85-652: Kurdistan ( Kurdish : کوردستان , romanized : Kurdistan , lit. 'land of the Kurds';; [ˌkʊɾdɪˈstɑːn] ), or Greater Kurdistan , is a roughly defined geo- cultural region in West Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture , languages , and national identity have historically been based. Geographically, Kurdistan roughly encompasses
170-405: A cold climate receiving annual precipitation adequate to sustain temperate forests and shrubs . Mountain chains harbor pastures and forested valleys, totaling approximately 16 million hectares (160,000 km), including firs and countryside is mostly oaks , conifers , platanus , willow , poplar and, to the west of Kurdistan, olive trees . The region north of the mountainous region on
255-689: A military operation wherein the Iraqi government forces attacked the Kurds, defeating them and forcing them to abandon the referendum. A month later, Iraq declared full victory over ISIS and re-established control over all previously occupied territory. Following the Kurds’ failed attempt to achieve independence, the government of Iraq has exacted severe punishment against KRI in a number of punitive measures. Some Kurdish officials in Iraq have described this as evidence of
340-404: A Kurdish majority, while others campaign for greater autonomy within the existing national boundaries. The delineation of the region remains disputed and varied, with some maps greatly exaggerating its boundaries. Historically, the word "Kurdistan" is first attested in 11th century Seljuk chronicles. Many disparate Kurdish dynasties, emirates, principalities, and chiefdoms were established from
425-686: A battle near Amid and Siverek in 1062 as to have taken place in Kurdistan . The second record occurs in the prayer from the colophon of an Armenian manuscript of the Gospels , written in 1200. A later use of the term Kurdistan is found in Empire of Trebizond documents in 1336 and in Nuzhat al-Qulub , written by Hamdallah Mustawfi in 1340. According to Sharaf al-Din Bitlisi in his Sharafnama ,
510-558: A capital of the same name. The pashalics of Kirkook and Solimania also comprise part of Upper Curdistan. Lower Curdistan comprises all the level tract to the east of the Tigris, and the minor ranges immediately bounding the plains and reaching thence to the foot of the great range, which may justly be denominated the Alps of western Asia. The northern, northwestern and northeastern parts of Kurdistan are referred to as upper Kurdistan, and includes
595-483: A dialect of Southern Kurdish or as a fourth language under Kurdish is a matter of debate, but the differences between Laki and other Southern Kurdish dialects are minimal. The literary output in Kurdish was mostly confined to poetry until the early 20th century, when more general literature became developed. Today, the two principal written Kurdish dialects are Kurmanji and Sorani. Sorani is, along with Arabic , one of
680-407: A federal region; even though the constitution does not include the term “autonomy”, it emphasises decentralisation and devolution , allowing regions and governorates to administer local affairs. In practice, however, only Kurdistan Region has exercised this authority granted by the constitution. In September 2017, Iraqi Kurds held a one-sided independence referendum , which eventually failed and
765-477: A thorough delineation is difficult, the Encyclopaedia of Islam delineated Kurdistan as following: In Turkey, the Kurds inhabit the whole of the eastern region of the country. According to Trotter (1878), the limit of their extent to the north was the line Divriği — Erzurum — Kars ... The Kurds also occupy the western slopes of Ararat, the districts of Kağızman and Tuzluca . On the west they extend in
850-510: 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
935-462: A wide belt beyond the course of the Euphrates, and, in the region of Sivas , in the districts of Kangal and Divriği. Equally, the whole region includes areas to the east and south-east of these limits... Turkish Kurdistan numbers at least 17 of them almost totally: in the north-east, the provinces of Erzincan , Erzurum and Kars ; in the centre, going from west to east and from north to south,
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#17327652085221020-412: A year in the plains, and between 700 and 3,000 mm a year on the high plateau between mountain chains. The mountainous zone along the borders with Iran and Turkey experiences dry summers , rainy and sometimes snowy winters, and damp springs, while to the south the climate progressively transitions toward semi-arid and desert zones. Kurdistan is one of the most mountainous regions in the world with
