Who are the Kurds and where are they? Who are the Kurds and where did they come from? Modern Kurds. In Russia and CIS countries

Few people today know who the Kurds are and where they live? But it refers to the Kurds a large number of of people. Kurdistan is the southwestern territory of the Asian mainland, which is inhabited by Kurds in an absolute or relative majority. Kurdistan is not a state-political, but an ethnographic name, since it is located on the territory of four states:

Today the Kurds number different estimates, from 20 to over 30 million people. 14-15 million Kurds live in Turkey, about 4.8-6.6 million in Iran, about 4-6 million in Iraq and about 1-2 million in Syria. Almost 2 million Kurds are scattered throughout the countries of Europe and America, where they have created powerful and organized communities. In countries former USSR There are 200-400 thousand Kurds, mainly in Azerbaijan and Armenia.

The Kurds are an Iranian-speaking people living in the territories of Turkey, Iran, Syria, Iraq, and also partially in Transcaucasia. The Kurdish people speak two dialects - Kurmanji and Sorani.
The Kurds are one of the most ancient peoples of the Middle East. Ancient Egyptian, Sumerian, Assyro-Babylonian, Hittite, and Urartian sources began to report quite early on the ancestors of the Kurds. Famous orientalist doctor historical sciences M. S. Lazarev wrote that “it is very difficult to find a people who would live on their national territory for such a long time...”. From the point of view of N. Ya. Marr, “the Kurds retain elements ancient culture Near East because they are descendants of the autochthonous population...” - wrote 0. Vilchevsky (1-70). Scientists - academicians N. Ya. Marr, I. M. Dyakonov, V. F. Minorsky, G. A. Melikishvili, I. Chopin, P. Lerch, Professor Egon von Elktedt, Amin Zaki, Gurdal Aksoy and others among the ancestors Kurds are called the ancient tribes of the Kutians, Lullubeys, Hurrians, Kassites, Mads (Medians), Kardukhs, Urartians, Chaldians, Mars, Kirtiev and other inhabitants of the gray Middle East. The Kurds, as the descendants of these tribes, have their roots in the distant historical past

The Kurds are the largest people without their own state. Kurdish autonomy exists only in Iraq (Kurdish Regional Government of Iraq).

These people have been fighting for the creation of Kurdistan for more than twenty years. It is worth noting that all world powers are playing the Kurdish card. For example, Israel and the United States, which are allies of Turkey, encourage its fight against the Kurdish movement. Russia, Greece and Syria support the Kurdistan Workers' Party.

This interest of other states in Kurdistan can also be explained by their interest in the rich natural resources territory inhabited by Kurds. One of the most important resources is oil.

Due to the rather advantageous geographical and strategic position of Kurdistan, foreign conquerors have paid special attention to these lands since ancient times. Therefore, from the time of the formation of the Caliph until the present day, the Kurds were forced to fight against their enslavers. It is worth noting that the Kurdish dynasties during early feudalism had significant political influence to the Middle East and ruled not only in individual principalities, but also in such large countries like Syria and Egypt.

In the 16th century, a series of ongoing wars began in Kurdistan, caused by Iran and the Ottoman Empire, who argued over the possession of its lands.

According to the Treaty of Zohab (1639), which was the result of these wars, Kurdistan was divided into two parts - Turkish and Iranian. Subsequently, this event played a fatal role in the fate of the peoples of Kurdistan.

The Ottoman and Iranian governments gradually weakened and then eliminated the Kurdish principalities in order to enslave Kurdistan economically and politically. This led to increased feudal fragmentation countries.

Government Ottoman Empire pulled the Kurds against their will into the first world war, which subsequently led to the devastation of the region and its division into four parts: Turkish, Iranian, Iraqi and Syrian.

Origin of the Kurds

The origin of the Kurds is currently a subject of debate and controversy. According to several hypotheses, these people have:

Scythian-Median origin.

Japhetic.

Northern Mesopotamia.

Iranian plateau.

Persia.

It is obvious that many of the representatives of these areas took part in the formation of the Kurdish people.

Religion of the Kurds

There are several religions in Kurdistan. The bulk of the Kurdish population (75%) professes Sunni Islam; there are also Alawite and Shiite Muslims. A small proportion of the population professes Christianity. In addition, 2 million are committed to the pre-Islamic religion of “Yezidism” who call themselves Yezidis. However, despite their religion, every Kurd considers Zoroastrianism to be their original religion.

When talking about the Yazidis, you should always remember:

YAZIDS are one of the ancient peoples of Mesopotamia, they speak the Kurmanji dialect of the Kurdish language - the culture is identical to Kurdish, the religion is Yezidism.

A Yazidi is born from a Yazidi Kurdish father, and the mother can be any decent woman.

YESIDISM is professed not only by Yezidi Kurds, but also by other representatives of the Kurdish people.

Yazidis are ethnic Kurds who profess the ancient Kurdish religion of Yezidism.

Sunnism is the dominant branch of Islam. Who are Sunni Kurds? Their religion is based on the “Sunnah,” which is a set of rules and principles that were based on the example of the life of the Prophet Muhammad.

The Kurdish people are the largest in number and have the status of a “national minority”. The number of Kurds in the world does not have accurate data. Depending on the sources, these figures vary greatly: from 13 to 40 million people.

Representatives of this nationality live in Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Iran, Russia, Turkmenistan, Germany, France, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, Britain, Austria and many other countries of the world.

Kurds in Turkey today

Currently, there are about 1.5 million Kurds living in Turkey who speak Kurdish.

In 1984, the Kurdistan Workers' Party entered into a war (which continues to this day) with the official authorities of Turkey. Kurds in Turkey today demand the proclamation of a single and independent state - Kurdistan, which will unite all territories inhabited by Kurds.

