Kurds in Turkey

TheKurdsare the largestethnic minorityinTurkey. According to various estimates, they compose between 15% and 20% of the population of Turkey.There are Kurds living in various provinces of Turkey, but they are primarily concentrated in theeastandsoutheastof the country within the region viewed by Kurds asTurkish Kurdistan.
During the violent suppressions of numerous Kurdish rebellions since the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, such as theSheikh Said Rebellion, theArarat rebellion, and theDersim Rebellion, massacres have periodically been committed against the Kurds, with one prominent incident being theZilan Massacre. The Turkish government categorized Kurds as "Mountain Turks" until 1991,anddenied the existence of Kurds.The words "Kurds" or "Kurdistan" were banned in any language by the Turkish government, though "Kurdish" was allowed in census reports.Followingthe military coup of 1980, theKurdish languageswere officially prohibited in public and private life.Many people who spoke, published, or sang in Kurdish were arrested and imprisoned.In Turkey, it is illegal to use Kurdish as a language of instruction in both public and private schools. The Kurdish language is only allowed as a subject in some schools.
Since the 1980s, Kurdish movements have included both peaceful political activities for basic civil rights for Kurds in Turkey as well as armed rebellion and guerrilla warfare, including military attacks aimed mainly at Turkish military bases, demanding first a separate Kurdish state and laterself-determinationfor the Kurds.According to a state-sponsored Turkish opinion poll, 59% of self-identified Kurds in Turkey think that Kurds in Turkey do not seek a separate state (while 71.3% of self-identified Turks think they do).
During theKurdish–Turkish conflict, food embargoes were placed on Kurdish villages and towns.There were many instances of Kurds being forcibly expelled from 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 were banned.In 2013, a ceasefire effectively ended the violence until June 2015, when hostilities renewed between the PKK and the Turkish government overTurkish involvement in the Syrian civil war. Violence was widely reported against ordinary Kurdish citizens and the headquarters and branches of the pro-Kurdish rightsPeoples' Democratic Partywere attacked by mobs.
TheMarwanid dynasty, which was of Kurdish origin, ruled a territory from Diyarbakir that included parts of Syria and Iraq from 984 to 1083.TheAyyubid dynasty, also of Kurdish origin (but identifying first and foremost as Muslims), ruledparts of Anatoliain the 12th and 13th centuries.
According to Ahmet Nezihî Turan the first Kurdish settlement in Central Anatolia was namedKürtler("Kurds"), founded in Yaban Âbâd (present-dayKızılcahamam-Çamlıderenear Ankara) in 1463.According toMark Sykes, the earliestpopulation transfer(or exile) of Kurds to Central Anatolia was carried out during the reign ofSelim I(1512–20).
TheMahmudior "Pinyanişi" was anOttoman-Kurdishtribe in theLake Vanregion, who according toEvliya Çelebihad 60,000 warriors.Their chief,Sarı Süleyman Bey,strengthened theHoşap Castlein the Lake Van region, in 1643.
After ca. 1800, the Cihanbeyli,ReşwanandŞêxbizintribes migrated into central Anatolia from the east and southeast.The total Kurdish population in Turkey was estimated at 1.5 million in the 1880s, many of whom were nomadic or pastoral.
Before the foundation of Turkey, the Kurds were recognized as their own nation.The Turkish leaderMustafa Kemalalso recognized the Kurds as a nation at the time and stated that provinces in which the Kurds lived shall be granted autonomy.After the establishment of theRepublic of Turkey, which ended thecaliphatesandsultanatein Turkey, there have been severalKurdish rebellionssince the 1920s:Koçkiri Rebellion,Beytüşşebab rebellion,Sheikh Said Rebellion,Dersim Rebellion,Ararat rebellion. The policy towards the Kurds changed most prominently in1924, as the new constitutiondenied the Kurds autonomy.The Kurdish people and their language were soon oppressed by the Turkish Government, as the TurkishConstitution of 1924prohibited the use of Kurdish in public places, and a law was issued which enabled the expropriation of the Kurdish landowners and the delivery of the land to Turkish speaking people.Through theTurkish History Thesis, Kurds were classified as being of Turanian origin, having migrated fromCentral Asia5000 years ago.Hence, aKurdish nation was deniedand Kurds were called Mountain Turks.From 1927 on, aGeneral Inspectorruled over theFirst Inspectorate Generalthrough the implementation of emergency decrees and martial law. The areas aroundHakkari,Mardin,Siirt,Urfa,Van,ElaziğandDiyarbakırwere under his rule until 1952,when the government of theDemocratic Partybrought a new approach towards the Kurds and closed the General Inspectorates.