1105-565: Is a Northwestern Iranian language or group of languages spoken by Kurds in the region of Kurdistan , namely in southeast Turkey , northern Iraq , northwest Iran , and northern Syria . It is also spoken in northeast Iran, as well as in certain areas of Armenia and Azerbaijan . Kurdish varieties constitute a dialect continuum , with some mutually unintelligible varieties, and collectively have 26 million native speakers. The main varieties of Kurdish are Kurmanji , Sorani , and Southern Kurdish ( Xwarîn ). The majority of
1190-600: Is a terrorist group and has acted accordingly. According to 2016 estimate Kurdish Institute of Paris , total population of Kurdistan is around 34.5 million, and Kurds making 86% of population of Northern Kurdistan. There are Arab , Turkic , Assyrian (Syriac), Armenian and Azerbaijani minorities in Northern Kurdistan. In Southern Kurdistan there are Christian (Assyrian and Armenian) and Turkish (Turkmen) minorities as well. Iraqi and Syrian Turkmen share close ties with Turkish people and do not identify with
1275-587: Is also a Kurdistan Province in Iran, which is not self-ruled. Kurds fighting in the Syrian Civil War were able to take control of large sections of northern Syria and establish self-governing regions in an Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (commonly called Rojava), where they seek autonomy in a federal Syria after the war. Kurdistan means "Land of the Kurds" and was first attested in 11th-century Seljuk chronicles. The exact origins of
1360-559: Is an official language in Iraq. In Syria, on the other hand, publishing materials in Kurdish is forbidden, though this prohibition is not enforced any more due to the Syrian civil war . Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish, prohibiting the language in education and broadcast media. In March 2006, Turkey allowed private television channels to begin airing programming in Kurdish. However,
1445-622: Is classified as part of the Zaza–Gorani branch of Indo-Iranian languages. The Zaza language , spoken mainly in Turkey, differs both grammatically and in vocabulary and is generally not understandable by Gorani speakers but it is considered related to Gorani. Almost all Zaza-speaking communities, as well as speakers of the closely related Shabaki dialect spoken in parts of Iraqi Kurdistan , identify themselves as ethnic Kurds. Geoffrey Haig and Ergin Öpengin in their recent study suggest grouping
1530-516: Is divided into several self-governing regions. The Afrin , Jazira and Euphrates Regions followed from the cantons established in January 2014 and were envisioned as sub-divisions for a future federalisation of Syria . The three cantons were later reorganized into three regions with subordinate cantons, areas, districts and communes. In March 2018, most of the Afrin Region was captured by
1615-417: Is given in the text of Sharafnama , written by Prince Sharaf al-Din Bitlisi in 1597. The emirates included Baban , Soran , Badinan and Garmiyan in the south; Bakran, Bohtan (or Botan) and Badlis in the north, and Mukriyan and Ardalan in the east. The earliest medieval attestation of the toponym Kurdistan is found in a 12th-century Armenian historical text by Matteos Urhayeci . He described
1700-461: Is home to an estimated 6 to 8 million Kurds. In A Dictionary of Scripture Geography (published 1846), John Miles describes Upper and Lower Kurdistan as following: Modern Curdistan is of much greater extent than the ancient Assyria, and is composed of two parts the Upper and Lower. In the former is the province of Ardelan, the ancient Arropachatis, now nominally a part of Irak Ajami, and belonging to
1785-458: Is not a unified language, its many dialects are interrelated and at the same time distinguishable from other Western Iranian languages . The same source classifies different Kurdish dialects as two main groups, northern and central. The average Kurmanji speaker does not find it easy to communicate with the inhabitants of Sulaymaniyah or Halabja . Some linguistic scholars assert that the term "Kurdish" has been applied extrinsically in describing
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#17327652085221870-459: Is not recognized in Turkey, and prior to 2013 the use of Kurdish names containing the letters X , W , and Q , which do not exist in the Turkish alphabet , was not allowed. In 2012, Kurdish-language lessons became an elective subject in public schools. Previously, Kurdish education had only been possible in private institutions. In Iran, though it is used in some local media and newspapers, it
