Kurds: Difference between revisions

| region5 = {{flagcountry|Germany}}

| pop5 = 1.2–1.5 million

| region6 = {{flag|Azerbaijan}}

| pop6 = 150,000–180,000

| languages = [[Kurdish languages|Kurdish]]<br>{{smaller|''In their different varieties: [[Central Kurdish|Sorani]], [[Northern Kurdish|Kurmanji]], [[Southern Kurdish|Pehlewani]], [[Laki language|Laki]]''}}<ref name="Iranatlas" >{{cite web |title=Atlas of the Languages of Iran A working classification |url=http://iranatlas.net/index.html?module=module.classification |website=Languages of Iran |access-date=25 May 2019}}</ref><br>[[Zaza language|Zazaki]], [[Gorani language (Zaza-Gorani)|Gorani]]<ref name="leezenberg">{{cite journal |author1=Michiel Leezenberg |title=Gorani Influence on Central Kurdish: Substratum or Prestige Borrowing? |journal=ILLC – Department of Philosophy, University of Amsterdam |page=1 |year=1993 |url=http://home.hum.uva.nl/oz/leezenberg/GInflCK.pdf |access-date=29 May 2019 |archive-date=12 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190712070357/http://home.hum.uva.nl/oz/leezenberg/GInflCK.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

| religions = Predominantly [[Sunni Islam]]<br/>with minorities of [[Shia Islam]], [[Kurdish Alevism]], [[Yazidism]], [[Yarsanism]], [[Zoroastrianism]], [[History of the Jews in Kurdistan|Judaism]], [[Christianity]]<ref>{{cite web | title=Kurds in Turkey |url=https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/faq/kurds-turkey}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://thekurdishproject.org/history-and-culture/kurdistan-religion/ | title=Learn About Kurdish Religion }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/kurds-iran-missing-piece-middle-east-puzzle | title=Kurds of Iran: The missing piece in the Middle East Puzzle }}</ref>

| footnotes =

}}

{{Kurds}}

 

 

Kurds speak the [[Kurdish languages]] and the [[Zaza–Gorani languages]], which belong to the [[Western Iranian languages|Western Iranian]] branch of the [[Iranian languages]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url= http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Kurds.html |title= Kurds |year= 2014 |encyclopedia= The Columbia Encyclopedia |edition=6th |publisher= Encyclopedia.com |access-date= 29 December 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Windfuhr |title=Iranian Languages |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1135797041 |page=587}}</ref>

 

 

==Etymology==

== Religion ==

{{Main|Religion in Kurdistan}}

===Islam===

Most Kurds are [[Sunni Islam|Sunni Muslims]] who adhere to the [[Shafiʽi school]], while a significant minority adhere to the [[Hanafi]] school<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Sarigil|first1=Zeki|last2=Fazlioglu|first2=Omer|date=2014|title=Exploring the roots and dynamics of Kurdish ethno-nationalism in Turkey|url=http://yoksis.bilkent.edu.tr/pdf/files/11511.pdf|journal=Nations and Nationalism|publisher=[[Bilkent University]]|volume=20|issue=3|page=447|doi=10.1111/nana.12058|hdl=11693/26432|hdl-access=free|access-date=20 February 2021|archive-date=18 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221218061906/http://yoksis.bilkent.edu.tr/pdf/files/11511.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> and also [[Kurdish Alevism|Alevism]]. Moreover, many Shafi'i Kurds adhere to either one of the two [[Sufism|Sufi]] orders [[Naqshbandi]] and [[Qadiriyya]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=van Bruinessen|first=Martin|date=2000|title=The Qadiriyya and the lineages of Qadiri shaykhs in Kurdistan|journal=Journal of the History of Sufism|volume=1–2|doi=|citeseerx=10.1.1.545.8465}}</ref>

{{further|Safavid dynasty}}

[[File:Abbas_I_of_Persia.jpg|thumb|200x200px|5th [[Safavid dynasty#Safavid Shahs of Iran|Safavid shah]] [[Abbas the Great]], married a [[Mukriyan|Mukri]] noblewomen in 1610 AD.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Butler |first1=Herbert |title=Sir Thomas Herbert, Bart: Travels in Africa, Persia, and Asia the Great : Some Years Travels Into Africa and Asia the Great, Especially Describing the Famous Empires of Persia and Hindustan, as Also Divers Other Kingdoms in the Oriental Indies, 1627–30, the 1677 Version. Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies. |date=2012 |publisher=ACMRS (Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies) |isbn=978-0-86698-475-1 |page=403}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=American Society of Genealogists |date=1997 |page=244}}</ref>]]

