query: where kurdish people from?

title: Kurdish culture

text: religions including Islam, Christianity and Judaism which have all at one point existed in the Kurdish areas. The Religion of the Kurds has been changing constantly throughout history. Kurdish culture Kurdish culture is a group of distinctive cultural traits practiced by Kurdish people. The Kurdish culture is a legacy from ancient peoples who shaped modern Kurds and their society. Kurds or Kurds are people living in western Asia in the north of the Middle East along the Zacros Mountains and the Taurus Mountains in the region that the Kurds call Greater Kurdistan. Today they are parts of north-eastern Iraq, north-west

title: Kurdish culture

text: Kurdish culture Kurdish culture is a group of distinctive cultural traits practiced by Kurdish people. The Kurdish culture is a legacy from ancient peoples who shaped modern Kurds and their society. Kurds or Kurds are people living in western Asia in the north of the Middle East along the Zacros Mountains and the Taurus Mountains in the region that the Kurds call Greater Kurdistan. Today they are parts of north-eastern Iraq, north-west of Iran and north East of Syria and southeast Turkey. In addition to these areas, the Kurds are present in a few numbers in south-western Armenia and some

title: Kurdish Canadians

text: origins in West Asia, Kurdish Canadians are legally defined as a visible minority, irrespective of their appearance. Kurdish Canadians Kurdish Canadians may refer to people born in or residing in Canada of Kurdish origin. The Kurdish community in the Canada is 11,685 based on the Canadian Census 2011, among which the Iraqi Kurds make up the largest group of Kurds in Canada, exceeding the numbers of Kurds from Turkey, Iran and Syria. In Canada, Kurdish immigration was largely the result of the Iran–Iraq War, the Gulf War and Syrian Civil War. Thus, many Iraqi Kurds immigrated to Canada due to

title: Kurdish refugees

text: major part of the 150,000-200,000 strong Kurdish Jewish community in Israel. As many as 50,000 Yazidi refugees from Iraq arrived in Syria during the Iraq War. Kurdish refugees The problem of Kurdish refugees and displaced people began since the fall of the Zand Dynasty and losing of the Autonomy in the Ottoman Empire in 1794 and increased since the end of World War 1 and the treaties which occupied Kurdish Land in the Middle East, and continues to loom today. Kurds are fleeing from Violence, oppression, persecution and terrorism. The Kurds (), are an Iranic ethnic group in Western Asia,

title: Kurdish refugees

text: Kurdish refugees The problem of Kurdish refugees and displaced people began since the fall of the Zand Dynasty and losing of the Autonomy in the Ottoman Empire in 1794 and increased since the end of World War 1 and the treaties which occupied Kurdish Land in the Middle East, and continues to loom today. Kurds are fleeing from Violence, oppression, persecution and terrorism. The Kurds (), are an Iranic ethnic group in Western Asia, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria. In Iraq, the Kurdish strive for autonomy and independence

title: Human rights of Kurdish people in Turkey

text: Human rights of Kurdish people in Turkey This article discusses the human rights situation of Kurds in Turkey. Kurds have had a long history of discrimination and massacres perpetrated against them by the Turkish government. Massacres have periodically occurred against the Kurds since the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923. Among the most significant is the Dersim rebellion where 13,160 civilians were killed by the Turkish Army and 11,818 people were taken into exile. According to McDowall, 40,000 people were killed. The Zilan massacre of 1930 was a massacre of the Kurdish residents of Turkey during the Ararat

title: Kurdish calendar

text: to cities, a process that causes people to break ties with their generations' long traditional lifestyles. In the case of Kurdistan, where the practice of "Kurdishness" is itself considered a crime under Turkish law, it is clear that the Kurdish farmer, nomad, and agriculturist who moved to major cities has not found it necessary to maintain the tradition of his ancient Kurdish calendar. The Kurdish calendar that is used today in the northern part of Kurdistan, i.e., within Turkey's borders, is a combination of non-Kurdish names of the months—taken mainly from the Babylonian calendar—and Kurdish names, or in some cases

text: Turkey, the only language of instruction in the education system is Turkish; Kurdish is not allowed as primary language in the public education system. The Kurdish population of Turkey has long sought to have Kurdish included as a language of instruction in public schools as well as a subject. An experiment at running private Kurdish-language teaching schools was closed in 2004 because of the poor economic situation of local people. There are currently a number of unrecognized private schools giving education in Kurdish. Kurdish is permitted as a subject in universities, but in reality there are only few pioneer courses.

text: rebellion, in which 5,000 to 47,000 were killed. The use of Kurdish language, dress, folklore, and names were banned and the Kurdish-inhabited areas remained under martial law until 1946. In an attempt to deny their existence, the Turkish government categorized Kurds as "Mountain Turks" until the 1980s. The words "Kurds", "Kurdistan", or "Kurdish" were officially banned by the Turkish government. Following the military coup of 1980, the Kurdish language was officially prohibited in public and private life. Many people who spoke, published, or sang in Kurdish were arrested and imprisoned. Since the lifting of the ban in 1991, the Kurdish

title: Kurdish Australians

text: Kurdish Australians Kurdish Australians refers to Australians of Kurdish origin or descent. Approximately 10,000 people in the Australia claim to be of Kurdish ancestry according to 2016 Census by Australian Bureau of Statistics. Nearly 6,200 people in Australia claim to be speaking Kurdish at home in the same Census data. In Australia, Kurdish migrants first arrived in the second half of the 1960s, mainly from Turkey. In the late 1970s families from Syria and Lebanon were also present in Australia. Since the second half of the 1980s, the majority of Kurds arriving in Australia have been from Iraq and Iran;

title: Kurdish rugs

text: of Kurdish designs are enriched by high-chroma blues, greens, saffrons as well as terracotta and burnt orange hues made richer still by the lusturous wool used. The traditional Kurdish Rug uses Kurdish symbols. It is possible to read the dreams, wishes and hopes of the rug maker from the sequence of symbols used. It is this signification and communication both individually and grouped into Kurdish rug making. Kurdish people study how meaning is constructed and understood by talking with the rug maker. Kurdish rugs Kurdish rugs () are rugs woven by the Kurdish people in the Middle East, predominantly the

text: resumption of violence towards ordinary Kurdish citizens has occurred. A statement by the Kurdish National Congress (KNK) stated: "The mobs are organizing themselves across social media, forming groups and attacking homes known to belong to Kurdish families." Meanwhile, 128 attacks on HDP offices, a pro-Kurdish rights party, have occurred throughout the country. Human rights of Kurdish people in Turkey This article discusses the human rights situation of Kurds in Turkey. Kurds have had a long history of discrimination and massacres perpetrated against them by the Turkish government. Massacres have periodically occurred against the Kurds since the establishment of the Republic

text: in Istanbul was raided by police who arrested five people and confiscated books on Kurdish language, literature, and history The European Commission concludes as of 2006 that "overall Turkey made little progress on ensuring cultural diversity and promoting respect for and protection of minorities in accordance with international standards". The European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) reports that (as of April 2010): "The public use by officials of the Kurdish language lays them open to prosecution, and public defence by individuals of Kurdish or minority interests also frequently leads to prosecutions under the Criminal Code." From the 1994 briefing

