolted again. Eventually Arabs conquered the Kurdish regions and converted the majority of Kurds to Islam.
In the second half of the tenth century, the Kurdish area was shared amongst four big Kurdish principalities. In the North were the Shaddadid (951-1174) in parts of present-day Armenia and Arran, and the Rawadid (955-1221) in Tabriz and Maragheh. In the East were the Hasanwayhids (959-1015) and the Annazid (990-1117) in Kermanshah, Dinawar and Khanaqin. In the West were the Marwanid (990-1096) of Diyarbakır. After these, the Ayyubid (1171-1250) of Syria and the Ardalan dynasty (fourteenth century to 1867) were established in present-day Khanaqin, Kirkuk and Sinne.
Language
Main articles: Kurdish language
The Kurdish language belongs to the north-western sub-group of the Iranian languages, which in turn belongs to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family. Kurdish may have borrowed heavily from Caucasian and Aramaic languages given certain peculiarities which make it distinct from other Iranian languages. Most of the ancestors of the Kurds spoke various languages of the Indo-European family.
The older language of the Kurds was replaced by the Indo-European around 850 BCE, with the arrival of the Medes to Kurdistan.[19] Nevertheless, Hurrian influence on Kurdish is still evident in its ergative grammatical structure and toponyms.[20]
Most Kurds are bilingual or polylingual, speaking the languages of the surrounding peoples such as Arabic, Turkish and Persian as a second language. Kurdish Jews and some Kurdish Christians (not be confused with ethnic Assyrians of Kurdistan) usually speak Aramaic (for example: Lishana Deni) as their first language. Aramaic is a Semitic language related to Hebrew and Arabic rather than Kurdish.
The Kurdish language is comprised of two major dialects and several sub-dialects:[21][22]
★ The Kurmanji dialect group
★ The Sorani dialect group
★ The Gorani, Zazaki, Feyli, Kermanshahi and Laki sub-dialects.
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"Kreyenbroek, Philip (1992). "On the Kurdish Language", in ''The Kurds: a contemporary overview'', eds. Philip Kreyenbroek and Stefan Sperl (p. 69)
Genetic and ethnic origins
Main articles: Genetic origins of the Kurds, Iranian peoples
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, "''The Persians, Kurds, and speakers of other Indo-European languages in Iran are descendants of the Aryan tribes that began migrating from Central Asia into what is now Iran in the second millennium BC[E].''"[23] According to the Columbia Encyclopedia, the Kurds, as well as other migrant ethnic groups of the region, are of the "least mixed descent of the original Iranians."[24]
According to the Encyclopedia of Islam, the classification of Kurds as Aryan is mainly based on linguistic and historical data and does not prejudice the fact there is a complexity of ethnical elements incorporated in them.[25]
According to a population study in 2001, the ancestors of the "Kurds, Armenians, Iranians, Jews, and other (Eastern and Western) Mediterranean groups seem to share a common ancestry" and were from an old Mediterranean substratum, i.e. Hurrian and Hittite groups and that these peoples have no connection with an Aryan invasion which was supposed to have happened about 1200 BCE.
"''It is concluded that this invasion, if occurred, had a relatively few invaders in comparison to the already settled populations, i.e. Anatolian Hittite and Hurrian groups (older than 2000 BCE). These may have given rise to present-day Kurdish, Armenian and Turkish populations.''"[26]
In 2001, a team of Israeli, German, and Indian scientists discovered that among the various Jewish communities, the Ashkenazi Jews showed a closer relationship to the Muslim Kurds than to the Semitic-speaking population further south in the Arabian peninsula, while the Jewish Kurds and Sephardic Jews seemed to be closely related to each other. Most of the ninety-five Kurdish Muslim test subjects came from northern Iraq. Moreover, according to another study, the CMH ("Cohen Modal Haplotype") is a genetic marker from the northern Middle East which is not unique to Jews.[27]
In another study, Kurdish Jews were found to be close to Muslim Kurds, but so were Ashkenazim and Sephardim, suggesting that much if not most of the genetic similarity between Jewish and Muslim Kurds descends from ancient times.[28]
Genetic distance comparisons in another study have revealed that the Turkic and Turkmen speaking peoples in the Caspian area cluster with the Kurds, Greeks and Iranis (Ossetians). In this study, the Persian speakers are genetically remote from these populations; they are, however, close to the Parsis who migrated from Iran to India at the end of the seventh century CE.[29]
Population
Kurdish populations in the Middle East
Main articles: Demographics of Kurdish people
The exact number of Kurdish people living in the Middle East is unknown, due to both an absence of recent census analysis and the reluctance of the various governments in Kurdish-inhabited regions to give accurate figures.
