Credit: CC0 Public Domain
Puzzled by their experimental results, a
team of scientists from Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's
Hospital investigated why a research tool that was expected to suppress
neuronal activity actually was stimulating it. Their findings led them
to modify the research tool in ways that minimize the undesired effects,
transforming it into a more useful technique to study neuronal
function. The study appears in eLife.
"One of the
research goals of our laboratory is to understand how different classes
of neurons in brain circuits interact with each other to perform their
functions," said corresponding author Dr. Mingshan Xue, assistant
professor of neuroscience and of molecular and human genetics at Baylor
College of Medicine, Caroline DeLuca Scholar and member of the Cain
Foundation Laboratories and the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research
Institute at Texas Children's Hospital. "One way to study neuronal
function is by altering the activity of the neurons and then observe the
outcomes, just like in genetics where scientists modify a gene to
determine what it might do."
Xue and his colleagues initially wanted to study the effect of
inhibiting the activity of specific neurons in the visual cortex of
mice. They used an optogenetic approach by which they genetically
introduced into specific neurons a light-sensitive protein called
light-gated chloride channel GtACR2, which was assumed to be an
inhibitor of neural activity. The researchers then activated the
inhibitory effect of GtACR2 by shining a light on the modified cells. It
was expected that once it was light-activated, GtACR2 would inhibit the
output of the neuronal activity, which the researchers measured as release of neurotransmitters.
"We expected that GtACR2 would inhibit the release of
neurotransmitters, but surprisingly the neurons did just the opposite,"
said first author Jessica Messier, who is in the Medical Scientist
Training Program (M.D./Ph.D.) at Baylor College of Medicine. "We were
puzzled by these unexpected results and investigated the causes."
How neurons work
Neurons receive signals from other neurons through a part of the cell
called the cell body, commanding it to either 'fire' or 'not fire'
signals. If the command is 'fire,' then the cell body will send the
signal down the axon, the long threadlike extension of the cell that
connects the neuron with others. Neurotransmitters will be released from
the axon's endings passing on signals to the next neuron. If, on the
other hand, the cell body receives a 'no fire' signal, then it won't
send a signal down the axon.
"When we used the light-gated channel GtACR2, we expected to silence
the cell body, so no matter which signal it received, the cell body
would not send a signal down the axon. But we found that even though the
cell body was indeed silenced, signals still ran through the axon and
neurotransmitters were released," Messier said.
When activated, channel GtACR2 opens a door on the cells through
which negatively charged chloride ions flow, from where their
concentration is higher toward where it is lower. The flow of chloride
ions from inside the neuron toward the outside triggers a 'fire' signal,
while the opposite, flow of negative ions from the outside to the
inside of the cells, results in a 'no fire' signal. Usually, chloride
concentration is higher outside of the cell than in the inside, so when
channel GtACR2 opens, ions flow toward the inside of the cell, which
results in a 'no fire' signal. That's why chloride channels usually
inhibit neuronal activity.
"However, we found that, in the particular neurons we were studying,
the chloride ion concentration inside the cell body is lower than the
concentration outside of the cell, but inside the axon it is the
opposite, the concentration of chloride ions
is higher inside than on the outside," Xue said. "This difference in
chloride ion concentration between the cell body and the axon of the
same cell explained why channel GtACR2 triggered a 'no fire' response in
the cell body and a 'fire' response in the axon."
To minimize the 'fire' signal running through the axon, the
researchers modified channel GtACR2 so it would be mostly expressed in
the cell body, and not in the axons.
"Relocating channel GtACR2 to the cell body significantly reduced the
signals running through the axon, but there is still room for
improvement," Xue said. "This approach also enhanced the inhibitory
effect in the cell body and resulted in increased inhibition of the
activity of the neuron. A take home message for us is that this
light-gated inhibitory channel can be used, but it's important to take
into consideration the effects it can have in different parts of the
cell."
"The phenomenon we describe here also has other implications. One is
that this channel itself has now become a tool to study chloride
concentrations in different compartments within neurons,
such as the axons, which are very small and hard to study," Messier
said. "Second, the improvements that we made to channel GtACR2 to
minimize the undesired effects also gave us future direction toward how
to further improve the tool."
More information:
Jessica E Messier et al.
Targeting light-gated chloride channels to neuronal somatodendritic
domain reduces their excitatory effect in the axon, eLife (2018).
Globally, the Kurds are estimated to number anywhere from a low of 30 million, to possibly as high as 45 million, by the Kurdish Institute of Paris,
2017 estimate. The Kurdish population is estimated at 15-20 million in
Turkey. 10-12 million in Iran. 8-8.5 million in Iraq. 3-3.6 million in
Syria. 1.2-1.5 million in the European diaspora. And 400k-500k in the
former USSR. For a total of 36.4 million to 45. 6 million globally. With
the majority living in the region they regard as Greater Kurdistan. However, there are significant Kurdish diaspora communities in the cities of western Turkey, in particular Istanbul. A recent Kurdish diaspora has also developed in Western countries, primarily in Germany. The Kurds are the majority population in the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, and are a significant minority group in the neighboring countries of Turkey, Iran, and Syria, where Kurdish nationalist movements continue to pursue greater autonomy and cultural rights.
Kurdish (Kurdish: Kurdî or کوردی) is a collection of related dialects spoken by the Kurds. It is mainly spoken in those parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey which comprise Kurdistan. Kurdish holds official status in Iraq as a national language alongside Arabic, is recognized in Iran as a regional language, and in Armenia as a minority language.
Most Kurds are either bilingual or multilingual, speaking the language of their respective nation of origin, such as Arabic, Persian, and Turkish as a second language alongside their native Kurdish, while those in diaspora communities often speak three or more languages.
According to Mackenzie, there are few linguistic features that
all Kurdish dialects have in common and that are not at the same time
found in other Iranian languages.
The Kurdish dialects according to Mackenzie are classified as:
Southern group (part of the Sorani dialect group) including Kermanshahi, Ardalani and Laki
The Zaza and Gorani are ethnic Kurds, but the Zaza–Gorani languages are not classified as Kurdish.
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 is English from 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."
The total number of Kurds in 1991 was placed at 22.5 million,
with 48% of this number living in Turkey, 18% in Iraq, 24% in Iran, and
4% in Syria.
Recent emigration accounts for a population of close to 1.5 million in Western countries, about half of them in Germany.
A special case are the Kurdish populations in the Transcaucasus and Central Asia, displaced there mostly in the time of the Russian Empire, who underwent independent developments for more than a century and have developed an ethnic identity in their own right. This groups' population was estimated at close to 0.4 million in 1990.
History
Antiquity
"The land of Karda" is mentioned on a Sumerian clay-tablet dated to
the 3rd millennium B.C. This land was inhabited by "the people of Su"
who dwelt in the southern regions of Lake Van; The philological connection between "Kurd" and "Karda" is uncertain but the relationship is considered possible. Other Sumerian clay-tablets referred to the people, who lived in the land of Karda, as the Qarduchi and the Qurti. Karda/Qardu is etymologically related to the Assyrian term Urartu and the Hebrew term Ararat.