Referring to the main policy document in this context, the1934 law on resettlement, a policy targeting the region of Dersim as one of its first test cases, with disastrous consequences for the local population.The aim or the law was to spread the population with non-Turkish culture in to different areas than their origin, and to settle people who were willing to adhere to the Turkish culture in the formerly non-Turkish areas.TheFourth Inspectorate Generalwas created in January 1936 in the Dersim regionand the Kurdish language and culture were forbidden.TheDersim massacreis often confused with theDersim Rebellionthat took place during these events.In 1937–38, approximately 10,000-15,000 Alevis andKurdswere killed and thousands went into exile. A key component of theTurkificationprocess was the policy of massive population resettlement.
After the1960 coup, theState Planning Organization(Turkish:Devlet Planlama Teşkilatı, DPT) was established under the Prime Ministry to solve the problem of Kurdish separatism and underdevelopment. In 1961, the DPT prepared a report titled "The principles of the state's development plan for the east and southeast" (Turkish:Devletin Doğu ve Güneydoğu'da uygulayacağı kalkınma programının esasları), shortened to "Eastern Report". It proposed to defuse separatism by encouraging ethnic mixing through migration (to and from the Southeast). This was not unlike the policies pursued by theCommittee of Union and Progressunder theOttoman Empire. The Minister of Labor of the time,Bülent Ecevitof partial Kurdish ancestry,was critical of the report.From the establishment of the Inspectorate Generals until 1965, South East Turkey, was a forbidden area for foreigners.
During the 1970s, the separatist movement coalesced into theKurdish–Turkish conflict. From 1984 to 1999, the Turkish military was embroiled in a conflict with the PKK. Thevillage guard systemwas set up and armed by the Turkish state around 1984 to combat the PKK. The militia comprises local Kurds and it has around 58,000 members. Some of the village guards are fiercely loyal to the Turkish state, leading to infighting among Kurdish militants.
Due to the clashes between Turkish Army and the PKK the countryside in the southeast was depopulated, with Kurdish civilians moving to local defensible centers such asDiyarbakır,Van, andŞırnak, as well as to the cities of western Turkey and even to western Europe. The causes of the depopulation included the Turkish state's military operations against Kurdish population, some PKK atrocities against Kurdish clans they could not control and the poverty of the southeast.In the 1990s, hope for an end to the conflict emerged, as thePKK has declared several ceasefiresand the political society has organized several campaigns to facilitate a reconciliation.
"Evacuations were unlawful and violent. Security forces would surround a village using helicopters, armored vehicles, troops, and village guards, and burn stored produce, agricultural equipment, crops, orchards, forests, and livestock. They set fire to houses, often giving the inhabitants no opportunity to retrieve their possessions. During the course of such operations, security forces frequently abused and humiliated villagers, stole their property and cash, and ill-treated or tortured them before herding them onto the roads and away from their former homes. The operations were marked by scores of "disappearances" and extrajudicial executions. By the mid-1990s, more than 3,000 villages had been virtually wiped from the map, and, according to official figures, 378,335 Kurdish villagers had been displaced and left homeless."
In 2009, under the lead of Interior MinisterBeşir Atalay, a short-lived peace process was started, but was not supported by theRepublican Peoples Party(CHP) andNationalist Movement Party(MHP) over concerns over the ethnic and national unity of the state. It ended in December 2009, following an attack on Turkish soldiers by theKurdistan Workers' Partyon the 7 December and theban of the Democratic Society Party(DTP) on the 11 December 2009.In 2010, after clashes between the PKK and the government forces in eastern and southeastern Turkey, several locations inIraqi Kurdistanwere attacked by theTurkish Air Forceearly in June 2010.The air attack was reported 4 days later in a news article released immediately after the attack.The tense condition has continued on the border since 2007, with both sides responding to each other's every offensive move.