1955-528: Is not used in public schools. In 2005, 80 Syrian and Iranian Kurds took part in an experiment and gained scholarships to study in Kurdistan Region , Iraq, in their native tongue. In Kyrgyzstan , 96.21% of the Kurdish population speak Kurdish as their native language. In Kazakhstan, the corresponding percentage is 88.7%. Regions of Rojava The de facto Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria , sometimes referred to as "Rojava",
2040-461: Is translated to simply mean Kurdish. The Mokriani variety of Sorani is widely spoken in Mokrian. Piranshahr and Mahabad are two principal cities of the Mokrian 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
2125-635: The Financial Times indicating Turkey's readiness to accept an independent Kurdistan in northern Iraq. This became increasingly less likely, however, when in July 2017, the Iraqi government declared victory in the Battle of Mosul against ISIS in the group’s last stronghold in the country. Following this, in September 2017, Iraqi Kurds held a one-sided independence referendum which eventually triggered
2210-570: The Encyclopaedia of Islam , Kurdistan covers around 190,000 km (73,000 sq mi) in Turkey, 125,000 km (48,000 sq mi) in Iran, 65,000 km (25,000 sq mi) in Iraq, and 12,000 km (4,600 sq mi) in Syria, with a total area of approximately 392,000 km (151,000 sq mi). Turkish Kurdistan encompasses a large area of Eastern Anatolia Region and southeastern Anatolia of Turkey and it
2295-698: The Kurd Dagh ;..., to the east of the Euphrates where the river enters Syria near Jarablus ; and finally, a belt of 250 km. in length by 30 km. in depth in the Jazira . Many of the maps delineating Kurdistan are greatly exaggerated, also incorporating non-Kurdish regions, which has made the subject very controversial. Various groups, among them the Guti , Hurrians , Mannai ( Mannaeans ), and Armenians , lived in this region in antiquity. The original Mannaean homeland
2380-550: The Middle East region. It is the source for much of the water supply for neighboring countries. It means that political stability and peace in the region are important to the water supply of the region and preventing wars. Many think that for conserving the water "returning to traditional water-conserving cultivation techniques" will be needed, as well as "communal economy" Kurdish language Ancient Medieval Modern Kurdish ( Kurdî , کوردی )
2465-656: The Persian Gulf near Bushehr , and included the Lur inhabited areas of southern Zagros . The historian Jordi Tejel has identified "Greater Kurdistan" as being one of the "Kurdish myths" that the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria (KDPS) were involved in promoting to Kurds in Syria. An academic source published by the University of Cambridge has described maps of greater Kurdistan created in
2550-483: The Safavid and Ottoman empires. A major division of Kurdistan occurred in the aftermath of the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514, and was formalized in the 1639 Treaty of Zuhab . In a geography textbook of late Ottoman military school by Ahmet Cevad Kurdistan span over the cities Erzurum , Van , Urfa , Sulaymanyah , Kirkuk , Mosul and Diyarbakir among others and was one out of six regions of Ottoman Asia. After
2635-623: The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) and Syrian National Army (SNA) in Operation Olive Branch , becoming part of the Turkish occupation of northern Syria . The Afrin Region was reduced to an area around Tell Rifaat . In September 2018, the regions of Raqqa , Tabqa , Manbij and Deir ez-Zor were incorporated into the de facto autonomous region as well. Parts of the Euphrates and Jazira Regions also became occupied by
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2720-925: The Turkmen of Turkmenistan and Central Asia . Kurdistan has also significant Caucasian population, Caucasians of Kurdistan included Chechens and Ingushes in Varto , Ossetians in Ahlat and Circassians . From early stage on, these Caucasians went through a process of Kurdification and thereby had Kurdish as their mother tongue. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica , Kurdistan covers about 190,000 km (or 73,000 square miles), and its chief towns are Diyarbakır (Amed), Bitlis (Bedlîs) and Van (Wan) in Turkey, Erbil (Hewlêr) and Sulaymaniyah in Iraq, and Kermanshah (Kirmanşan), Sanandaj (Sine), Ilam and Mahabad (Mehabad) in Iran. According to
2805-425: 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. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, political parties that represented Kurdish interests were banned. In 1983, the Kurdish provinces were included in the state of emergency region , which was placed under martial law in response to
