Kurds

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Well-known Kurds
Portraits of Kurds:
1st row: Saladin , Ehmedê Xanî , Şêx Seîdê Pîran , Şerefhan
2nd row: Simko Schikak , Qazî Mihemed , Mistefa Barzanî , Mehmûd Berzincî
3rd row: Ibrahim Hananu , Celal Talebanî , Abdullah Ocalan , Mesûd 4d
. Row: Şivan Perwer , Leyla Zana , Salih Muslim , Widad Akrawi

The Kurds ( Kurdish کورد Kurd ) are members of a West Asian ethnic group whose main settlement area is known as Kurdistan . They form a significant autochthonous ethnic group in Turkey , Iraq , Iran and Syria . The Kurdish languages belong to the Indo-European languages , namely to the northwest branch of the Iranian languages .

The exact number of members of the people is not known because ethnic data are not collected in the states where most Kurds live. Estimates for Kurdistan and neighboring areas alone are around 35 million people.

Since the division tendencies culminating in Iraq in 2014 and because of the longstanding civil war in Syria , efforts to establish a Kurdish state of their own have intensified .

Settlement area

The name Kurdistan comes from the related Persian language and means " Land of the Kurds". It was used to describe a region of the Persian Empire that was a province of its own during the rule of the later Seljuks . In the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century, an administrative reform resulted in a province called Kurdistan , which was soon dissolved. Today around 15-20 million Kurds live in the Turkish part of Kurdistan .

The provinces of Korduene and Sophene

There are also other larger areas within the states that have been inhabited by Kurds for a long time. In Turkey , it is the area around Ankara and Konya in which Kurdish settlements have been scattered for generations. Most of the Kurds were expelled here after uprisings. Due to high unemployment, a lack of infrastructure and supplies, as well as the war between the Turkish army and the PKK in the Kurdish areas, many Kurds moved to Mersin , Adana , Istanbul and the south-east Anatolian cities, so that these cities have larger Kurdish communities.

In Iran live in the western provinces about 11 million Kurds. But there are also smaller Kurdish communities in Khorasan . In 1388, many Kurds came here after being driven out by Timur . Resettlements by the Safavid Shah Abbas I took place in 1587 and 1628 .

In Iraq, around 8 million Kurds live in the Kurdistan Autonomous Region . There the regional government of Kurdistan runs its own independent authorities under the Kurdish flag .

Ethnogenesis

Kurdish settlement area (shows various Kurdish dialects)

There are various theses on the question of ethnogenesis , although it should be noted that peoples have been mixed up over this long period of time. As John Limbert points out, one has to distinguish between the name of the people and the landscape. The ancient names have been handed down by foreign reporters who are not always familiar with the political and ethnic circumstances, and often also not interested in them. Names for population groups and landscapes were not precisely differentiated and were often transferred from one group to another. A later group can also use an older name. Often ancient and medieval historians use historical names for new groups, as in the case of the Scythians or Persians . More recently, the ancestry of the Kurds from various ancient peoples of Asia Minor has been considered:

  • Theodor Nöldeke identified Strabos Kyrtioi (Κύρτιοι, Geographika 11, 523, 727) and the Cyrtii of Livius (e.g. 42, 58, 13) as pre-forms of the name Kurds. The equation of the Kyrtoi with the Kurds goes back to FC Andreas.
  • Godfrey Rolles Driver believed the Qarda south of Lake Van , which has been documented since the first millennium, to be possible ancestors of the Kurds.
  • According to the specialist encyclopedia Der Kleine Pauly , the Karduchoi of Xenophon are to be regarded as the ancestors of the Kurds. John Limbert doubts this derivation for linguistic reasons.
  • Vladimir Fyodorowitsch Minorsky , on the one hand, derived the Kurdish language from the Medic , on the other hand, he referred to the danger of confusing language and biological ancestry.
  • Arshak Safrastian considers the Kurds to be the direct descendants of the Guteans and Kassites . William G. Elphinston also reports, without giving any sources, that the Kurds are derived from "some authorities" from the Guti  - "Kardaka, Kurtie or Guti" - at Lake Van .
  • Ferdinand Hennerbichler postulates an unbroken continuity of the Kurds from the early Neolithic farmers in the Zāgros Mountains and northern Mesopotamia, for which he creates a rich genetic and historical-ethnographic scenario.