Today, the Kurdish issue is one of the key issues in discussions of the future path of Turkey’s European integration. Europe's demands to provide the Kurdish people with autonomy and rights that meet European standards have so far remained unrealized. These circumstances largely explain the reason why the Turks do not like the Kurds.

Traditions and customs of the Kurds

Due to the fact that the Kurds do not have their own official state or a certain political status in the world, not many people know who the Kurds are. The history and culture of this people, meanwhile, is distinguished by its richness and versatility.

With the girl's consent, the groom can kidnap her. If this happens against the will of the parents, he has to take her to the sheikh’s house, and, if the relatives overtake the fugitives, they can kill them. If the young couple manage to take refuge in the sheikh’s house, the latter gives the bride’s parents a ransom, and the parties are reconciled.

A Kurdish woman has the right to choose the man she loves as her husband. As a rule, the choice of the daughter and parents coincides, however, otherwise, the father or brother can forcibly marry the girl to the person whom they consider a worthy candidate for husband. At the same time, the girl’s refusal to this candidate is considered a terrible shame. Divorcing your wife is also considered a shame, and such cases are extremely rare.

A Kurdish wedding can last up to seven days, and its duration depends on financial situation owners. This is very reminiscent of Turkish wedding traditions.

If the groom's relatives live far from the bride's relatives, then two weddings are held, and in cases where the newlyweds live a short distance from each other, they celebrate one big wedding.

Kurdish wedding celebrations are lavish and expensive, so the son’s parents save money for the wedding for a long time. However, the expenses are covered by gifts from guests, which, as a rule, are sheep or money.

Treats for weddings or other holidays consist of rice and meat. Men and women celebrate holidays separately in separate tents.

Blood feud is still relevant among the Kurds to this day. The reasons for quarrels may be lack of water, pasture, etc. However, modern Kurds are increasingly resolving conflicts through payment. There are also known cases when a woman or girl was given as payment to an enemy, and the parties were reconciled.

Many Kurdish women and girls wear trousers, which is explained by their convenience when riding horses. Gold and silver coins serve as jewelry for women.

IN marital relations Kurds are monogamous, with the exception of beys, who may remarry in order to strengthen family ties.

These people are also distinguished by their respectful attitude towards representatives of other religions; regardless of what faith the Kurds have, they can participate in religious ceremonies of other faiths.

Kurds are also distinguished by their friendliness towards other nationalities, but do not tolerate situations related to the oppression of their languages, customs and practices.

Kurdish struggle for independence

The first attempt to create an independent Kurdish state was made in the 1840s by Badrkhan Beg, the emir of the Bokhtan region (with its capital Jezire). In the year he began to mint coins on his own behalf and completely ceased to recognize the power of the Sultan. However, in the summer the city of Bokhtan was occupied by Turkish troops, the emirate was liquidated, and Badrkhan Bek himself was captured and exiled (died in 1868 in Damascus).

A new attempt to create an independent Kurdistan was made by Badrkhan’s nephew Ezdanshir. He rebelled at the end of the year, taking advantage Crimean War; he soon managed to take Bitlis, followed by Mosul. After this, Ezdanshir began preparing an attack on Erzurum and Van. However, the attempt to connect with the Russians failed: all his messengers to General Muravyov were intercepted, and Ezdanshir himself was lured to a meeting with Turkish representatives, captured and sent to Istanbul (March). After this, the uprising came to naught.

The next attempt to create a Kurdish state was made by Sheikh Obaidullah in the city of Obaidullah, the supreme leader of the Naqshbandi Sufi order, who enjoyed great respect in Kurdistan, both due to his position and personal qualities, convened a congress of Kurdish leaders at his Nehri residence in July 1880, at which he put forward a plan: to create an independent state, and in order to do this, first attack Persia (as a weaker enemy), take possession of Iranian Kurdistan and Azerbaijan and, relying on the resources of these provinces, wage a fight against Turkey. The plan was accepted, and in August of that year the Kurdish invasion of Iranian Azerbaijan began. It was accompanied by an uprising of local Kurdish tribes; rebel troops approached Tabriz itself. However, Obaidullah with his main forces slowed down during the siege of Urmia, was eventually defeated and forced to return to Turkey. There he was arrested and exiled to Mecca, where he died.

At this time, the ideology of nationalism is increasingly penetrating Kurdistan from Europe; Its propaganda was carried out by the first Kurdish newspaper, “Kurdistan,” which was published by the descendants of Badrkhan in Cairo.

A new rise in the national movement in Kurdistan came after the Young Turk Revolution. The nationalist society “Renaissance and Progress of Kurdistan” arose and immediately gained popularity, the head of which was Sheikh Abdel-Kader, the son of Obeidullah, who returned from exile; then the “League of Kurdistan” arose, which aimed to create a “Kurdistan Beylik” (Kurdish principality) either as part of Turkey, or under the protectorate of Russia or England - there were disagreements in this regard. Sheikh of the Barzan tribe Abdel-Salam, who raised a series of uprisings in 1909-1914, and especially Molla Selim, who became the leader of the uprising in Bitlis in March 1914, was associated with her.

As for Turkish Kurdistan, the Kurds, who were afraid of falling under the rule of Armenians and Western powers, succumbed to the agitation of Mustafa Kemal, who promised them complete autonomy in a joint Kurdish-Turkish Muslim state, and supported him during the Greco-Turkish war. As a result, the Lausanne Peace Treaty was concluded in 1923, in which the Kurds were not mentioned at all. This agreement determined modern borders between Iraq, Syria and Turkey, cutting into former Ottoman Kurdistan.