title: Kurdish Australians

text: many of them were accepted under the Humanitarian Programme. However, Kurds from Lebanon, Armenia and Georgia have also migrated to Australia. Kurdish ancestry: The majority live in SydneyandMelbourne. In Sydney, they are mainly found in the suburbs of Auburn, Lakemba, Lidcombe, Bankstown, Punchbowl and the surrounds, which are suburbs in the LGA areas of Cumberland Council and Canterbury-Bankstown Council. Kurdish Australians Kurdish Australians refers to Australians of Kurdish origin or descent. Approximately 10,000 people in the Australia claim to be of Kurdish ancestry according to 2016 Census by Australian Bureau of Statistics. Nearly 6,200 people in Australia claim to be

title: Kurdish Americans

text: Kurdish Americans Kurds in the United States refers to people born in or residing in the United States of Kurdish origin. The majority of Kurdish Americans are recent migrants from Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. Most have roots in northern Iraq or northwestern Iran. Iraqi Kurds compromise the largest proportion of Kurds living in the US. The first wave of Kurdish immigrants arrived as refugees during the 1970s as a result of the Kurdish-Iraqi wars. A second wave of Kurdish immigrants arrived in the 1990s fleeing Saddam Hussein's genocidal Anfal Campaign in northern Iraq. The most recent wave of Kurdish

title: Kurdish cinema

text: for example received the Peace Film Prize for his film at the Berlinale in Berlin for his movie "Tortoises can fly". Over the years Kurdish cinema has symbolized mainly the sufferings of the Kurdish people in the Middle East. Kurdish cinema mainly evokes the poverty and sufferings of the Kurdish people in the Middle East. Yilmaz Güney, Bahman Qubadi, Mano Khalil, Jano Rosebiani, Hisham Zaman, Sahim Omar Kalifa and "Yüksel Yavuz" are among the better known Kurdish directors. Some Kurdish Filmmakers live and work outside Kurdistan, such as Hiner Saleem. The following is a list of some better known Kurdish

title: Kurdish cuisine

text: Kurdish dance called Halperke. Kurdish people also enjoy Eid food such as chicken, rice, dolma and biryani. Kurdish cuisine Kurdish cuisine ( "Çêştî Kurdî") consists of a wide variety of foods prepared by the Kurdish people. Due to cultural similarities of Kurds and their immediate neighbours in Iran, Turkey, Iraq and Syria,and some of the food is similar to food in Albania like (Dolma). Kurdish food is typical of western Asian cuisine. The Kurdish diet includes a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. Lamb and chicken are the primary meats. Breakfast is typically flat bread, cheese, honey, sheep or cow

title: Kurdish cinema

text: directed and produced by Deeyah Khan is about Banaz Mahmod, a 20-year-old Kurdish woman from Mitcham, south London, who was killed in 2006, in a murder orchestrated by her father, uncle and cousins. It won the 2013 Emmy award for Best International Current Affairs Film. Kurdish cinema The first film of the Kurdish cinema, "Zare" was shot in Armenia and directed by Hamo Beknazarian in 1926, but only in the 2000s Kurdish cinema began to rise. The Kurdish cinema is shaped by the fate of the Kurds as people without a state. Kurdish movies talk about social grievances, oppression, torture,

title: Kurdish nationalism

text: that figures become outdated quickly. The figures below are the best recent estimates available from apparently independent sources. Kurdish nationalism Kurdish nationalism (Kurdish: "Kurdayetî", کوردایەتی) holds that the Kurdish people are deserving of a sovereign nation that would be partitioned out of areas in Turkey, northern Iraq, and Syria based on the promised nation of Kurdistan under the Treaty of Sèvres. Early Kurdish nationalism had its roots in the days of the Ottoman Empire, within which Kurds were a significant ethnic group. With the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, the Kurdish-majority territories were divided between the newly formed states of

title: Kurdish Americans

text: differences between Iraqi, Iranian, Syrian, and Turkish Kurds. However, they all celebrate the Persian New Year, Nowruz. Kurdish Americans Kurds in the United States refers to people born in or residing in the United States of Kurdish origin. The majority of Kurdish Americans are recent migrants from Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. Most have roots in northern Iraq or northwestern Iran. Iraqi Kurds compromise the largest proportion of Kurds living in the US. The first wave of Kurdish immigrants arrived as refugees during the 1970s as a result of the Kurdish-Iraqi wars. A second wave of Kurdish immigrants arrived in

title: Kurdish population

text: the figure at 10 to 15 million Kurds in Turkey. Kurds mostly live in Northern Kurdistan, in Southeastern and Eastern Anatolia. But large Kurdish populations can be found in western Turkey due to internal migration. According to Rüstem Erkan, Istanbul is the province with the largest Kurdish population in Turkey. From the 7 million Iranian Kurds, majority who are Sunni. Shia Kurds inhabit Kermanshah Province, except for those parts where people are Jaff, and Ilam Province Province; as well as some parts of Kurdistan, Hamadan and Zanjan provinces. The Kurds of Khorasan Province in northeastern Iran are also adherents of

title: Kurdish Canadians

text: Kurdish Canadians Kurdish Canadians may refer to people born in or residing in Canada of Kurdish origin. The Kurdish community in the Canada is 11,685 based on the Canadian Census 2011, among which the Iraqi Kurds make up the largest group of Kurds in Canada, exceeding the numbers of Kurds from Turkey, Iran and Syria. In Canada, Kurdish immigration was largely the result of the Iran–Iraq War, the Gulf War and Syrian Civil War. Thus, many Iraqi Kurds immigrated to Canada due to the constant wars and suppression of Kurds and Shiites by the Iraqi government. Like all Canadians with

title: Kurdish population

text: Kurdish population The Kurdish people live in the historical Kurdistan region, which today is split between Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria. The estimated population is 35 million. A rough estimate by the CIA Factbook has Kurdish populations of 12 million in Turkey, 6 million in Iran, about 5 to 6 million in Iraq, and less than 2 million in Syria, which adds up to close to 28 million Kurds in Kurdistan and adjacent regions. Recent emigration has resulted in a Kurdish diaspora of about 1.5 million people, about half of them in Germany. A special case are the Kurdish populations

title: Goran (Kurdish name)

text: the Gorani-speakers or Gorani regions". The origins of the name are unclear but some scholars believe the name originates from the Avestan word "gairi" meaning mountain, and in the modern Kurdish language, "Goran" also means highlander or mountaineer. The name has the same meaning in Slavic languages. In Kurdish, "gorani" also means music. Goran (Kurdish name) Goran (also Guran) is a Kurdish name commonly used for males in the geographical region of Kurdistan and by Kurdish people worldwide. The name is also sometimes a surname. Goran is not to be confused with the Kurdish word, "Gorran", which means "Change" and

title: Kurdish nationalism

text: Kurdish nationalism Kurdish nationalism (Kurdish: "Kurdayetî", کوردایەتی) holds that the Kurdish people are deserving of a sovereign nation that would be partitioned out of areas in Turkey, northern Iraq, and Syria based on the promised nation of Kurdistan under the Treaty of Sèvres. Early Kurdish nationalism had its roots in the days of the Ottoman Empire, within which Kurds were a significant ethnic group. With the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, the Kurdish-majority territories were divided between the newly formed states of Iraq, Syria and Turkey, making Kurds a significant ethnic minority in each state. Kurdish nationalist movements have long