2890-500: The red fox , goitered gazelle , Eurasian otter , striped hyena , Persian fallow deer , long-eared hedgehog , onager , mangar and the Euphrates softshell turtle . Birds include, the hooded crow , common starling , Eurasian magpie , European robin , water pipit , spotted flycatcher , namaqua dove , saker falcon , griffon vulture , little crake and collared pratincole , among others. Mountains are important geographical and symbolic features of Kurdish life, as evidenced by
2975-456: The 1937 Dersim rebellion . All were forcefully put down by the authorities. The region was declared a closed military area from which foreigners were banned between 1925 and 1965. In an attempt to deny their existence , the Turkish government categorized Kurds as " Mountain Turks " until 1991. The words "Kurds", "Kurdistan", or "Kurdish" were officially banned by the Turkish government. Following
3060-474: The 1940s and forward as: "These maps have become some of the most influential propaganda tools for the Kurdish nationalist discourse. They depict a territorially exaggerated version of the territory of Kurdistan, extending into areas with no majority Kurdish populations. Despite their production with political aims related to specific claims on the demographic and ethnographic structure of the region, and their questionable methodologies, they have become 'Kurdistan in
3145-521: The 8th to 19th centuries. Administratively, the 20th century saw the establishment of the short-lived areas of the Kurdish state (1918–1919), Kingdom of Kurdistan (1921–1924), Kurdistansky Uyezd i.e. "Red Kurdistan" (1923–1929), Republic of Ararat (1927–1930), and Republic of Mahabad (1946). In Iraq, following the Aylūl Revolt , the government entered into an agreement with the rebellious Kurds, granting Kurds local self-rule. Soon after, however,
3230-624: The Iraqi government’s aim to return to a centralised political system and abandon the federal system it adopted in 2005. In a leaked letter published by Al-Monitor in September 2023, Masrour Barzani , the prime minister of KRG warned about an imminent collapse of the federal model in Iraq (i.e. a return to centralism ) and urged the United States to intervene, saying: "I write to you now at another critical juncture in our history, one that I fear we may have difficulty overcoming. …[W]e are bleeding economically and hemorrhaging politically. For
3315-537: The Kurdish languages into Northern Kurdish, Central Kurdish, Southern Kurdish, Zaza , and Gorani, and avoid the subgrouping Zaza–Gorani. The notable professor Zare Yusupova has carried out a lot of work and research into the Gorani dialect (as well as many other minority/ancient Kurdish dialects). During his stay in Damascus , historian Ibn Wahshiyya came across two books on agriculture written in Kurdish, one on
3400-664: The Kurdish-inhabited regions of eastern Anatolia was opposed by many Kurds, and has resulted in a long-running separatist conflict in which tens of thousands of lives have been lost. The region saw several major Kurdish rebellions, including the Koçgiri rebellion of 1920 under the Ottomans, then successive insurrections under the Turkish state, including the 1924 Sheikh Said rebellion , the Republic of Ararat in 1927, and
3485-432: The Kurds of Amadiya . This work is very important in Kurdish history as it is the first acknowledgment of the widespread use of a distinctive Kurdish language. Garzoni was given the title Father of Kurdology by later scholars. The Kurdish language was banned in a large portion of Kurdistan for some time. After the 1980 Turkish coup d'état until 1991 the use of the Kurdish language was illegal in Turkey. Today, Sorani
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3570-747: The Kurds speak Kurmanji, and most Kurdish texts are written in Kurmanji and Sorani. Kurmanji is written in the Hawar alphabet , a derivation of the Latin script , and Sorani is written in the Sorani alphabet , a derivation of the Arabic script . A separate group of non-Kurdish Northwestern Iranian languages, the Zaza–Gorani languages , are also spoken by several million ethnic Kurds. The classification of Laki as
3655-620: The Syrian and Bar Hebraeus . They mention the mountains of Qardu, city of Qardu and country of Qardawaye. In the tenth and eleventh centuries, several Kurdish principalities emerged in the region: in the north the Shaddadids (951–1174) (in east Transcaucasia between the Kur and Araxes rivers) and the Rawadids (955–1221) (centered on Tabriz and which controlled all of Azerbaijan ), in