After this, the Kemalist government began to pursue a policy of “Turkization” of the Kurds. The answer was an uprising launched in early 1925 by Sheikh Said Piran. The rebels captured the city of Gench, which Sheikh Said proclaimed as the temporary capital of Kurdistan; further he intended to capture Diyarbakir and proclaim an independent Kurdish state in it. However, the assault on Diyarbakir was repulsed; After that, the rebels were defeated near Gench, the leaders of the uprising (including Sheikh Abdul-Kadir, son of Obaidullah) were captured and hanged.

A new uprising of Turkish Kurds began in a city in the Ararat Mountains. It was organized by the Khoibun (Independence) society; the rebels tried to form regular army under the command former colonel Turkish army of Ihsan Nuri Pasha; A civil administration was also created under the leadership of Ibrahim Pasha. The uprising was suppressed in the city. The last mass movement of Turkish Kurds was the movement of the Zaza Kurds (a tribe that speaks a special dialect, professes Alawism and hates Muslims) in Dersim. Until the city of Dersim, it enjoyed actual autonomy. The transformation of this area into the Tunceli vilayet with a special regime of administration caused an uprising under the leadership of the Dersim sheikh Seyid Reza. The army corps sent against the rebels was unsuccessful. However, the corps commander, General Alpdogan, lured Seyid Reza to Erzurum for negotiations, where the Kurdish leader was arrested and soon hanged. The uprising was suppressed only in the city. As a result of the regime of military-police terror established in Turkish Kurdistan, the ban on the Kurdish language, Kurdish national clothing and the very name “Kurds” (Kemalist scholars declared the Kurds “mountain Turks”, allegedly going wild and having forgotten the original Turkish language) , as well as mass deportations of Kurds to Western and Central Anatolia, the Kurdish movement in Turkey was destroyed for many years, and Kurdish society was destructured.

Iraqi and Iranian Kurdistan became the center of the Kurdish movement at this time. In the city of Sulaymaniyah, Mahmoud Barzanji revolts again. The uprising was suppressed, but immediately after that the uprising of Sheikh Ahmed broke out in Barzan (1931-1932). In 1943-1945, a new uprising took place in Barzan under the leadership of 1975. During the uprising, Barzani managed to achieve formal recognition of the right to autonomy for the Kurds of Iraq; however, he was ultimately defeated. The defeat of the uprising provoked a split in the Iraqi Kurdish movement: the Kurdistan Democratic Party broke away whole line leftist parties, which in the summer of 1975 formed the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan under the leadership of Jalal Talabani.

At the beginning of the year, in connection with the Islamic revolution in Iran, power in Iranian Kurdistan was practically in the hands of the Kurds. However, already in March, armed clashes began between units of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan and the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution sent from Tehran. At the beginning of September, the Iranians launched a massive offensive, accompanied by mass executions of residents of captured villages starting from 12-13 years old. As a result, government forces managed to take control of the bulk of Iranian Kurdistan.

Iranian and Iraqi Kurds during the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988, when the former enjoyed the support of Baghdad, and the latter - Tehran; On this basis, armed clashes took place between groups of Iraqi and Iranian rebels.

In March of this year, as a result of the defeat of Iraqi troops, a new uprising broke out in Iraqi Kurdistan. In April it was suppressed by Saddam Hussein, but then NATO forces, acting under a UN mandate, forced the Iraqis to leave part of Iraqi Kurdistan, where the so-called “Free Kurdistan” was created with a government made up of members of the KDP and PUK. The final liberation of Iraqi Kurdistan occurred after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Currently, there is a formally federal, but in fact a semi-independent state, the president of which is

At this time, the Kurdish Workers' Party emerged in Turkey, led by Abdullah Ocalan, nicknamed "Apo" ("Uncle"), which is why its adherents are called "apochists." After the military coup in the city, its members fled to Syria, where, having received help from the Syrian government, they began an armed struggle against the Turkish state under the slogan “United, democratic, independent Kurdistan.” The first armed action was carried out in the year, by the mid-90s . The PKK has already poured its army into more than a few thousand (according to its own statements, up to 20 thousand) “guerilla” (partisans) and branched political structures in the Kurdish diaspora around the world. In total, more than 35 thousand people died as a result of the fighting. In Syria, under pressure from Turkey, it refused to support the PKK and expelled Ocalan, which dealt a severe and, as it turned out, irreparable blow to the parties; Öcalan was captured by the Turks in Kenya, tried and sentenced to death penalty; He is currently in prison on the island. Imraly.

Currently, the actual center of the Kurdish national movement is Iraqi Kurdistan. There is widespread hope among Kurds that it will become the basis for a future independent and united “Greater Kurdistan.”

Kurds are a mountain people of Western Asia, Russia (in the Trans-Caspian region). The current Kurds are considered to be the descendants of the former inhabitants of Kurdistan, who were called Kardukhs by Xenophon, and later - Cordiians, Gordians, Gordians. Rawlinson brings the Kardukhs closer to the mountain warlike people Gutu, mentioned in early wedge-shaped inscriptions along with the Hittites (Hittites), Susians, Elymians and Babylonian Akkadians and who behaved quite independently of Assyrian power. After the fall of Nineveh, the Gutus gradually merged with the Medes and, in general, with the peoples living in the plateaus of Asia Minor and Persia, and shared their further fate.