 

The Safavid king [[Ismail I]] (r. 1501–1524) put down a Yezidi rebellion which went on from 1506 to 1510. A century later, the year-long [[Battle of Dimdim]] took place, wherein the Safavid king [[Abbas I of Persia|Abbas I]] (r. 1588–1629) succeeded in putting down the rebellion led by the Kurdish ruler Amir Khan Lepzerin. Thereafter, many Kurds were deported to [[Khorasan Province|Khorasan]], not only to weaken the Kurds, but also to protect the eastern border from invading [[Afghan (ethnonym)|Afghan]] and [[Turkmen people|Turkmen]] tribes.<ref name="autogenerated2">''A People Without a Country: The Kurds and Kurdistan'' By Gérard Chaliand, Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou, and Marco Pallis, p. 205.</ref> Other forced movements and deportations of other groups were also implemented by Abbas I and his successors, most notably of the [[Armenians]], the [[Abbas I's Kakhetian and Kartlian campaigns|Georgians]], and the [[Circassians]], who were moved en masse to and from other districts within the Persian empire.{{sfn|Blow|2009|page=66}}{{sfn|Aslanian|2011|page=1}}{{sfn|Bournoutian|2002|page=208}}{{sfn|Mikaberidze|2015|pages=291, 536}}{{sfn|Floor|Herzig|2012|page=479}}

[[Leyla Zana]], the first Kurdish female MP from Diyarbakir, caused an uproar in [[Grand National Assembly of Turkey|Turkish Parliament]] after adding the following sentence in [[Kurdish language|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."<ref>Michael M. Gunter, ''The Kurds and the future of Turkey'', 194 pp., Palgrave Macmillan, 1997. (p.66)</ref>

 

 

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".

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.<ref name="ashraf"/> Some of such groups and journals openly advocated Iranian support to the Kurdish rebellion against [[Turkey]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Parvin|first=Nassereddin |title=Iran-e Kabir |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]] |publisher=Columbia University |location=New York |url= http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/iran-e-kabir |date=15 December 2006 |access-date=17 August 2013}}</ref> Secular [[Pahlavi dynasty]] has endorsed Iranian ethnic [[Iranian nationalism|nationalism]]<ref name="ashraf"/> which saw the Kurds as integral part of the Iranian nation.<ref name="banuaziziweiner"/> [[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<ref>Zabih, Sepehr (15 December 1992). [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/communism-ii Communism ii.]. in ''[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]''. New York: Columbia University</ref> to establish the [[USSR|Soviet]] [[puppet government]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Romano|first=David|title=The Kurdish Nationalist Movement: Opportunity, Mobilization and Identity|series=Cambridge Middle East studies, 22.|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|location=Cambridge, UK; New York|year=2006|page=227|isbn=978-0-521-85041-4|oclc=61425259}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Chelkowski|first1=Peter J.|last2=Pranger|first2=Robert J.|title=Ideology and Power in the Middle East: Studies in Honor of George Lenczowski|publisher=[[Duke University Press]]|location=Durham|year=1988|page=[https://archive.org/details/ideologypowerinm0000unse/page/399 399]|isbn=978-0-8223-0781-5|oclc=16923212|url=https://archive.org/details/ideologypowerinm0000unse/page/399}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Abrahamian|first=Ervand|author-link=Ervand Abrahamian|title=Iran Between Two Revolutions|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|location=Princeton, N.J.|year=1982|pages=217–218|isbn=978-0-691-05342-4|oclc=7975938}}</ref> called [[Republic of Mahabad]]. It arose along with [[Azerbaijan People's Government]], another Soviet puppet state.<ref name="kreyenbroek1719"/><ref>{{cite book|last1=Chubin|first1=Shahram|author-link1=Shahram Chubin|last2=Zabih|first2=Sepehr|title=The Foreign Relations of Iran: A Developing State in a Zone of Great-Power Conflict|year=1974|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|pages=[https://archive.org/details/foreignrelations0000chub/page/39 39–41, 178]|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-520-02683-4|oclc=1219525|url=https://archive.org/details/foreignrelations0000chub/page/39}}</ref> 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.<ref name="kreyenbroek1719"/> As a result, when the Soviets withdrew from Iran in December 1946, government forces were able to enter Mahabad unopposed.<ref name="kreyenbroek1719"/>