Qarti or Qartas, who were originally settled on the mountains north of Mesopotamia, are considered as a probable ancestor of the Kurds. Akkadians were attacked by nomads coming through Qartas territory at the end of 3rd millennium B.C. Akkadians distinguished them as Guti. They conquered Mesopotamia in 2150 B.C. and ruled with 21 kings until defeated by the Sumerian king Utu-hengal.
Many Kurds consider themselves descended from the Medes, an ancient Iranian people, and even use a calendar dating from 612 B.C., when the Assyrian capital of Nineveh was conquered by the Medes. The claimed Median descent is reflected in the words of the Kurdish national anthem: "We are the children of the Medes and Kai Khosrow." However, MacKenzie and Asatrian challenge the relation of the Median language to Kurdish. The Kurdish languages, on the other hand, form a subgroup of the Northwestern Iranian languages like Median. Some researchers consider the independent Kardouchoi as the ancestors of the Kurds, while others prefer Cyrtians. The term "Kurd," however, is first encountered in Arabic sources of the seventh century. Books from the early Islamic era, including those containing legends such as the Shahnameh and the Middle PersianKar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan, and other early Islamic sources provide early attestation of the name Kurd.The Kurds have ethnically diverse origins.
During the Sassanid era, in Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan, a short prose work written in Middle Persian, Ardashir I is depicted as having battled the Kurds and their leader, Madig. After initially sustaining a heavy defeat, Ardashir I was successful in subjugating the Kurds. In a letter Ardashir I received from his foe, Ardavan V, which is also featured in the same work, he is referred to as being a Kurd himself.
You've bitten off more than you can chew
and you have brought death to yourself.
O son of a Kurd, raised in the tents of the Kurds,
who gave you permission to put a crown on your head?
The usage of the term Kurd during this time
period most likely was a social term, designating Northwestern Iranian
nomads, rather than a concrete ethnic group.
Similarly, in AD 360, the Sassanid king Shapur II marched into the Roman province Zabdicene, to conquer its chief city, Bezabde, present-day Cizre.
He found it heavily fortified, and guarded by three legions and a large body of Kurdish archers.
After a long and hard-fought siege, Shapur II breached the walls,
conquered the city and massacred all its defenders. Thereafter he had
the strategically located city repaired, provisioned and garrisoned with
his best troops.
There is also a 7th-century text by an unidentified author, written about the legendary Christian martyrMar Qardagh. He lived in the 4th century, during the reign of Shapur II, and during his travels is said to have encountered Mar Abdisho, a deacon and martyr, who, after having been questioned of his origins by Mar Qardagh and his Marzobans,
stated that his parents were originally from an Assyrian village called
Hazza, but were driven out and subsequently settled in Tamanon, a
village in the land of the Kurds, identified as being in the region of Mount Judi.
Medieval period
Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb, or Saladin, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty in the Middle East
Early Syriac sources use the terms Hurdanaye, Kurdanaye, Kurdaye to refer to the Kurds. According to Michael the Syrian, Hurdanaye separated from Tayaye Arabs and sought refuge with the Byzantine Emperor Theophilus. He also mentions the Persian troops who fought against Musa chief of Hurdanaye in the region of Qardu in 841. According to Barhebreaus, a king appeared to the Kurdanaye and they rebelled against the Arabs in 829. Michael the Syrian considered them as pagan, followers of mahdi and adepts of Magianism. Their mahdi called himself Christ and the Holy Ghost.
In the early Middle Ages,
the Kurds sporadically appear in Arabic sources, though the term was
still not being used for a specific people; instead it referred to an
amalgam of nomadic western Iranic tribes, who were distinct from Persians. However, in the High Middle Ages,
the Kurdish ethnic identity gradually materialized, as one can find
clear evidence of the Kurdish ethnic identity and solidarity in texts of
the 12th and 13th century, though, the term was also still being used in the social sense. From 11th century onward, the term Kurd is explicitly defined as an ethnonym and this does not suggest synonymity with the ethnographic category nomad. Al-Tabari wrote that in 639, Hormuzan, a Sasanian general originating from a noble family, battled against the Islamic invaders in Khuzestan, and called upon the Kurds to aid him in battle. However, they were defeated and brought under Islamic rule.
Kurdish Warriors By Frank Feller
In 838, a Kurdish leader based in Mosul, named Mir Jafar, revolted against the Caliph Al-Mu'tasim who sent the commander Itakh to combat him. Itakh won this war and executed many of the Kurds.
Eventually Arabs conquered the Kurdish regions and gradually converted
the majority of Kurds to Islam, often incorporating them into the
military, such as the Hamdanids whose dynastic family members also frequently intermarried with Kurds.
In 934 the DaylamiteBuyid
dynasty was founded, and subsequently conquered most of present-day
Iran and Iraq. During the time of rule of this dynasty, Kurdish chief
and ruler, Badr ibn Hasanwaih, established himself as one of the most
important emirs of the time.
In the 10th-12th centuries, a number of Kurdish principalities and dynasties were founded, ruling Kurdistan and neighbouring areas:
Due to the Turkic invasion of Anatolia, the 11th century Kurdish
dynasties crumbled and became incorporated into the Seljuk Dynasty.
Kurds would hereafter be used in great numbers in the armies of the Zengids. Succeeding the Zengids, the Kurdish Ayyubids established themselves in 1171, first under the leadership of Saladin. Saladin led the Muslims to recapture the city of Jerusalem from the Crusaders at the Battle of Hattin; also frequently clashing with the Hashashins. The Ayyubid dynasty lasted until 1341 when the Ayyubid sultanate fell to Mongolian invasions.
Safavid period
The Safavid
Dynasty, established in 1501, also established its rule over
Kurdish-inhabited territories. The paternal line of this family actually
had Kurdish roots, tracing back to Firuz-Shah Zarrin-Kolah, a dignitary who moved from Kurdistan to Ardabil in the 11th century. The Battle of Chaldiran in 1514 that culminated in what is nowadays Iran's West Azerbaijan Province, marked the start of the Ottoman-Persian Wars between the Iranian Safavids (and successive Iranian dynasties) and the Ottomans.
For the next 300 years, many of the Kurds found themselves living in
territories that frequently changed hands between Ottoman Turkey and
Iran during the protracted series of Ottoman-Persian Wars.
The Safavid king Ismail I (r. 1501-1524) put down a Yezidi rebellion which went on from 1506-1510. A century later, the year-long Battle of Dimdim took place, wherein the Safavid king Abbas I (r. 1588-1629) succeeded in putting down the rebellion led by the Kurdish ruler Amir Khan Lepzerin. Thereafter, a large number of Kurds were deported to Khorasan, not only to weaken the Kurds, but also to protect the eastern border from invading Afghan and Turkmen tribes.
Other forced movements and deportations of other groups were also
implimented by Abbas I and his successors, most notably of the Armenians, the Georgians, and the Circassians, who were moved en masse to and from other districts within the Persian empire.