According to the CIA Factbook, Kurds comprise 20% of the population in Turkey, 15-20% in Iraq, perhaps 8% in Syria,[30] 7% in Iran and 1.3% in Armenia. 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.[31]. These estimates place the total number of Kurds at somewhere between 27 and 36 million.
Modern history
Kurds in Iraq
Main articles: Iraqi Kurdistan, 1988 Anfal campaign
Kurds led by Mustafa Barzani 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.[32] However, at the same time, the Iraqi regime started an Arabization program in the oil rich regions of Kirkuk and Khanaqin.[33] The peace agreement did not last long, and in 1974, Iraqi government began a new offensive against the Kurds. Moreover in March 1975, Iraq and Iran signed the Algiers Pact, 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.[34] Between 1975 and 1978, two-hundred thousand Kurds were deported to other parts of Iraq.[35]
During the Iran-Iraq 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 between fifty and one-hundred thousand Kurds.[36]
The President of Iraq, Jalal Talabani, meeting with U.S. officials in Baghdad, Iraq, on April 26, 2006.
After the Kurdish uprising in 1991 (Kurdish:''Raperîn'') led by the PUK and KDP, Iraqi troops recaptured the Kurdish areas and hundreds of thousand of Kurds fled to the borders. To alleviate the situation, a "safe haven" was established by the 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[37][38][39][40]. The area controlled by peshmerga was expanded, and Kurds now have effective control in Kirkuk and parts of Mosul. 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 2007, to determine the final borders of the Kurdish region.
Kurds in Turkey
Main articles: Kurds in Turkey, Turkish Kurdistan, Human rights in Turkey, Kurdistan Workers Party
About half of all Kurds live in Turkey. According to the CIA Factbook they account for 20 percent of the 70 million people of Turkey, thus numbering about 15 million people.[41] Other estimates vary between 12 to 15 million. They are predominantly distributed in the southeastern corner of the country.[17]
The best available estimate of the number of persons in Turkey speaking a Kurdish-related language is about five million (1980). There are about one million speakers of Dimli (Southern Zaza), and about 140,000 speakers of Kirmanjki (Northern Zaza), which has about 70 percent lexical similarity with Dimli. These estimates are from 1999 in the case of Dimli and 1972 in the case of Kirmanjki. About 3,950,000 others speak Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) (1980).[43] While population increase suggests that the number of speakers has grown, it is also true that use of the language has been discouraged in Turkish cities, and that many fewer ethnic Kurds live in the countryside where the language has traditionally been used. The number of speakers is clearly less than the 15 million or so persons who identify themselves as ethnic Kurds.
From 1915 to 1918, Kurds struggled to end Ottoman rule over their region. They were encouraged by Woodrow Wilson's support for non-Turkish nationalities of the empire and submitted their claim for independence to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. The Treaty of Sèvres stipulated creation of an autonomous Kurdish state in 1920, but the subsequent Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 failed to mention Kurds. In 1925 and 1930 Kurdish revolts were forcibly suppressed.
Kurdish mother and baby near Lake Van, 1973
Following these events, the existence of distinct ethnic groups like Kurds in Turkey was officially denied and any expression by the Kurds of their ethnic identity was harshly repressed. Until 1991, the use of the Kurdish language – although widespread – was illegal. As a result of reforms inspired by the EU, music, radio and television broadcasts in Kurdish are now allowed albeit with severe time restrictions (for example, radio broadcasts can be no longer than sixty minutes per day nor constitute more than five hours per week while television broadcasts are subject to even greater restrictions). Additionally, education in Kurdish is now permitted though only in private institutions.
._caffeeshop_in_diyarbakir.png)
Coffee shop in Diyarbakır, 1909.