 

Several [[Nationalism|nationalist]] and [[Marxist]] insurgencies continued for decades ([[1967 Kurdish revolt in Iran|1967]], [[1979 Kurdish rebellion in Iran|1979]], [[KDPI insurgency (1989–1996)|1989–96]]) led by [[KDP-I]] and [[Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan|Komalah]], but those two organization have never advocated a separate Kurdish state or greater Kurdistan as did the [[Kurdistan Workers' Party|PKK]] in [[Turkey]].<ref name="kreyenbroek138141"/><ref name="romano240"/><ref>{{cite book|last=Abrahamian|first=Ervand|author-link=Ervand Abrahamian|title=Iran Between Two Revolutions|year=1982|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|location=Princeton, New Jersey|page=453|isbn=978-0-691-05342-4|oclc=7975938}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Yodfat|first=Aryeh|title=The Soviet Union and Revolutionary Iran|publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]]|location=New York|year=1984|isbn=978-0-312-74910-1|oclc=9282694|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/sovietunionarabi0000yodf}}</ref> Still, many of dissident leaders, among others [[Qazi Muhammad]] and [[Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou]], were executed or assassinated.<ref name="kreyenbroek1719"/> During [[Iran–Iraq War]], Tehran has provided support for Iraqi-based Kurdish groups like [[Kurdish Democratic Party|KDP]] or [[Patriotic Union of Kurdistan|PUK]], along with asylum for 1.4 million Iraqi refugees, mostly [[Kurdish refugees|Kurds]]. Kurdish Marxist groups have been marginalized in Iran since the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]]. In 2004 new [[Iran–PJAK conflict|insurrection]] started by [[PJAK]], separatist organization affiliated with the Turkey-based [[Kurdistan Workers' Party|PKK]]<ref name="katzman">{{cite book|last=Katzman|first=Kenneth|title=Iraq: Post-Saddam Governance and Security|publisher=[[Nova Science Publishers]]|location=New York|year=2009|page=32|isbn=978-1-61470-116-3|oclc=756496931}}</ref> and designated as [[List of designated terrorist groups|terrorist]] by Iran, Turkey and the United States.<ref name="katzman"/> Some analysts claim PJAK do not pose any serious threat to the [[government of Iran]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Habeeb|first1=William Mark|last2=Frankel|first2=Rafael D.|last3=Al-Oraibi|first3=Mina|title=The Middle East in Turmoil: Conflict, Revolution, and Change|publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]]|location=Santa Barbara|year=2012|page=46|isbn=978-0-313-33914-1|oclc=753913763}}</ref> 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.<ref name="elling">{{cite book|last=Elling|first=Rasmus Christian|title=Minorities in Iran: Nationalism and Ethnicity after Khomeini|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=New York|year=2013|page=312|isbn=978-0-230-11584-2|oclc=714725127}}</ref> Since the [[Iranian Revolution]] of 1979, accusations of "discrimination" by Western organizations and of "foreign involvement" by Iranian side have become very frequent.<ref name="elling"/>

 

 

===Handicrafts===

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.{{Citation needed|date=September 2022}}

 

{{Main|Deq (tattoo)}}

[[File:Kurdish-Deq.jpg|thumb|alt=A woman's tattooed right hand|Kurdish woman with deq tattoo]]

 

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 injected under the skin using a needle. 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.<ref name="Immigration Museum"/><ref>W. Floor (2011) [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kalkubi "Ḵālkubi"] ''Encyclopædia Iranica''. Retrieved 7 July 2013.</ref>

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.<ref>IMDb '[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0184075/ Zare (1927)]' Retrieved 7 July 2013.</ref> 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'',<ref name="Kurdish Cinema">R. Alakom '[http://www.kurdishcinema.com/RohatAlakomZere.html The first film about Kurds] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130929215257/http://kurdishcinema.com/RohatAlakomZere.html |date=29 September 2013 }}'. Retrieved 7 July 2013.</ref> and Ereb Samilov and C. Jamharyan for ''Kurds of Armenia''.<ref name="Kurdish 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,<ref>IMDb '[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0315842/awards Bahman Ghobadi's Awards]'. Retrieved 7 July 2013.</ref> 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.