An argument about mere name similarity is not valid without precise linguistic knowledge. The ethnic composition of the Zagros countries changed constantly due to the intervention of several great powers (cf. the Assyrian deportation policy ). Large political groups could base their identity on language, religion and a common history. Already Wilhelm Gesenius tried the Chaldeans to be associated (Chardim) with the Kurds (Cardinal). Also of Hellwald sets without comment Chaldeans and Kurds alike. After William Kennett Loftus , the Kurdish tribe of the Kaldani boasted of being descended from the Chaldeans.

history

middle Ages

In the 7th century AD, the armies of the caliph Umar ibn al-Chattab conquered the Kurdish areas, so that the Kurds converted to Islam . Between the 10th and 13th centuries under Islamic rule, Kurds founded several dynasties, such as those of the Marwanids , the Rawadids , the Hasanwayhids , the Shaddadids and the Ayyubids . The marwanids lived in the northern and western Kurdistan with winter headquarters in Diyarbakir and summer residence in Farqin ( Silvan ), the rawadid dynasty in Azerbaijan , which was inhabited predominantly Kurdish in time, with the capital Tabriz , the hasanwayhids in eastern Kurdistan, so northeast of Kermanshah and the Shaddadids outside Kurdistan in Transcaucasia , in what is now Armenia and Azerbaijan. From 1750 to 1789, Karim Khan , whom some attribute Kurdish origins to, ruled all of Iran. This Zand dynasty ended as early as 1794. Other Kurdish dynasties were the Hazaraspids (reigned 1148–1424) and the Annazids (reigned 991 until the late 12th century).

In the 12th century, Saladin , who belonged to Rawendi's branch of the Hadabani tribe , founded the Ayyubid dynasty of Syria . This empire extended over parts of Kurdistan , Egypt and Yemen . The Ayyubid Empire was by no means a Kurdish empire, many of its inhabitants were Arabs or belonged to other peoples. It was most likely an Islamic empire, because the residents referred to themselves as Muslims and not as Arabs or Kurds.

A major turning point in Kurdish history was the battle of Tschaldiran between the Ottomans and the Safavids in 1514 , in which the predominantly Sunni Kurds allied themselves with the Ottomans. The Ottomans secured the support of the Kurdish local princes by offering them the conversion of their possessions into hereditary principalities. These Kurdish rulers (Kürt Hükümetleri) did not have to pay any tribute or provide any soldiers for the Ottoman central government. There were also the Kurdish sandjaks , whose governors were determined by inheritance, but nevertheless, like all sandjaks, paid taxes and provided soldiers. This was not common in the Ottoman Empire. Normally, lands were only distributed to war-merited soldiers for life ( timar system ) .

Shah Ismail I was subject to Sultan Selim I. After that, almost all of Eastern Anatolia came under Ottoman rule. On his way to Eastern Anatolia, the Sultan had around 40,000 Alevis executed at Sivas to prevent collaboration with the Safavids. In 1596 Şerefhan Prince of Bitlis wrote the historical work Scherefname (splendid script) with the first complete overview of Kurdish history. It tells of the events in the Kurdish principalities up to the end of the 16th century.

Traditional Kurdish clothing: on the right you can see clothing from Mesopotamia, in the middle from Mardin and on the left a shepherd's clothing from Diyarbakır.
The photograph dates from 1873 and was made by the Ottoman court photographer Pascal Sébah . It was exhibited in the World Exhibition in Vienna in 1873

Important Kurdish principalities in the Ottoman Empire were the Baban with seat in Silemani , the Soran principality, the Schembo in Hakkâri , Badinan with seat in Amediye , the Azizan in Botan and the principality of Bitlis . In the Persian Empire the most important was that of the Ardalan .

20th century

Areas inhabited by Kurds (1992)

Through the Treaty of Lausanne , Kurdistan was divided by the Allies and Turkey into the four states of Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria when the Ottoman Empire was dissolved. Most of it fell to Turkey. In this way, more than half of the Kurds became citizens of the new Turkish republic.

Turkey

Up until the time of the First World War , Kurdish consciousness was shaped on the one hand by tribal affiliation and on the other hand by Sunni Islam . Under the influence of European ideas, they then developed their own national feeling . After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire by the Allies, the Kurds were given the prospect of an autonomous region in the Treaty of Sèvres .

Resistance arose against the regulations and territorial losses on the territory of present-day Turkey . In the Turkish War of Independence and Liberation , the Kurds fought alongside the Turks against the occupying powers. After the victory, Turkey was able to revise the provisions of the Treaty of Sèvres on July 24, 1923 in the Treaty of Lausanne . On the basis of the Lausanne Treaty, the Republic of Turkey, proclaimed by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk on October 29, 1923, did not recognize the Kurds as an ethnic minority. A number of uprisings such as the Koçgiri uprising of 1920, the Sheikh Said uprising led by Sheikh Said in 1925, the Ararat uprising 1926–1930 and the Dersim uprising in 1938 were suppressed by the Turkish army .