The Kurds of Khorasan, numbering around 700,000, still use the Kurmanji Kurdish dialect. Several Kurdish noblemen served the Safavids and rose to prominence, such as Shaykh Ali Khan Zanganeh, who served as the grand vizier of the Safavid shahSuleiman I
(r. 1666–1694) from 1669 to 1689. Due to his efforts in reforming the
declining Iranian economy, he has been called the "Safavid Amir Kabir" in modern historiography. His son, Shahqoli Khan Zanganeh, also served as a grand vizier from 1707 to 1716. Another Kurdish statesman, Ganj Ali Khan, was close friends with Abbas I, and served as governor in various provinces and was known for his loyal service.
After the fall of the Safavids, Iran fell under the control of the Afsharid Empire ruled by Nader Shah
at its peak. After Nader's death, Iran fell into civil war, with
multiple leaders trying to gain control over the country. Ultimately, it
was Karim Khan, a Laki general of the Zand tribe who would come to power.
The country would flourish during Karim Khan’s reign; a strong
resurgence of the arts would take place, and international ties were
strengthened.
Karim Khan was portrayed as being a ruler who truly cared about his
subjects, thereby gaining the title Vakil e-Ra’aayaa (meaning
Representative of the People in Persian).
Though not as powerful in its geo-political and military reach as the
preceding Safavids and Afsharids or even the early Qajars, he managed to
reassert Iranian hegemony over its integral territories in the Caucasus, and presided over an era of relative peace, prosperity, and tranquility. In Ottoman Iraq, following the Ottoman–Persian War (1775–76), Karim Khan managed to seize Basra for several years.
After Karim Khan's death, the dynasty would decline in favour of the rival Qajars due to infighting between the Khan’s incompetent offspring. It wasn't until Lotf Ali Khan,
10 years later, that the dynasty would once again be led by an adept
ruler. By this time however, the Qajars had already progressed greatly,
having taken a number of Zand territories. Lotf Ali Khan made multiple
successes before ultimately succumbing to the rivaling faction. Iran and
all its Kurdish territories would hereby be incorporated in the Qajar Dynasty.
The Kurdish tribes present in Baluchistan and some of those in Fars are believed to be remnants of those that assisted and accompanied Lotf Ali Khan and Karim Khan, respectively.
Ottoman period
When Sultan Selim I, after defeating Shah Ismail I in 1514, annexed Western Armenia and Kurdistan, he entrusted the organisation of the conquered territories to Idris, the historian, who was a Kurd of Bitlis. He divided the territory into sanjaks
or districts, and, making no attempt to interfere with the principle of
heredity, installed the local chiefs as governors. He also resettled
the rich pastoral country between Erzerum and Erivan, which had lain in waste since the passage of Timur, with Kurds from the Hakkari and Bohtan districts. For the next centuries, from the Peace of Amasya
until the first half of the 19th century, several regions of the wide
Kurdish homelands would be contested as well between the Ottomans and
the neighbouring rival successive Iranian dynasties (Safavids, Afsharids, Qajars) in the frequent Ottoman-Persian Wars.
The Ottoman centralist policies in the beginning of the 19th
century aimed to remove power from the principalities and localities,
which directly affected the Kurdish emirs. Bedirhan Bey was the last emir of the Cizre BohtanEmirate
after initiating an uprising in 1847 against the Ottomans to protect
the current structures of the Kurdish principalities. Although his
uprising is not classified as a nationalist one, his children played
significant roles in the emergence and the development of Kurdish
nationalism through the next century.
The first modern Kurdish nationalist movement emerged in 1880
with an uprising led by a Kurdish landowner and head of the powerful
Shemdinan family, Sheik Ubeydullah,
who demanded political autonomy or outright independence for Kurds as
well as the recognition of a Kurdistan state without interference from
Turkish or Persian authorities. The uprising against Qajar Persia and the Ottoman Empire was ultimately suppressed by the Ottomans and Ubeydullah, along with other notables, were exiled to Istanbul.
Kurdish nationalism emerged after World War I with the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire
which had historically successfully integrated (but not assimilated)
the Kurds, through use of forced repression of Kurdish movements to gain
independence. Revolts did occur sporadically but only in 1880 with the
uprising led by Sheik Ubeydullah did the Kurds as an ethnic group or nation make demands. Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid
responded with a campaign of integration by co-opting prominent Kurdish
opponents to strengthen Ottoman power with offers of prestigious
positions in his government. This strategy appears to have been
successful given the loyalty displayed by the Kurdish Hamidiye regiments during World War I.
The Kurdish ethno-nationalist movement that emerged following
World War I and the end of the Ottoman Empire was largely a reaction to
the changes taking place in mainstream Turkey, primarily to the radical secularization, which the strongly Muslim
Kurds abhorred, to the centralization of authority, which threatened
the power of local chieftains and Kurdish autonomy, and to rampant Turkish nationalism in the new Turkish Republic, which obviously threatened to marginalize them.
Jakob Künzler, head of a missionary hospital in Urfa, has documented the large scale ethnic cleansing of both Armenians and Kurds by the Young Turks. He has given a detailed account of the deportation of Kurds from Erzurum and Bitlis in the winter of 1916. The Kurds were perceived to be subversive elements that would take the Russian
side in the war. In order to eliminate this threat, Young Turks
embarked on a large scale deportation of Kurds from the regions of Djabachdjur, Palu, Musch, Erzurum and Bitlis. Around 300,000 Kurds were forced to move southwards to Urfa and then westwards to Aintab and Marasch. In the summer of 1917, Kurds were moved to Konya in central Anatolia.
Through these measures, the Young Turk leaders aimed at weakening the
political influence of the Kurds by deporting them from their ancestral
lands and by dispersing them in small pockets of exiled communities. By
the end of World War I, up to 700,000 Kurds had been forcibly deported
and almost half of the displaced perished.
Some of the Kurdish groups sought self-determination and the confirmation of Kurdish autonomy in the Treaty of Sèvres, but in the aftermath of World War I, Kemal Atatürk prevented such a result. Kurds backed by the United Kingdom declared independence in 1927 and established the Republic of Ararat. Turkey suppressed Kurdist revolts in 1925, 1930, and 1937–1938, while Iran in the 1920s suppressed Simko Shikak at Lake Urmia and Jaafar Sultan of the Hewraman region, who controlled the region between Marivan and north of Halabja. A short-lived Soviet-sponsored Kurdish Republic of Mahabad in Iran did not long outlast World War II.
Kurdish-inhabited areas of the Middle East and the Soviet Union in 1986.
From 1922–1924 in Iraq a Kingdom of Kurdistan existed. When Ba'athist administrators thwarted Kurdish nationalist ambitions in Iraq,
war broke out in the 1960s. In 1970 the Kurds rejected limited
territorial self-rule within Iraq, demanding larger areas including the
oil-rich Kirkuk region.
During the 1920s and 1930s, several large scale Kurdish revolts
took place in Kurdistan. Following these rebellions, the area of Turkish
Kurdistan was put under martial law and a large number of the Kurds were displaced. The Turkish government also encouraged resettlement of Albanians from Kosovo and Assyrians
in the region to change the make-up of the population. These events and
measures led to a long-lasting mutual distrust between Ankara and the
Kurds .