As late as 1994, however, Leyla Zana, the first female Kurdish representative in Turkey's Parliament, was charged for making "separatist speeches" and sentenced to fifteen years in prison. At her inauguration as an MP, she reportedly identified herself as a Kurd. Amnesty International reported that "[s]he took the oath of loyalty in Turkish, as required by law, then added in Kurdish, 'I shall struggle so that the Kurdish and Turkish peoples may live together in a democratic framework.' Parliament erupted with shouts of 'Separatist!', 'Terrorist!', and 'Arrest her!'".[44]
The Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (PKK), also known as ''KADEK'' and ''Kongra-Gel'', is considered by the US and EU to be a terrorist organization dedicated to creating an independent Kurdish state in a territory (traditionally referred to as Kurdistan) consisting of parts of southeastern Turkey, northeastern Iraq, northeastern Syria and northwestern Iran. It is an ethnic secessionist organization using force and threat of force against both civilian and military targets for the purpose of achieving its political goal.
Between 1984 and 1999, the PKK and the Turkish military engaged in open war, and much of the countryside in the southeast was depopulated, with Kurdish civilians moving to local defensible centers such as Diyarbakır, Van, and Şırnak, 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.[45] Human Rights Watch has documented many instances where the Turkish military forcibly evacuated villages, destroying houses and equipment to prevent the return of the inhabitants. An estimated 3,000 Kurdish villages in Turkey were virtually wiped from the map, representing the displacement of more than 378,000 people.[46][47][48][49]
Nelson Mandela refused to accept the ''Ataturk Peace Award'' in 1992 because of the oppression of the Kurds. After the rejection, Turkish press called him ''An Ugly African'' and ''Terrorist Mandela''[50].
Kurds in Iran
Firing squad in Sanandaj, Iran, August 27, 1979.
Main articles: Iranian Kurdistan, History of the Kurds
The Kurds constitute approximately 7% of Iran's overall population. Kurds in Iran have resisted the Iranian government's efforts, both before and after the revolution of 1979, to assimilate them into the mainstream of national life and, along with their fellow Kurds in adjacent regions of Iraq and Turkey, has sought either regional autonomy or the outright establishment of an independent Kurdish state.[23].
In the seventeenth century, a large number of Kurds were deported by Shah Abbas I to Khorasan in Eastern Iran and forcibly resettled in the cities of Quchan and Birjand. The Kurds of Khorasan, numbering around 700,000, still use the Kurmanji Kurdish dialect[52][53].
During nineteenth and twentieth centuries, successive Iranian governments crushed Kurdish revolts led by Kurdish notables such as Shaikh Ubaidullah (against Qajars in 1880) and Simko (against Pahlavis in the 1920s).[54]
In Januray 1946, Republic of Mahabad declared independence in parts of Iranian Kurdistan but only lasted eleven months. The young republic was crushed by the Iranian Army in December of the same year, and president of the republic Qazi Muhammad was hanged publicly in Mahabad. After the military coup in 1953, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi became more autocratic and suppressed most opposition including ethnic minorities such as Kurds. He also prohibited any teaching of the Kurdish language.[54]
| Major Ethnic Groups of Iran |
|---|
In recent years, intense fighting occurred between Kurds and the Iranian state between 1979 and 1982. In August 1979, Ruhollah Khomeini declared a "holy war" against the Kurds.[56] An image of a firing squad of Revolutionary Guards executing Kurdish prisoners around Sanandaj gained international fame and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1980. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps fought to reestablish government control in the Kurdish regions; as a result, around ten thousand Kurds were killed.[57] Since 1983, the Iranian government has maintained control over the area which the Kurds inhabit.[58] Frequent unrest and the occasional military crackdown have occurred since the 1990s.[59]
In Iran, Kurds express their cultural identity freely, but are denied the right of self-government or administration. Similar to other parts of Iran, membership of any non-governmental political party in Kurdistan could be punishable by persecution, imprisonment and even death. Kurdish human rights activists in Iran have been threatened by Iranian authorities in connection with their work.[60][61] Following the killing of Kurdish opposition activist Shivan Qaderi and two other Kurdish men by Iranian security forces in Mahabad 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 Toloui, a womens' rights activist and head of the ''Rasan'' ("Rising") newspaper in Sine, who was tortured for two months for alleged involvement in the organization of peaceful protests throughout Kurdistan province.[62] According to the International Crisis Group, Kurds, who live in the least developed part of Iran, pose the most serious internal problem for Iran to resolve, and their apparent success in self-rule fuels their demands for greater autonomy.[63]
Kurds in Syria
Main articles: Kurds in Syria
Kurds account for 10% of Syria's population, a total of around 1.9 million people[64]. This makes them the largest ethnic minority in the country. They are mostly concentrated in northeast and 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.[65] No political parties are allowed for any group, Kurdish or otherwise.