The use of the Kurdish language was banned in Turkey until a few years ago. This is what it said in the third section and Article 42 of the 1982 constitution, most of which is still in force today: Apart from Turkish, no language other than the language of education and training can be taught to Turkish citizens as a mother tongue . Kurdish-language media were banned until 1991. In Art. 2 of Law No. 2932 it said: The presentation, dissemination and publication of ideas in a language other than the first official language of the states recognized by Turkey is prohibited. Turkish has been legally established as the mother tongue of all Turkish citizens. According to Art. 4, the range of punishment for violating this law was six months to two years in prison.

After the PKK's armed struggle against the state began in 1984, the situation of the Kurds in southeastern Turkey deteriorated. For more than a decade, the affected provinces were in a state of emergency . The war lasted until 1999 when Abdullah Öcalan was arrested. An estimated 35,000 people were killed during the conflicts. In the course of Turkey's accession negotiations with the European Union , the rights of minorities in Turkey were improved. In 2013, a peace process began between the PKK and the Turkish government. But with the expansion of the so-called Islamic State south of the Turkish border, the situation changed. The relationship turned completely after July 2015: There was a devastating bomb attack in the Turkish city of Suruç . Attacks by the PKK on Turkish police followed as “revenge”. At the end of 2015, the EU tried to win Turkey over as a buffer for migration to Europe. The Turkish government therefore sees a free hand in its action against Kurdish separatist movements .

Iran

Republic of Mahabad

At the beginning of the 20th century there were repeated uprisings, which were led by Simko Aga . He was then shot in an ambush in 1930. On January 22, 1946, after the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran , the Republic of Mahabad was founded in Mahabad under the auspices of the Soviet Union . After the formation of a government, a parliament and unsuccessful negotiations between the Iranian government and the Kurds with the participation of Great Britain, Iranian troops marched in and put an end to the republic. All but one of the ministers were hanged in Mahabad on March 30, 1947.

The Mokryan region includes the two cities of Piranshahr and Mahabad.

Until the Iranian Revolution

Until the Iranian revolution in 1979, which was also supported by the Kurds, there was cemetery calm under the Pahlavi shahs in the Kurdish areas.

Khomeini
Kurdish autonomy negotiations Tehran envoys: Ahmad Moftizadeh , Mahmoud Taleghani , Mohammad Beheschti , Ali-Akbar Haschemi Rafsanjani .

After the revolution of 1979, in which extensive promises were first made to the Kurds, the Kurds fell out with Khomeini , who did not guarantee them autonomy in the constitution. According to the new government, there are no ethnic groups, only the Islamic faith community. In August 1979, the Iranian army bombed Kurdish towns and villages, killing many civilians. According to his own statements, the later ambassador in Berlin, Ali Reza Sheikh Attar , was the governor (Persian: ostāndār) in the Iranian province of Kordestān and in West Azerbaijan , advised by the future president Mahmud Ahmadinejad . In July 2005, after the killing of the Kurdish Shuaneh Ghaderi in the city of Mahabad, an uprising against the Iranian government broke out. This spread to about ten Kurdish cities. About 20 people were killed. The Iranian government described the insurgents as hooligans and transferred 100,000 soldiers to the Kurdish areas.

Enclave Khorasan

In Khorasan live scattered about 1 to 1.5 million Kurds. These were settled in Khorasan in the 16th century by the Safavids against the Uzbek robberies. Most of them are Shiite Kurds who used to live in Northern Kurdistan and Azerbaijan .

Iraq (Autonomous Region of Kurdistan)

There was limited self-government and participation in the government in Iraq from 1970 to 1974. Between 1988 and 1989, Saddam Hussein ordered the army to carry out the Anfal operation , in which, according to Kurdish sources, up to 180,000 Kurds were murdered and around 4,000 Kurdish villages were destroyed. After the second Gulf War in 1991, the UN placed a protection zone north of the 36th parallel in Iraq. In the third Gulf War in 2003, Kurdish forces on the US side took part in the conquest of northern Iraqi cities. Since then, the Iraqi Kurds have enjoyed a special status as US allies. The goal of the Iraqi Kurds to gain more autonomy and influence is particularly deprecated by Turkey , as they fear a corresponding influence on the Kurds in Turkey.

The Iraqi Kurds alone have enjoyed political autonomy worldwide for more than a decade. The new Iraqi constitution also grants the Kurds in the north of the country extensive rights of self-determination.

