Who are the Kurds? Most of us have heard about them butdon’t know who they are. Are they a race, a religion, acountry? As we see from the following example, evenEuropeans who are much closer to the Kurds still do not havea complete understanding of the Kurds or the middle east ingeneral: In the West, the left and liberal minded people in general, especially in the Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon countries, have usually supported or at least expressed some sympathy with the struggles against both European colonialism and U.S. policies in Vietnam. But as soon as the problem shifted to Biafra, Southern Sudan, Kurdistan or Eritrea – in short, whenever the national question was raised within a third world country – this section of the public opinion has tended to remain silent and confuesed.1This lack of knowledge about the Kurds and Middle East ingeneral is a major wall between resolution of the manyproblems that exist in the Middle East. I would like togive you a better understanding of what it is to be Kurdishby describing to you the past and present condition ofKurdistan, the state or territory that the Kurdish peoplepopulate. A brief understanding of the history of theKurdish people is all that is needed to successfullyaccretion just why we should be more involved and educatedabout the current political activities surrounding Kurdistanand the countries that infringe upon it. The Kurdish people have the unfortunate distinction ofbeing the only community of over 15 million in populationthat has not achieved some form of national statehood.2 This is the problem that needs addressing, people without acountry. There Kurds territory, would be country, consistsof the mountainous regions of central and northern Zargos,the eastern one-third of the Taurus and Pontus, and thenorthern half of the Amanus ranges (see F1).4 The Kurdishare an ancient people who about 4,000 thousand years agostarted to trickle into Kurdistan in limited numbers tosettle there.3 By the classical era in 300 b.c. the Kurdswere already experiencing massive population movements thatresulted in settlement and domination of many surroundingregions.5 Although they did at times rule over the landoutside the mountains, for the most part, the Kurds homeended where the mountains ended. The Kurds as a distinctpeople have only survived in the mountains.6 Therelationship between the Kurds and the mountains is sostrong that they have become synomonis.7 These mountainsare also the axis for five major countries, which includeTurkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and the former Soviet Union. Since the end of World War I, Kurdistan has been dividedinto these five sovereign states, in which a significantpopulation of Kurds inhabit (see below).
The Essay on Original Plans Cuba People Country
My name is Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz. I was born on August 13, 1926 on my father s sugar cane plantation. This was located Mayor, which was on the coast of Cuba s Oriente Province. My father s name was Angel Castro. He was born in northwest Spain, and had come to Cuba with the Spanish Army during the Spanish-American War. My mother was Lina Ruz Gone lez. As a child, I attended well-known and ...
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Notice that the total number of Kurds in all countries islarger than that of Iraq but smaller than Iran. Barring acatastrophe, Kurds will become the third most populousethnic group in the Middle East by the year 2000,furthermore, if present demographics trends hold, the Kurdswill replace the Turks as the majority ethnic group inTurkey itself.9 The Kurds remain the only ethnic group inthe world with indigenous representatives in three worldgeographic blocs: the Arab World (in Iraq and Syria), NATO(in Turkey), the South Asian – Central Asian bloc (in Iranan Turkmenistan), and until recently the Soviet bloc (in theCaucasus, now Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia).10 The most important features of Kurdistan society sincethe end of medieval times has been it’s strong tribalorganization, with independence or autonomy being thepolitical status of the land. Kurdish society was wellunderway of developing a political culture but this wasdisbanded by the redistribution of their county at the endof the first World War. But strong Tribal confederaciesstill remained as a form of social organization andauthority in which people put their allegiance.11 Kurdish lands, rich in natural resources, have alwayssustained and promoted a large population. Whileregistering modest grains since the late 19th century, butparticularly in the first decade of the 20th, Kurds lostdemographic ground relative to neighboring ethnic groups. this was due as much to their less developed economy andhealthcare as it was to direct massacres, deportations, andfamines. The total number of Kurds actually decreased inthis period, while every other major ethnic group in thearea boomed.12 Since the mid 60’s this negative demographictrend has reversed, and the Kurds are steadily making acomeback. There is now one Kurdish city with a populationof nearly a million(Kirminshah), two with over half amillion (Diyarbekir, Kikuk), five between a quarter and ahalf million (Antep, Abril, Hamadan, Malatya,Sulaymania),and 13 cities with a quarter of a million (Adiyamamn,Dersim, Dohuk, Elazig, Haymana, Khanaqin, Mardin, Qamishli,Qochan, Sanandja, Shahabad, Siirt and Urfa).13 The Kurds aswell as demonstrating a more than substantial populationalso have their own language. The Kurds are speakers ofKurdish. Kurdish is related to the northwestern subdivisionof the Indo-European family of languages. It is completelyseparate of Semitic Arabic and Altic Turkish.14 Thisevidence of substantial population and a language differentthan those of the regions around them, show that Kurdistanand the Kurds are a separate entity from the overlayingcountries of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria and the former SovietUnion, and should be treated as such. This leads us intothe problem at hand, the Kurds are not receiving the respectthat an automous society deserves. The blame for thisproblem lies mostly in the fact that the surroundingcountries don’t recognize Kurdistan as an automous societyand there for do not have to respect there wish to be a freestate. Kurdistan in the state that is now, is just a regionof the middle east, which overlays several other countriesthat the majority of the Kurdish people inhabit. TheKurdish are only recognized as minorities and unwantedpeople and can only hope to be granted the right to live inpeace, alone without ever having an official country. TheKurds have, in some countries, been so bold as to evendemand equality and citizenship. The Kurds as religion goes are three fifths SunniMuslims of Shafiite rite. There are also some followers