title: Kurdish refugees

text: been wounded according to Iranian sources, while over 800 people had been displaced by the fighting. After the 2004 events in Qamishli, thousands of Kurds fled Syria to the Kurdish Region of Iraq. Local authorities there, the UNHCR and other UN agencies established the Moqebleh camp at a former Army base near Dohuk. In response to the crisis in Syria, the Kurdish Regional Government and UNHCR established the Domiz Refugee Camp, across the border from Kurdish Syrian territories in the semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan. The camp, which is majority Kurdish, accommodates thousands of Syrian Kurds, offering shelter and medical care. A

title: Kurdish Americans

text: the event as evidence of genocide against the Kurdish people and have used that claim for political gains. Although there was widespread support for Iran from Iraqi Kurds, the war caused severe internal divisions within the Kurdish population. Thousands of Kurds then moved to the US. Another major wave of Kurdish migration to the United States or at least to Nashville, which has the largest concentration of Kurdish communities in the country, was in 1996 and 1997, following a major civil war between Iraqi Kurdistan's two major political parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan

title: Kurdish nationalism

text: than non-Muslim minorities like the Armenians and Jews. The state’s system of military conscription and centralized education served to integrate urban Kurdish populations but the majority remained rural. After World War II with the Soviet withdrawal from Kurdish regions (where they had encouraged autonomous Kurdish government as the Mahabad Republic), the Shah banned some Kurdish political parties, expressions of cultural identity ended the open political party system and ruled by firman. In 1958 there was a marked liberalization which allowed the activities of Kurdish cultural organizations and student associations but still limited political parties. Unlike other countries the Kurds were

title: Kurdish cinema

text: Kurdish cinema The first film of the Kurdish cinema, "Zare" was shot in Armenia and directed by Hamo Beknazarian in 1926, but only in the 2000s Kurdish cinema began to rise. The Kurdish cinema is shaped by the fate of the Kurds as people without a state. Kurdish movies talk about social grievances, oppression, torture, human rights violations and life as a stranger. The kurdish cinema has a high significance for the Kurds, as it offers the opportunity to draw attention in an artistic way to their own situation. However, due to state repression, filming is not an easy matter.

title: Kurdish rugs

text: Kurdish rugs Kurdish rugs () are rugs woven by the Kurdish people in the Middle East, predominantly the larger Kurdistan region including the Eastern part of Turkey near the Taurus Mountains, Iraq, southernmost Caucasus, Soviet Armenia and North-Western Iran. When referring to Kurdish rugs within the rug industry, one is referring to those made within Iranian Kurdistan. Kurdish Rugs are stout and solid in structure, usually made in symmetrical knotting upon a woolen foundation. Kurdish rugs and carpets do use medallion patterns; however, far more popular are the all-over floral, Mina Khani motifs and the "jaff" geometric patterns. The beauty

title: Kurdish population

text: there are significant minorities adhering to Shia Islam (especially Alevis), Yazidism, Yarsanism, Christianity and Judaism. According to a report by Turkish agency KONDA, in 2006, out of the total population of 73 million people in Turkey there were 11.4 million Kurds and Zazas living in Turkey (close to 15.68% of the total population). The Turkish newspaper Milliyet reported in 2008 that the Kurdish population in Turkey is 12.6 million; although this also includes 3 million Zazas. According to the World Factbook, Kurdish people make up 18% of Turkey's population (about 14 million, out of 77.8 million people). Kurdish sources put

title: Anti-Kurdish sentiment

text: targeted in various instances due to Kurdish political groups and the Kurdistan Regional Government's alliance with Western countries. Kurds in Iraq and Syria have been embroiled in a war against the rebel group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. As a result of the increasing awareness of the Kurdish people due to this conflict, anti-Kurdism has also been on the rise. In the United Kingdom, a Kurdish shop owner was attacked by a kurdophobe who said he wished genocide against all Kurdish people. In November 2014, a Kurdish footballer Deniz Naki was the victim of an attack in Turkey.

title: Kurdish PEN

text: is also active in Turkey, where it organized a conference on cultural diversity in March 2005 in Diyarbakır. It also encourages writers of International PEN to visit Kurdistan and meet Kurdish writers . Kurdish PEN Kurdish PEN or The Kurdish Centre of the International PEN ("Navenda PEN a Kurd" in Kurdish) is a branch of International PEN. It was suggested by Kurdish writer Hüseyin Erdem and voted into existence during International PEN's conference in Cambridge in 1988. Its headquarters are located in Cologne, Germany. The Kurdish PEN Center actively works with Kurdish writers in all parts of Kurdistan to promote

title: Kurdish population

text: in Australia have been from Iraq and Iran; many of them were accepted under the Humanitarian Programme. However, Kurds from Lebanon, Armenia and Georgia have also migrated to Australia. The majority live in Melbourne and Sydney. The Japanese government has not granted refugee status. While 3,415 Kurds have so far applied for refugee status, none has yet received it. Kurdish population The Kurdish people live in the historical Kurdistan region, which today is split between Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria. The estimated population is 35 million. A rough estimate by the CIA Factbook has Kurdish populations of 12 million in

title: Kurdish dance

text: differ in different parts of Kurdistan from the variety point of views, and joy and worry have their own special place. Some kinds of these rhythms wear out and are forgotten through the passage of time. Kurdish people from Kurdistan mainly dance the helperke; it is easier and the simplest. Kurdish dance is the one of the main cultural activity for most of the Kurdish women who can enjoy the day. In every dance one dancer falls or comes to the head of the circle who is called 'Serchopí', holding a colorful or symbolic object in his/her right hand. It

title: Kurdish refugees

text: their (occupied) homeland. For decades, Saddam Hussein 'Arabized' northern Iraq. Sunni Arabs have driven out at least 70,000 Kurds from the Mosul’s western half. Nowadays, eastern Mosul is Kurdish and western Mosul is Sunni Arab. In 1991, when suppression of Kurdish rebellion in the north was initiated by Saddam and massacres of the Kurdish population appeared, Turkey ended being host to 200,000 Iraqi Kurds in a few days. Four days later, 1,500 refugees had died from exposure. One month later, the vast majority of refugees returned to Iraq. Following the 1991 uprising of the Iraqi people against Saddam Hussein, many

title: February 1999 Kurdish protests

text: protesters in many major cities. In Istanbul, protesters used hit and run tactics to torch vehicles and a petrol bomb was hurled at a bus belonging to Turkish Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit's Democratic Left Party, as police rounded up hundreds of PKK supporters. In total over 1,000 people were arrested and Two prisoners set themselves on fire in Turkey, at least one of which died of his injuries. A massive Kurdish riot took place in the Iranian city of Sanandaj, where a Kurdish majority resides. As a result, many were arrested and 3 Kurdish protesters were killed. The events prompted