Following Turkey's electoral board decision to bar prominent Kurdish candidates who had allegedly outstanding warrants or were part of ongoing investigations for PKK-links from standing in upcoming elections,violent Kurdish protestserupted on April 19, 2011, resulting in at least one casualty.
On the eve of the 2012 year (28 December), the prime minister of Turkey,Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said that the government was conducting negotiations with jailed rebel leaderÖcalan.On 21 March 2013, after months of negotiations with the Turkish Government, Abdullah Ocalan's letter to people was read both in Turkish and Kurdish duringNowruzcelebrations inDiyarbakır. The letter called a cease-fire that included disarmament and withdrawal from Turkish soil and callingan end to armed struggle. ThePKKannounced that they would obey, stating that the year of 2013 is the year of solution either through war or through peace. On 25 April 2013, the PKK announced that it would be withdrawing all its forces withinTurkeyto northernIraq.
On 6 and 7 October 2014, riots erupted in various cities in Turkey for protesting theSiege of Kobani. Protesters were met with tear gas and water cannons; 37 people were killed in protests.Following theJuly 2015 crisis(afterISIL's2015 Suruç bombingattack on Kurdish activists), Turkey bombed alleged PKK bases in Iraq, following the PKK's unilateral decision to end the cease-fire (after many months of increasing tensions) and its suspected killing of two policeman in the town ofCeylanpınar(which the group denied carrying out).Violence soon spread throughout the country. Many Kurdish businesses were destroyed by mobs.The headquarters and branches of the pro-Kurdish rightsPeoples' Democratic Partywere also attacked.There are reports of civilians being killed in several Kurdish populated towns and villages.TheCouncil of Europeraised their concerns over the attacks on civilians and the blockade of Cizre.In 2008 and also in the indictment in thePeoples' Democratic Party closure casethe demand for education inKurdish languageor the teaching of the Kurdish language was equated of supporting terrorist activities by the PKK.By 2017, measures taken to curtail efforts to promote Kurdish culture within Turkey had included changing street names that honored Kurdish figures, removing statues of Kurdish heroes, and closing down television channels broadcasting in the Kurdish language.In July 2020, Turkey'sCouncil of Higher Educationbanned students studying theKurdish languageand literature at Turkish universities from writing their dissertations in Kurdish.
Kurdish politicians participate in Turkey'smainstream political parties, as well as smaller parties.Mehmet Mehdi Eker(Agriculture),Mehmet Şimşek(Finance) andBekir Bozdağ(Deputy Prime Minister) are examples of ministers with Kurdish background who worked as ministers in the61st government of Turkey.
There are also political parties that supportsminority politics,like thePeoples' Democratic Party(HDP), which holds 58 out of 600 seats in the Parliament, a multi-ethnic society and friendly Turkish-Kurdish relations.Critics have accused the party of mainly representing the interests of the Kurdish minority in south-eastern Turkey, where the party polls the highest. The Turkish Government underRecep Tayyip Erdoganblames the HDP of holding relations with the armed militia PKKand has dismissed andarrested dozens of elected Mayorssince the 2016and since themunicipal elections in March 2019dismissed another 45 Mayors from the 65 Mayorships the party won.Since 2016 alsoSelahattin DemirtaşandFigen Yüksekdağ(at the time HDP party leaders) and several other members of Parliament of the HDP are imprisoned as part of the2016 purges in Turkey.
Parties in Turkey with a high emphasis onKurdish nationalismor minority politics includeDemocratic Regions Party,Rights and Freedoms Party,Communist Party of Kurdistan,Islamic Party of Kurdistan,Peoples' Democratic Party,Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party,Kurdistan Democratic Party/North(illegal),Revolutionary Party of Kurdistan(illegal). Defunct parties includeDemocracy Party(DEP; 1993–94),Democratic People's Party(1997–2005),Democratic Society Party(DTP; 2005–09),Freedom and Democracy Party(ÖZDEP; 1992–93),Kurdistan Islamic Movement(1993–2004),Peace and Democracy Party(2008–14),People's Democracy Party(HADEP; 1994–2003),People's Labor Party(HEP; 1990–93),Workers Vanguard Party of Kurdistan(1975–92). Banned parties include HEP, ÖZDEP (1993), DEP (1994), HADEP (2003), and DTP (2009).