When Persia was conquered by the Arabs, the Kurds did not show obedience to the caliphs, they constantly disturbed them; information about campaigns in Kurdistan to pacify its violent inhabitants is often found in Arab history. In the 12th century, the Kurd Saladin founded the famous Eyubid dynasty in Syria; Kurdistan was also part of his empire. In 1258 the country came under the rule of Hulagu Khan, and in 1388 it was finally conquered by Timur. The collector of Iranian land, Shah Ismail-Sefi (1499-1523), included Kurdistan in his possessions.

In the 17th century the Kurds became agitated, and a significant part of them became Turkish citizens. In 1880, an attempt was discovered on the part of the Kurds to found their own state. The initiative came from the Persian Kurds of the northwestern part of the province, the governor of which brought the Kurds under his control to an uprising. The rebels, under the leadership of Obeydullah Khan, called on the Turkish tribesmen to revolt, but the rebellion, or, more correctly, the war, ended in nothing, due to the lack of a solid organization among the Kurds.

The Kurds are divided into many ethnographic groups. In the mountainous region of Kurdistan live the Asirets and Gurans. The former have rough, angular facial features, blue or grey eyes, deeply lying and penetrating, firm and strong gait; The Gurans have more delicate and more regular facial features, more reminiscent of the Greek type. This difference is explained not by a difference in origin, but by a different way of life: some are nomads and pastoralists, while others are settled farmers.

Nomads have a tribal way of life; the elders of clans and unions receive power hereditarily. Kurds are proud of their noble ancestors and remember their ancestry, but one must think that there are many fakes in Kurdish genealogies. The Kurds fight with their neighbors and among themselves, caused, for example, by revenge for the blood of a relative.

Kurds are brave, freedom-loving, hospitable, temperate and respectful given word, which is sharply different from the deceitful Persians. A Kurdish woman enjoys such freedom as no other people in the East: she usually does not wear a veil on her face, leaves the house freely, can talk with men and even have male servants.

Girls, as a rule, are given in marriage between the tenth and twelfth year of life, and the groom pays the fee. Polygamy among the Asiretes is practiced only among nobles and rich people, and among the Gurans it is not practiced at all. Cases of mistreatment of women are rare.

The national clothing of the Kurds is white trousers, an embroidered jacket with short sleeves, a wide caftan and a cloak. Either a Turkish turban or a high conical felt hat with a tassel is put on the head. Kurds do not wear long hair; young Kurds do not wear beards, but only mustaches. Traditional food is kufta (meat dumplings with milk, pepper and onion), pilaf or pilaf (lamb with boiled rice), rye flatbread, cheese, milk, honey, coffee.

Kurds love music and dancing. The national dance is “chopi”: a round dance with stomping, lively body movements and a wild scream, to the sounds of a flute and drum. There are many songs; they are composed of couplets, which alternate in choruses.

The Kurdish language (“Kermanji”) is Aryan; its grammar and general structure coincide with Persian, which is why it is classified as an Iranian branch. More than a third of the vocabulary material of the Kurdish language is New Persian, Arabic and Turkic; further, there is large stock Aramaic, Greek, Armenian and even Russian words (mainly on the borders), and only the remainder of the lexical stock belongs to the dialect that was in the country before Islam, before the invasion of New Persian and New Turkic elements - some kind of folk dialect of the Old Persian language.

Aramaic and Greek words passed through Arabic and Persian media. Part of the Turanian element, perhaps, has been present in the language since Babylonian times; of those related here, perhaps, only the later words are New Turkic.

Of the many Kurdish dialects, some are purer from the foreign influx. Kurdish speech sounds rough, but has less guttural and sibilant sounds than other Asian languages. The consonants are the same as in the Persian language, but there are many more vowels and double-vowels, so the Persian alphabet has difficulty conveying them (for example, ae, ee, oo, ay, eeu).

Kurdish literature is not extensive: more educated Kurds tend to be content with Persian and literature.

By religion, Kurds are Sunnis. They do not have Islamic fanaticism, religious knowledge is weak: five times “tevhid” (confession of God’s unity), bows and genuflections are all their worship.

In the remote corners of Deirsim in the north and Zagrosh in the south live semi-pagans (Ali-Ollahi, Ali-Ilahi, Kyzylbashi). They recognize themselves as Shiites, but differ from others in their special mysterious rituals, expressing the idea that there should always be a visible incarnation of the Divine on earth. Such incarnations of God were: Moses, David, Jesus, Aliy, various Shiite imams and saints; and now in every community there are living people who are considered to be divine incarnations and to whom sacrifices are made, even if they have not led an ascetic life. Similar beliefs exist among the Ismailis.

Everyone has heard about this “nation without a state.” However, few people really understand this people, who find themselves on the territory of four countries at once (Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria).

The Kurds are the largest stateless people who are scattered across at least four Middle Eastern countries (Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria) and have a large European diaspora.

They will certainly have something to say about the massive reshaping of the region that the Arab uprisings could entail.

All this is a great opportunity to reflect on who the Kurds are today and what they want, with Sandrine Alexie of the Kurdish Institute in Paris. This translator and writer has been blogging about the Kurdish world since 2000.

We don't know how many Kurds there are

Right. Estimates range from 20 to 40 million. None of the countries where Kurds live has ever conducted an ethnic census. The vagueness on this issue completely suits all governments.

The most plausible estimates are 15 million in Turkey and 7-8 million in Iran. The authorities of these states avoid the census to avoid increasing ethnic isolation. There are about 1-2 million of them in Syria, and 800,000 of them are stateless and doomed to an illegal existence.

In Iraq, the Kurdistan Regional Government puts the official figure at 5.3 million, while the Iranian authorities say 4.3 million, as this allows them to reduce the amount of funds allocated to the Kurdish provinces.

If we take into account other Kurdish regions besides Kurdistan, the total number of Kurds in Iraq can be estimated at approximately 6-6.5 million people.