Techniques used to suppress the ethnic identity of Kurds in Syria include various bans on the use of the Kurdish language, refusal to register children with Kurdish names, replacement of Kurdish place names with new names in Arabic, prohibition of businesses that do not have Arabic names, not permitting Kurdish private schools, and the prohibition of books and other materials written in Kurdish.[66][67] 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.[68][69] As a consequence, these Kurds are in effect trapped within Syria.[66] In February 2006, however, sources reported that Syria was now planning to grant these Kurds citizenship.[71]
On March 12, 2004, beginning at a stadium in Qamishli (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 Damascus and Aleppo.[72][73]
Kurds in Armenia
Between the 1930s and 1980s, Armenia was a part of the Soviet Union, 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-Karabakh, many non-Yazidi Kurds were forced to leave their homes. Following the end of the Soviet Union, Kurds in Armenia were stripped of their cultural privileges and most fled to Russia or Western Europe.http://www.slis.indiana.edu/faculty/meho/meho-bibliography-2001.pdf, p.22
Kurds in Azerbaijan
Main articles: Kurdistan Autonomous Oblast
In 1920, two Kurdish inhabited areas of Jewanshir (capital Kalbajar) and eastern Zangazur (capital Lachin) were combined to form the Kurdistan Okrug (or "Red Kurdistan"). The period of existence of 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-Karabakh, many Kurdish areas have been destroyed and more than 150,000 Kurds have been deported since 1988.
Kurdish diaspora
According to a report by the Council of Europe, approximately 1.3 million Kurds live in Western Europe. The earliest immigrants were Kurds from Turkey, who settled in Germany, Austria, the Benelux countries, Great Britain (especially in London), Switzerland and France 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.[17]
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 States, with 50,000 in Canada and less than 15,000 in Australia.
Religion
Main articles: Yazdanism, Yazidism, Yarsan, Alevi, Kurdish Jews, Kurdish Christians
An Ezidi temple in Lalish, Kurdistan
Yazdanism refers to a group of native monotheistic religions practiced among the Kurds: Alevism, Yarsan and Yazidism. 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''[75] The original religion of the Kurds was Yazidism, a religion greatly influenced by Jewish, Daevic, Zoroastrian, Christian and Islamic beliefs[76][77]. However there are significant differences between Yazdanism and Zoroasterianism, such as the belief in re-incarnation. Most Yazidis live in Iraqi Kurdistan, in the vicinity of Mosul and Sinjar[78]. The Yarsan (or Ahl-e Haqq) religion is practised in western Iran, primarily around Kermanshah. Christianity and Judaism both are still practised in very small numbers.[79] Rabbi Asenath Barzani, who lived in Mosul from 1590 to 1670, was among the very first Jewish women to become a rabbi.
Kurdish women, Van, 1973
Today the majority of Kurds are officially Muslim, belonging to the Shafi school of Sunni Islam. Mystical practices and participation in Sufi orders are also widespread among Kurds[76]. There is also a minority of Kurds that are Shia Muslims, primarily living in the Ilam and Kermanshah provinces of Iran, Central Iraq (Fayli Kurds). The Alevis are another religious minority among the Kurds, mainly found in Turkey.
It has been said that Kurds "hold their Islam lightly", meaning that their faith tends not to be as assertive as it can become in other areas[76]. One consequence, for example, has been the greater freedoms enjoyed by Kurdish women; they do not cover their faces, their hijab is less restrictive, and they do not wear full-cover garments such as the Iranian chador or Arabic abaya[82] [83].
Culture
Main articles: Kurdish culture, Kurdish literature, Kurdish Women
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 (Medes) and Islamic roots.
Kurdish culture is close to that of other Iranian peoples. 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 Güney (''Yol'' [85] ) and Bahman Qubadi (''A Time for Drunken Horses, Turtles Can Fly'') are among the better-known Kurdish directors.