According to a 2020 poll conducted byKadir Has University, 17.3% of the surveyed people who identify as Kurdish answered the question "Which form of polity do Kurdish people want?" as "an independent Kurdish state". Around 25% of the non-Kurdish participants gave the same answer to the question. Roughly 33% of the Kurdish participants answered "more democratic Turkey", meanwhile those who responded "autonomy" composed 24.5% of the surveyed.
12.3% of those surveyed find the government policies concerning Kurdish issues "definitely successful", while those who said "definitely unsuccessful" were 11.7 percent. 31.5 percent of the respondents stated that the "main element connecting the Kurds and the Turks" wasIslam, 24% stated that they shared a common history, and the rate of those who said "democratic society" was 4.5 percent. To the question "How do you evaluate the dismissal of some provincial and district mayorships and the appointment of trustees by proxy after the31 March local elections?" 26.5 percent of the participants answered the question as positive and 38.2 percent as negative.
According to human rights organisations, since the beginning of the ongoingKurdish–Turkish conflictin 1978, there have been over 4,000Kurdish villages depopulated by Turkeyand some 40,000 people have been killed.Theconflict resumed in 2015. In December 2015,Turkish militaryoperations against Kurdish rebels in Turkish Kurdistan have killed hundreds of civilians, displaced hundreds of thousands, and caused massive destruction in residential areas.
Between 1982 and 1991, the performance or recording ofsongs in the Kurdish languageon television and radio was banned in Turkey, affecting singers such asŞivan Perwer,Mahsun Kırmızıgülandİbrahim Tatlıses. However, a black market sprang up, and pirate radio stations and underground recordings became available.
Şivan Perwer is a composer, vocalist and tembûr player. He concentrates mainly on political and nationalistic music—of which he is considered the founder in Kurdish music—as well as classical and folk music.
Another important Kurdish musician from Turkey isNizamettin Arıç(Feqiyê Teyra). He began with singing in Turkish, and made his directorial debut and also stars inKlamek ji bo Beko(A Song for Beko), one of the first films in Kurdish. Arıç rejected musical stardom at the cost of debasing his language and culture. As a result of singing in Kurdish, he was imprisoned, and then obliged to flee to Syria and eventually to Germany.
Some sources considerAli Hariri(1425–1495) as the first well-known poet who wrote in Kurdish. He was from theHakkariregion.Other well known areSharafkhan Bidlisithe author ofSharafnameandAhmad Khaniwho wrote the Kurdish national epicMem û Zin.During decades, the letters X, Q, and W which are part of theKurdish alphabetwere prohibited to be usedand only in 2013, the ban was lifted.
In 2011, Kanal D, Turkey's largest television station, began filmingAyrılık Olmasaydı: ben-u senin majority-Kurdish Diyarbakir. The show, written by a Kurdish screenwriter, professed to be the first in the popular genre to portray the Kurds in a positive light. The show was set to debut in early 2012, but suffered numerous delays, some say because of the controversial subject.
The majority of Kurds live in Turkey.Estimations on the Kurdish population in Turkey varies considerably according to sources. A professor of political science,Michael Gunterwrote that Kurdish sources tend to exaggerate numbers, while the states that Kurds live in often undercount the Kurdish population.
Their numbers are estimated at 14,000,000 people by the CIA world factbook (18% of population).A report commissioned by theNational Security Council (Turkey)in 2000 puts the number at 12,600,000 people, or 15.7% of the population.One Western source estimates that up to 25% of the Turkish population is Kurdish (approximately 18-19 million people).Kurdish nationalists put the figure at 20,000,000to 25,000,000.All of the above figures are for the number of people who identify as Kurds, not the number who speak a Kurdish language, but include both Kurds andZazas.Estimates based on native languages place the Kurdish population at 6% to 23%;Ibrahim Sirkeciclaims the closest figure should be above 17.8%, taking into account political context and the potential biases in responses recorded in surveys and censuses.The population growth rate of Kurds in the 1970s was given as 3.27%.According to two studies (2006 and 2008) study by KONDA, people who self-identify as Kurdish orZazaand/or speaks Kurmanji or Zazaki as a mother tongue correspond to 13.4% of the population. Based on higher birth rates among Kurdish people, and using 2000 Census results, KONDA suggested that this figure rises to 15.7% when children are included, at the end of 2007.