During the relatively open government of the 1950s, Kurds gained
political office and started working within the framework of the Turkish
Republic to further their interests, but this move towards integration
was halted with the 1960 Turkish coup d'état. The 1970s saw an evolution in Kurdish nationalism as Marxist political thought influenced some in the new generation of Kurdish nationalists opposed to the local feudal
authorities who had been a traditional source of opposition to
authority; eventually they would form the militant separatist
organization PKK, also known as the Kurdistan Workers' Party in English. The Kurdistan Workers' Party later abandoned Marxism-Leninism.
Kurds are often regarded as "the largest ethnic group without a state." The Kurdish claim of "statelessness" is rejected by some researchers such as Martin van Bruinessen
and some other scholars who seem to agree with the official Turkish
position. They argue that while some level of Kurdish cultural, social,
political and ideological heterogeneity may exist, the Kurdish
community has long thrived over the centuries as a generally peaceful
and well integrated part of Turkish society, with hostilities erupting
only in recent years. Michael Radu who had worked for the United States's Pennsylvania Foreign Policy Research Institute argued that the claim of Kurdish "statelessness" comes primarily from Kurdish nationalists, Western human rights activists, and European leftists.
Name
The exact origins of the name Kurd are unclear. The underlying toponym is recorded in Assyrian as Qardu and in Middle Bronze AgeSumerian as Kar-da. Assyrian Qardu refers to an area in the upper Tigris basin, and it is presumably reflected in corrupted form in Classical ArabicǦūdī, re-adopted in Kurdish as Cûdî. The name would be continued as the first element in the toponym Corduene, mentioned by Xenophon as the tribe who opposed the retreat of the Ten Thousand through the mountains north of Mesopotamia in the 4th century BC.
There are, however, dissenting views, which do not derive the name of the Kurds from Qardu and Corduene but opt for derivation from Cyrtii (Cyrtaei) instead.
Regardless of its possible roots in ancient toponymy, the ethnonymKurd might be derived from a term kwrt- used in Middle Persian as a common noun to refer to "nomads" or "tent-dwellers," which could be applied as an attribute to any Iranian group with such a lifestyle.
The term gained the characteristic of an ethnonym following the Muslim conquest of Persia,
as it was adopted into Arabic and gradually became associated with an
amalgamation of Iranian and Iranicised tribes and groups in the region.
It is also hypothesized that Kurd could derive from the Persian word gord(see Shahrekord), because the Arabic script lacks a symbol corresponding uniquely to g (گ).
Sherefxan Bidlisi in the 16th century states that there are four division of "Kurds": Kurmanj, Lur, Kalhor and Guran, each of which speak a different dialect or language variation. Paul (2008) notes that the 16th-century usage of the term Kurd
as recorded by Bidlisi, regardless of linguistic grouping, might still
reflect an incipient Northwestern Iranian "Kurdish" ethnic identity
uniting the Kurmanj, Kalhur, and Guran.
According to CIA Factbook,
Kurds formed approximately 18% of the population in Turkey
(approximately 14 million) in 2008. One Western source estimates that up
to 25% of the Turkish population is Kurdish (approximately 18-19
million people). Kurdish sources claim there are as many as 20 or 25 million Kurds in Turkey.
In 1980, Ethnologue estimated the number of Kurdish-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. This classification was changed to the new euphemism of Eastern Turk in 1980. Nowadays the Kurds, in Turkey, are still known under the name Easterner (Doğulu).
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, folklore, and names were banned and the Kurdish-inhabited areas remained under martial law 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.[127]
By the 1970s, Kurdish leftist organizations such as Kurdistan Socialist Party-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 Diyarbakir 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 words "Kurds", "Kurdistan", or "Kurdish" were officially banned by the Turkish government. Following the military coup of 1980, the Kurdish language was officially prohibited in public and private life. Many people who spoke, published, or sang in Kurdish were arrested and imprisoned.
The Kurds are still not allowed to get a primary education in their
mother tongue and they don't have a right to self-determination, even
though Turkey has signed the ICCPR. There is ongoing discrimination against and “otherization” of Kurds in society.
The Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (PKK), also known as KADEK and Kongra-Gel
is Kurdish militant organization which has waged an armed struggle
against the Turkish state for cultural and political rights and
self-determination for the Kurds. Turkey's military allies the US, the EU, and NATO see the PKK as a terrorist organization while the UN, Switzerland, Russia, China and India have refused to add the PKK to their terrorist list. Some of them have even supported the PKK.
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 from villages to bigger cities
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 mainly the Turkish state's
military operations, state's political actions, Turkish Deep state actions, the poverty of the southeast and PKK atrocities against Kurdish clans which were against them.
Turkish State actions have included forced inscription, forced
evacuation, destruction of villages, severe harassment, illegal arrests
and executions of Kurdish civilians.
Since the 1970s, the European Court of Human Rights has condemned Turkey for the thousands of human rights abuses. The judgments are related to executions of Kurdish civilians, torturing, forced displacements, systematic destruction of villages, arbitrary arrests, murdered and disappeared Kurdish journalists.
Leyla Zana, the first Kurdish female MP from Diyarbakir, caused an uproar in Turkish Parliament after adding the following sentence in Kurdish
to her parliamentary oath during the swearing-in ceremony in 1994: "I
take this oath for the brotherhood of the Turkish and Kurdish peoples."
In March 1994, the Turkish Parliament voted to lift the immunity of Zana and five other Kurdish DEP
members: Hatip Dicle, Ahmet Turk, Sirri Sakik, Orhan Dogan and Selim
Sadak. Zana, Dicle, Sadak and Dogan were sentenced to 15 years in jail
by the Supreme Court in October 1995. Zana was awarded the Sakharov Prize for human rights by the European Parliament
in 1995. She was released in 2004 amid warnings from European
institutions that the continued imprisonment of the four Kurdish MPs
would affect Turkey's bid to join the EU. The 2009 local elections resulted in 5.7% for Kurdish political party DTP.
Officially protected death squads are accused of the
disappearance of 3,200 Kurds and Assyrians 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 Islamic extremist group 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:
While acts of terrorism in other regions are done by the PKK; in
Tunceli it is state terrorism. In Tunceli, it is the state that is
evacuating and burning villages. In the southeast there are two million
people left homeless.
Iran
The Kurdish region of Iran has been a part of the country since ancient times. Nearly all Kurdistan was part of Persian Empire until its Western part was lost during wars against the Ottoman Empire. Following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 Tehran had demanded all lost territories including Turkish Kurdistan, Mosul, and even Diyarbakır, but demands were quickly rejected by Western powers. This area has been divided by modern Turkey, Syria and Iraq. Today, the Kurds inhabit mostly northwestern territories known as Iranian Kurdistan but also the northeastern region of Khorasan, and constitute approximately 7-10% of Iran's overall population (6.5–7.9 million), compared to 10.6% (2 million) in 1956 and 8% (800 thousand) in 1850.
Yellow parts are Kurdish inhabited areas.