Despite protests from Turkey, the Kurds were able to expand their influence in Iraq and achieved 75 seats in parliament in the elections on January 30, 2005, and Jalal Talabani was the first Kurdish president. Negotiations are tough about the annexation of areas to the Kurdish autonomous region. It is Kirkuk the most explosive aspect. An alliance of the Kurdish parties was able to win the majority of the seats in the city council. The elections in Kirkuk were boycotted by most of the Turkmens and Arabs , as the Kurds allegedly let many more returnees into the city than Saddam Hussein is said to have expelled at the time.

In February 2008, the Turkish army launched the 25th ground offensive since 1983 in northern Iraq, in which an estimated 10,000 soldiers were involved. During the clashes with the PKK there was heavy resistance. According to Turkey, the neighboring country was used as a retreat for extremists. The PKK, which is also classified as a terrorist organization by the EU among others, directed attacks and attacks in Turkey from northern Iraq. Turkish soldiers, police officers, Kurdish village guards and bystanders died time and again. The then Secretary of State at the US State Department, Matthew Bryza , assessed the invasion as “This attack is not the best news”.

Syria

The border between Syria and Turkey was determined by the course of the Baghdad railway line . As a result, there were three Kurdish enclaves in Syria , namely Cizire, Kurd Dagh and Ain al-Arab . These enclaves are hundreds of kilometers apart, which made communication between the Kurds difficult. In the French League of Nations mandate (1920-1946), the Kurds were able to operate a radio station and publish magazines such as Hewar (cry for help). Many important Kurds have fled from Turkey to Syria, where they are continuing their political work. So had Xoybûn based for years in Damascus . After Syria became a sovereign state, the rights of the Kurds were gradually curtailed. Eventually Kurds were expelled from the public service, arrested and the Kurdish place names were changed. The officers staged a coup after the first war against Israel , and years of social unrest ensued. On August 23, 1962, an extraordinary census was carried out in the Kurdish areas. 120,000 Kurds were declared refugees and deprived of their Syrian citizenship rights. In March 1963 the Ba'ath Party took power and in 1971 Hafiz al-Assad became president. He remained so until his death on June 10, 2000. Under Assad, the policy of the “ Arab Belt” was enforced. He gave refuge to the PKK after the military coup in Turkey in 1980. The PKK was able to train and arm its people in the Bekaa plain in Lebanon . The overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the Ba'ath government with the help of the Kurds in Iraq also polarized Syria. The Ba'ath government under Bashar al-Assad used a soccer game in 2004 as a provocation and an opportunity to arrest hundreds of Kurds and to ban Kurdish parties. Today around 200,000 Kurds still do not have their passports back. Syria only began to partially reverse this expatriation in 2011. In the course of the Syrian civil war, the Kurds founded three cantons in some settlement areas in 2013, commonly known as Rojava .

Red Kurdistan

In the former USSR there was an autonomous Kurdish region in the period from 1923 to 1929, which was called Kurdistana Sor ( Red Kurdistan ). The region was proclaimed on May 23, 1923. It was in what is now Azerbaijan and its capital was Laçın . Other cities were Kelbecar, Kubatliski and Cebrail. The first prime minister was Gussi Gaciyev. The region was located almost exactly in today's Lachin Corridor between Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh exclave . This region was dissolved under Stalin . An attempt to re-establish it in 1992 after the collapse of the Soviet Union with the proclamation of the Kurdish Republic of Latschin failed. The 1994 war between Armenia and Azerbaijan drove most of the Kurds out of the area.

Lebanon

Îsmet Şerîf Wanlî wrote that Kurds have lived in Lebanon for centuries and names four Kurdish Eşirets , namely the Banu Sayfa clan north of Tripoli and the Krac fortress , the Ras Nahash , who have lived near Tripoli since the 16th century, the Amadic sheikhs who came to Lebanon from Amadiya in the 17th century and the Can Polad who originally came from Hakkâri . Today they are called Jumblatt . A well-known representative of the Jumblatt is the leader of the Druze community and the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jumblat . In 1925, many refugees came to the country after the Sheikh Said uprising. The Xoybun organization was founded in Beirut . Many Kurds in Lebanon have immigrated from the Mardin region in southeast Turkey. Today around 60,000 Kurds are believed to be living in Lebanon.

The greatest uprisings in the 20th century

politics

In the early 1920s, the organization Xoybûn was founded in Lebanon , which among other things led the Ararat uprising.

While the repression in the region has caused many Kurdish parties to operate underground or in exile or to face a sudden ban and the destruction of the party and the arrest of its members, especially in Iraq , after de facto autonomy, the Establishment of the no-fly zone in 1991 and later de jure autonomy after the Iraq war , established political structures. The Autonomous Region of Kurdistan has its own parliament based in Erbil and has its own president. In a referendum in 2017, 92% of the population voted for their own state. The dominant parties in Iraq are the PDK , the PUK and Gorran, which was founded as an opposition from the two ruling parties . In Syria , too , the Kurds were able to achieve de facto autonomy due to the civil war in Syria . The left PYD is the dominant party in Rojava. The party alliance KNC acts as an opposition , with the PDK-S being its largest member .