Since the immigration to the big cities in the west of Turkey, interethnic marriage has become more common. A 2013 study estimates that there are 2,708,000 marriages between Turks and Kurds/Zaza.A 2002 report showed that most mixed marriages happened in large cities and areas where their own group formed a minority. In most mixed marriages, the men were Kurds while the women were Turks. Turks with lower level education were more open to marrying Kurds, while Kurds with higher level education were more open to marrying Turks.
Turkish government statistics show that Kurdish women in Turkey give birth to about four children, more than double the rate for the rest of the Turkish population. The Kurdish population is growing, while the rest of the country has birth ratesbelow replacement level.In some Kurdish dominated provinces women give birth to 7.1 children on average.Women in Kurdish dominated provinces of eastern Turkey also have an illiteracy rate about three times higher than men, which correlates with higher birth rates. In 2000 66% of 15-year-old girls fromŞırnak Provincecould not read or write.
The Kurdish language in Turkey, primarilyKurmanjiandZazaki, has faced systemic marginalization, leading to significant language shift. According to a 2020 survey, while 80% of Kurdish parents of children aged 3–13 claimed proficiency in Kurdish, only 24% used it as the primary language of communication at home.Among urban Kurdish youth (aged 18–30), less than half reported regular use of Kurdish, and only 18% could read and write in their mother tongue.Efforts to promote Kurdish include introducing it as an elective subject in schools in 2012. Initial participation was 18,847 students, which grew to 77,931 by the 2015–2016 academic year.However, participation stagnated, with approximately 60,000 students studying Kurdish as of 2019 based on textbook data.University-level Kurdish studies began in 2011, withMardin Artuklu Universityreceiving 2,500 applications for its master's program in 2012–2013, though the program has faced challenges, including declining enrollment due to poor employment prospects for graduates.Despite these efforts, the broader language shift continues, exacerbated by limited intergenerational transmission and restrictions on mother-tongue education under Article 42 ofTurkey’s 1982 Constitution, which prohibits non-Turkish languages from being taught as mother tongues in schools.
The majority of people who identify as Kurds speak Kurmanji, meanwhile a minority of them speakTurkishor Zazaki as their mother language. A study published in 2015 that demographically analysed the Kurdish inhabited regions of Turkey (excluding diaspora) concluded that c. 92% people belonging to Kurdish ethnic identity spokeKurdish languages, 6.4% spoke Turkish, and 1.4% spoke Zaza as their mother language. Around 2% of the surveyed people who identified as Zaza, but not Kurd expressed that their mother tongue was Kurdish. 3.1% of the Turks and 4.6% of Arabs also stated that they spoke Kurdish. Concerning Alevi people, c. 70% spoke Zaza, 20% Kurdish and 10% Turkish.
Around 75% of the Kurds stated that they either had "very good" or "good" proficiency in their respective mother languages. 55% of those who had "very good" or "good" proficiency in their mother language stated that their children were also proficient. Around 75% of the Kurds and 2% of the Zazas (58.4% for Zazaki) declared that they spoke Kurdish at home. Turkish was spoken by 22.4% and 38.3% at home, respectively. Turkish (70%) was the dominant household language for Alevi population.
Most of the Kurdish people living in Turkey areSunniMuslims, thoughAlevismcomprises a sizable minority of about 30%.24.4% of the Kurds and 9.8% of Zazas declared that they were belonging toHanafischool, meanwhile the vast majority of them were of theShafiʽi school, which contrasted the local Turkish and Arab population, both of whom were overwhelmingly Hanafi. 3.1% of the Kurds and 14.8% of Zazas were Alevi, compared to 5.4 percent of Turks and 1.1 percent of Arabs.