Finally, let's look at the Council of Europe's figures for the Kurdish diaspora: 800,000 in Germany (mostly from Syria and Turkey), 100,000 in Sweden (from Iran and Iraq), 90,000 in the UK (from Iraq) and 120,000 - 150,000 in France (mostly from Turkey). However, these estimates can hardly be called accurate due to large number illegal immigrants in the diaspora. It is also impossible to count the number of Kurds in the territory of the former USSR. There are about 130,000 of them in Israel.

Thus, the figure of 35 million Kurds in the world does not seem so unrealistic.

There really is no “Kurdish people”

Wrong. Members of tribes and families may live on the territory of several states at once, while some political parties enjoy influence beyond national borders.

Thus, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, has a branch in each country: in Syria (Democratic Union), Iran (Party free life Kurdistan) and Iraq. In addition, Kurdish parties in Syria often sympathized with one of the two main Iraqi parties: Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party and Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

The Kurds have two distinct main dialects, the speakers of which nevertheless understand each other: Kurmanji is spoken in Syria, Turkey, northern Iraqi Kurdistan and all countries of the former USSR, while Sorani is spoken in Iran and Iraq . Another common one in Turkish Kurdistan related language, a Zazaki language primarily spoken in Tunceli Province.

Sandrine Alexie's explanation:

“Considering everything that they had to endure since the end of the First World War (the policy of assimilation or even genocide in Iraq, the ban on learning the language, etc.), if the Kurds were not a people, they would have disappeared long ago, and there would be no There would have been no trace of the “Kurdish issue.” The oppression only strengthened the national feelings of the Kurds.”

Kurds include Muslims, Christians and Jews

Right. The vast majority of Kurds (70%) profess Sunni Islam.

A small group of Shia Kurds living in Iraq were killed or deported by Saddam Hussein in 1987-1988. Some of the Shia Kurds who fled Iraq are now living in refugee camps in Iran. After the overthrow of the Baath Party, they gradually begin to return to the country, but they number a maximum of 20,000 people.

In addition, a Shia Kurdish community lives in southern Iran. It should also be noted that Sufi-Shiite syncretism enjoys noticeable influence among the Kurds (Alevis in Turkey, Yezidis in northern Iraq, Shabaki in Mosul and Ahl-e Aqq in Iran).

Christians of Kurdistan are divided into Catholics and representatives of autocephalous churches: Chaldeans, Assyrians, Jacobite Syrians. They all speak Aramaic languages.

Since 1967, many of these Christians have taken part in the Kurdish uprisings as they face eviction, the destruction of their villages and forced Arabization, which has now morphed into Islamization.

There are currently more than 100,000 Christian Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan. They are also not recognized as a religious or ethnic minority in Turkey, where they were forced to flee the Kurdish regions during the war in the 1990s (they have repeatedly found themselves between a rock and a hard place in battles between the Kurds and the government).

In Syria, their relations with Muslim Kurds are rather positive, and Christians in Kurdish cities support Kurdish movements and are not persecuted, unlike what happens in the rest of the country.

From 1949-1950, all Jewish Kurds moved to Israel, Australia or the USA.

Iraq does not maintain diplomatic ties with Israel, but in 2006, Kurdistan Democratic Party leader Barzani supported the opening of an Israeli consulate in Erbil. Now the Jewish Kurds can see their native village only with different passports. There is no observed any hostility towards them from Muslim Kurds.

Mustafa Barzani (father of the current party leader) maintained excellent relations with Israel back in the 1960s, and the Kurds have never hidden this. The Barzani tribe had close ties to the Jews of Acre, which included former Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai. Among Israeli citizens there are also many people named Barzani.

Kurdistan never existed

True and false. Kurdistan (a banned word in Turkey) never had the status of a nation state in the 20th century, but there were independent or semi-independent Kurdish principalities in the Middle Ages.

In 1150, the Persian Sultan Sanjar, a Seljuk Turk by origin, created a province called Kurdistan. In parallel with this, Ottoman Kurdistan arose, the outlines of which changed along with the Turkish-Persian border.

“As the state Ottoman archives testify, among the titles of the Ottoman sultans was the “padishah of Kurdistan.” However, the Turkish authorities do not want to remember this,” says Sandrine Alexi.

Since then, the province of Kurdistan has invariably existed on the territory of Persia, and then modern Iran.

At the end of the First World War, new borders scattered the Kurds across four states. The first maps of Kurdistan were drawn up in 1919 by a representative of the Kurds at the proposal of the League of Nations (Articles 62 and 64 of the Treaty of Sevres signed in 1920 provided for the creation of an autonomous or even independent Kurdistan and an independent Armenia). In these documents, the territory of Kurdistan resembled the shape of a huge camel touching the sea with its head and was equal in area to France.

Kurds want their own state

Right. Most Kurds strive for independence. They emphasize that they meet all the necessary criteria for this (territorial continuity, language, culture, history), and that they have every right to do so.

But they understand that such a demand is tantamount to political suicide. This could push the Americans to abandon the Kurds in Iraq to their fate. At first after its formation, that is, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Kurdistan Workers' Party sought independence, but subsequently abandoned this demand.

In addition, since the 1960s, another solution has emerged, from which it follows that each of the four parts of Kurdistan must achieve autonomy for itself in order to subsequently form something like the Benelux, that is, an entity with thinner borders.

This idea was first discussed in 1963 by a journalist from The New York Times Dana Adams Schmidt, who spent 46 days in the mountains with Mustafa Barzani and wrote the story "A Journey Among brave people"(Journey Among Brave Men).

