The KurdsThe Kurds• by

• Hakan Özoğlu

Problems of defining an ethnic Problems of defining an ethnic group?group?

• “People without a country”

• If there were no America, would there be Americans?

• Is there any ethnic “essence” in every human defining their characteristics?

• Is ethnicity learned?

• The role of geography/climate in flow of history.

LocationLocation

Today most Kurds live in the mountains of Eastern Turkey (Taurus Mountains) and Northwestern Iran (Zagros Mountains). Many reside in Iraq, Syria, and Armenia aswell.

PopulationPopulationThe following is only the estimates. We do not have exact numbers.

Turkey=12-15 millionIran=6-7 millionIraq=5-6 millionSyria=1.5-2 millionArmenia=42,000Azerbaijan=150-200KEurope= 1.5-2 million

Total= Around 30-35 million (some claim as many as 50 millilon)

Approximately 2/3 of the Kurds live in Turkey..

Language Language

• The Kurdish languages belong to the northwestern sub‑group of the Iranian languages, which in turn belongs to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family.

• Most Kurds are either bilingual or multilingual, speaking Arabic, Persian or Turkish.

Kurdish DialectsKurdish Dialects

• The Kurmanji dialect group.

• The Sorani dialect group.

sub-dialects:• Kirmanshahi/Feyli• Laki• Gorani• Zazaki • Some consider Zaza to be a separate language.

ReligionReligion

• Mainly Sunni, some Shia

• Alevis in Turkey

• Ahl-i Haqq

• Yazidis

• Jewish Kurds (200K)

• Christians

Geography/TopographyGeography/Topography

• The traditional Kurdish land is typically mountainous and referred to by many as “uninhabitable.”

• The Kurds have become settled agrarian peoples by forced assimilation into modern countries—they were mostly nomadic previously.

• Mountain dwelling had advantages and disadvantages:

• Isolation from settled cultures• Assimilation

ClimateClimate• characterized by extreme conditions, with large temperature

differences between day and night and between winter and summer. • has two patterns; semiarid and summer-dry. The temperature in

winter drops below -35 ºC whereas in summer rises as high as 45 ºC.

• Variations in elevation create vast differences in climate.

HistoryHistory

• When do we see the name “Kurd” in historical records?

• Origin of the Kurds?– How reliable are the “origin of an ethnic

group” stories?

Kurds claim descent from the ancient “Medes” circa 7-6 centuries BCE.

• There are other “territory based” assumptions about the Kurds.– Kardouchi– Cyrtii

Arab travelersArab travelers

• More reliable information comes from the Arab invasion of the region in the 7th century CE.

• “Mountain people”

• But origin of the word is unknown…

• The earliest record of the Kurds, written by a Kurd comes from the 16th century.– Sharafnama

• Later, we have much information about Kurds especially under the Ottoman and Persian empires.

Emergence of Kurdish Emergence of Kurdish nationalismnationalism

• Kurdish rebellions of the 19th century

• World War I and the Kurds– Division of Kurdish

territories into Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey

Kurds in TurkeyKurds in Turkey

• Endured long discrimination

• Suppression of Kurdish identity

• Recently major changes in Kurdish policy– Acceptance of “Kurdish reality”– Kurds in the parliament – Language, publication, TV stations

• War against the PKK

Kurds in IraqKurds in Iraq

• 17 % of the Iraqi population

• After WWI, they were forced to stay with Iraq, in exchange for cultural autonomy

• Broken promises and first Berzenji than Barzani rebellions

• “Halabja Massacre”

• in 1988

• Iraqi Kurdish Civil War involved two Kurdish factions KDP and PUK

• Took place in the mid 1990s and 5K people from both side lost their lives.

• In 1998 Barzani and Talabani signed a US mediated agreement

• In 1992, Kurds began self-governing as KRG• After the fall of Saddam in 2003, the KRG grew

in influence signing oil deals with international corporations.

• Currently Massoud Barzani, the President of the autonomous region.

Kurds in IranKurds in Iran• Kurds are 7-9 % of Iran’s overall

population.

• Mostly Shia

• In 1946, the “Mahabad Experience”

1990s KDPI insurgency1990s KDPI insurgency

• Insurrection by the KDPI took place in Iranian Kurdistan through early and mid-90s, initiated by assassination of its leader in exile in July 1989.

• The insurrection ended in 1996, as KDPI announced a unilateral cease fire.

PJAK insurrectionPJAK insurrection

• PJAK is based in the border area with Iraqi Kurdistan and is affiliated with the PKK (in Turkey).

• Its goal is an establishment of a Kurdish autonomy in Iran.

• Ceasefire signed in 2011

Kurds in SyriaKurds in Syria

• 9% of Syria's population, the largest ethnic minority in Syria.

• mostly concentrated in the northeast and the north, but there are also significant Kurdish populations in Aleppo and Damascus.

• Previously, denied citizenship to 300K Kurds, but in 2011, they received their citizenship.

• Kurdish evolved into armed clashes after the opposition Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and Kurdish National Council (KNC) signed a cooperation agreement on 12 July 2012 that created the Kurdish Supreme Committee as the governing body of all Kurdish controlled areas.

• Under this, the Popular Protection Units (YPG) were created to control the Kurdish inhabited areas in Syria.