Kurds and Zazas in Eastern Turkey are found to be more religious compared to both general population of Turkey and the Turkish population in the same region. Religious observance rates such asfasting during Ramadan,praying 5 times a dayor going toJumu'ahregularly show similar patterns. On the other hand, people who are Alevis show the least amount of religiosity and lowest observance rates, both regionally and nationally.96 to 97 percent of the surveyed Kurd and Zaza groups in Eastern Turkey had someone in their household who wears headscarf, which was higher compared to Turkish population of the region. Only around 11% of Alevis declared that there were someone with headscarf in their household. 4.3% of both Kurd and Zaza groups were members of a specific religious sect, which was roughly double the rate of regional Turkish and Alevi population.
33.4% of the Kurds and 21.2% of the Zaza from Eastern Turkey declared that they had tribal affiliations (Kurdish:eşîr, Turkish:aşiret), compared to c. 3% of the Turks in the same region. Tribal affiliation was highest (73%) among the people who declared that they were Alevis. 18.5% of those who were a member of a tribe stated that their tribe was an important factor for their political decisions. Around 10% of the surveyed tribal members claimed it was economically important to be in a tribe.
TheKurds of Central Anatolia(Kurdish:Kurdên Anatolyayê/Anatolê,Turkish:Orta Anadolu Kürtleriorİç Anadolu Kürtleriare theKurdish peoplewho have immigrated and been inCentral Anatolia(present dayAksaray,Ankara,Çankırı,Çorum,Eskişehir,Karaman,Kayseri,Kırıkkale,Kırşehir,Konya,Nevşehir,Niğde,Sivas,Yozgatprovinces) since about 16th century.They number between 50,000 and 100,000 people. The core of the Kurds of Central Anatolia is formed byTuz Gölü Kürtleri(Kurds ofLake Tuz) who live in the provincesAnkara,KonyaandAksaray.Mustafa Kemal(Atatürk) mentioned them as "Konya çöllerindeki Kürtler" (Kurds in the Konyadeserts) in the interview withAhmet Emin(Yalman) dated January 16/17, 1923.
According toHermann Wenzel, the original breeders of theAngora goatwere the Kurds of Inner Anatolia.
The largest tribes of the Kurds of Central Anatolia are the Bazaini or Shaikh Bazaini, Judikan, Saifkan, Chelebi, Janbeki, Jehanbegli, Khallikan, Mutikan, Hajibani, Barakati, Badeli, Ukhchizhemi, Rashvan, Sherdi, Urukchi, Milan, Zirikan, Atmanikan, and Tirikan. Formerly, some of the Janbegli, Rashvan and Milan tribes were ofAleviorigin and followedAlevism.
Two or the four primary dialects of Kurdish are used by the Central Anatolian Kurds. These areKurmanjiandDimili/Zaza. Generally, their mother language isKurmanjiKurdish who have difficulty understanding the dialect spoken in Haymana where theŞêxbizintribe live.It is said that the new generation of Kurdish people in some settlements no longer speak Kurdish.
Since the 1970s, theEuropean Court of Human Rights(ECHR) has condemned Turkey for thousands of human rights abuses.The judgments are related to executions of Kurdish civilians,torturing,forced displacements,destroyed villages,arbitrary arrests,murdered and disappeared Kurdish journalists.To cite a recent case, in 2018 and 2020, the ECHR ruled that the arrest and ongoing imprisonment of Selahattin Demirtaş was contrary to five articles in theEuropean Convention on Human Rightsand had the "ulterior purpose of stifling pluralism and limiting freedom of political debate"and ordered Turkey to pay him 25,000 Euros in compensation.Turkey refused to release him.
TheEuropean 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 at the International Human Rights Law Group: "the problem in Turkey is the Constitution is against the Kurds and the apartheid constitution is very similar to it."
In 1998Leyla Zanareceived a jail sentence.This prompted one member of the U.S. House of Representative, Elizabeth Furse, to accuse Turkey of being a racist state and continuing to deny the Kurds a voice in the state". Abbas Manafy fromNew Mexico Highlands Universityclaims "The Kurdish deprivation of their own culture, language, and tradition is incompatible with democratic norms. It reflects an apartheid system that victimizes minorities like Armenians, Kurds, andAlevis."