Kurds: Difference between revisions

| pop = 30–40 million<ref name="CIAonline">{{cite book |title= The World Factbook |edition= Online |date= 2015 |publisher= US [[Central Intelligence Agency]] |location= Langley, Virginia |issn= 1553-8133 |url= https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/ |access-date= 2 August 2015 |archive-date= 6 January 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190106114713/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/ |url-status= dead }} 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|lc=y|2015|8}} – 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.</ref></br>({{small|''[[The World Factbook]]'', 2015 estimate}})<br>36.4–45.6 million<ref name="KIOP2017">[http://www.institutkurde.org/en/info/the-kurdish-population-1232551004 The Kurdish Population] 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.</ref><br/>({{small|[[Kurdish Institute of Paris]], 2017 estimate}})

'''Kurds''' ({{lang-ku|کورد|rtl=yes}}, {{lang|ku-Latn|Kurd}}) or '''Kurdish people''', are an [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]]<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Bois|first1=Th.|last2=Minorsky|first2=V.|last3=MacKenzie|first3=D.N.|encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of Islam, Second Edition|publisher=Brill Online|title=Kurds, Kurdistān|date=24 April 2012|volume=5|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/kurds-kurdistan-COM_0544?s.num=53&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.encyclopaedia-of-islam-2&s.start=40&s.q=nihawand|quote=The Kurds, an Iranian people of the Near East, live at the junction of (...)|page=439}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=John A. |last=Shoup |title=Ethnic Groups of Africa and the Middle East: An Encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GN5yv3-U6goC&pg=PA159 |year=2011 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9781598843637}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Kendal |last=Nezan |title=A Brief Survey of the History of the Kurds |url=https://www.institutkurde.org/en/institute/who_are_the_kurds.php |publisher=Kurdish Institute of Paris}}</ref> [[ethnic group]] native to the mountainous region of [[Kurdistan]] in [[Western Asia]], which spans southeastern [[Turkey]], northwestern [[Iran]], northern [[Iraq]], and northern [[Syria]].<ref name="Bengio2014">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=caCDBAAAQBAJ|title=Kurdish Awakening: Nation Building in a Fragmented Homeland|year=2014|first=Ofra|last=Bengio|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=978-0-292-75813-1}}</ref> There are [[exclaves]] of Kurds in [[Central Anatolia Region|Central Anatolia]], [[Khorasan Province|Khorasan]], and the [[Caucasus]], as well as significant [[Kurdish diaspora]] communities in the cities of western Turkey (in particular [[Istanbul]]) and [[Western Europe]] (primarily [[Kurds in Germany|in Germany]]). The [[Kurdish population]] is estimated to be between 30 and 45&nbsp;million.<ref name="KIOP2017"/><ref>Based on arithmetic from ''World Factbook'' and other sources cited herein: A Near Eastern population of 28–30 million, plus approximately a 2 million diaspora gives 30–32 million. If the highest (25%) estimate for the Kurdish population of Turkey, in Mackey (2002), proves correct, this would raise the total to around 37 million.</ref>