3740-428: The Turkish government said that they must avoid showing children's cartoons , or educational programs that teach Kurdish, and could broadcast only for 45 minutes a day or four hours a week. The state-run Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) started its 24-hour Kurdish television station on 1 January 2009 with the motto "we live under the same sky". The Turkish prime minister sent a video message in Kurdish to
3825-487: The activities of the militant separatist organization the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). A guerrilla war took place through the 1980s and 1990s in which much of the countryside was evacuated, thousands of Kurdish villages were destroyed by the government , and numerous summary executions were carried out by both sides. Food embargoes were placed on Kurdish villages and towns. Tens of thousands were killed in
3910-509: The agreement collapsed . Later, during the Iraqi no-fly zones conflict , which followed the Gulf War , the Iraqi military withdrew from northern and southern Iraq, allowing the Kurds to fill the vacuum and regain lost control in northern Iraq. After the invasion of Iraq , and since the creation of the new Iraqi federal state , the new constitution issued in 2005 recognises Kurdistan Region as
3995-453: The approximate borders of the areas where the main ethnic core of the speakers of the contemporary Kurdish dialects was formed. The most argued hypothesis on the localisation of the ethnic territory of the Kurds remains D.N. Mackenzie 's theory, proposed in the early 1960s (Mackenzie 1961). Developing the ideas of P. Tedesco (1921: 255) and regarding the common phonetic isoglosses shared by Kurdish, Persian, and Baluchi , Mackenzie concluded that
4080-407: The areas from west of Amed to Lake Urmia. The lowlands of southern Kurdistan are called lower Kurdistan. The main cities in this area are Kirkuk and Arbil. Much of the region is typified by a continental climate – hot in the summer, cold in the winter. Despite this, much of the region is fertile and has historically exported grain and livestock . Precipitation varies between 200 and 400 mm
4165-544: The autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government . The word 'Kurdistan', whether written or spoken, can still lead to detention and prosecution in Turkey. Kurdistan has been characterized as an "international colony" by the scholar Ismail Besikci . The successful 2014 Northern Iraq offensive by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), and the resultant weakening of the ability of the Iraqi state to project power at
4250-676: The border with Iran and Turkey features meadow grasses and such wild trees as, Abies cilicica , Fagus sylvatica , Quercus calliprinos , Quercus brantii , Quercus infectoria , Quercus ithaburensis , Quercus macranthera , Cupressus sempervirens , Platanus orientalis , Pinus brutia , Juniperus foetidissima , Juniperus excelsa , Juniperus oxycedrus , Prunus cerasus , Salix alba , Fraxinus excelsior , Paliurus spina-christi , Olea europaea , Ficus carica , Populus euphratica , Populus nigra , Crataegus monogyna , Crataegus azarolus , Prunus cerasifera , rose hips , Cercis siliquastrum , pistachio trees , pear and Sorbus graeca . The desert in
4335-530: The boundaries of the Kurdish land begin at the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf and stretch on an even line to the end of Malatya and Marash . Evliya Çelebi , who traveled in the region between 1640 and 1655, mentioned that Kurdistan includes Erzurum , Van , Hakkari , Cizre , Imaddiya , Mosul , Shahrizor , Harir , Ardalan , Baghdad , Derne, Derteng, until Basra . In the 16th century, after prolonged wars, Kurdish-inhabited areas were split between
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#17327652085224420-568: The collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the Allies contrived to split Kurdistan (as detailed in the ultimately unratified Treaty of Sèvres ) among several countries, including Kurdistan, Armenia and others. However, the reconquest of these areas by the forces of Kemal Atatürk (and other pressing issues) caused the Allies to accept the renegotiated Treaty of Lausanne (1923) and the borders of
4505-520: The culture of the vine and the palm tree, and the other on water and the means of finding it out in unknown ground. He translated both from Kurdish into Arabic in the early 9th century AD. Among the earliest Kurdish religious texts is the Yazidi Black Book , the sacred book of Yazidi faith. It is considered to have been authored sometime in the 13th century AD by Hassan bin Adi (b. 1195 AD),
