Kurds

Extracted Attributes

• Entity Type

  Iranic ethnic group and stateless nation

• Political Status

  Stateless nation with autonomous regions in Iraq and Syria

• Dominant Religion

  Sunni Islam

• Indigenous Region

  Kurdistan (Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria)

• Primary Languages

  Kurdish (Kurmanji, Sorani) and Zaza-Gorani

• Minority Religions

  Shia Islam, Alevism, Yazidism, Yarsanism, Zoroastrianism, and Christianity

• Estimated Population

  30 to 45 million people globally

Timeline

• The Treaty of Sèvres is signed, making territorial provisions for an independent Kurdish state, though it was never ratified. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1920-08-10

• The Treaty of Lausanne is signed, establishing the boundaries of modern Turkey and effectively ending the push for a Kurdish state by Western Allies. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1923-07-24

• The Sheikh Said Rebellion begins as Kurds in Turkey revolt to demand a voice in government and autonomy. (Source: EBSCO (Web Search))

  1925-02-01

• The Turkish government passes a law authorizing the forced relocation of Kurdish populations. (Source: EBSCO (Web Search))

  1927-01-01

• Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) engage in significant combat against ISIS in the border regions of Turkey and Syria. (Source: CNN (Web Search))

  2014-11-06

• The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), led by Kurdish elements, capture Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State. (Source: BBC News (Web Search))

  2017-10-01

• Reports emerge via the Washington Post suggesting CIA and Mossad backing for Kurdish militias in western Iran amid regime instability. (Source: Document f0213d0c-37fd-4bb7-9640-de0fb4f826f3)

  2024-01-01

Kurds

Kurds (Kurdish: کورد, romanized: Kurd), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syria. Consisting of 30–45 million people, the global Kurdish population is largely concentrated in Kurdistan, but significant communities of the Kurdish diaspora exist in parts of West Asia beyond Kurdistan and in parts of Europe, most notably including: Turkey's Central Anatolian Kurds (these spread through Eastern Anatolia in 1923 following the Armenian genocide in what was then Western Armenia), as well as Istanbul Kurds; Iran's Khorasani Kurds; the Caucasian Kurds, primarily in Azerbaijan and Armenia; and the Kurdish populations in various European countries, namely Germany, France, Sweden, and the Netherlands. The Kurdish languages and the Zaza–Gorani languages, both of which belong to the Western Iranic branch of the Iranic language family, are the native languages of the Kurdish people. Other widely spoken languages among the community are those of their host countries or neighbouring regions, such as Turkish, Persian, or Arabic. The most prevalent religion among Kurds is Sunni Islam, with Shia Islam and Alevism being significant Islamic minorities. Yazidism, which is the ethnic religion of the Kurdish-speaking Yazidi people, is the largest non-Islamic minority religion among the broader Kurdish community, followed by Yarsanism, Zoroastrianism, and Christianity. Although they exercise autonomy in Iraq and in Syria, the Kurds are a stateless nation. The prospect of Kurdish independence, which is rooted in early Kurdish nationalism, has been the source of much ethnic and political tension in West Asia since the 19th century. In the aftermath of World War I and the partition of the Ottoman Empire, the victorious Western Allies made territorial provisions for the establishment of a Kurdish state, as outlined in the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres, but it was never ratified after being signed. Three years later, when the Treaty of Lausanne set the boundaries of the Turkish state, the Western Allies ceased their push for Kurdish statehood in the face of certain agreements and guarantees—chiefly Turkey's relinquishing of territorial claims over formerly Ottoman-ruled Arab lands in exchange for the Allies' recognition of Turkish sovereignty over all of Anatolia. As such, since the 20th century, the history of the Kurds has largely been marked by struggles for independence, predominantly in the Kurdish–Turkish conflict and the Iraqi–Kurdish conflict, and to a lesser extent in the Iranian–Kurdish conflict and the comparatively recent Syrian–Kurdish conflict.