title: Kurdish cuisine

text: Kurdish cuisine Kurdish cuisine ( "Çêştî Kurdî") consists of a wide variety of foods prepared by the Kurdish people. Due to cultural similarities of Kurds and their immediate neighbours in Iran, Turkey, Iraq and Syria,and some of the food is similar to food in Albania like (Dolma). Kurdish food is typical of western Asian cuisine. The Kurdish diet includes a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. Lamb and chicken are the primary meats. Breakfast is typically flat bread, cheese, honey, sheep or cow yogurt, and a glass of black tea. For lunch, lamb and vegetables are simmered in a tomato

title: Kurdish tanbur

text: players do not only play within Iran but also have gained international recognition. The music of the tembur involves Kurdish epics crafted centuries ago, sacred to the Yarsans. But musician improvisation and intuition makes the sound of the tembur very adaptive. Kurdish tanbur Kurdish tanbur () or tanbour (), a fretted string instrument, is an initial and main form of the tanbūr instrument family, original of and unique to the Kurdish people. It is highly associated with the Yarsan (Ahl-e Haqq) religion in Kurdish areas and in the Lorestān provinces of Iran. It is one of the few musical instruments

title: Kurdish tanbur

text: Kurdish tanbur Kurdish tanbur () or tanbour (), a fretted string instrument, is an initial and main form of the tanbūr instrument family, original of and unique to the Kurdish people. It is highly associated with the Yarsan (Ahl-e Haqq) religion in Kurdish areas and in the Lorestān provinces of Iran. It is one of the few musical instruments used in Ahl-e Haqq rituals, and practitioners venerate the tembûr as a sacred object. Another popular percussion instrument used together with the tembur is the Kurdish daf, but that's not sacred in Yarsan spirituality and Jam praying ceremony. Nowadays tembur is

title: Anti-Kurdish sentiment

text: Anti-Kurdish sentiment Anti-Kurdish sentiment, also known as anti-Kurdism or Kurdophobia, is the hostility, fear, intolerance or racism against the Kurdish people, Kurdish culture, or Kurdish languages. A person who holds such positions is sometimes referred to as a "Kurdophobe". The term, "Anti-Kurdism", appears to have been first coined by Gérard Chaliand who used it to describe the anti-Kurdish sentiment in Iraq and Turkey during the mid to late twentieth century. Anti-Kurdish sentiment appears to have first emerged as a result of fears surrounding Kurdish aspirations for an independent state called Kurdistan and in response to ultra-nationalist ideology promoted by the

title: Kurdish literature

text: amount of printed material during the last three decades has increased enormously. Many of these activities were centered in Europe particularly Sweden and Germany where many of the immigrant Kurds are living. There are a number of Kurdish publishers in Sweden, partly supported by the Swedish Government. More than two hundred Kurdish titles have appeared in the 1990s. Some of the well known contemporary Kurdish writers from Turkey are Firat Cewerî, Mehmed Uzun, Abdusamet Yigit, Mehmed Emin Bozarslan, Mahmud Baksi, Hesenê Metê,Yekta Uzunoglu (Geylani), Arjen Arî and Rojen Barnas. The main academic center for Kurdish literature and language in Europe

title: Kurdish culture

text: traditional Kurdish foods. Lamb and chicken have been staple meats in Kurdish cuisine for centuries. Vegetables, pilaf and dairy products also comprise a large portion of traditional Kurdish food. Tea is also staple to a Kurdish diet. It is commonly drunk 2-3 times a day, commonly a social activity. Kurds also drink Mastaw/Do'h/Ayran, a yogurt-based drink. The Kurdish people have different religions depending on the country in which they live in or they have cultural and ethnic links to that religion, the most common religion among Kurds is Sunni Islam, practiced by 98% of Kurds living in Iraqi Kurdistan. The

title: Kurdish Americans

text: l, and the issue has remained contentious. The Turkish government has tried multiple assimilation strategies, including language policies that suppressed the Kurdish language, discriminative economic and employment practices towards Kurdish people and attempting to wholly ignore the ethnic identity of Kurds by referring to them instead as "Mountain Turks". There are far fewer American Kurds from Turkey than Iran and Iraq. One reason for the scarce amount of Turkish Kurds emigrating to the US is that many emigrating Turkish Kurds will travel to one of the closer Kurdish diaspora communities within the European Union like Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden,

title: Early Kurdish nationalism

text: Kurdistan in the city of Sulaymaniyah. The Kingdom lasted from September 1922 until July 1924. Early Kurdish nationalism The nationalist movement among the Kurdish people first emerged in the late 19th century with an uprising in 1880 led by Sheik Ubeydullah. Many Kurds worked with other opponents of the Ottoman regime within the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP). A growth in ethnic consciousness at the start of the 20th century was spearheaded by the Society for the Advancement of Kurdistan (SAK). Some Kurdish nationalist groups agitated for secession, others for autonomy. During the First World War, while some Kurdish

text: population of Turkey has long sought to have Kurdish included as a language of instruction in public schools as well as a subject. Currently, it's illegal to use the Kurdish language as an instruction language in private and public schools, yet there are schools giving education in Kurdish. During the Kurdish–Turkish conflict, food embargoes were placed on Kurdish populated villages and towns. There were many instances of Kurds being forcefully deported out of their villages by Turkish security forces. Many villages were reportedly set on fire or destroyed. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, political parties that represented Kurdish interests

title: Iraqi–Kurdish conflict

text: Kurdish tribes. He ultimately failed and took refuge in Turkey. The next serious Kurdish secession attempt was made by Ahmed Barzani's younger brother Mustafa Barzani in 1943, but that revolt failed as well, resulting in the exiling of Mustafa to Iran, where he participated in an attempt to form the Kurdish Republic of Mahabad. In 1958, Mustafa Barzani and his fighters returned to Iraq from exile, and an attempt was made to negotiate Kurdish autonomy in the north with the new Iraqi administration of Gen. Qasim. The negotiations ultimately failed and the First Iraqi–Kurdish War erupted on 11 September 1961,

title: Goran (Kurdish name)

text: Goran (Kurdish name) Goran (also Guran) is a Kurdish name commonly used for males in the geographical region of Kurdistan and by Kurdish people worldwide. The name is also sometimes a surname. Goran is not to be confused with the Kurdish word, "Gorran", which means "Change" and is also the name of a Kurdish political faction in Iraq. In Kurdish, "Gorani" may refer to the Gorani language spoken by several millions of ethnic Kurds, or the geographical subregions of Hewraman and Garmian situated in the southeastern part of Kurdistan. In this context, the name "Goran" means "someone who is of

title: Kurdish mythology

text: for political aims. The Sasanian king Chosroes II Parvez is highly esteemed in the Kurdish oral tradition, literature and mythology. Kurdish mythology Kurdish mythology is the collective term for the beliefs and practices of the culturally, ethnically or linguistically related group of ancient peoples who inhabited the Kurdistan mountains of northwestern Zagros, northern Mesopotamia and southeastern Anatolia. This includes their Indo-European pagan religion prior to them converting to Islam, as well the local myths, legends and folklore that they produced after becoming Muslims. Kurdish people originally worshipped a pantheon or class of gods called "dêw", which are known as Daeva