Unlike in other Kurdish-populated countries, there are strong ethnolinguistical and cultural ties between Kurds, Persians and others as Iranian peoples. Some modern Iranian dynasties like the Safavids and Zands are considered to be partly of Kurdish origin. Kurdish literature in all of its forms (Kurmanji, Sorani, and Gorani) has been developed within historical Iranian boundaries under strong influence of the Persian language.
The Kurds sharing much of their history with the rest of Iran is seen
as reason for why Kurdish leaders in Iran do not want a separate Kurdish
state.
The government of Iran has never employed the same level of brutality against its own Kurds like Turkey or Iraq, but it has always been implacably opposed to any suggestion of Kurdish separatism. During and shortly after the First World War the government of Iran was ineffective and had very little control over events in the country and several Kurdish tribal chiefs gained local political power, even established large confederations. At the same time waves of nationalism
from the disintegrating Ottoman Empire partly influenced some Kurdish
chiefs in border regions to pose as Kurdish nationalist leaders. Prior to this, identity in both countries largely relied upon religion i.e. Shia Islam in the particular case of Iran. In 19th century Iran, Shia–Sunni animosity and the describing of Sunni Kurds as an Ottoman fifth column was quite frequent.
During the late 1910s and early 1920s, tribal revolt led by Kurdish chieftain Simko Shikak struck north western Iran. Although elements of Kurdish nationalism
were present in this movement, historians agree these were hardly
articulate enough to justify a claim that recognition of Kurdish
identity was a major issue in Simko's movement, and he had to rely
heavily on conventional tribal motives. Government forces and non-Kurds were not the only ones to suffer in the attacks, the Kurdish population was also robbed and assaulted. Rebels do not appear to have felt any sense of unity or solidarity with fellow Kurds.
Kurdish insurgency and seasonal migrations in the late 1920s, along
with long-running tensions between Tehran and Ankara, resulted in border
clashes and even military penetrations in both Iranian and Turkish
territory.
Two regional powers have used Kurdish tribes as tool for own political
benefits: Turkey has provided military help and refuge for anti-Iranian
Turcophone Shikak rebels in 1918-1922, while Iran did the same during Ararat rebellion against Turkey in 1930. Reza Shah's military victory over Kurdish and Turkic tribal leaders initiated a repressive era toward non-Iranian minorities. Government's forced detribalization and sedentarization in 1920s and 1930s resulted with many other tribal revolts in Iranian regions of Azerbaijan, Luristan and Kurdistan. In particular case of the Kurds, this repressive policies partly contributed to developing nationalism among some tribes.
As a response to growing Pan-Turkism and Pan-Arabism in region which were seen as potential threats to the territorial integrity of Iran, Pan-Iranist ideology has been developed in the early 1920s. Some of such groups and journals openly advocated Iranian support to the Kurdish rebellion against Turkey. Secular Pahlavi dynasty has endorsed Iranian ethnic nationalism which seen the Kurds as integral part of the Iranian nation. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi has personally praised the Kurds as "pure Iranians" or "one of the most noble Iranian peoples". Another significant ideology during this period was Marxism which arose among Kurds under influence of USSR. It culminated in the Iran crisis of 1946 which included a separatist attempt of KDP-I and communist groups to establish the Sovietpuppet government called Republic of Mahabad. It arose along with Azerbaijan People's Government, another Soviet puppet state. The state itself encompassed a very small territory, including Mahabad
and the adjacent cities, unable to incorporate the southern Iranian
Kurdistan which fell inside the Anglo-American zone, and unable to
attract the tribes outside Mahabad itself to the nationalist cause. As a result, when the Soviets withdrew from Iran in December 1946, government forces were able to enter Mahabad unopposed.
Several nationalist and Marxist insurgencies continued for decades (1967, 1979, 1989–96) led by KDP-I and Komalah, but those two organization have never advocated a separate Kurdish state or greater Kurdistan as did the PKK in Turkey. Still, many of dissident leaders, among others Qazi Muhammad and Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou, were executed or assassinated. During Iran–Iraq War, Tehran has provided support for Iraqi-based Kurdish groups like KDP or PUK, along with asylum for 1,400,000 Iraqi refugees, mostly Kurds. Kurdish Marxist groups have been marginalized in Iran since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In 2004 new insurrection started by PJAK, separatist organization affiliated with the Turkey-based PKK and designated as terrorist by Iran, Turkey and the United States. Some analysts claim PJAK do not pose any serious threat to the government of Iran.
Cease-fire has been established in September 2011 following the Iranian
offensive on PJAK bases, but several clashes between PJAK and IRGC took
place after it. Since the Iranian Revolution
of 1979, accusations of "discrimination" by Western organizations and
of "foreign involvement" by Iranian side have become very frequent.
Kurds have been well integrated in Iranian political life during reign of various governments. Kurdish liberal political Karim Sanjabi has served as minister of education under Mohammad Mossadegh in 1952. During the reign of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi some members of parliament and high army officers were Kurds, and there was even a Kurdish Cabinet Minister. During the reign of the Pahlavis Kurds received many favours from the authorities, for instance to keep their land after the land reforms of 1962. In the early 2000s, presence of thirty Kurdish deputies in the 290-strong parliament has also helped to undermine claims of discrimination. Some of the more influential Kurdish politicians during recent years include former first vice presidentMohammad Reza Rahimi and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Mayor of Tehran and second-placed presidential candidate in 2013. Kurdish language is today used more than at any other time since the Revolution, including in several newspapers and among schoolchildren. A large number of Iranian Kurds show no interest in Kurdish nationalism, particularly Kurds of the Shia faith who sometimes even vigorously reject idea of autonomy, preferring direct rule from Tehran.
The issue of Kurdish nationalism and Iranian national identity is
generally only questioned in the peripheral Kurdish dominated regions
where the Sunni faith is prevalent.
Iraq
The President of Iraq, Jalal Talabani, meeting with U.S. officials in Baghdad, Iraq, on 26 April 2006.
Kurds constitute approximately 17% of Iraq's population. They are the
majority in at least three provinces in northern Iraq which are
together known as Iraqi Kurdistan. Kurds also have a presence in Kirkuk, Mosul, Khanaqin, and Baghdad. Around 300,000 Kurds live in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, 50,000 in the city of Mosul and around 100,000 elsewhere in southern Iraq.
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. However, at the same time, the Iraqi regime started an Arabization program in the oil-rich regions of Kirkuk and Khanaqin.
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 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 genocidal campaign, conducted between 1986 and 1989 and
culminating in 1988, carried out by the Iraqi government against the
Kurdish population was called Anfal ("Spoils of War"). The Anfal
campaign led to destruction of over two thousand villages and killing of
182,000 Kurdish civilians.
The campaign included the use of ground offensives, aerial bombing,
systematic destruction of settlements, mass deportation, firing squads,
and chemical attacks, including the most infamous attack on the Kurdish
town of Halabja in 1988 that killed 5000 civilians instantly.