Music
Main articles: Kurdish music
Traditionally, there are three types of Kurdish Classical performers: storytellers (''çîrokbêj''), minstrels (''stranbêj'') and bards (''dengbêj''). There was no specific music related to the Kurdish princely courts, and instead, music performed in night gatherings (''şevbihêrk'') is considered classical. Several musical forms are found in this genre. Many songs are epic in nature, such as the popular ''Lawiks'', heroic ballads recounting the tales of Kurdish heroes such as Saladin. ''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 songs are also popular.
See also
Modern Kurdish governments
★ Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) (1991 to date)
★ Republic of Mahabad (1946)
★ Republic of Ararat (1927-1931)
★ Kingdom of Kurdistan (1922-1924)
Notes and references
1. Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia, s.v. ''Iran,'' (by Eric Hooglund), section 3A (accessed 24 July 2006).
2. Encyclopedia Britannica Online, s.v. ''Kurds,'' (accessed 4 August 2006)
3. The Columbia Encyclopedia, s.v. ''http://www.bartleby.com/65/ku/Kurds.html Kurds],'' (accessed 17 July 2007)
4. Driver, G.K.: ''The Name Kurd and its Philological Connections''; JRAS, 1923
5. Hennerbichler 2004: ''Die Kurden'' by Ferdinand Hennerbichler, ISBN 963-214-575-5, pubd by the author, Dr. Ferdinand Hennerbichler, Edition fhe, Albert es Hennerbichler Bt., H-9200 Mosonmagyarovar, Slovakia, 2004.
6. V. MINORSKY, Studies in Caucasian History. London: Taylor's Foreign Press, 1953
7. G.R. Driver, ''Studies in Kurdish History'', Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London, 1922, pp.491-511, see p.493
8. Book of the Deeds of Ardashir son of Babag, Darab Dastur Peshotan Sanjana, Chapter 5, 1896.
9. Encyclopedia Britannica Online, s.v. ''Kurd,'' (accessed 4 August 2006).
10. The Columbia Encyclopedia, s.v. ''http://www.bartleby.com/65/ku/Kurds.html Kurds],'' (accessed 17 July 2007)
11. A. Arnaiz-Villena, J. Martiez-Lasoa and J. Alonso-Garcia, ''The correlation Between Languages and Genes: The Usko-Mediterranean Peoples'' Human Immunology 62 (2001) No. 9:1057.
12. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16167/16167-h/raw7a.htm
13. http://italian.classic-literature.co.uk/history-of-rome/05-the-establishment-of-the-military-monarchy/ebook-page-24.asp
14. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16167/16167-h/raw7a.htm George Rawlinson, The Seven Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World, Volume III, Chapter VI
15. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16167/16167-h/raw7a.htm
16. The Sixth Book of Pliny: Natural History, Chapter XV.
17. http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc06/EDOC11006.htm
18. Olaf A. Toffteen, ''Notes on Assyrian and Babylonian Geography'', The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, pp.323-357, 1907, p.341
19. ''The correlation Between Languages and Genes: The Usko-Mediterranean Peoples'', Human Immunology, vol. 62, p.1057, 2001
20. A. Arnaiz-Villena, E,Gomez-Casado, J.Martinez-Laso, ''Population genetic relationships between Mediterranean populations determined by HLA distribution and a historic perspective'', Tissue Antigens, vol.60, issue 2, p. 117, 2002
21. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9046467
22. http://countrystudies.us/turkey/28.htm
23. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-230041
24. http://www.bartleby.com/65/ir/Iran.html
25. http://www.encislam.brill.nl/data/EncIslam/C4/COM-0544.html
26. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11380939&dopt=Abstract
27. http://www.barzan.com/kevin_brook.htm
28. http://www.cryptojews.com/Comparing_DNA.htm
29. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/110485882/ABSTRACT
30. The CIA Factbook reports all non-Arabs make up 9.7% of the Syrian population, and does not break out the Kurdish figure separately. Since Syria contains a large Armenian population, 8% may be a reasonable percentage.
