Kurds

They call themselves kurd or kurmanj. A nation in South-Western Asia. Their total population is 18 million people (1992); according to different estimations - up to 30 million. They settle compactly in Iran (5,6 million people), Turkey (7,5 million people), Iraq (mainly in the south of the country, in the Kurd autonomous district; 3,7 million people), Syria (over 745 thousand people), small groups live in the other countries of Asia and Europe. Over 200 thousand Kurds live on the territory of the former USSR - in Transcaucasia, Central Asia and Kazakhstan.

Kurds belong to the Indo-Mediterranean race of the big European race. Kurd language belongs to the western (Kurd) sub-group of the Iran group of the Indo-European branch. Dialects: northern (kurmanji, zaza) and southern (sorani) etc. Other languages are common: Arab, Persian, Turkish, Russian, Armenian, Azerbaijan. Written language is based on Arab alphabet, in Turkey and Syria - on Latin alphabet on the territory of the former USSR - on the base of Russian alphabet. Majority of Kurds are Moslems-sunnites (some are shiits); some belong to syncretic cults (yezids etc.).

Kurds are indigenous population of a historical district Kurdistan. (from the Persian words ?country of Kurds?, a territory in Western Asia on the territory of Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, mainly in the Kurdistan mountains). Until the beginning of the 20th century Kurds consisted of the unions of tribes that were divided into small clan groups. In the 14-18th century they were nominally dependent on Iran and the Osman empire. In Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria they were subject of national discrimination. The attempts of the authorities to deprive Kurds of their national and cultural rights caused multiple revolts in Kurdistan.

Kurd nationalism appeared in 1890-es when the Ottoman empire was falling apart. The Sevre treaty signed in 1928 that imposed the regulation and the colonial division of Turkey after the WWI promised them independence. Three years later the leader of the Turkish Republic Mustafa Kemal Ataturk broke this agreement.

Some Kurd revolts were suppressed by the Turkish army in 1920-1930-ies, since then there was no armed struggle of Kurds till 1984 when the Kurd labor party took to the arms under the leadership of Abudllah Ojalan. At that time in Turkey Kurds were not recognized as a nation and were forbidden to speak their language in public places; in 1991 this prohibition was abolished, but education, printing and radio broadcasting in Kurd language was still banned. More than 29 thousand people (estimation data) were killed during the conflict in the South-Eastern Turkey.

In the beginning of the 20th century in Azerbaijan there was formed an independent administrative unit Kurdistan that included 4 districts, but didn?t exist for a long time - from 1923 to 1929.

In 1946 in Iran Kurds managed to form the Makhabad Republic supported by the USSR, but next year the monarch of Iran Mohammed Reza Pekhlevi destroyed the newborn state.

In 1919, 1923 and 1932 the uprisings of Kurds in the Northern Iraq were suppressed according to the British mandate received from the League of the Nations. After the WWII the Kurds of Iraq with Mustafa Barzani at the head started to act against the power of Baghdad. Their soldiers - ?peshmerga? ( ?those who face death?) - continued the struggle after the Iraq monarchy was defeated in 1958.

In 1970 they managed to force the government of Baghdad to officially recognize their language and their right for self-government in the Kurd districts, but the agreement was broken - partly because of the distribution of oil income and because the oil-producing district Kirkuk was excluded from Kurdistan.

In 1974 a war started, more than 130 thousand Iraq Kurds fled to Iran. The uprising was defeated in 1975 since Iran stopped helping Kurds for the border concessions of Iraq in the strait Shatt-al-Arab.

The war of 1980-88 between Iran and Iraq gave Kurds one more chance to use religious conflicts to achieve their interests. The revolution in Iran enabled them to make a zone inaccessible for the government army, but they couldn?t keep it for a long time.

The Kurd problem again became a subject of the newspaper titles in March 1988, when 5000 Iraq Kurds were killed during the gas attack performed by the government army against the Khalabja town. The government of the other countries didn't react to this incident and didn?t show their will to help Kurds.

After the war in the Gulf of Persia of 1991 the Northern Iraq became independent of Baghdad, now the American military base in Turkey defends the Kurd region. Washington considers it to be an important counterweight to the president of Iraq Saddam Khusein.

Two competing parts of Iraq Kurds, one of which is headed by the son of Mystafa Barzani Masud have signed a peaceful agreement in autumn of 1998. After many years of struggle between the two groups the agreement was signed through the mediation of the USA and includes the election of the parliament and the forming of the district government. This agreement didn?t let them form a separate state, Baghdad and Ankara are against it.

Traditional occupations prevail: semi-nomadic cattle-breeding (big and small cattle), agriculture (cereals, horticulture, tobacco).

Traditional summer dwelling of the nomads - a tent made of several rows of poles covered with a fabric cloth. The winter dwelling in the mountainous districts of Kurdistan (and of the Kurds from the Transcaucasia) were the earthen houses with an earthen dome-shaped or flat roof with a light and smoke outlet in the center. The beams of the roof rest on the pillars. The dwellings of the farmers at the foothills and in the valleys have one or two floors, are made of wattle and daub or stone, are rectangular in shape, have a flat roof. The household rooms are next to the living rooms, often they have a common entrance.

Traditional costume of men has several versions. The common elements are the wide woolen trousers, coarse calico shirt with a front cut and long sleeves and pieces of fabric (fakiana) sewn to it, a belt (peshten), woolen vest, in the cold time - a woolen jacket or a long felt cloak, a head gear (kolav) covered with a big kerchief, usually with tassels. Footwear (klash) is put over the woolen knitted socks. Traditional female costume - trousers, a long shirt, a dress-shirt with fakiana, a vest, a peshten; the Kurds of Turkey, North-Western Iran, Syria and Transcaucasia wear skirts and aprons.

Meat and dairy products prevail. In the agricultural districts there are dishes made of wheat, rice, hot vegetable spices made of gumbo in Iraq and Syria and of edible plants in the mountains.

Folklore - songs, dances, including group dances with leaders etc. They make carpets, woolen things, metal dishes, chisel metal and carve wood.