After the collapse of the Kurdish uprising in March 1991, Iraqi
troops recaptured most of the Kurdish areas and 1.5 million Kurds
abandoned their homes and fled to the Turkish and Iranian borders. It is
estimated that close to 20,000 Kurds succumbed to death due to
exhaustion, lack of food, exposure to cold and disease. On 5 April 1991,
UN Security Council passed resolution 688
which condemned the repression of Iraqi Kurdish civilians and demanded
that Iraq end its repressive measures and allow immediate access to
international humanitarian organizations. This was the first international document (since the League of Nations arbitration of Mosul in 1926) to mention Kurds by name. In mid-April, the Coalition established safe havens inside Iraqi borders and prohibited Iraqi planes from flying north of 36th parallel. In October 1991, Kurdish guerrillas captured Erbil and Sulaimaniyah
after a series of clashes with Iraqi troops. In late October, Iraqi
government retaliated by imposing a food and fuel embargo on the Kurds
and stopping to pay civil servants in the Kurdish region. The embargo,
however, backfired and Kurds held parliamentary elections in May 1992
and established Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
The Kurdish population welcomed the American troops in 2003 by holding celebrations and dancing in the streets. The area controlled by Peshmerga was expanded, and Kurds now have effective control in Kirkuk and parts of Mosul. The authority of the KRG and legality of its laws and regulations were recognized in the articles 113 and 137 of the new Iraqi Constitution ratified in 2005.
By the beginning of 2006, the two Kurdish administrations of Erbil and
Sulaimaniya were unified. On 14 August 2007, Yazidis were targeted in a series of bombings that became the deadliest suicide attack since the Iraq War began, killing 796 civilians, wounding 1,562.
Kurds account for 9% of Syria'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. According to Amnesty International, 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 Syria include various bans on the use of the Kurdish 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 300,000
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
March 2011, in part to avoid further demonstrations and unrest from
spreading across Syria, the Syrian government promised to tackle the
issue and grant Syrian citizenship to approximately 300,000 Kurds who
had been previously denied the right.
On 12 March 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.
As a result of Syrian civil war,
since July 2012, Kurds were able to take control of large parts of
Syrian Kurdistan from Andiwar in extreme northeast to Jindires in
extreme northwest Syria. The Syrian Kurds started the Rojava Revolution in 2013.
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 since both the Azeri and non-Yazidi Kurds were Muslim.
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 the Kurdish
administrative unit was brief and did not last beyond 1929. Kurds
subsequently faced many repressive measures, including deportations,
imposed by the Soviet government. 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 by separatist Armenian forces.
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, Switzerland and France
during the 1960s. Successive periods of political and social turmoil in
the region during the 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 Dewsbury and in some northern areas of London), 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 Markazi. Since the beginning of the turmoil in Syria many of the refugees of the Syrian Civil War are Syrian Kurds and as a result many of the current Syrian asylum seekers in Germany are of Kurdish descent.
There was substantial immigration of ethnic Kurds in Canada and the United States, who are mainly political refugees and immigrants seeking economic opportunity. According to a 2011 Statistics Canada household survey, there were 11,685 people of Kurdish ethnic background living in Canada,[19] and according to the 2011 Census, 10,325 Canadians spoke Kurdish language. In the United States, Kurdish immigrants started to settle in large numbers in Nashville in 1976, which is now home to the largest Kurdish community in the United States and is nicknamed Little Kurdistan.[214] Kurdish population in Nashville is estimated to be around 11,000. Total number of ethnic Kurds residing in the United States is estimated by the US Census Bureau to be 15,400. Other sources claim that there are 20,000 ethnic Kurds in the United States.
Religion
As a whole, the Kurdish people are adherents to a large number of
different religions and creeds, perhaps constituting the most
religiously diverse people of West Asia. Traditionally, Kurds have been
known to take great liberties with their practices. This sentiment is
reflected in the saying "Compared to the unbeliever, the Kurd is a
Muslim".
Islam
The Shahadah - "I testify that there is no god (ilah) but (the) God (Allah)", the creed of Islam.
Today, the majority of Kurds are Sunni Muslim, belonging to the Shafi
school. The Kurdish following of the Shafi legal code has caused some
tension when pushed up against Sunni Turks and Sunni Arabs who subscribe
to the Hanafi legal code.
The majority of Sunni Muslim Kurds belonging to the Shafi school speak the Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) dialect.
There is also a significant minority of Kurds who are Shia Muslims. A side of sources mention that most of Kurds in Iran are Shias, who primarily living in the Ilam, Kermanshah and Khorasan provinces of Iran; the other Shia Kurds are (often) in central and southeastern Iraq (Feyli Kurds) as well as Shia Kurds who are in Syria and especially in Turkey. Amongst Shia Muslim Kurdish communities, in particular the practitioners of Alevism in Anatolia, the Zaza language is found more commonly.
Mystical practices and participation in Sufi orders are also widespread among Kurds, with prominent Kurdish Sufi saints including Piryones.
The Zulfiqar, symbol for the Shia Muslims and Alevis.
Alevism
The Alevis (usually considered adherents of a branch of ShiaIslam with elements of Sufism) are another religious significant minority among the Kurds, living in Eastern Anatolia in Turkey, meanwhile, it is estimated that 30% of Kurds in Turkey are Alevis. Alevism developed out of the teachings of Haji Bektash Veli, a 13th-century mystic from Khorasan. Among the Qizilbash, the militant groups which predate the Alevis and helped establish the Safavid Dynasty, there were numerous Kurdish tribes. The American missionary Stephen van Renssalaer Trowbridge, working at Aintab (present Gaziantep) reported that his Alevi acquaintances considered as their highest spiritual leaders an Ahl-i Haqq sayyid family in the Guran district.
Ahl-i Haqq (Yarsan)
Ahl-i Haqq or Yarsanism is a syncretic religion founded by Sultan Sahak in the late 14th century in western Iran. Most of its adherents, estimated at around 500,000 or 1,000,000, are found primarily in western Iran and eastern Iraq and are mostly ethnic Goran Kurds, though there are also smaller groups of Persian, Lori, Azeri and Arab adherents. Its central religious text is the Kalâm-e Saranjâm, written in Gurani.
In this text, the religion's basic pillars are summarized as: "The
Yarsan should strive for these four qualities: purity, rectitude,
self-effacement and self-abnegation".
The Yarsan faith's unique features include millenarism, nativism, egalitarianism, metempsychosis, angelology, divine manifestation and dualism. Many of these features are found in Yazidism, another Kurdish faith, in the faith of Zoroastrians and in ghulat
(non-mainstream Shia) groups; certainly, the names and religious
terminology of the Yarsan are often explicitly of Muslim origin. Unlike
other indigenous Persianate faiths, the Yarsan explicitly reject class,
caste and rank, which sets them apart from the Yazidis and Zoroastrians.
The Ahl-i Haqq consider the Bektashi and Alevi as kindred communities.
Yazidism
Yazidi new year celebrations in Lalish, 18 April 2017
Yazidism is another syncretic religion practiced among Kurdish communities, founded by Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir, a 12th-century mystic from Lebanon. Their numbers exceed 500,000, with some estimates numbering them at 1.2 million worldwide. Its central religious texts are the Kitêba Cilwe and Meshaf Resh.