31. https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
32. G.S. Harris, ''Ethnic Conflict and the Kurds'' in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, pp.118-120, 1977
33. http://hrw.org/reports/1993/iraqanfal/ANFALINT.htm
34. ibid., p.121
35. M. Farouk-Sluglett, P. Sluglett, J. Stork, ''Not Quite Armageddon: Impact of the War on Iraq'', MERIP Reports, July-September 1984, p.24
36. http://www.hrw.org/reports/1993/iraqanfal/
37. [3]
38. [4]
39. [5]
40. [6]
41. https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/tu.html#People
42. http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc06/EDOC11006.htm
43. Ethnologue census of languages in Asian portion of Turkey
44. http://www.amnestyusa.org/action/special/zana.html
45. Radu, Michael. (2001). "The Rise and Fall of the PKK", ''Orbis.'' 45(1):47-64.
46. http://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/turkey0305/3.htm#_Toc97005223
47. http://hrw.org/reports/2002/turkey/
48. http://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/turkey0305/
49. http://store.yahoo.com/hrwpubs/tur.html
''See also:'' Report D612, October, 1994, "Forced Displacement of Ethnic Kurds" (A Human Rights Watch Publication).
50. Kemalism: The Parctice of a Century, Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
51. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-230041
52. http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc06/EDOC11006.htm]
53. [http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/0/f52bcc85689b17998025679f003f5a36?Opendocument
54. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2267/is_1_70/ai_102140955/pg_25
55. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2267/is_1_70/ai_102140955/pg_25
56. http://www.itnet.org/kurds_today.html
57. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2267/is_1_70/ai_102140955/pg_26
58. http://www.alefbe.com/revolution6.htm
59. http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE130432005?open&of=ENG-IRN
60. http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE130102005?open&of=ENG-370
61. http://www.pdk-iran.org/english/doc/unhrc_iran_2002_minorities.htm
62. http://web.amnesty.org/wire/October2005/Iran
63. Iran's Waning Human Rights (''The New York Times'')
64. http://www.gazetteer.de/wg.php?x=1136895927&men=gpro&lng=en&des=gamelan&dat=200&geo=-106&srt=pnan&col=aohdqcfbeimg&geo=0
65. http://www.amnestyusa.org/regions/middleeast/document.do?id=80256DD400782B8480256F63006435DB
66. http://hrw.org/reports/1996/Syria.htm
67. http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/01/13/syria9812.htm
68. http://voanews.com/english/archive/2005-09/2005-09-02-voa15.cfm?CFID=46444555&CFTOKEN=26238763]
69. [http://themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=12568
70. http://hrw.org/reports/1996/Syria.htm
71. http://themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=12568
72. http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/03/19/syria8132.htm
73. http://www.amude.net/serhildan/index.html
74. http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc06/EDOC11006.htm
75. Yazdanism, Encyclopaedia of the Orient.
76. http://www.itnet.org/kurds_islam.html
77. http://www.bostonreview.net/BR28.3/pocha.html
78. http://kurdistanica.com/english/religion/yazdani/yezidi/yezidi.html
79. http://www.kurdistanica.com/english/religion/judaism/judaism.html
80. http://www.itnet.org/kurds_islam.html
81. http://www.itnet.org/kurds_islam.html
82. http://www.culturalorientation.net/kurds/krelig.html
83. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3770621.stm
84. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-22937
85. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/6302824435/002-0586942-6112800?v=glance&n=404272
Bibliography
★ Barth, F. 1953. ''Principles of Social Organization in Southern Kurdistan.'' Bulletin of the University Ethnographic Museum 7. Oslo.
★ Hansen, H.H. 1961. ''The Kurdish Woman's Life.'' Copenhagen. Ethnographic Museum Record 7:1-213.
★ Leach, E.R. 1938. ''Social and Economic Organization of the Rowanduz Kurds.'' London School of Economics Monographs on Social Anthropology 3:1-74.
★ Longrigg, S.H. 1953. ''Iraq, 1900-1950.'' London.
★ Masters, W.M. 1953. ''Rowanduz.'' Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan.
External links
★ 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 Government.
★ Yazidism: Historical Roots, International Journal of Kurdish Studies, Jan. 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
★ A report on the Kurdish IDP's - 2005
★ A German newspaper's take on the Kurdish issue - 2005
★ The Guardian - ''What's in a name? Too much in Turkey'' - 2001
★ The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists' take - 1999
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