In Iran , the dominant Kurdish parties are the PDKI , the Komalah , the PJAK , which is considered an offshoot of the PKK, and the PAK , all of which belong to the left spectrum and operate underground and in exile, as their members are persecuted by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard .

In Turkey , the left, pro-Kurdish party HDP , which sees itself as a party of all minorities , was the first party with a majority Kurdish party to overcome the ten percent hurdle in the parliamentary elections in 2015 and enter parliament. In addition, the banned PKK operating underground is still a dominant political factor.

See also: Kurdish organizations

religion

Most Kurds are Sunni Muslims whose believers follow the Shafiite school of law . A large part of the Kurds are Sunni Muslims whose believers follow the Hanafi school of law - they live or have their origin, if they live in the diaspora, predominantly in the Turkish provinces of Aksaray , Amasya , Ankara , Çankırı , Çorum , Kırşehir , Konya and Yozgat (see Central Anatolian Kurds ) as well as Adıyaman , Ardahan , Bingöl , Diyarbakır , Elazığ , Gaziantep , Kars and Şanlıurfa , also in the Syrian districts of Afrin , Ain al-Arab , al-Bab , Jarabulus and Manbij . Furthermore, among the Kurds to a small extent Sunni Muslims, the Hanbali school or follow quite independently school are to be found. There are also Sufis of the Naqschbandīya order, especially in the Turkish provinces of Adıyaman , Batman , Gaziantep , Mardin , Şanlıurfa and Şırnak, and Sufis of the Qādirīya order, especially in the Iraqi province of Erbil . The approximately 3 to 5% Kurdish twelve Shiites live in the very south of the Kurdish distribution area in the districts of Baladruz and Chanaqin in the province of Diyala and in the district of Badra in the province of Wasit as well as in the Iranian provinces of Ilam , Kermanshah and Lorestan .

In addition, many Kurds profess Alevism , especially in the Turkish provinces of Erzincan and Tunceli as well as in the districts of Besni and Merkez in the province of Adıyaman , in the districts of Adaklı , Karlıova , Kiğı , Yayladere and Yedisu in the province of Bingöl , in the districts of Mecitözü and Ortaköy in the province of Çorum , in the districts Karakoçan and Merkez in the province of Elazig , in the districts Aşkale , Çat , Hinis and Tekman in the province of Erzurum , in the districts of Kelkit and Siran in the province of Gumushane , in the districts of Afşin , Elbistan and Pazarcık in Kahramanmaras , district Sariz in the province of Kayseri , in the districts akcadag , Arapgir , Hekimhan and Arguvan in the province of Malatya , district Varto in the province of Mus , and in the counties of Divriği , Gürün , Hafik , Imranli , Kangal and Zara in the province of Sivas .

There are also Yazidis among the Kurds , especially in the districts of al-Hamdaniya , Shaichān , Sinjar and Tel Kaif in the Iraqi province of Ninawa . In addition, Yazidis live in some places in the Sêmêl and Zaxo districts in the Iraqi province of Dahuk , in several places in the Syrian districts of Afrin , Amude , al-Qahtaniyya and Raʾs al-ʿAin , in several places in the Armenian provinces of Aragazotn , Ararat , Armavir and Kotajk and in some places in the Turkish districts of Beşiri , Midyat , Nusaybin and Viranşehir .

There are also Yarsanis who live mainly in the Iranian provinces of Kordestān and Kermanshāh .

There are also a few Zoroastrians , Christians , Jews and non-denominationalists .

The Shabak , Bajwan (Bajalan) and Sarli are among the heterodox Shiite sects in northern Iraq, who consider themselves either Kurds or an independent ethnic group .

Culture

New year celebration

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The Old Iranian New Year Newroz is celebrated on March 21st . The festival was also celebrated by the state in Turkey to prevent politicization. It is not just seen as a New Year celebration by the Kurds. It also symbolizes thoughts of revolt against the respective rulers who oppress the Kurdish population. Fire serves as a symbol of freedom and is an important element in Kurdish mythology. It has not lost any of its topicality to this day, as the Kurds have still not achieved their cultural freedom in most areas.

Women's rights

In parts of the Kurdish population, women's right to sexual self-determination is suppressed for religious and cultural reasons. Violations of this unwritten law have led to so-called honor killings by one's own family. More and more Kurdish organizations like WADİ or HAUKARI e. V. and ICAHK . In contrast to many other countries in the Middle East, women also have a relatively positive position in Kurdish society. This is particularly clear in the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan and in Rojava, where women also hold very high rates of equal rights in all positions in the military.

