‘oworr2021 Kurd | History, Culture, & Language | Britannica = a Subse Losin v KURD Sections & Media Home > Geography Bute > Human Geography > Pel You have 1 more article(s) this Kurd month. eople Peop Our editorial mission is to get the facts right for _ 4 history, not just for the moment, We u will Giri Bare ste Em nets hen trainer The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britant Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject of experience gained by working on that content or] Close this See Antcle History Kurd, member of an ethnic and linguistic group living in the ‘Taurus Mountains of southeastern Anatolia, the Zagros Mountains of western Iran, portions of northern Iraq, northeastern Syria, and western Armenia, and other adjacent areas. Most of the Kurds live iguous areas of Iran, Iraq, and ‘Turkey—a somewhat loosely defined geographic region generally referred to as Kurdistan (“Land of the Kurds”). The name has different connotations in Iran and Iraq, which officially recognize internal entities by this name: Iran’s western province of Kordestan and Iraq’s Kurdish autonomous region. A sizable noncontiguous Kurdish population also exists in the Khorasin region, situated in Iran’s northeast. BLACK SEA io a at Bat Se ee y, Se? Kurdish set a, \ 5 ue x oe | nb > hitps www brtannica.comtopicKurd mtoworr2021 Kurd | History, Culture, & Language | Britannica IRAN L Le co N Fehirae -* my SAUDI ARABIA Kurdish settlements in Southwest Asia Areas of Kurdish settlement in Southwes Image: Eneyelopedia Britannica, ne Our editorial mission Although estimates of their precise numbers group in the Middle, The Kurdish language and traditional way of life The Kurdish language is a West Iranian language related to Persian and Pashto. The Kurds are thought to number from 2g million to 30 million, including communities in Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Syria, and Europe, but sources for this information differ widely because of differing criteria of ethnicity, religion, and language; statistics may also be manipulated for political purposes. The traditional Kurdish way of life was nomadic, revolving around sheep and goat herding throughout the Mesopotamian plains and the highlands of Turkey and Iran. Most Kurds practiced only marginal agriculture. The enforcement of national boundaries beginning after World War I (1914-18) impeded the seasonal migrations of the flocks, forcing most of the Kurds to abandon their traditional ways for village life « entered nontraditional employment. hitps www brtannica.comtopiciKurd amtowvoriz021 urd | Mistry, Cullre, & Language | Srilannica Our editorial mission ey May Nave Deen Kurds, Dut some Scholars History The prehistory of the Kurds is poorly kn| same upland region for millennia. The r frequent references to mountain tribes whom the Greek historian Xenophon sp} Thousand” near modern Zakhi, Iraq, in dispute this claim. The name Kurd can be dated with certainty to the time of the tribes’ conversion to Islam in the 7th century CE, Most Kurds are Sunni Muslims, and among them are many who practice Sufism and other mystical sects. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Subscribe Now Despite their long-standing occupation of a particular region of the world, the Kurds never achieved nation-state status. Their reputation for military prowess has made them much in demand as mercenaries in many armies. The sultan Saladin, best known to the Western world for exploits in the Crusades, epitomizes the Kurdish military reputation. Social organization ‘The principal unit in traditional Kurdish society was the tri hitps www brtannica.comtopiciKurd aitorior02s Kurd | History, Cute, & Language | Silane In traditional Kurdish society, marriage was generally endogamous. In nonurban areas, practices such as arranged marriage and child marriage are common. Households typically consist of father, mother, and children. Polygamy, permitted by Islamic law, is sometimes practiced, although in Turkey it is forbidden by civil law. The strength of the extended family’s ties to the tribe varies with the way of life. Along with Kurdish men, Kurdish women—who traditionally have been more active in public life than Turkish, Arab, and Iranian women, especially in prerevolutionary Iran—have taken advantage of urban educational and employment opportunities. The dream of autono: Our editorial mission ‘The first Kurdish newspaper appeared in 1897 and was published at intervals until 1902. It Kurdish nationalism came about throug] the British introduction of the concept Kurdish settlement by modern neighbot Soviet interests in the Persian Gulf regic flowering of a nationalist movement ami Kurds. was revived at Istanbul in 1908 (when the first Kurdish political club, with an affiliated cultural society, was also founded) and again in Cairo during World War I. The Treaty of Sevres, drawn up in 1920, provided for an autonomous Kurdistan but was never ratified; the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), which replaced the Treaty of Sevres, made no mention of Kurdistan or of the Kurds. Thus the opportunity to unify the Kurds in a nation of their own was lost. Indeed, Kurdistan after the war was more fragmented than before, and various separatist movements arose among Kurdish groups. Kurds in Turkey The Kurds of Turkey received unsympathetic treatment at the hands of the government, which tried to deprive them of their Kurdish identity by designating them “Mountain Turks,” by outlawing the Kurdish language (or representing by forbidding them to wear distinctive Kurdish dress in or 1 aoa ~ an Pe hitps www brtannica.comtopiciKurd antoor2001 Kurd | History, Cute, & Language | Silane rebellions occurred, and in 1978 Abdullah Ocalan formed the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (known by its Kurdish acronym, PKK), a Marxist organization dedicated to creating an independent Kurdistan. Operating mainly from eastern Anatolia, PKK fighters engaged in guerrilla operations against government installations and perpetrated frequent acts of terrorism. PKK attacks and government reprisals led to a state of virtual war in eastern Turkey during the 1980s and ’90s. Following Ocalan’s capture in 1999, PKK activities were sharply curtailed for several years before the party resumed guerrilla activities in 2004. In 2002, under