title: Kurdish mythology

text: gods, known in English as Asura, before they were merged into Ahura Mazda. The Kurds believed in a terrifying dragon that they called "ejdîha", which is known as Zahhak in English. In Kurdish mythology, the ancestors of the Kurds fled to the mountains to escape the oppression of a king named Zahhak. It is believed that these people, like Kaveh the Blacksmith who hid in the mountains over the course of history created a Kurdish ethnicity. Mountains, to this day, are still important geographical and symbolic figures in Kurdish life. In common with other national myths, Kurdish mythology is used

title: Kurdish refugees

text: of the refugees of the Syrian Civil War are Syrian Kurds and as a result many of the current Syrian asylum seekers in Germany are of Kurdish descent. There was substantial immigration of ethnic Kurds in Canada and the United States, who are mainly political refugees and immigrants seeking economic opportunity. According to a 2011 Statistics Canada household survey, there were 11,685 people of Kurdish ethnic background living in Canada, and according to the 2011 Census, more than 10,000 Canadians spoke Kurdish language. In the United States, Kurdish immigrants started to settle in large numbers in Nashville in 1976, which

title: Kurdish rebellion of 1983

text: first person to assemble almost universal Kurdish nationalism among the people and from the mid-1930s through to his expulsion from Iraq in the 1970s he was synonymous with the Kurdish quest for independence. Barzani led rebellions intermittently against the governments of Iraq (First and Second Iraqi–Kurdish Wars), Iran, and Turkey, in hopes of gaining larger revolutionary forces each time. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, PUK, was established in 1975 under Jalal Talabani. Talabani had worked as a Kurdish revolutionary in the KDP and grew his name and reputation by speaking out against Barzani. In 1975 Talabani and his followers split

text: However, currently Kurdish is elective among other lessons in some schools. Due to the large number of Turkish Kurds, successive governments have viewed the expression of a Kurdish identity as a potential threat to Turkish unity, a feeling that has been compounded since the armed rebellion initiated by the PKK in 1984. One of the main accusations of cultural assimilation relates to the state's historic suppression of the Kurdish language. Kurdish publications created throughout the 1960s and 1970s were shut down under various legal pretexts. Following the military coup of 1980, the Kurdish language was officially prohibited in government institutions.

title: Early Kurdish nationalism

text: Early Kurdish nationalism The nationalist movement among the Kurdish people first emerged in the late 19th century with an uprising in 1880 led by Sheik Ubeydullah. Many Kurds worked with other opponents of the Ottoman regime within the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP). A growth in ethnic consciousness at the start of the 20th century was spearheaded by the Society for the Advancement of Kurdistan (SAK). Some Kurdish nationalist groups agitated for secession, others for autonomy. During the First World War, while some Kurdish nationalists were working with the British and Russian enemy powers, Kurdish tribal forces were fighting

title: Kurdish villages depopulated by Turkey

text: the cities of western Turkey and even to western Europe. The causes of the depopulation included the poverty of the southeast, and the Turkish state's military operations. Human Rights Watch has documented many instances where the Turkish military forcibly evacuated villages, destroying houses and equipment to prevent the return of the inhabitants. An estimated 3,000 Kurdish villages in Turkey were virtually wiped from the map, representing the displacement of more than 378,000 people. According to the Humanitarian Law Project, 2,400 Kurdish villages were destroyed and 18,000 Kurds were executed, by the Turkish government. Other estimates have put the number of

title: 1979 Kurdish rebellion in Iran

text: made by the Iranian government to crush the Kurdish rebellion, which was the only one of the 1979 uprisings to still go on (Arab, Baluchi, and Turkmen rebellions had already been subdued by that time). By late 1980, the Iranian regular forces and the Revolutionary Guard ousted the Kurdish militants from their strongholds, but groups of Kurdish militants kept executing sporadic attacks against Iranian militias. The clashes in the area went on as late as 1983. About 10,000 people were killed in the course of the Kurdish rebellion, with 1,200 of them being Kurdish political prisoners, executed in the last

title: Kurdish American Caucus

text: stand as a symbol of continued friendship and cooperation between the United States and Iraq’s Kurdish people in our effort to bring peace and stability to a federated Iraq.” In February 2012, Rep. Jared Polis accepted the Democratic co-chair position to lead the caucus. He joined the Republican co-chair Rep. Joe Wilson. The Kurdish people number 30 million worldwide; with an estimated 50,000 in US. The ongoing mission of the KACC is to provide them with an established voice in the United States. Kurdish American Caucus Established on May 23, 2008 by US Congressmen Lincoln Davis (D-Tennessee) and Joe Wilson

title: Kurdish villages depopulated by Turkey

text: destroyed Kurdish villages at over 4,000. In total up to 3,000,000 people (mainly Kurds) have been displaced. An estimated of 1,000,000 are still internally displaced as of 2009. Kurdish villages depopulated by Turkey The number of Kurdish villages depopulated by Turkey is estimated at around 3,000. Since 1984, the Turkish military has embarked on a campaign to eradicate the Kurdistan Workers Party, a militant Kurdish opposition group. As a result, by the year 2000 some 30,000 people have died, and two million Kurdish refugees have been driven out of their homes into overcrowded urban shanty towns. Much of the countryside

title: Kurdish Future Movement in Syria

text: people. The Kurdish Future Movement has strong relations with Kurdish youth groups and has been actively involved in dissident demonstrations and protests since the beginning of the uprising. In fact, members of the Kurdish opposition have accused the Kurdish Future Movement of focusing excessively on the revolution, while failing to uphold and defend Kurdish interests. In contrast to the majority of Kurdish parties in Syria, the Kurdish Future Movement does not see the Kurdish question as a regional matter. It doesn’t call for Kurdish self-determination but for full participation in the new government based on proportional representation, and it demands

text: channel (TRT 6) in the Kurdish language. Famous Kurdish musicians attended the inauguration, at which the prime minister made a speech in Kurdish. The "Turkey 2006 Progress Report" underscores that, according to the Law on Political Parties, the use of languages other than Turkish is illegal in political life. This was seen when Leyla Zana spoke Kurdish in her inauguration as an MP she was arrested in 1994 and charged with treason and membership in the armed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Zana and the others were sentenced to 15 years in prison. Prior to this in 1992, the Kurd Institute

text: were banned. In 2013, a ceasefire effectively ended the violence until June 2015, when hostilities renewed between the PKK and the Turkish government over the Turkey–ISIL conflict. Violence was widely reported against ordinary Kurdish citizens and the headquarters and branches of the pro-Kurdish rights Peoples' Democratic Party were attacked by mobs. The European Court of Human Rights and many other international human rights organizations have condemned Turkey for the thousands of human rights abuses. Many judgments are related to systematic executions of Kurdish civilians, torturing, forced displacements, destroyed villages, arbitrary arrests, murdered and disappeared Kurdish journalists, activists and politicians. In

title: Kurdish cinema

text: So most films are produced in exile. The best example of this is Turkey, where the Kurds were not allowed to speak their mother tongue until 1991; which made the development of Kurdish film difficult. One of the founding father of Kurdish cinema, a figure that is admired by Kurdish Filmmakers today is Yilmaz Güney, despite all the restriction that was force upon him by the Turkish Government, Guney managed to portray the richness of Kurdish cultures in his films, such as "Suru" and "Yol". Yılmaz Güney started making films in the 1950s. For his film Yol - The Road