Kurdish cuisine

For Kurdish cuisine include various regional cooking styles and culinary specialties. It is based on a long tradition and is influenced by the neighboring cultures. Meat, vegetable and rice dishes in particular dominate Kurdish cuisine.

painting

Representatives of contemporary painting from the region include a. Sardar Kestay and Baldin Ahmad .

music

Characteristic of the Kurdish music are simple melodies with a circumference of only three or four notes, strophic songs with the chorus . Most Kurdish songs are epic, they are sung by Dengbêj (professional bards) and are about stories of Kurdish heroes like Saladin , Sheikh Said or Seyit Rıza . Love songs, dance music ( gowend ), wedding and other celebration songs, erotic poetry and work songs are also very popular. Musical instruments are bilûr (flute), dahol (drum), dûdûk (cylindrical double-reed instrument ), saz and tembûr (long-necked lute), kemençe (stringed lute) and zurna (conical double-reed instrument ).

Movie

literature

There is a rich folk literature in the Kurdish language . Mention should be made of the national epic Mem û Zîn , which was written in 1695 by the Kurdish poet Ehmedê Xanî . The Mardin- born poet Cigerxwîn ( Şêxmûs Hesen ), who lived from 1903 to 1984, wrote for magazines such as Hewar (English: cry for help). He studied Marxism - Leninism in detail and left eight collections of poetry.

In 1935 the first novel of modern times in Kurdish, Şivanê Kurd ( Eng .: The Kurdish Shepherd ), was written by Ereb Şemo . Contemporary writers are Helîm Yûsiv , Haydar Işik , Mehmed Uzun , Mahmut Baksi , Suzan Samanci , Yusuf Yeşilöz , Sükrü Gülmüs , Rohat Alakom , Taha Hamid , Muhammed Hamo and Salim Barakat .

Hilmi Abbas wrote down some of the old Kurdish legends that have so far only been passed on orally in German. The book was published in Munich in 2003 under the title The Unwritten Book of the Kurds . It depicts the story of creation from a Yazidi point of view and the mythical migration of the Kurdish people from east to west into today's settlement area.

Tuncay Gary writes poetry and plays in German. His book Not I'm the Stranger was published in 2011. In 2016 his book "Blauflügel Jägerliest" was published by Klak Verlag.

The development of Kurdish literature has remained dependent on the respective political conditions, which were characterized by the drawing of boundaries, foreign rule and oppression, guided by power-political interests. The development in the individual parts of Kurdistan proceeded differently and had the consequence that due to the different dialects spoken there and the use of different alphabets no common literature could arise.

Costume

The traditional costumes of Kurdish women include, for example, headgear adorned with precious stones and multilayered sumptuous robes.

Sports

The most common sport in the Kurdistan Autonomous Region is soccer . According to the Kurdish press, the Kurdish Football Association was founded on January 11, 2006 with 24 teams from different cities such as Hewlêr , Sulaimaniyya and Kirkuk . Next, a Kurdish football selection was set up that is a member of the NF board . In 2008 the team took part in the Viva World Cup and reached fourth place. In 2009 (in Padania ) and 2010 (in Gozo ), the Kurds took second place in the tournament. It was not until 2012, when the Viva World Cup took place in Kurdistan, that the Kurds made it through to the finals again, where they met the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus . The game ended 2-1 and Kurdistan became world champions for the first time.