Web Search Results

• Kurds - Wikipedia

  Kurds (Kurdish: کورد, romanized: Kurd), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syria. Consisting of 30–45 million people, the global Kurdish population is largely concentrated in Kurdistan, but significant communities of the Kurdish diaspora exist in parts of West Asia beyond Kurdistan and in parts of Europe, most notably including: Turkey's Central Anatolian Kurds, as well as Istanbul Kurds; Iran's Khorasani Kurds; the Caucasian Kurds, primarily in Azerbaijan and Armenia; and the Kurdish populations in various European countries, namely Germany, France, Sweden, and the Netherlands. [...] The term Kurd is first encountered in Arabic sources of the seventh century. Books from the early Islamic era, including those containing legends such as the Shahnameh and the Middle Persian Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan, and other early Islamic sources provide early attestation of the name Kurd. The Kurds have ethnically diverse origins. During the Sassanid era, in Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan, a short prose work written in Middle Persian, Ardashir I is depicted as having battled the Kurds and their leader, Madig. After initially sustaining a heavy defeat, Ardashir I was successful in subjugating the Kurds. In a letter Ardashir I received from his foe, Ardavan V, which is also featured in the same work, he is referred to as being a Kurd himself. [...] ## Language Main article: Kurdish languages Kurdish (Kurdish: Kurdî or کوردی) is a collection of related dialects spoken by the Kurds. It is mainly spoken in those parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey which comprise Kurdistan. Kurdish holds official status in Iraq as a national language alongside Arabic, is recognized in Iran as a regional language, and in Armenia as a minority language. The Kurds are recognized as a people with a distinct language by Arab geographers such as al-Masudi since the 10th century.

• Kurdish people | History | Research Starters - EBSCO

  With a world population of approximately forty-five million people in 2024, the Kurdish people, or Kurds, make up the largest ethnic group in the world that does not have its own country. In general, the Kurds live in present-day Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, having been denied a state of their own following the breakup of the Ottoman Empire after World War I. Geographically, the area known as Kurdistan (the land of the Kurds) also includes parts of Western Europe, primarily Germany, but the population of Kurds is smaller in those countries. Despite being geographically divided, the Kurds remain ethnically and linguistically linked. The Kurds do not endorse a single religion, but the majority follow Sunni Islam. They have continued to support one another, often becoming involved in wars [...] Research Starters Home EBSCO Knowledge Advantage TM # Kurdish people The Kurdish people, numbering around thirty million, represent the largest ethnic group globally without a sovereign state. They predominantly inhabit regions across Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and to a lesser extent, Syria and Armenia, with their historical homeland referred to as Kurdistan. Following the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire post-World War I, the Kurds found themselves divided among several nation-states, leading to a complex history marked by aspirations for autonomy and cultural preservation. While the majority adhere to Sunni Islam, the Kurds encompass a range of religious beliefs and practices. [...] In Turkey, the Kurds are the country's largest ethnic minority groups, making up between 15 and 20 percent of the total population, yet there is a well-documented history of Kurdish discrimination in Turkey. The unsigned Treaty of Sèvres in 1920 would have granted ethnic groups from the former Ottoman Empire, ruled by the Turks, their own countries and autonomy. However, the Turks rejected it and ultimately signed the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, which did not include that provision. In 1925, the Kurds revolted in the Sheikh Said Rebellion, demanding a voice in government. The Turks responded by crushing the revolt and stationing Turkish troops throughout Kurdish areas. In 1927, the government passed a law that gave the Turks the authority to forcibly relocate Kurds. Subsequent revolts in