title: Kurdish languages

text: Gurani [...] do belong to the north-west Iranian group". Ludwig Paul concludes that Kurdish seems to be a Northwestern Iranian language in origin, but acknowledges that it shares many traits with Southwestern Iranian languages like Persian, apparently due to longstanding and intense historical contacts. Windfuhr identified Kurdish dialects as Parthian, albeit with a Median substratum. Windfuhr and Frye assume an eastern origin for Kurdish and consider it as related to eastern and central Iranian dialects. The present state of knowledge about Kurdish allows, at least roughly, drawing the approximate borders of the areas where the main ethnic core of the

title: Northern Kurdish

text: where most of its speakers live, as well as in Syria. Northern Kurdish is the most widely spoken Kurdish language, being spoken by 80% of all Kurds. The earliest textual record of a Kurdish language dates to the 16th century. Kurmanji is also the ceremonial language of Yazidism. The sacred book "Mishefa Reş" (the "Yazidi Black Book") and all prayers are written and spoken in Kurmanji. In this context, the Kurmanji language may also be called Ezdiki. The vowels /i, a, u/ have long forms, and Kumandji has contrastive vowel length. Northern Kurdish forms a dialect continuum of great variability.

title: Central Kurdish

text: banning Kurdish newspapers and arresting Kurdish activists. Central Kurdish has 8 phonemic vowels and 26 to 28 phonemic consonants (depending on whether the pharyngeal sounds /ħ/ and /ʕ/ exist in the dialect or not). The following table contains the vowels of Central Kurdish. Vowels in parentheses are not phonemic, but have been included in the table below because of their ubiquity in the language. Letters in the Sorani alphabet take various forms depending on where they occur in the word. Forms given below are letters in isolation. The vowel [æ] is sometimes pronounced as [ə] (the sound found in the

title: Kurdish literature

text: Khani (1651–1707) from Hakkari, is a rich source of Kurdish culture, history and mythology. This work also emphasizes the national aspirations of the Kurdish people. Mam of the Alan clan and Zin of Buhtan family are two lovers from "Alan" and "Butan" families, respectively. Their union is blocked by a person named "Bakr" of the Bakran clan. Mam eventually dies during a complicated conspiracy by Bakr. When Zin receives the news, she also dies while mourning the death of Mam on his grave. The immense grief leads to her death and she is buried next to Mam. The news of

title: Kurdish mythology

text: Kurdish mythology Kurdish mythology is the collective term for the beliefs and practices of the culturally, ethnically or linguistically related group of ancient peoples who inhabited the Kurdistan mountains of northwestern Zagros, northern Mesopotamia and southeastern Anatolia. This includes their Indo-European pagan religion prior to them converting to Islam, as well the local myths, legends and folklore that they produced after becoming Muslims. Kurdish people originally worshipped a pantheon or class of gods called "dêw", which are known as Daeva in English, although these gods were later seen as evil monsters, trolls or giants. They were replaced by the "ahurâ"

title: Kurdish refugees

text: Kurds were forced to flee the country to become refugees in bordering regions of Iran and Turkey. A northern no-fly zone was established following the First Gulf War in 1991 to facilitate the return of Kurdish refugees. In total up to 3,000,000 people (mainly Kurds) have been displaced in the Kurdish–Turkish conflict, an estimated 1,000,000 of which were still internally displaced as of 2009. Large-scale confrontations between Iranian military and PJAK resulted also in displacement of Kurdish civilians. By July 26, more than 50 PJAK fighters and 8 Revolutionary Guards had been killed, and at least 100 PJAK fighters had

title: Kurdish nationalism

text: itself drawn back into Iraq with promises of autonomy and citizenship based on a federal, ethnically inclusive model with strong minority rights and guarantees against discrimination. The new Iraqi Constitution drafted in 2005 establishes Kurdish as an official language alongside Arabic, acknowledges the national rights of the Kurdish people, and contains the usual promises about absolute equality of citizens regardless of race, religion, gender, etc. How effective this constitution will be in safeguarding the equal citizenship of the Kurdish population is unclear in the current unstable domestic situation. After the failed revolution of Sheikh Said, thousands of Kurds fled their

title: Kurdish Americans

text: several more groups of Kurds immigrated to the US. Many of the migrants had worked in some capacity either with United States military or humanitarian efforts, international humanitarian organizations, and other NGOs. The total Kurdish population in the United States according to the 2000 census was 9,423. More recent accounts estimate the total Kurdish population in the US at around 15,361. Other sources claim that the number of ethnic Kurds in the United States is between 15,000 and 20,000 people. The city of Nashville, Tennessee includes the largest Kurdish population in the United States. A neighborhood in south Nashville has

title: Guran (Kurdish tribe)

text: a Mede's tribe that called Gouranioi. The Guran tribe consist of 4 clans: Guran (Kurdish tribe) Guran (or Goran; ) is a Kurdish tribe. They live in some regions of Iranian Kurdistan like Hawraman and Dalahu near Iran-Iraqi border. Although the vast majority of Guran people follow Islam, some Gurans in Dalahou county in Kermanshah Province are very old followers of Sultan Sahak and Yarsanism religion. They speak Gurani dialect of Kurdish, a very similar to Hawrami dialects, a kind of Gorani language. The Kurdish Shahnameh has been written in Gurani dialect and is sacred to the followers of Yarsan.

title: Guran (Kurdish tribe)

text: Guran (Kurdish tribe) Guran (or Goran; ) is a Kurdish tribe. They live in some regions of Iranian Kurdistan like Hawraman and Dalahu near Iran-Iraqi border. Although the vast majority of Guran people follow Islam, some Gurans in Dalahou county in Kermanshah Province are very old followers of Sultan Sahak and Yarsanism religion. They speak Gurani dialect of Kurdish, a very similar to Hawrami dialects, a kind of Gorani language. The Kurdish Shahnameh has been written in Gurani dialect and is sacred to the followers of Yarsan. Strabon also mentions the western and northwestern tribes of Medes, He also mentioned

title: Early Kurdish nationalism

text: between Kemalists and the Kurds and the Turkish war of independence in the 1920s many Kurds fled to Syria from Turkey to escape oppression. These refugees settled mainly in the Jazira region of northern Syria where formerly nomadic Kurds had already settled decades earlier and become agriculturalists. Unified Kurdish political activity in Syria was relatively undeveloped and sparse. During the Turkish war of independence, Kurdish tribes in Jazira assisted French forces in repelling Turkish advances. The French at this time had considered the creation of a Kurdish enclave stretching from Urfa in the west to Cizre in the east. French

title: Kurdish literature

text: Kurdish literature Kurdish literature (in Kurmanji Kurdish language: "", in Sorani Kurdish language: وێژەی کوردی or ئەدەبی کوردی) is literature written in the Kurdish language. Literary Kurdish works have been written in each of the four main dialects: Zazaki, Gorani, Kurmanji and Sorani. Ali Hariri (1009-1079) is one of the first well-known poets who wrote in Kurdish. He was from the Hakkari region. The Ayyubid Sultanate also saw a Golden Age of Kurdish Literature and was active also outside of Kurdish Mainland. However some Ayyubid Sultans and Emirs also made Arabic Literature or translated them. Some of the earliest texts

title: Kurdish Shahnameh

text: Kurdish Shahnameh Kurdish "Shahnameh" is a collection of epic poems that has been passed from mouth to mouth, as part of Kurdish oral tradition. The Kurdish poet Sarhang Almas Khan collected and wrote most of the Kurdish "Shahnameh" in the eighteenth century. However, older manuscripts of the Kurdish "Shahnameh" are available. There are several differences between the Kurdish "Shahnameh" and Ferdowsi's "Shahnameh", notably the poems of the former are written in Kurdish rather than Persian and there are several characters that are not mentioned in Ferdowsi's "Shahnameh". Shahram Nazeri has sung several verses of the Kurdish "Shahnameh" in Avaze Asatir.