4590-553: The details. 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 shares vocabulary with both of them and there are some grammatical similarities with Central Kurdish. The Hawrami dialects of Gorani includes
4675-853: The east the Hasanwayhids (959–1015) (in Zagros between Shahrizor and Khuzistan ) and the Annazids (990–1116) (centered in Hulwan ) and in the west the Marwanids (990–1096) to the south of Diyarbakır and north of Jazira . Kurdistan in the Middle Ages was a collection of semi-independent and independent states called emirates . It was nominally under indirect political or religious influence of Khalifs or Shahs . A comprehensive history of these states and their relationship with their neighbors
4760-564: The fact that this usage reflects the sense of ethnic identity and unity among the Kurds. From a linguistic or at least a grammatical point of view, however, Kurmanji and Sorani differ as much from each other as English and German, and it would seem appropriate to refer to them as languages. For example, Sorani has neither gender nor case-endings, whereas Kurmanji has both.... Differences in vocabulary and pronunciation are not as great as between German and English, but they are still considerable. According to Encyclopaedia of Islam , although Kurdish
4845-493: The fifteenth century. From the 15th to 17th centuries, classical Kurdish poets and writers developed a literary language. The most notable classical Kurdish poets from this period were Ali Hariri , Ahmad Khani , Malaye Jaziri and Faqi Tayran . The Italian priest Maurizio Garzoni published the first Kurdish grammar titled Grammatica e Vocabolario della Lingua Kurda in Rome in 1787 after eighteen years of missionary work among
4930-510: The first time in my tenure as prime minister, I hold grave concerns that this dishonorable campaign against us may cause the collapse of … the very model of a Federal Iraq that the United States sponsored in 2003 and purported to stand by since." According to a report published in 2024 by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy , Kurdistan Region's autonomy "hangs in the balance" due to several punitive measures imposed against
5015-473: The former by the government of Iraq in an effort to punish it and ultimately strip it completely of its autonomy. Various sources have reported that Al-Nusra has issued a fatwā calling for Kurdish women and children in Syria to be killed, and the fighting in Syria has led tens of thousands of refugees to flee to Iraq's Kurdistan region . As of 2015, Turkey was actively supporting Al-Nusra, but as of January 2017, Turkey's foreign ministry has said that Al-Nusra
5100-524: The great-grandnephew of Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir (d. 1162), the founder of the faith. It contains the Yazidi account of the creation of the world, the origin of man, the story of Adam and Eve and the major prohibitions of the faith. According to The Cambridge History of the Kurds , "the first proper 'text'" written in Kurdish is a short Christian prayer. It was written in Armenian characters, and dates from
5185-466: The instability in Syria and Iraq that exists as of 2014, attested that "Kurdistan may exist by 2030". The weakening of the Iraqi state following the 2014 Northern Iraq offensive by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has also presented an opportunity for independence for Iraqi Kurdistan, augmented by Turkey's move towards acceptance of such a state although it opposes moves toward Kurdish autonomy in Turkey and Syria. The incorporation into Turkey of
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#17327652085225270-490: The language the Kurds speak, whereas some ethnic Kurds have used the word term to simply describe their ethnicity and refer to their language as Kurmanji , Sorani , Hewrami , Kermanshahi , Kalhori or whatever other dialect or language they speak. Some historians have noted that it is only recently that the Kurds who speak the Sorani dialect have begun referring to their language as Kurdî , in addition to their identity, which
5355-407: The liwaʾs of Kirkuk , Arbil and Sulaymaniyah (entirely Kurdish) and, in the... nahiyas of Khanaqin and Mandali , where they are neighbours of the Kurds of Iran to the west of the Zagros. In Syria, they constitute three distinct belts, in the north of the country and to the south of the highway which forms a frontier and where they are in direct contact with their compatriots in Turkey... [I]n