pressure from the European Union (in which Turkey sought membership), the government legalized broadcasts and ed| Peace talks and a cease-fire initiated in promising at its outset, but talks faltered Our editorial mission PKK-aligned Kurds were strengthening the continued civil war in Syria and the Levant (ISIL; also called the Islamic Stat launched an incursion into northweste there in the years that followed, in part from extending their reach westward. It northeastern Syria in 2018 but held off from launching an offensive in anticipation of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the region at a later date. Kurds in Iran and Iraq Kurds also felt strong assimilationist pressure from the national government in Tran and endured religious persecution by that country’s Shi'i Muslim majority. Shortly after World War II (1939-45), the Soviet Union backed the establishment of an independent country around the largely Kurdish city of Mahabad, in northwestern Iran. The so-called Republic of Mahabad collapsed after Soviet withdrawal in 1946, but about that same time the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) was established. Thereafter, the KDPI engaged in low-level hostilities with the Iranian government into the 21st century. Although the pressure for Kurds to g language and culture have been freely practiced), governme t imilate was | hrntal Shart-lived armed rehellians arenrrad in Tran in 1091299 and 1AASAE and aT 4 hitps www brtannica.comtopiciKurd sitovorzoet sar story, Clr, & Language | Srtanica the Republic of Mahabad. A failed peace accord with the Iraqi government led to another outbreak of fighting in 1975, but an agreement between Iraq and Iran—which had been supporting Kurdish efforts—later that year led to a collapse of Kurdish resistance. ‘Thousands of Kurds fled to Iran and Turkey. Low-intensity fighting followed. In the late 1970s, Iraq's Ba'th Party instituted a policy of settling Iraqi Arabs in areas with Kurdish majorities—particularly around the oil-rich city of Kirkiik—and uprooting Kurds from those same regions. This policy accelerated in the 1980s as large numbers of Kurds were forcibly relocated, particularly from areas along the Iranian border where Iraqi authorities suspected Kurds were aiding Iranian fo followed was one of the most brutal epi: between March and August 1988, code to quell Kurdish resistance; the Iraqis u Kurdish civilians. Although technically i attacks during that period took place on| when Iraqi troops killed as many as 5,0 Subscribe these attacks, Kurds again rebelled follo 91) but were again brutally suppressed: Kurdish soldiers Kurdish soldiers in Rrhil_ northern Iraq rN hitps www brtannica.comtopiciKurd entoor2001 Kurd | History, Cute, & Language | Silane With the help of the United States, however, the Kurds were able to establish a “safe haven” that included most areas of Kurdish settlement in northern Iraq, where the IKDP and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan—a faction that split from the IKDP in 1975—created an autonomous civil authority that was, for the most part, free from interference by the Iraqi government. The Kurds were particularly suc ssful in that country’s 2005 elections, held following the fall of Saddam Hussein and the Ba’ th Party in 2003, and in mid-2005 the first session of the Kurdish parliament was in Erbil. Our editorial mission Learn about the shattered their business e industry in Bashiga by ISIL and the plight of the owners to. g up the pieces of the shattered olive industry near Mosul, Iraq, after Kurdish forces dislodged the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in 2016. Image: © CCTV America (A Britannica Publishing Partner -) See all videos for this article Violence and instability in Iraq following the removal of Saddam Hussein and in Syria following the outbreak of civil war in 2011 threatened the security of Kurdish communities yy. The but also offered new opportunities for Kurds to advance their claims to aut primary threat to Kurds was ISIL, which captured and occu Kurdish areas in Iraq and Syria beginning in 2013. Kurdish entered into heavy fighting with ISIL and quickly proved to ve suite ur ue anys eucey hitps www brtannica.comtopiciKurd 7movorzoet sar story, Clr, & Language | Srtanica September 2017 passed with more than 93 percent support. But as Kurdish forces moved to control strategic areas such as Kirktik, the Iraqi army pushed back and quickly quelled the bid for independence. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen, Corrections Manager. Learn More in these related Britannica articles: Iraq: Kurds Although estimates of their prec ethnic group in the Middle East,] Our editorial mission minorities in Iraq, Iran, Turkey, a aba all Turkey: The Kurdish conflict (¢ The public security situation a Following major social changes 1950s, there were outbreaks of vf Ej 20th-century international relations: The Soviets in Afghanistan The Kurdish minority, which had resor d to ter be carved out of Turkey, Iraq, and Iran, also presented an intractable problem. Finally, the iraqi nity of Iran’s apparent. ‘rism in pursuit ofits goal of a Kurdish state to government of Saddam Hussein hoped to use the opps HISTORY AT YOUR NW tncerrrs Sign up here to see what happened On This Day, every day in your inbox! Email address [sor J By sighing up, you agree to our Privacy Notice hitps www brtannica.comtopicKurd ant‘oworr2021 Kurd QUICK FACTS KEY PEOPLE Abdullah Ocalan Mustafa al-Barzani Badr Khani Jaladat hitps www brtannica.comtopiciKurd You have 1 mor month. Our editorial mission is ¢ Close this rt us by sul e article(s) this just for the moment Kurd | History, Culture, & Language | Britannica get the facts right for We lope y Special Subscription x ontoworr2021 hitps www brtannica.comtopiciKurd Kurd | History, Culture, & Language | Britannica You have 1 more a month. e(s) this Our editorial mission is to get the facts right for history, not just for the moment. We hope you wil support us by subscribing. Close this x Special Subscription tomoworr2021 hitps www brtannica.comtopiciKurd Kurd | History, Culture, & Language | Britannica You have 1 more a month. e(s) this Our editorial mission is to get the facts right for history, not just for the moment. We hope you wil support us by subscribing. Close this x Special Subscription wnt