title: Kurdish Shahnameh

text: ago. On June 14, 2007, the Interior Ministry took a decision to remove Abdullah Demirbaş from his office as elected mayor of the Sur district of Diyarbakır. They also removed elected members of the municipal council. The high court endorsed the decision of the ministry and ruled that "giving information on various municipal services such as culture, art, environment, city cleaning and health in languages other than Turkish is against the Constitution. This is despite the fact that according to the above-mentioned municipality, 72% of the people of the district use Kurdish in their daily lives. In another case, the

title: Kurdish population

text: of which come from Iran. It is estimated that some 23,000 Iranian Kurds are living in the United States. During the 1991 Persian Gulf War, about 10,000 Iraqi refugees were admitted to the United States, most of which were Kurds and Shiites who had assisted or were sympathisers of the U.S –led war. Nashville, Tennessee has the nation's largest population of Kurdish people, with an estimated 8,000–11,000. There are also Kurds in Southern California, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Dallas, Texas. In Canada, the Kurdish community is 11,685 based on the Canadian Census 2011, among which the Iraqi Kurds make

title: Kurdish population

text: Kingdom, Kurds first began to immigrate between 1974-75 when the rebellion of Iraqi Kurds against the Iraqi government was repressed. The Iraqi government began to destroy Kurdish villages and forced many Kurds to move to barren land in the south. These events resulted in many Kurds fleeing to the United Kingdom. Thus, the Iraqi Kurds make up a large part of the community. In 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini came to power in Iran and installed Islamic law. There was widespread political oppression and persecution of the Kurdish community. Since the late 1970s the number of people from Iran seeking asylum in

title: Kurdish women

text: Also the New York Times noted that while banned by Atatürk, polygamy remains widespread in the "deeply religious and rural Kurdish region of southeastern Anatolia, home to one-third of Turkey's 71 million people". Violence against women motivated by a "Namus" based concept of honor of the family or clan have been described as endemic in Turkey, in particular in the Southeastern Anatolia Region, the predominantly Kurdish area of Turkey. A July 2008 study by a team from Dicle University on honor killings in the Southeastern Anatolia Region has so far shown that little if any social stigma is attached to

title: Kurdish culture

text: areas of Azerbaijan and Lebanon. Kurds are one of the largest ethnic groups that does not have an independent state or a unified political entity recognized universally. There is a lot of controversy about the Kurdish people from their origins, their history, and even their political future. This historical controversy has intensified in recent years, especially after the changes in the reality of the Kurds in Iraq following the Second Gulf War, and the formation of the United States of the no-fly zone that led to the emergence of the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq. Kurdish (کوردی, Kurdî) is part

title: Kurdish cinema

text: from 1982, he even received the Golden Palm at the International Film Festival in Cannes. His death in 1984 in Paris meant the end of Kurdish film for a long time, just where he came to international fame. However, in 1991 another Kurdish film called "A Song for Beko" by Nizamettin Ariç from German-Armenian production followed. In 1992, Mem û Zîn followed by director Ümit Elçi from a Turkish production. The film Siyabend and Xecê dates back to 1993 and was also produced in Turkey. The number of film releases is steadily rising u. a. Productions from Iran. Bahman Ghobadi

title: Iraqi–Kurdish conflict

text: defend as they sat on plains below mountains. The rebels were forced to retreat in the mountains, where reportedly the Iraqi helicopters threw flour of them (which was believed to be a grim legacy of the reputed powdery chemical weapons which were used by the Iraqi administration during the Al-Anfal Campaign). The Iraqi Kurdish Civil War was a military conflict, which took place between rival Kurdish factions in Iraqi Kurdistan in the mid-1990s, most notably the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan vs. the Kurdistan Democratic Party. Over the course of the conflict, Kurdish factions from Iran and Turkey, as well as

title: Kurdish separatism in Iran

text: killing two Iranian personnel, according to PJAK. According to ARA sources, as of May 11, the death toll climbed to 6 protesters killed. The incidents prompted harsh responses also from other Kurdish opposition parties, including the Kurdistan Freedom Party and the PDKI. In June 2015, a KDPI attack on Revolutionary Guard forces reportedly left 6 people killed. Military clashes in West Iran refers to the ongoing military clashes between Kurdish insurgent party Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, which began in April 2016. Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) and Komalah expressed their support to the Kurdish

title: Iraqi Kurdish Civil War

text: Kurdish Democratic Party. After withdrawing its forces from Kurdistan in October 1991, the Iraqi government imposed an economic blockade over the region, restricting its oil and food supplies. The United Nations embargo on Iraq also significantly affected the Kurdish economy, preventing trade between the Kurds and other nations. As such, all economic dealings between Iraqi Kurdistan and the outside world were done through the black market. Fighting broke out between the two factions in May 1994. The clashes left around 300 people dead. Over the next year, around 2,000 people were killed on both sides. According to CIA agent Robert

text: by the US Department of State. In 1994 Leyla Zana—who, three years prior, had been the first Kurdish woman elected to the Turkish parliament—was sentenced to 15 years for "separatist speech". At her inauguration as an MP in 1991, she reportedly identified herself as a Kurd. She took the oath of loyalty in Turkish, as required by law, then added in Kurdish, "I have completed this formality under duress. I shall struggle so that the Kurdish and Turkish peoples may live together in a democratic framework." Parliament erupted with shouts of "Separatist", "Terrorist", and "Arrest her". In April 2008, she

text: of the Municipality today is trilingual: Turkish, Kurdish and English. The Turkish Constitution bans the formation of political parties on an ethnic basis. Several Kurdish political parties have been shut down by the Turkish Constitutional Court under excuse of supporting the PKK. In 2012, the left-wing Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party was founded and the party has continued to operate, gaining 50 seats in parliament after the November 2015 elections. Following the Young Turk Revolution at the beginning of the 20th century and the flowering of Turkish nationalism, the destruction or assimilation of minority populations (particularly Armenians, Assyrians and Kurds) has

text: Supreme Council (RTÜK) allowed two TV channels (Gün TV and Söz TV) and one radio channel (Medya FM) to have limited service in the Kurdish language. This legislation came into force as an effort to meet one of the European Union’s requirements for membership in its talks with Turkey. The new regulation will allot five hours of weekly radio broadcast and four of television. In January 2009, the Turkish state broadcaster TRT launched its first fully Kurdish language channel: TRT Kurdî. Despite these reforms, use of Kurdish in the public sphere and government institutions was still restricted until several years