Today, this union project is once again coming to the fore and even boasts a certain consensus. What has been happening in Iraqi Kurdistan since 2003 has given Kurds from other countries confidence.

This is especially noticeable in Turkey, where since 2009 the Union of Kurdistan Communities, taking the model of Iranian Kurdistan as a basis, regularly carries out political initiatives towards autonomy and self-determination, which in particular explains the strengthening of repressive measures by the Turkish state (arrests, trials, bans and etc.).

The Kurds cannot agree among themselves

Right. They are very independent and have never lived under a centralized Kurdish government.

The Kurds are a mountainous and historically nomadic people, which in no way predisposes them to unification. Moreover, its current organization is still largely tribal in nature, with conflicts occurring among tribal leaders.

“The Kurds do not have the cult of the great dictator, and they are more like the Gascons. Every Kurd is a king on his own mountain. That’s why they quarrel with each other, conflicts arise often and easily,” explains Sandrine Alexy.

From 1992 to 1996, the Kurds fought a civil war in northern Iraq. The largest regional powers took turns supporting one side or the other. In 2003, the warring brothers united again. However, the war nearly ended dreams of independence and remains a painful memory for the Kurds.

It's hardest for the Kurds in Turkey

Wrong. Despite prosecution, arrests and prison sentences, life is still easier for Kurds in Turkey now than it was in the 1980s and 1990s (deportations, burned villages, mass torture, disappearances of military personnel, operations of the Turkish Hezbollah) before the arrival of power of the conservative-Islamist Justice and Development Party.

In Iran, the situation of the Kurds is noticeably worse: the ban on all minority languages (including Arabic), newspapers in the Kurdish language, cultural and human rights organizations, women's associations and Kurdish trade unions, persecution, repression and suppression of all sprouts of civil society.

Activists of the Kurdistan Free Life Party, who are believed to receive support from the CIA, are detained, tortured, and sent to prison. Death sentences are also common, since Kurds from this party sometimes call themselves atheists or even Marxists (the political line of this movement and the PKK is quite difficult to trace, but it is anti-Islamic in nature).

There are also Sunni Kurds in the country, who are also disliked in Tehran. Iranian revolutionary courts can (and often do) declare them “enemies of Allah,” which is tantamount to the death penalty.

The war in Syria opens up opportunities for the Kurds

Right. Either democracy will be established in the country, and the Kurds will at least be able to achieve greater autonomy, as well as constitutional recognition of their people and language. Or chaos will reign there with the formation of various zones of influence, and they will also be able to benefit for themselves by trying to reproduce what happened in Iraq in 1992 (autonomy), when Saddam Hussein retreated from the northern part of the country.

In this case, they will strive to prevent the return of Arab soldiers to the zones that Bashar al-Assad left them. By the way, the Free Syrian Army will not be allowed there either, as they fear the influence of the Islamists fighting alongside it (clashes between FSA units and Kurdish militias have already begun).

The Democratic Union's strategy probably looks like this: Let the Syrian Sunnis fight the Shiites while we defend our minorities, population and territory.

“However, we cannot exclude the possibility civil war between the Kurds of the Democratic Union and the new revolutionary coalition,” notes Sandrine Alexy. The fact that the Syrian Peshmerga (volunteers who deserted the Syrian army and found refuge in Iraqi Kurdistan) have not gained strength in northern Syria is likely explained by a desire to avoid intra-Kurdish clashes.

Modern researchers of nation-forming processes and the very phenomenon of national identity insist that the most important factor in the formation of any nation is the formation of its own state, through which it will be able to express its fundamental interests and life priorities. That is why the movements of the Basques, Catalans and some other minorities have survived so long in Western Europe. However, the most numerous people, who are obviously ready to form themselves as a nation, but still do not have their own state, are the Kurds. This nationality has more representatives than many European nations. According to various estimates, the Kurds are from thirty to forty million people living in different countries of our planet.

Who are the Kurds?

This nationality is a combination of a number of tribal groups of Turkic origin. Their homeland and the densest area of modern settlement is the territory in the very east of Asia Minor. Modern Kurdistan (as this region is called) is divided between several states: Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. Naturally, the vast majority of representatives of this people profess Sunni Islam. Although there are also Christians: Catholics and even Orthodox Kurds. also widespread in other countries of the Middle East, as well as in Europe and the CIS.

Origin of the Kurds

This people is one of the most ancient in Asia. Its origin is today a highly controversial issue. Thus, there are opinions that the Kurds are the heirs of the Scythians. Other scientists trace their ancestry to the Curtian tribes that inhabited Persia and Mesopotamia in ancient times. Genetic research haplogroups indicate the kinship of modern Kurds with the peoples of the Caucasus: Azerbaijanis, Georgians and Armenians, as well as Jews.

Kurdish issue in Turkey

Actually, it consists in the discrepancy between such a significant number of people and their actual status as a national minority in several eastern states. Thus, the Kurds, whose nationality was long denied by the Turkish government, were subjected to cultural oppression until the 2000s. For many years he was banned from local media. The situation is also aggravated by the fact that the Kurds in Turkey for the most part are at a fairly low stage social development compared to the Turks themselves. Moreover, according to some expert estimates, their number reaches 20% of the country's population. An intensive growth of national consciousness took place here after. Throughout the 20th century, a weak, unorganized struggle was waged in Kurdistan. It was able to take serious shape only under the influence of Marxist ideology already in the late 1970s - the first half of the 1980s. Under the influence of separatist Kurdish paramilitary organizations and under pressure from European states insisting on democratization of Turkey, the local government was forced to make concessions in the 2000s. Prohibitions on the use of their language and expression of culture are being relaxed. For some time now, regular television channels have appeared in the Kurdish language, and national schools have been opened.