• Who are the Kurds? - CNN

  ### CNN values your feedback # Who are the Kurds? Iranian Kurdish fighters from the Kurdistan Freedom Party take part in a training session at a base on the outskirts of Erbil, Iraq, on February 12. The Kurdish people are an ethnic minority group in the Middle East without an independent state. Estimates of the population range between 25 million and 45 million worldwide, with most living in the mountainous region that stretches across parts of western Iran, eastern Turkey, northern Iraq and Syria, and Armenia. But there are no official statistics, as the Kurdish people do not have their own state and are spread across the region and beyond. [...] Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, Western Allied powers divided up Ottoman lands and included a proposal for a Kurdish state. But the new Turkish government took control of the entire Anatolian Peninsula after the Turkish independence war. The Kurds were divided between the newly etched borders in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria, and they began decades of protest and revolt against their new national authorities. About half of the region’s Kurds are estimated to live in Turkey, where they are the country’s largest ethnic minority. Most Kurds are Sunni Muslims, but the Kurdish population has diverse religious, cultural, social and political traditions, as well as a variety of dialects of the Kurdish language. [...] In Syria, Kurds make up roughly 10% of the estimated population of 24 million. During his first term, US President Donald Trump authorized the arming of Kurdish elements of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to help in the fight against the Islamic State, or ISIS. In Turkey, Kurdish people make up the largest ethnic and linguistic minority, amounting to roughly 20% of the population. A man cries as he sits next to the graves of Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) fighters in Suruc, in Turkey's southeastern Sanliurfa province bordering Syria, on November 6, 2014.

• KURDISTAN | Washington Kurdish Institute

  Kurdistan is the ancestral homeland of the Kurds, the fourth largest ethnic group of the Middle East. The Kurdish homeland, Kurdistan, is, in many places, mountainous and currently lies within the borders of the countries of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria. There are an estimated 40-45 million Kurds, and about half of them live in Turkey. Iran and Iraq have roughly six to seven million and it is estimated that there are approximately 2.5 million Kurds in Syria. Following various waves of immigration, there are also Kurdish populations spread throughout Lebanon and the former Soviet Union, and there is a sizeable Kurdish diaspora population in Europe. Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the early twentieth century, the Ottoman imperial power in the region was replaced by the [...] The language of the Kurdish people is Kurdish, an Indo-European language. The Kurdish language itself includes a number of dialects, the most commonly spoken of which are Kurmanji, which is spoken by most of the Kurds of Turkey and Syria and some in Iraq and Iran, and Sorani, which is spoken by most Kurds in Iraq and Iran. Kurdish can be written using both the Latin alphabet and a modified Arabic alphabet – the Kurds of Turkey and Syria often use the Latin script, while those in Iran and Iraq usually use the modified Arabic script. Today, most Kurds are multilingual, speaking their own native Kurdish dialect along with the language of the state in which they live. [...] This large number of threats aside, it is undeniable that the Kurds are a rising political force in the Middle East, and their brave struggle against the ISIS terrorist organization has gained them the attention and admiration of many. In the Middle East, where sectarianism, intolerance, and disregard for human rights is common place, the struggle of the Kurdish people provides hope for those who seek to see an island of peace and prosperity emerge after many decades of hardship. Who are the Kurds? ### Who are the Kurds? Kurdish leaders ### Kurdish leaders TwitterLinkedinRedditWhatsappEmail This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept Read More

• Who are the Kurds? - BBC News

  BBC News # Who are the Kurds? Share page About sharing Between 25 and 35 million Kurds inhabit a mountainous region straddling the borders of Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Iran and Armenia. They make up the fourth-largest ethnic group in the Middle East, but they have never obtained a permanent nation state. ## Where do they come from? The Kurds are one of the indigenous peoples of the Mesopotamian plains and the highlands in what are now south-eastern Turkey, north-eastern Syria, northern Iraq, north-western Iran and south-western Armenia. Today, they form a distinctive community, united through race, culture and language, even though they have no standard dialect. They also adhere to a number of different religions and creeds, although the majority are Sunni Muslims. [...] The Kurds - fighting alongside several local Arab militias under the banner of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance, and helped by US-led coalition air strikes, weapons and advisers - then steadily drove IS out of tens of thousands of square kilometres of territory in north-eastern Syria and established control over a large stretch of the border with Turkey. In October 2017, SDF fighters captured the de facto IS capital of Raqqa and then advanced south-eastwards into the neighbouring province of Deir al-Zour - the jihadists' last major foothold in Syria.

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