World Peace and Security
- Fri Mar 21 2003
Back to Choike in-depth report Source: The World Guide
The Kurds are an ethnic and linguistic group living mostly in the mountains of Taurus, in eastern Anatolia, in the regions of Zagros and Khorasan (Iran), and in northern Iraq. It is estimated that, including the communities existing in Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhsztan, Lebanon and Syria, they number more than 15 million people. For centuries they have been nomads in the Mesopotamian plains and the mountain regions of Iran and Turkey, raising sheep and goats. Exceptionally, they have also been farmers. After World War I, many were forced to live in urban areas, leaving their traditions behind.
Although they have lived in the same geographic region for a long time, they have never had a national state. The Treaty of Sèvres, which was concluded in 1920 and granted autonomy to Kurdistan, was never ratified. It was followed in 1923 by the Lausanne Treaty, which no longer mentioned Kurdistan nor the Kurds. After the war, the region was engulfed by violence, with the appearance of armed separatist movements .
For centuries, the Kurds had a form of social government which followed the rules of the tribe. The sheik was the main authority. This holds true even today, although not as much in urban groups which have lost some of their tribal identity while adaptating to city life. In some cases, and even when the law does not allow it, as in Turkey, the Kurds practice polygamy.
In Turkey, Government discrimination against the Kurds is widespread. Their identity has been denied by calling them ‘mountain Turks’, their language is banned (and regarded as a dialect derived from Turkish) as are some of their most typical customs. The Government repressed their political activity in the Eastern provinces and also encouraged their migration to urban areas in the west, in order to disperse Kurds concentrated in mountain areas. In Iran they are subject to strong pressure by the Government to assimilate into the majority culture and religious persecution from the Shiite majority.
In Iraq, when the monarchy was defeated in 1958, the Kurds expected their linguistic status would be acknowledged and thought they would receive more social benefits and greater participation in development projects. However, these expectations were not fulfilled. Instead, the Iraqi Government implemented a policy of displacement, promoted armed conflicts and, in the 1980s, used lethal chemical weapons against whole communities. Over a period of 15 years, more than 400,000 Kurds died in Iraq.
Kurdish nationalism has begun to appear not just as a response to these discriminatory conditions. Its late emergence can perhaps be attributed to their ancient nomadic lifestyle. In a way, this nationalism is prompted by certain Western influences (such as private property), the partition of the Kurdistan region into states, and the appearance of an urban intellectual minority. The interests of some Western countries in the Persian Gulf have played a part as well.
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