The Kurdish issue in other countries of the Middle East

Kurds in Iraq, as in Turkey, live in compact groups in certain territories. For a long time they fought for their identity with local monarchy, and later with the regime of Saddam Hussein. In the early 1990s, the Kuwait War almost helped them create their own independent state. However, the separatists' attempt failed. In the 2000s, it received very broad autonomy within the state. live in the northern regions of the country, making up 9% of the population. The cultural situation of these people here is still worse than in Iraq and Turkey, since the use of the Kurdish language, names, private schools, books and other printed matter is still prohibited in Syria. At the same time, there are local paramilitary organizations that are trying to create autonomy.

- about 1-2 million. Almost 2 million Kurds are scattered throughout the countries of Europe and America, where they have created powerful and organized communities. There are 200-400 thousand Kurds in the countries of the former USSR, mainly in Azerbaijan and Armenia.

The Kurds are an Iranian-speaking people living in the territories of Turkey, Iran, Syria, Iraq, and also partially in Transcaucasia. The Kurdish people speak two dialects - Kurmanji and Sorani.
The Kurds are one of the most ancient peoples of the Middle East. Ancient Egyptian, Sumerian, Assyro-Babylonian, Hittite, and Urartian sources began to report quite early on the ancestors of the Kurds. The famous orientalist Doctor of Historical Sciences M. S. Lazarev wrote that “it is very difficult to find a people who would live for so long on their national territory...”. From the point of view of N. Ya. Marr, “the Kurds preserve elements of the ancient culture of the Near East because they are the descendants of an autochthonous population...” wrote 0. Vilchevsky (1-70). Scientists - academicians N. Ya. Marr, I. M. Dyakonov, V. F. Minorsky, G. A. Melikishvili, I. Chopin, P. Lerch, Professor Egon von Elktedt, Amin Zaki, Gurdal Aksoy and others among the ancestors Kurds are called the ancient tribes of the Kutians, Lullubeys, Hurrians, Kassites, Mads (Medians), Kardukhs, Urartians, Chaldians, Mars, Kirtiev and other inhabitants of the gray Middle East. The Kurds, as the descendants of these tribes, have their roots in the distant historical past

The Kurds are the largest people without their own state. Kurdish autonomy exists only in Iraq (Kurdish Regional Government of Iraq).

This interest of other states in Kurdistan can also be explained by their interest in the rich natural resources of the territory inhabited by Kurds. One of the most important resources is oil.

Due to the rather advantageous geographical and strategic position of Kurdistan, foreign conquerors have paid special attention to these lands since ancient times. Therefore, from the time of the formation of the Caliph until the present day, the Kurds were forced to fight against their enslavers. It is worth noting that the Kurdish dynasties during early feudalism had significant political influence in the Middle East and ruled not only in individual principalities, but also in such large countries as Syria and Egypt.

In the 16th century, a series of ongoing wars began in Kurdistan, caused by Iran and the Ottoman Empire, who argued over the possession of its lands.

The government of the Ottoman Empire dragged the Kurds against their will into the First World War, which subsequently led to the devastation of the region and its division into four parts: Turkish, Iranian, Iraqi and Syrian.

Origin of the Kurds

The origin of the Kurds is currently a subject of debate and controversy. According to several hypotheses, these people have:

Scythian-Median origin.

Japhetic.

Northern Mesopotamia.

Iranian plateau.

Persia.

It is obvious that many of the representatives of these areas took part in the formation of the Kurdish people.

Religion of the Kurds

When talking about the Yazidis, you should always remember:

YAZIDS are one of the ancient peoples of Mesopotamia, they speak the Kurmanji dialect of the Kurdish language - the culture is identical to Kurdish, the religion is Yezidism.

A Yazidi is born from a Yazidi Kurdish father, and the mother can be any decent woman.

YESIDISM is professed not only by Yezidi Kurds, but also by other representatives of the Kurdish people.

Yazidis are ethnic Kurds who profess the ancient Kurdish religion of Yezidism.

Representatives of this nationality live in Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Iran, Russia, Turkmenistan, Germany, France, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, Britain, Austria and many other countries of the world.

Kurds in Turkey today

Currently, there are about 1.5 million Kurds living in Turkey who speak Kurdish.

Traditions and customs of the Kurds

With the girl's consent, the groom can kidnap her. If this happens against the will of the parents, he has to take her to the sheikh’s house, and, if the relatives overtake the fugitives, they can kill them. If the young couple manage to take refuge in the sheikh’s house, the latter gives the bride’s parents a ransom, and the parties are reconciled.

A Kurdish woman has the right to choose the man she loves as her husband. As a rule, the choice of the daughter and parents coincides, however, otherwise, the father or brother can forcibly marry the girl to the person whom they consider a worthy candidate for husband. At the same time, the girl’s refusal to this candidate is considered a terrible shame. Divorcing your wife is also considered a shame, and such cases are extremely rare.

A Kurdish wedding can last up to seven days, and its duration depends on the financial situation of the hosts. This is very reminiscent of Turkish wedding traditions.

If the groom's relatives live far from the bride's relatives, then two weddings are held, and in cases where the newlyweds live a short distance from each other, they celebrate one big wedding.

Kurdish wedding celebrations are lavish and expensive, so the son’s parents save money for the wedding for a long time. However, the expenses are covered by gifts from guests, which, as a rule, are sheep or money.

Treats for weddings or other holidays consist of rice and meat. Men and women celebrate holidays separately in separate tents.