ofmainstream Shiitem Islam. The overwhelming majority of theMuslim Kurds are followers of one of several mystic Sufiorders. The rest of the Kurds are followers of there ownunique religion that is only found in Kurdistan. Three ofthese ancient, indigenous faiths that still exist today areYezidism, Yarsanism or Ahl-i Haqq, and Alevism or KizilNash.15 As we see from this testimony of the Kurds separatelanguage, uses of original and regional religions, and largeconcentrated population, they no undoubtedly qualify as aentity that deserves recognition as a automous state. So wenow must address the problem, and what it is that keeps thisidea of automous recognition from happening. In each of the new post war countries, the Kurds foundthey were treated with suspicion and pressured to conform tothe ways of the majority. Their old independence andtraditional pastoralist way of life was significantlyinterrupted. They were expected to learn the language ofthe new state in which they found themselves, Turkish,Persian, or Arabic, and to abandon their Kurdish identifyand accept Turkish, Iranian, or Arab nationalism. “As atribal and traditionally minded society the Kurds wanted tobe left at peace, but few then were nationalists”.15 Sometribes tried to resist the encroachment onto their culturebut were unsuccessful against the organized governments ofthe infiltrating states. “In Turkey more than 10 million Kurds are forbidden touse their own language or to describe themselves asKurds”.16 In the 1920’s and 30’s Kurds rebelled againstthis discrimination and the government reacted with moresuppression and even deported thousands from their homeland. These imprisoned and condemned Kurds were officially called”Mountain Turks”.17 The continued suppression of over 10million people has resulted in the rise of Marxistguerrilla groups.18 In Iran The Kurds were similarly brought under controlin the 1920’s. In 1946 the Kurds of Mahabad succeeded indeclaring an independent republic, but it only lasted a fewmonths, and the authorities hanged the ring leaders. Tribalchiefs were allowed to register tribal lands and personalpossessions and were welcomed into the Iranian ruling elite,in return for making sure their tribes obeyed thegovernment. After the shia revolution the KurdistanDemocratic Party o Iran rebelled after the demands forautonomy were refused by Tehran.19 In Iraq there were a number of revolts against Bagdad,mainly by Mullah Mustafa Barzani, the famous leader of theKurdistan Democratic Party of Iraq. From 1964 until 1975Barzani was strong enough to maintain an intermittent stateof war and peace negotiations. In 1974 the governing Ba’thparty offered Kurds autonomy, but the Kurds believed itlacked substance and they reverted to war strongly supportedand encouraged by Iran. But in 1975 the Shah of Iran, whohad supported Barzani, signed the agreement of Algiers withthe Iraqi and abandon the Kurds to their fate; as a resultthe Kurdish resistance collapsed. The success of the IraqiKurds in the field of language and education have, however,enabled them to create impressive literature and a fullyadequate written language, and have produced a generation ofKurds whose primary and secondary level of education havebeen in Kurdish. Such achievements will undoubtedly helpthe Kurds of Iraq in their future efforts to preserve theircultural and ethnic Idenity.20 Will the Kurds be able to hold onto their ethnicidentify with out outside help? Will the already suppressedKurds be able to uphold their language and religion? Ithing that is for sure is that as long as the Iranian andIraqi’s oppress the Kurds their will always be someone whois willing support or at least pretend to support the Kurdseven if only for political reason or because it is to theiradvantage too. Sadly enough this method of support is useda lot by western countries to manipulate or maintain astrategic advantage over surrounding Middle Eastern nations. For example “at the end of World War I, the Britishintroduced the idea of Kurdish nationalism, and the Treatyof Sevres (August 1920), whereby Britain and Turkey firsttried to conclude their hostilities after the war, containedtwo articles related to the autonomy of the Kurds.”21 Butthis Treaty was never fully realized because soon theBritish changed their minds and shifted their attentiontoward Iraq in order to exploit oil, the Kurds were left outto dry. Some observers of the U.S. policy in the PersianGulf are increasingly puzzled over our failure to exploitthe Kurds as a potential strong card against the Iraqi’s. Supporting the openness of the Iraq and Haddam Hussein,particularly the leaders of the oppressed Kurdish minority,would be a useful political and strategically move for theU.S.. A spokes person for the Kurdish Democratic Party saysthe “U.S. should look more closely at the internationalsituation in Iraq. And this can only be done by talking tothe opposition.”22 So we see two occasions where help wasindeed needed but not given. In one instance we have acountry using the Kurds to get their hands on some oil, andon the other we see the U.S. not offering help even thoughthey would gain a significant advantage over countries inthe Middle East, even when the Kurds acknowledge that theU.S. help would be just a ploy to get an advantage on Iraq. Some believe that the U.S. is the Key to the Kurdishquestion in the Middle East. This is a very optimistic ideabecause of the complexity of the problem, “unless theAmericans succeed in developing a coherent and consistentMiddle East policy, one should not expect consistency orpredictability from the Middle East and the Kurds.”23
The Term Paper on An Ethnology of the Kurdish People
... western standpoint. Extended family is extremely important and the Kurdish people are very group-oriented. Kurds believe in marriage and practise monogamy. Muslim ... reflect either the major Kurdish peoples or tribes, depending on one’s outlook, and may include some who are not Kurds by definition. The ...
The Essay on Ethics & people
The question of ethics is particularly important for a person who is both part of society and works with a group. The development of community and collective self is impossible without the struggle of opposing ideas and positions, and the collision of different points of views and opinions through which it is possible to overcome contradictions and disagreements. The relationship within a team ...
The Essay on Kurds Kurdish People
... Kurdish state. Denied a state of their own, Kurds have remained a persecuted minority in the Middle ... of culture within the Kurdish people. Not all tribes share a language, and rarely do ... give up their land for an ethnic group they do not even recognize. Also, ... Kurdish people that live within its borders. Also, Kurds have been the targets for oppressive regimes, mainly in Iraq and Iran. In Iraq, Kurds ...