5440-559: The minds of Kurds' and the boundaries they indicate have been readily accepted." At the end of the 1991 Gulf War , the Coalition established a no-fly zone over northern Iraq to provide humanitarian relief to and safeguard the Kurds who would be subjected to Iraqi air attacks. Amid the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from three northern provinces, Kurdistan Region emerged in 1992 as an autonomous entity inside Iraq with its own local government and parliament. A 2010 US report, written before
5525-629: The modern Iraq-Turkey border, while Hazza is 12 km southwest of modern Erbil . In another passage in the same document, the region of the Khabur River is also identified as land of the Kurds . According to Al-Muqaddasi and Yaqut al-Hamawi , Tamanon was located on the south-western or southern slopes of Mount Judi and south of Cizre . Other geographical references to the Kurds in Syriac sources appear in Zuqnin chronicle, writings of Michael
5610-410: The modern Republic of Turkey, leaving the Kurds without a self-ruled region. Other Kurdish areas were assigned to the new British and French mandated states of Iraq and Syria . At the San Francisco Peace Conference of 1945, the Kurdish delegation proposed consideration of territory claimed by the Kurds, which encompassed an area extending from the Mediterranean shores near Adana to the shores of
5695-418: The modern names of Kurds and Kurdistan; T. A. Sinclair and other scholars have dismissed this identification as false, while a common association is asserted in the Columbia Encyclopedia . Some of the ancient districts of Kurdistan and their corresponding modern names: One of the earliest records of the phrase land of the Kurds is found in an Assyrian Christian document of late antiquity , describing
5780-425: The name Kurd are unclear. The suffix -stan ( Persian : ـستان, translit. stân ) is Persian for land. "Kurdistan" was also formerly spelled Curdistan . One of the ancient names of this region was Corduene . The 19th-century Kurdistan Eyalet was the first time that the Ottoman Empire used the term 'Kurdistan' to refer to an administrative unit rather than a geographical region. Albeit admitting
5865-419: The north west division called Al Jobal. It contains five others namely, Betlis, the ancient Carduchia, lying to the south and south west of the lake Van. East and south east of Betlis is the principality of Julamerick, south west of it is the principality of Amadia. the fourth is Jeezera ul Omar, a city on an island in the Tigris, and corresponding to the ancient Bezabde. the fifth and largest is Kara Djiolan, with
5950-581: 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
6035-496: The northwestern Zagros and the eastern Taurus mountain ranges. Kurdistan generally comprises the following four regions: southeastern Turkey ( Northern Kurdistan ), northern Iraq ( Southern Kurdistan ), northwestern Iran ( Eastern Kurdistan ), and northern Syria ( Western Kurdistan ). Some definitions also include parts of southern Transcaucasia . Certain Kurdish nationalist organizations seek to create an independent nation state consisting of some or all of these areas with
6120-665: The opening ceremony, which was attended by Minister of Culture and other state officials. The channel uses the X , W , and Q letters during broadcasting. However, most of these restrictions on private Kurdish television channels were relaxed in September 2009. In 2010, Kurdish municipalities in the southeast began printing marriage certificates , water bills, construction and road signs , as well as emergency, social and cultural notices in Kurdish alongside Turkish. Also Imams began to deliver Friday sermons in Kurdish and Esnaf price tags in Kurdish. Many mayors were tried for issuing public documents in Kurdish language. The Kurdish alphabet
6205-598: The other languages spoken by Kurds in the region including the Gorani language in parts of Iranian Kurdistan and Iraqi Kurdistan. Philip G. Kreyenbroek , an expert writing in 1992, says: Since 1932 most Kurds have used the Roman script to write Kurmanji.... Sorani is normally written in an adapted form of the Arabic script.... Reasons for describing Kurmanji and Sorani as 'dialects' of one language are their common origin and
6290-407: The provinces of Malatya , Tunceli , Elazığ , Bingöl , Muş , Karaköse ( Ağrı ), then Adıyaman , Diyarbakır , Siirt , Bitlis and Van ; Finally, the southern provinces of Şanlıurfa , Mardin and Çölamerik ( Hakkarî )... [Kurds] inhabit the north-west of Iran. Firstly in the provinces of West Azerbaijan , to the east of Lake Rida'iyya ..., the districts of Maku , Kotur , Shahpur , and to