According to Yazidi beliefs, God created the world but left it in
the care of seven holy beings or angels. The most prominent angel is Melek Taus (Kurdish: Tawûsê Melek), the Peacock Angel, God's representative on earth. Yazidis believe in the periodic reincarnation
of the seven holy beings in human form. Yazidis who marry non-Yazidis
are automatically considered to be converted to the religion of their
spouse and therefore are not permitted to call themselves Yazidis.
They live primarily in the Nineveh Province of Iraq. Their holiest shrine and the tomb of the faith's founder is located in Lalish, in northern Iraq.
Zoroastrianism
Faravahar (or Ferohar), one of the primary symbols of Zoroastrianism, believed to be the depiction of a Fravashi (guardian spirit)
The Persian religion of Zoroastrianism had a major influence on the
early Kurdish culture and has maintained some effect since the demise of
the religion in the Middle Ages. The Kurdish philosopher Sohrevardi
drew heavily from Zoroastrian teachings. Ascribed to the teachings of the prophet Zoroaster, the faith's Supreme Being is Ahura Mazda. Leading characteristics, such as messianism, the Golden Rule, heaven and hell, and free will influenced other religious systems, including Second Temple Judaism, Gnosticism, Christianity, and Islam.
In 2016, the first official Zoroastrian fire temple of Iraqi Kurdistan opened in Sulaymaniyah. Attendees celebrated the occasion by lighting a ritual fire and beating the frame drum or 'daf'.
Awat Tayib, the chief of followers of Zoroastrianism in the Kurdistan
region, claimed that many were returning to Zoroastrianism but some kept
it secret out of fear of reprisals from Islamists.
Christianity
Although historically there have been various accounts of Kurdish
Christians, most often these were in the form of individuals, and not as
communities. However, in the 19th and 20th century various travel logs
tell of Kurdish Christian tribes, as well as Kurdish Muslim tribes who
had substantial Christian populations living amongst them. A significant
number of these were allegedly originally Armenian or Assyrian,
and it has been recorded that a small number of Christian traditions
have been preserved. Several Christian prayers in Kurdish have been
found from earlier centuries.
Segments of the Bible were first made available in the Kurdish
language in 1856 in the Kurmanji dialect. The Gospels were translated by
Stepan, an Armenian employee of the American Bible Society and were published in 1857. Prominent historical Kurdish Christians include Theophobos and the brothers Zakare and Ivane Mkhargrdzeli.
Kurdish culture is a legacy from the various ancient peoples who
shaped modern Kurds and their society. As most other Middle Eastern
populations, a high degree of mutual influences between the Kurds and
their neighbouring peoples are apparent. Therefore, in Kurdish culture
elements of various other cultures are to be seen.
However, on the whole, Kurdish culture is closest to that of other Iranian peoples, in particular those who historically had the closest geographical proximity to the Kurds, such as the Persians and Lurs. Kurds, for instance, also celebrate Newroz (March 21) as New Year's Day.
Education
A madrasa system was used before the modern era. Mele are Islamic clerics and instructors.
In general, Kurdish women's rights and equality have improved in the
20th and 21st century due to progressive movements within Kurdish
society. However, despite the progress, Kurdish and international
women's rights organizations still report problems related to gender equality, forced marriages, honor killings and in Iraqi Kurdistan also female genital mutilation (FGM).
Folklore and mythology
The fox; a widely recurring character in Kurdish tales
The Kurds possess a rich tradition of folklore, which, until recent
times, was largely transmitted by speech or song, from one generation to
the next. Although some of the Kurdish writers’ stories were well-known
throughout Kurdistan; most of the stories told and sung were only
written down in the 20th and 21st century. Many of these are, allegedly,
centuries old.
Widely varying in purpose and style, among the Kurdish folklore one will find stories about nature, anthropomorphic animals, love, heroes and villains, mythological creatures and everyday life. A number of these mythological figures can be found in other cultures, like the Simurgh and Kaveh the Blacksmith in the broader Iranian Mythology, and stories of Shahmaran throughout Anatolia. Additionally, stories can be purely entertaining, or have an educational or religious aspect.
Perhaps the most widely reoccurring element is the fox, which,
through cunningness and shrewdness triumphs over less intelligent
species, yet often also meets his demise. Another common theme in Kurdish folklore is the origin of a tribe.
Storytellers would perform in front of an audience, sometimes
consisting of an entire village. People from outside the region would
travel to attend their narratives, and the storytellers themselves would
visit other villages to spread their tales. These would thrive
especially during winter, where entertainment was hard to find as
evenings had to be spent inside.
Coinciding with the heterogeneous Kurdish groupings, although
certain stories and elements were commonly found throughout Kurdistan,
others were unique to a specific area; depending on the region, religion
or dialect. The Kurdish Jews of Zakho
are perhaps the best example of this; whose gifted storytellers are
known to have been greatly respected throughout the region, thanks to a
unique oral tradition. Other examples are the mythology of the Yezidis, and the stories of the Dersim Kurds, which had a substantial Armenian influence.
During the criminalization of the Kurdish language after the coup
d’état of 1980, dengbêj (singers) and çîrokbêj (tellers) were silenced,
and many of the stories had become endangered. In 1991, the language
was decriminalized, yet the now highly available radios and TV’s had as
an effect a diminished interest in traditional storytelling. However, a number of writers have made great strides in the preservation of these tales.
Kurdish weaving is renowned throughout the world, with fine specimens
of both rugs and bags. The most famous Kurdish rugs are those from the Bijar
region, in the Kurdistan Province. Because of the unique way in which
the Bijar rugs are woven, they are very stout and durable, hence their
appellation as the ‘Iron Rugs of Persia’. Exhibiting a wide variety, the
Bijar rugs have patterns ranging from floral designs, medallions and
animals to other ornaments. They generally have two wefts, and are very colorful in design.
With an increased interest in these rugs in the last century, and a
lesser need for them to be as sturdy as they were, new Bijar rugs are
more refined and delicate in design.
Another well-known Kurdish rug is the Senneh rug, which is
regarded as the most sophisticated of the Kurdish rugs. They are
especially known for their great knot density and high quality mountain
wool. They lend their name from the region of Sanandaj. Throughout other Kurdish regions like Kermanshah, Siirt, Malatya and Bitlis rugs were also woven to great extent.
Kurdish bags are mainly known from the works of one large tribe: the Jaffs,
living in the border area between Iran and Iraq. These Jaff bags share
the same characteristics of Kurdish rugs; very colorful, stout in
design, often with medallion patterns. They were especially popular in
the West during the 1920s and 1930s.
Outside of weaving and clothing, there are many other Kurdish handicrafts,
which were traditionally often crafted by nomadic Kurdish tribes. These
are especially well known in Iran, most notably the crafts from the Kermanshah and Sanandaj regions. Among these crafts are chess boards, talismans, jewelry, ornaments, weaponry, instruments etc.