title: Kurdish nationalism

text: homes in southeastern Turkey to Syria, where they settled and were granted citizenship by the French mandate authorities. Under the French Mandate of Syria, the Kurds enjoyed considerable rights as the French mandate authority encourage minority independence movements as part of a divide and rule strategy and recruited a large Kurdish segment for its local armed forces. The repression of Kurdish civic rights escalated with the short-lived unification of Syria and Egypt as the United Arab Republic in 1958, partly in response to more vocal Kurdish demands for democracy, recognition as an ethnic group, and complaints that the state police

title: Anti-Kurdish sentiment

text: Naki, who played for the Turkish club, Gençlerbirliği S.K., was attacked by Turks while he was out buying food in Turkey's capital, Ankara. The incident occurred shortly after Naki had declared that he was Kurdish and expressed support on social media for the Kurdish groups fighting against ISIS militants. A number of assailants allegedly cursed him and called him a "dirty Kurd" before beating him and injuring his hand and giving him a black eye. Naki has since left Turkey and returned to Europe where he intends to continue his football career. Anti-Kurdish sentiment Anti-Kurdish sentiment, also known as anti-Kurdism

title: Kurdish languages

text: shares vocabulary with both of them and there are some grammatical similarities with Central Kurdish. The Hawrami dialects of Gorani includes a variety that was an important literary language since the 14th century, but it was replaced by Central Kurdish in the 20th century. European scholars have maintained that Gorani is separate from Kurdish and that Kurdish is synonymous with the Northern Kurdish group, whereas ethnic Kurds maintain that Kurdish encompasses any of the unique languages or dialects spoken by Kurds that are not spoken by neighbouring ethnic groups. Gorani is classified as part of the Zaza–Gorani branch of Indo-Iranian

title: Kurdish languages

text: Kurdish is widely spoken in Mokrian. Piranshahr and Mahabad are two principal cities of the Mokrian dialect area. Zaza–Gorani languages, which are spoken by communities in the wider area who identify as ethnic Kurds, are not linguistically classified as Kurdish. Zaza-Gorani is classified as adjunct to Kurdish, although authorities differ in the details. Windfuhr 2009 groups Kurdish with Zaza Gorani within a "Northwestern I" group, while Glottolog based on "Encyclopædia Iranica" prefers an areal grouping of "Central dialects" (or "Kermanic") within Northwest Iranic, with Kurdish but not Zaza-Gorani grouped with "Kermanic". Gorani is distinct from Northern and Central Kurdish, yet

title: Kurdish coffee

text: used as snack (especially a variant of it which has a softer shell, called "bêmk" in Northern Kurdish). It is a source of oil. The oil was used both in cooking and in making home-made soap. It is used ground and crushed in preparing some other traditional Kurdish foods. Kurdish coffee Kurdish coffee ("Qehweya Kurdî" or "Qehweya Kezwanan" in Kurdish) is a hot drink from Kurdish cuisine made of ground roasted terebinth beans as the main ingredient. It is served hot as coffee especially in northern parts of Kurdistan. In recent years it is appearing as a branded products in

title: Central Kurdish

text: Central Kurdish Central Kurdish (, '), also called Sorani (, ') is a Kurdish language spoken in Iraq, mainly in Iraqi Kurdistan, as well as the Kurdistan Province, Kermanshah Province, and West Azerbaijan Province of western Iran. Central Kurdish is one of the two official languages of Iraq, along with Arabic, and is in political documents simply referred to as "Kurdish". The term Sorani, named after the former Soran Emirate, is used especially to refer to a written, standardized form of Central Kurdish written in the Sorani alphabet developed from the Arabic alphabet in the 1920s by Sa'íd Sidqi Kaban

title: Kurdish typography

text: Kurdish typography The Middle Kurdish variety Sorani is mainly written using an Arabic alphabet with 33 letters. Unlike the regular Arabic script, which is an abjad, Kurdish Arabic is an alphabet in which vowels are mandatory. Non-letter characters in addition to punctuation marks and symbols are: "Alifonts", widely used with Windows 98, enabled typing of Kurdish with Arabic or Farsi keyboard layouts. While it uses a non-standard mapping, typing Kurdish with Alifonts remains popular, as it does not require a specific Kurdish keyboard layout. Ribaz Font, 99 non-Unicode fonts suited from Arabic fonts. file Beware: Some old converters convert Teh

title: Kurdish Americans

text: in conjunction with massive displacement of Kurdish families from Kurdish regions, leading to an influx in Kurdish immigrants during the early 1990s. Iraqi Kurdish populations in America have open channels of communication with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) mediated through various groups such as cultural centers, mosques, and other humanitarian organizations. Due to this communication network, Kurdish organizations in the US have provided a significant amount of aid and humanitarian relief to the Iraqi Kurdish population on several occasions, oftentimes going through the KRG to implement relief efforts. Iranian Kurds, unlike their Iraqi neighbors, were subjected to the aggressive Persianization

title: Central Kurdish

text: and Taufiq Wahby. Tracing back the historical changes that Central Kurdish has gone through is difficult. No predecessors of Kurdish languages are yet known from Old and Middle Iranian times. The extant Kurdish texts may be traced back to no earlier than the 16th century CE. The current status of Central Kurdish as a standardized written language can be traced back to late Ottoman era. In Sulaymaniyah ("Silêmanî"), the Ottoman Empire had created a secondary school, the Rushdiye, graduates from which could go to Istanbul to continue to study there. This allowed Central Kurdish, which was spoken in Silêmanî, to

title: Armenian–Kurdish relations

text: during a search in the rooms of the agency "Özgür Gündem". The Turkish media also claimed that Armenia was hosting PKK training camps, but the allegations were proven to be untrue. Some Kurds in a struggle against Turkey began to identify themselves with the Armenians, the very people whom they were encouraged by the Ottoman government to oppress. Today, Turks of Armenian and Kurdish ethnicity coexist in peace. The PKK leadership has recognized the Armenian Genocide and apologized for Kurdish involvement. There have also been seminars held by Armenian and Kurdish groups to discuss both the genocide and Turkey. The

title: Kurdish National Council

text: 30 April, the Afrin branch of the Kurdish National Council released a statement condemning the April 2017 Turkish airstrikes in Syria and Iraq. "We condemn and denounce the Turkish aggression and demand the government of Ankara to stop the [attacks] immediately, we also ask PYD [Democratic Union Party] authorities to change its approach and authoritarian behavior and move towards a national and responsible approach to serve the unity of the Kurds and the Kurdish project in the face of challenges and serious risks in the present time and in the future for our Kurdish people", the council stated. Although the

title: Early Kurdish nationalism

text: chieftains, had economic concerns. Still other Kurds, especially those outside of Anatolia, lacked understanding of nationalism or were simply unaware and unaffected. An organization known as the Kürdistan Teali Cemiyeti (Society for the Advancement of Kurdistan, or SAK) was central to the forging of a distinct Kurdish identity. It took advantage of the period of political liberalization during the Second Constitutional Era (1908–1920) of Turkey to transform a renewed interest in Kurdish culture and language into a political nationalist movement based on ethnicity. The emphasis on the Kurdish people as a distinct ethnic group was encouraged around the start of