A 2005 study genetically examined three different groups of [[Zazas|Zaza]] and [[Kurds in Turkey|Kurmanji speakers in Turkey]] and [[Kurds in Georgia|Kurmanji speakers in Georgia]]. In the study, [[mtDNA]] HV1 sequences, eleven [[Y chromosome]] bi-allelic markers and 9 [[Y-STR]] loci were analyzed to investigate lineage relationship among Kurdish groups. When both mtDNA and Y chromosome data are compared with those of the [[Demographics of Europe|European]], [[Peoples of the Caucasus|Caucasian]], [[Demographics of the Middle East|West Asian]] and [[Demographics of Central Asia|Central Asian groups]], it has been determined that the Kurdish groups are most closely related to West Asians and the furthest to Central Asians. Among the European and Caucasian groups, Kurds were found to be closer to Europeans than Caucasians when considering mtDNA, and the opposite was true for Y chromosome. This indicates a difference in maternal and paternal origins of Kurdish groups. According to the study, Kurdish groups in Georgia went through a [[genetic bottleneck]] while migrating to the Caucasus. It has also been revealed that these groups were not influenced by other Caucasian groups in terms of ancestry. Another phenomenon found in the research was that Zazas are closer to Kurdish groups rather than peoples of [[Northern Iran]], where ancestral [[Zaza language]] hypothesized to be spoken before its spread to [[Anatolia]].<ref name="doi.wiley.com">{{Cite journal|last1=Nasidze|first1=Ivan|last2=Quinque|first2=Dominique|last3=Ozturk|first3=Murat|last4=Bendukidze|first4=Nina|last5=Stoneking|first5=Mark|date=July 2005|title=MtDNA and Y-chromosome Variation in Kurdish Groups: MtDNA and Y-chromosome Variation in Kurdish Groups|url=http://doi.wiley.com/10.1046/j.1529-8817.2005.00174.x|journal=Annals of Human Genetics|language=en|volume=69|issue=4|pages=401–412|doi=10.1046/j.1529-8817.2005.00174.x|pmid=15996169|s2cid=23771698}}</ref>

 

 

==Modern Kurdish-majority entities and governments==

* {{Cite book|title=The Crusades, Christianity, and Islam.|url=|last=Riley-Smith|first=Jonathan|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2008|isbn=978-0-231-14625-8|pages=|quote=}}

* {{Cite encyclopedia|title=ʿANNAZIDS|year=1985|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica|last=Aḥmad|first=K. M.|quote=|pages=97–98|volume=II. Fasc. 1}}

* {{Cite book|title=Meta-Religion: Religion and Power in World History.|last=Laine|first=James W.|publisher=California University Press|year=2015|isbn=978-0-520-95999-6|pages=|quote=}}

* {{cite book|title=The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 4: From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs|last=Madelung|first=W.|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1975|isbn=978-0-521-20093-6|editor-last=Frye|editor-first=R. N.|location=Cambridge|chapter=The Minor Dynasties of Northern Iran}}

* {{Cite book|title=Arabs in History|last=Lewis|first=Bernard|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0-19-158766-5|pages=|quote=}}

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* {{Cite encyclopedia|title=SHADDADIDS|year=2000|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica|last=Peacock|first=Andrew|quote=}}

* {{cite book|title=From Saladin to the Mongols: The Ayyubids of Damascus, 1193–1260|last=Humphreys|first=R. Stephen|publisher=State University of New York Press|year=1977|isbn=0-87395-263-4|page=|quote=}}

* {{cite book|title=Non-Muslim Provinces under Early Islam: Islamic Rule and Iranian Legitimacy in Armenia and Caucasian Albania|last1=Vacca|first1=Alison|date=2017|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1107188518|page=|quote=}}

* {{Cite encyclopedia|title=HAZĀRASPIDS|year=2003|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica|last=Bosworth|first=C. Edmund|quote=|volume=XII. Fasc. 1|pages=93}}

* {{Cite book|title=The Pursuit of Pleasure: Drugs and Stimulants in Iranian History, 1500–1900|last=Matthee|first=Rudi|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2005|isbn=978-1-4008-3260-6|pages=|quote=}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurdish People}}

[[Category:Kurdish people| ]]

[[Category:Ethnic groups divided by international borders]]

[[Category:Ancient peoples of the Near East]]