Kurdish blades include a distinct jambiya,
with its characteristic I-shaped hilt, and oblong blade. Generally,
these possess double-edged blades, reinforced with a central ridge, a
wooden, leather or silver decorated scabbard, and a horn hilt,
furthermore they are often still worn decoratively by older men. Swords
were made as well. Most of these blades in circulation stem from the
19th century.
Another distinct form of art from Sanandaj is 'Oroosi', a type of
window where stylized wooden pieces are locked into each other, rather
than being glued together. These are further decorated with coloured
glass, this stems from an old belief that if light passes through a
combination of seven colours it helps keep the atmosphere clean.
Among Kurdish Jews a common practice was the making of talismans,
which were believed to combat illnesses and protect the wearer from
malevolent spirits.
Tattoos
Adorning the body with tattoos (deq
in Kurdish) is widespread among the Kurds; even though permanent
tattoos are not permissible in Sunni Islam. Therefore, these traditional
tattoos are thought to derive from pre-Islamic times.
Tattoo ink is made by mixing soot
with (breast) milk and the poisonous liquid from the gall bladder of an
animal. The design is drawn on the skin using a thin twig and is, by
needle, penetrated under the skin. These have a wide variety of meanings
and purposes, among which are protection against evil or illnesses;
beauty enhancement; and the showing of tribal affiliations. Religious symbolism
is also common among both traditional and modern Kurdish tattoos.
Tattoos are more prevalent among women than among men, and were
generally worn on feet, the chin, foreheads and other places of the
body.
The popularity of permanent, traditional tattoos has greatly
diminished among newer generation of Kurds. However, modern tattoos are
becoming more prevalent; and temporary tattoos are still being worn on
special occasions (such as henna, the night before a wedding) and as tribute to the cultural heritage.
Music and dance
Kurdish Musicians 1890.
Traditionally, there are three types of Kurdish classical performers: storytellers (çîrokbêj), minstrels (stranbêj), and bards (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 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, one of the first Kurdish female singers to sing
heyrans is Chopy Fatah, 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.
The main themes of Kurdish Cinema
are the poverty and hardship which ordinary Kurds have to endure. The
first films featuring Kurdish culture were actually shot in Armenia.
Zare, released in 1927, produced by Hamo Beknazarian,
details the story of Zare and her love for the shepherd Seydo, and the
difficulties the two experience by the hand of the village elder.
In 1948 and 1959, two documentaries were made concerning the Yezidi
Kurds in Armenia. These were joint Armenian-Kurdish productions; with H.
Koçaryan and Heciye Cindi teaming up for The Kurds of Soviet Armenia, and Ereb Samilov and C. Jamharyan for Kurds of Armenia.
The first critically acclaimed and famous Kurdish films were produced by Yılmaz Güney. Initially a popular, award-winning actor in Turkey with the nickname Çirkin Kral (the Ugly King, after his rough looks), he spent the later part of his career producing socio-critical and politically loaded films. Sürü (1979), Yol (1982) and Duvar (1983) are his best-known works, of which the second won Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival of 1982, the most prestigious award in the world of cinema.
Another prominent Kurdish film director is Bahman Qubadi. His first feature film was A Time for Drunken Horses,
released in 2000. It was critically acclaimed, and went on to win
multiple awards. Other movies of his would follow this example; making him one of the best known film producers of Iran of today. Recently, he released Rhinos Season, starring Behrouz Vossoughi, Monica Bellucci and Yilmaz Erdogan, detailing the tumultuous life of a Kurdish poet.
The most popular sport among the Kurds is football. Because the Kurds
have no independent state, they have no representative team in FIFA or the AFC; however a team representing Iraqi Kurdistan has been active in the Viva World Cup since 2008. They became runners-up in 2009 and 2010, before ultimately becoming champion in 2012.
In Turkey, a Kurd named Celal Ibrahim was one of the founders of Galatasaray S.K. in 1905, as well as one of the original players. The most prominent Kurdish-Turkish club is Diyarbakirspor. In the diaspora, the most successful Kurdish club is Dalkurd FF and the most famous player is Eren Derdiyok.
Another prominent sport is wrestling. In Iranian Wrestling, there are three styles originating from Kurdish regions:
Furthermore, the most accredited of the traditional Iranian wrestling
styles, the Bachoukheh, derives its name from a local Khorasani Kurdish
costume in which it is practised.
The traditional Kurdish village has simple houses, made of mud. In
most cases with flat, wooden roofs, and, if the village is built on the
slope of a mountain, the roof on one house makes for the garden of the
house one level higher. However, houses with a beehive-like roof, not
unlike those in Harran, are also present.
Over the centuries many Kurdish architectural marvels have been
erected, with varying styles. Kurdistan boasts many examples from
ancient Iranic, Roman, Greek and Semitic origin, most famous of these
include Bisotun and Taq-e Bostan in Kermanshah, Takht-e Soleyman near Takab, Mount Nemrud near Adiyaman and the citadels of Erbil and Diyarbakir.
The first genuinely Kurdish examples extant were built in the 11th century. Those earliest examples consist of the Marwanid Dicle Bridge in Diyarbakir, the Shadaddid Minuchir Mosque in Ani, and the Hisn al Akrad near Homs.
In the 12th and 13th centuries the Ayyubid dynasty constructed
many buildings throughout the Middle East, being influenced by their
predecessors, the Fatimids, and their rivals, the Crusaders, whilst also
developing their own techniques. Furthermore, women of the Ayyubid family took a prominent role in the patronage of new constructions. The Ayyubids’ most famous works are the Halil-ur-Rahman Mosque that surrounds the Pool of Sacred Fish in Urfa, the Citadel of Cairo and most parts of the Citadel of Aleppo. Another important piece of Kurdish architectural heritage from the late 12th/early 13th century is the Yezidi pilgrimage site Lalish, with its trademark conical roofs.
In later periods too, Kurdish rulers and their corresponding
dynasties and emirates would leave their mark upon the land in the form
mosques, castles and bridges, some of which have decayed, or have been
(partly) destroyed in an attempt to erase the Kurdish cultural heritage,
such as the White Castle of the Bohtan Emirate. Well-known examples are
Hosap Castle of the 17th century, Sherwana Castle of the early 18th century, and the Ellwen Bridge of Khanaqin of the 19th century.
Most famous is the Ishak Pasha Palace
of Dogubeyazit, a structure with heavy influences from both Anatolian
and Iranic architectural traditions. Construction of the Palace began in
1685, led by Colak Abdi Pasha, a Kurdish bey of the Ottoman Empire, but
the building wouldn’t be completed until 1784, by his grandson, Ishak
Pasha.
Containing almost 100 rooms, including a mosque, dining rooms, dungeons
and being heavily decorated by hewn-out ornaments, this Palace has the
reputation as being one of the finest pieces of architecture of the
Ottoman Period, and of Anatolia.
In recent years, the KRG has been responsible for the renovation
of several historical structures, such as Erbil Citadel and the
Mudhafaria Minaret.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.png)
._Auguste_Wahlen._Moeurs,_usages_et_costumes_de_tous_les_peuples_du_monde._1843.jpg)