6375-402: The saying "Kurds have no friends but the mountains." Mountains are regarded as sacred by the Kurds . Included in the region are Mount Judi and Ararat (both prominent in Kurdish folklore), Zagros , Qandil , Shingal , Mount Abdulaziz , Kurd Mountains , Jabal al-Akrad , Shaho, Gabar, Hamrin , and Nisir . Iraqi Kurdistan is a region relatively rich in water, especially for countries in
6460-405: The south is mostly steppe and would feature xeric plants such as palm trees , tamarix , date palm , fraxinus , poa , white wormwood and chenopodiaceae . The steppe and desert in the south, by contrast, have such species as palm trees and date palm . Animals found in the region include the Syrian brown bear , wild boar , gray wolf , the golden jackal , Indian crested porcupine ,
6545-460: The south of the lake, Mahabad (ex-Sabla); in the province of Ardalan, called the province of Kurdistan , whose capital is Senna or Sanandaj , Hawraman ; in the province of Kermanshah , Qasr-e Shirin ... In Iraq, the Kurds occupy the north and northeast of the country in the liwaʾs or provinces of Duhok ... Left outside their administration are Sinjar and Shekhan , peopled by the Yazidis ;
6630-407: The speakers of these three languages may once have been in closer contact. Kurdish varieties are divided into three or four groups, with varying degrees of mutual intelligibility. In historical evolution terms, Kurmanji is less modified than Sorani and Pehlewani in both phonetic and morphological structure. The Sorani group has been influenced by among other things its closer cultural proximity to
6715-591: The stories of Assyrian saints of the Middle East , such as Abdisho . When the Sasanian Marzban asked Mar Abdisho about his place of origin, he replied that according to his parents, they were originally from Hazza, a village in Assyria . However, they were later driven out of Hazza by pagans , and settled in Tamanon, which according to Abdisho was in the land of the Kurds. Tamanon lies just north of
6800-511: The time, also presented a "golden opportunity" for the Kurds to increase their independence and possibly declare an independent Kurdish state. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant , who took more than 80 Turkish persons captive in Mosul during their offensive, is an enemy of Turkey, making Kurdistan useful for Turkey as a buffer state. On 28 June 2014 Hüseyin Çelik , a spokesman for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), made comments to
6885-586: The two official languages of Iraq and is in political documents simply referred to as "Kurdish". The Kurdish varieties belong to the Iranian branch of the Indo-European family . They are generally classified as Northwestern Iranian languages, or by some scholars as intermediate between Northwestern and Southwestern Iranian. Martin van Bruinessen notes that "Kurdish has a strong South-Western Iranian element", whereas "Zaza and Gurani [...] do belong to
6970-515: The violence and hundreds of thousands were forced to leave their homes. Turkey has historically feared that a Kurdish state in Northern Iraq would encourage and support Kurdish separatists in the adjacent Turkish provinces, and have therefore historically strongly opposed Kurdish independence in Iraq. However, following the chaos in Iraq after the US invasion , Turkey has increasingly worked with
7055-545: The vying Parthian and Roman empires. Corduene became a vassal state of the Roman Republic in 66 BC and remained allied with the Romans until AD 384. After 66 BC, it passed another 5 times between Rome and Persia. Corduene was situated to the east of Tigranocerta , that is, to the east and south of present-day Diyarbakır in south-eastern Turkey. Some historians have correlated a connection between Corduene with
7140-418: Was abandoned. The subsequent effort by the Iraqi government to punish Kurdistan Region has resulted in the latter losing authorities it had previously possessed, and the future of Kurdish autonomy in Iraq has been called into question. Iraqi Kurdish officials have also complained of efforts by the Iraqi government to return to the pre-2003 centralized government and dismantle Kurdistan Region altogether. There
7225-556: Was situated east and south of the Lake Urmia , roughly centered around modern-day Mahabad . The region came under Persian rule during the reign of Cyrus the Great and Darius I . The Kingdom of Corduene , which emerged from the declining Seleucid Empire , was located to the south and south-east of Lake Van between Persia and Mesopotamia and ruled northern Mesopotamia and southeastern Anatolia from 189 BC to AD 384 as vassals of
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