literature

  • Bawar Bammarny: The Legal Status of the Kurds in Iraq and Syria. In: Constitutionalism, Human Rights, and Islam After the Arab Spring. Oxford University Press 2016, ISBN 978-0-19-062764-5 , pp. 475-495.
  • Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke : The country and people of the Kurds (1841). In: Collected Writings and Oddities. Volume 2. Berlin 1892.
  • Daniel G. Brinton: The Protohistoric Ethnography of Western Asia. In: Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. Philadelphia 34.1895, 147, 71-102. ISSN  0003-049X
  • GR Driver: The name Kurd and its philological connexions. In: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Philadelphia 3, 1923, 393-403. ISSN  0003-049X
  • Heinz Gstrein : People without a lawyer. The Kurdish question in the Middle East. Laetare, Imba 1974, ISBN 978-3-85740-046-9 .
  • Celalettin Kartal: The Legal Status of the Kurds in the Ottoman Empire and in Modern Turkey . Kovac, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-8300-0599-7 .
  • Karin Kren: Kurdology, Kurdistan and Kurds in German-language literature. Annotated bibliography . LIT-Verlag, Münster 2000, ISBN 3-8258-4642-3 .
  • Martin Strohmeier, Lale Yalçin-Heckmann: The Kurds. History, politics, culture . Beck, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-406-42129-6 .
  • Albrecht Metzger: For example Kurds. Lamuv, Göttingen 1996, ISBN 3-88977-463-6 .
  • Bülent Imrek: On the situation of the Kurdish tribes in the Ottoman Empire. GRIN, Frankfurt am Main 2001, ISBN 3-638-12359-6 .
  • Günther Deschner: The Kurds - people without a state. Herbig, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-7766-2358-6 .
  • Siegwart-Horst Günther: The Kurds. Wilhelm Braumüller, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-7003-1351-9 .
  • Günter Max Behrendt: Nationalism in Kurdistan. German Orient-Institut, Hamburg 1993, ISBN 3-89173-029-2 .
  • Martin van Bruinessen: Agha, Sheikh and State. Politics and Society of Kurdistan . Edition Parabolis, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-933279-16-X .
  • Lale Yalçin-Heckmann: Tribe and Kinship among the Kurds. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 1991, ISBN 3-631-42702-6 .
  • David McDowall: A Modern History of the Kurds. 3. Edition. Tauris Books, London 2004, ISBN 1-85043-416-6 .
  • Ferdinand Hennerbichler, The Origin of the Kurds, Peter Lang Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2010, ISBN 978-3-631-59327-1 .
  • Dr. M. Funck: The Kurdistan Report (historical e-paper). In: Frankfurter Zeitung , Frankfurt am Main April 11, 1915 ( PDF file; 3.4 MB )
  • Joachim Jakob: East Syrian Christians and Kurds in the Ottoman Empire in the 19th and early 20th centuries . orientalia - patristica - oecumenica - vol. 7. LIT Verlag , Münster 2014, ISBN 978-3-643-50616-0 (237 pages, limited preview in the Google book search).

Web links

Commons : Kurds  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Portal: Kurdistan  - Overview of Wikipedia content on Kurdistan