Blood feud is still relevant among the Kurds to this day. The reasons for quarrels may be lack of water, pasture, etc. However, modern Kurds are increasingly resolving conflicts through payment. There are also known cases when a woman or girl was given as payment to an enemy, and the parties were reconciled.

Many Kurdish women and girls wear trousers, which is explained by their convenience when riding horses. Gold and silver coins serve as jewelry for women.

In marital relations, Kurds are monogamous, with the exception of beys, who can remarry in order to strengthen family ties.

These people are also distinguished by their respectful attitude towards representatives of other religions; regardless of what faith the Kurds have, they can participate in religious ceremonies of other faiths.

Kurds are also distinguished by their friendliness towards other nationalities, but do not tolerate situations related to the oppression of their languages, customs and practices.

Kurdish struggle for independence

A new attempt to create an independent Kurdistan was made by Badrkhan’s nephew Ezdanshir. He rebelled at the end of the year, taking advantage of the Crimean War; he soon managed to take Bitlis, followed by Mosul. After this, Ezdanshir began preparing an attack on Erzurum and Van. However, the attempt to connect with the Russians failed: all his messengers to General Muravyov were intercepted, and Ezdanshir himself was lured to a meeting with Turkish representatives, captured and sent to Istanbul (March). After this, the uprising came to naught.

The next attempt to create a Kurdish state was made by Sheikh Obeidullah in the city of Obeidullah, the supreme leader of the Naqshbandi Sufi order, who enjoyed great respect in Kurdistan both for his position and for his personal qualities, convened a congress of Kurdish leaders in July 1880 at his Nehri residence, at which he put forward a plan: to create an independent state, and in order to do this, first attack Persia (as a weaker enemy), take possession of Iranian Kurdistan and Azerbaijan and, relying on the resources of these provinces, wage a fight against Turkey. The plan was accepted, and in August of that year the Kurdish invasion of Iranian Azerbaijan began. It was accompanied by an uprising of local Kurdish tribes; rebel troops approached Tabriz itself. However, Obaidullah with his main forces slowed down during the siege of Urmia, was eventually defeated and forced to return to Turkey. There he was arrested and exiled to Mecca, where he died.

As for Turkish Kurdistan, the Kurds, who were afraid of falling under the rule of Armenians and Western powers, succumbed to the agitation of Mustafa Kemal, who promised them complete autonomy in a joint Kurdish-Turkish Muslim state, and supported him during the Greco-Turkish war. As a result, the Lausanne Peace Treaty was concluded in 1923, in which the Kurds were not mentioned at all. This treaty defined the modern borders between Iraq, Syria and Turkey, cutting off the former Ottoman Kurdistan.

A new uprising of Turkish Kurds began in a city in the Ararat Mountains. It was organized by the Khoibun (Independence) society; the rebels tried to form a regular army under the command of the former Turkish army colonel Ihsan Nuri Pasha; A civil administration was also created under the leadership of Ibrahim Pasha. The uprising was suppressed in the city. The last mass movement of Turkish Kurds was the movement of the Zaza Kurds (a tribe that speaks a special dialect, professes Alawism and hates Muslims) in Dersim. Until the city of Dersim, it enjoyed actual autonomy. The transformation of this area into the Tunceli vilayet with a special regime of administration caused an uprising under the leadership of the Dersim sheikh Seyid Reza. The army corps sent against the rebels was unsuccessful. However, the corps commander, General Alpdogan, lured Seyid Reza to Erzurum for negotiations, where the Kurdish leader was arrested and soon hanged. The uprising was suppressed only in the city. As a result of the regime of military-police terror established in Turkish Kurdistan, the ban on the Kurdish language, Kurdish national clothing and the very name “Kurds” (Kemalist scholars declared the Kurds “mountain Turks”, allegedly going wild and having forgotten the original Turkish language) , as well as mass deportations of Kurds to Western and Central Anatolia, the Kurdish movement in Turkey was destroyed for many years, and Kurdish society was destructured.

Iraqi and Iranian Kurdistan became the center of the Kurdish movement at this time. In the city of Sulaymaniyah, Mahmoud Barzanji revolts again. The uprising was suppressed, but immediately after that the uprising of Sheikh Ahmed broke out in Barzan (1931-1932). In 1943-1945, a new uprising took place in Barzan under the leadership of 1975. During the uprising, Barzani managed to achieve formal recognition of the right to autonomy for the Kurds of Iraq; however, he was ultimately defeated. The defeat of the uprising provoked a split in the Iraqi Kurdish movement: a number of leftist parties broke away from the Kurdistan Democratic Party, and in the summer of 1975 formed the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan under the leadership of Jalal Talabani.

Iranian and Iraqi Kurds found themselves in a tragic situation during the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988, when the former enjoyed the support of Baghdad, and the latter - Tehran; On this basis, armed clashes took place between groups of Iraqi and Iranian rebels.

At this time, the Kurdish Workers' Party emerged in Turkey, led by Abdullah Ocalan, nicknamed "Apo" ("Uncle"), which is why its adherents are called "apochists." After the military coup in the city, its members fled to Syria, where, having received help from the Syrian government, they began an armed struggle against the Turkish state under the slogan “United, democratic, independent Kurdistan.” The first armed action was carried out in the year, by the mid-90s . The PKK has already invested several thousand (according to its own statements, up to 20 thousand) “guerilla” (partisans) with an army and extensive political structures in the Kurdish diaspora around the world. In total, more than 35 thousand people died as a result of the fighting. In Syria, under pressure from Turkey, it refused to support the PKK and expelled Ocalan, which dealt a severe and, as it turned out, irreparable blow to the parties; Öcalan was captured by the Turks in Kenya, tried and sentenced to death; He is currently in prison on the island. Imraly.