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved on September 24, 2018 (English): “A rough estimate in this edition gives populations of 14.3 million in Turkey, 8.2 million in Iran, about 5.6 to 7.4 million in Iraq, and less than 2 million in Syria, which adds up to approximately 28–30 million Kurds in Kurdistan or in adjacent regions. The CIA estimates are as of August 2015 - Turkey: Kurdish 18%, of 81.6 million; Iran: Kurd 10%, of 81.82 million; Iraq: Kurdish 15–20%, of 37.01 million, Syria: Kurds, Armenians, and other 9.7%, of 17.01 million. "
  2. ^ John Limbert: The origins and appearance of the Kurds in Pre-Islamic Iran . In: Iranian Studies. Volume 1 (1968), Issue 2, pp. 41-45, ISSN  0021-0862 .
  3. ^ Josef Wiesehöfer : Mountain peoples in the ancient Middle East. External perception and self-interest. In: Stephan Conermann, Geoffrey Haig (Ed.): The Kurds. Studies on their language, history and culture (Asia and Africa. Contributions from the Center for Asian and African Studies at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel ; Volume 8). EB-Verlag, Schenefeld 2004, pp. 11-26, here pp. 17-22, ISBN 3-930826-82-8 .
  4. ↑ a b Garnik Asatrian: The Ethnogenesis the Kurds and early kurdisch-Armenian contacts . In: Iran & the Caucasus. Volume 5 (2001), pp. 41-74, here p. 57, ISSN  1609-8498 .
  5. ↑ Theodor Nöldeke: Kardu and Kurds. In: Contributions to ancient history and geography. Festschrift for Heinrich Kiepert . D. Reimer, Berlin 1898, p. 78.
  6. ^ A b Geoffrey R. Driver: The Dispersion of the Kurds in Ancient Times. In: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland , Volume 4 (1921), pp. 563-572, John Bickers (Ed.): Anabasis.
  7. ^ François Thureau-Dangin : The Sumerian and Akkadian royal inscriptions . Central antiquariat of the GDR, Leipzig 1970 (unchanged reprint of the Leipzig edition 1907; No. 22, § 2)
  8. ↑ Keyword καρδυχοι
  9. ^ John Limbert: The Origins and Appearance of the Kurds in Pre-Islamic Iran. In: Iranian Studies. Volume 1 (1968), No. 2, pp. 41-51, here S, p. 44. ISSN  0021-0862
  10. ↑ Wladimir Minorsky: Les origines des kurdes. In: Actes du XX e Congrés international des orientalistes. Louvain 1940, pp. 143-152, "Kurds" in The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition .
  11. ↑ Vladimir Minorsky: The Tribes of Western Iran. In: The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland , Volume 75 (1945), Issue 1/2, p. 78.
  12. ↑ Arshak Safrastian: Kurds and Kurdistan. Harvill Press, London 1948.
  13. ^ William G. Elphinston: The Kurdish Question. In: International Affairs. Volume 22 (1946), Issue 1, pp. 91-103, here p. 92. ISSN  0020-5850
  14. ^ Wilhelm Gesenius: Thesaurus philologicus criticus linguae hebraeae et chaldaeae Veteris Testamenti . Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1977 (3 volumes, unchanged reprint of the Leipzig 1935 edition).
  15. ↑ Friedrich von Hellwald: Cultural history in its natural development up to the present. Lampart & Companie, Augsburg 1875, p. 137.
  16. ^ William K. Loftus: Travels in Chaldea and Susiana. Robert Carter & Brothers, New York 1857.
  17. ↑ Law No. 2932 of October 19, 1983 on publications in languages ​​other than Turkish, RG No. 18199 of October 22, 1983.
  18. ↑ Art. 3 of Law No. 2932: "The mother tongue of Turkish citizens is Turkish. [...] Any kind of activity involving the use and dissemination of any mother tongue other than Turkish is prohibited."
  19. ↑ diepresse.com
  20. ↑ faz.net
  21. ↑ folklore.125sites.com
  22. ^ Online news agency GlobalSecurity.org Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Biography
  23. ^ Website of the Khorasani Kurds
  24. ↑ According to Kurdish data, 180,000 or 182,000 Kurds were killed, while the Iraqi government at the time conceded a maximum of 100,000 victims. Cf. Azad Salih: Free Kurdistan. The Kurdish Protected Zone in Iraqi Kurdistan. (Dissertation) Freie Universität Berlin, 2004, p. 52.
  25. ↑ PKK reports of fierce battles with Turkish troops , spiegel.de
  26. ↑ Jemal Nebez: The written language of the Kurds ( Memento from May 25, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) page 17 ff.
  27. ↑ Martin Strohmeier, Lale Yalçın-Heckmann: The Kurds: History, Politics, Culture . CH Beck, 2000, ISBN 978-3-406-42129-7 , pp. 167 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  28. ^ Results of the referendum on a Kurdish state in Iraq. Süddeutsche Zeitung , September 27, 2017, archived from the original on July 19, 2019 .;
  29. ^ Power to the people: a Syrian experiment in democracy
  30. ^ Syrian Kurds Hope to Establish a Federal Region in Country's North
  31. ^ Syria's Kurds Look to Iraqi Minority for Support
  32. ^ A Political Reunion in Iraqi Kurdistan
  33. ↑ Iranian Kurdish leader to 'Post': Iran regime is a common enemy
  34. ^ Iranian Kurds take up arms again in pursuit of homeland
  35. ^ Joint struggle
  36. ↑ PJAK rebels: "We can strike anywhere in Iran"
  37. ↑ Iranian Kurds Return to Arms
  38. ↑ Behind the Barricades of Turkey's Hidden War
  39. ↑ H. Lehmann, F. Ala, S. Hedeyat, K. Montazemi, H. Karini Nejad, S. Lightman, AC Kopec, AE Mourant, P. Teesdale, D. Tills: The Hereditary Blood Factors of the Kurds of Iran. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences 266, No. 876, Biological studies of Yemenite and Kurdish Jews in Israel and Other Groups in Southwest Asia (Oct. 18, 1973), 196
  40. ^ David Neil MacKenzie: Bā dj alān. In: The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition , Volume 1, 1960, p. 863.
  41. ↑ Johannes Hendrik Kramers : Ṣārliyya. In: The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition. Volume 9, 1997, p. 64.
  42. ^ Website of the association HAUKARI e. V. ( Memento from June 21, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (German)
  43. ↑ International women's association ICHAK: Stop honor killing ( Memento of the original from January 21, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.stophonourkillings.com
  44. ^ Crackdown in Turkey Threatens a Haven of Gender Equality Built by Kurds
  45. ↑ These female Kurdish soldiers wear their femininity with pride
  46. ↑ Syrian Kurds proclaim equal rights for women , diestandard.at
  47. ↑ Syrian Kurds proclaim equal rights for women , stern.de
  48. ↑ Kurds Declare Equal Rights for Women , heise.de
  49. ↑ Al-Abali, Reem (2013). Women in the Islamic World . German Orient Institute. p. 57.
  50. ^ Karl Schlamminger, Peter Lamborn Wilson : Weaver of Tales. Persian Picture Rugs / Persian tapestries. Linked myths. Callwey, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-7667-0532-6 , p. 166 f.