Kurdish Linguistic

Policies

Kaitlin Horst
Rachel Nye
History
The first descendents of the Kurds, among
them the Guti, Mannai, Hurrian and the Medes,
were ruled by the Persians
Until from 66 to 384 CE, the large areas of
Kurdish territory were under Roman control
In the 7th century, the area inhabited by the
Kurdish people was taken over by the Arabs
Term ‘Kurdistan’ first coined in the 12th century
Kurds bitterly oppressed in WWI by the Turks
After WWI and the defeat of the Ottoman
Empire, the Kurds were promised a nation-state
by the 1920 Treaty of Sevres; the treaty was
rejected for Treaty of Lausanne
Kurdish Nation-State Proposed by
the Treaty of Sevres
 ‘Kurdistan’ becomes the territory of several
modern nation-states, such as Iran, Turkey,
Iraq and Syria.
 Revolts by Kurds in Turkey in 1925 and 1930
were put down forcibly; Kurds were
slaughtered by the Turkish government in
1937-38
 Iranian Kurds rebelled in the 1920’s
 Leads to a brief Soviet-backed Kurdish
republic at the end of WWII
Language Information
 An Indo-European language, in
the Irano-Aryan group
 Many words that are cognates in
Kurdish and other Indo-European
languages such as Avestan,
Persian, Sanskrit, German,
English, Latin and Greek
Dialects
 Northern Kurdish –
known as Kurmanji
and Badinani
 Central Kurdish -
known as Sorani
 Southern Kurdish
Writing System
 Three different writing systems
– Arabic alphabet in Iran and Iraq
– Latin alphabet in Turkey and Syria
– Cyrillic alphabet in former USSR
Kurdish literary
tradition
 Difficult to date the origin
 Most famous poet – Melaye Jeziri
 Greatest period of Kurdish
literature end of WWII
 Works are published in Iran, but
literary life suffers heavily in Iraq.
Kurds in Syria
 Largest ethnic minority; 10% of population or 2
million people
 Most are Sunni Muslim
 Allowed to speak Kurdish in public, though there
are bans on its use
 No political parties allowed
 Cannot register children with Kurdish names
 Kurdish place names replaced with Arabic names
 Businesses must have Arabic names
 No Kurdish private schools allowed
 Kurdish flag is banned
 Books and other materials written in Kurdish
prohibited
Oppression of Syrian
Kurds
 Nov. 1962, Syrian government declared 100,000
Kurds were not citizens; number has grown to more
than 200,000
 Lost rights to practice medicine or engineering, work
at government or state-owned agencies
 Not permitted to own land, housing or businesses
 Cannot legally marry a Syrian citizen
 Do not have the right to vote in elections or run for
public office
 Stripped of passports and other international travel
documents, therefore may not legally leave or
return to Syria
Kurds in Turkey
 Approximately 10 million Kurds, making
up 20% of population
 Turks suppressed by Kemal Ataturk
after WWII
 Estimated 350,000 – 1 million IDP’s from
the 1984-99 Kurdistan Worker’s Party
(PKK) and Turkish military wars
Oppression of Turkish
Kurds
 Kurdish language banned until 1991
 To ease entry in EU; Kurdish was
allowed to be taught privately and
broadcast on television and radio in
2003 as part of a language reform
movement
 Centers have since closed down due to
lack of interest and financial difficulties
 Kurdish banned in state institutions,
official affairs and commerce
 Kurdish not taught in schools
Iraq
 15% - 20% of Iraq
 Kurdish is the official language in
Kurdish regions
 Al-Anfal Campaign 1986 – 1989,
then uprising by Kurds in 1992
 Cooperated with the US and backing
the new government
Iran
 7% Kurd, 7.6 million speakers
 Kurdistan is a province in Iran
 Have the right to teach the language in
schools and have publications, but these
rights are not often respected.
 Censored, but still thrives
 Kurdish language chairs established in
universities in 1997
Conclusion
 The Kurds have historically been
oppressed by every great power in the
region, but have managed to keep
their language alive and maintain a
thriving literary tradition
 Recent events in Iraq, Iran, and Turkey
have lessened the oppression.
Bibliography
 Bodnarchuk, Kari J. Kurdistan, Region Under Siege. Minneapolis:
Learner Publications Company, 2000.
 Izady, Mehrdad. The Kurds: A Concise Handbook. Washington,
DC: Taylor & Francis: 1992.
 CIA World Fact Book
– http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/sy.html
– http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ir.html
– http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/tu.html
 Wikipedia
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdish_language#Dialects
– http://www.institutkurde.org/en/language/
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Kurdistan
 http://www.bartleby.com/65/ku/Kurds.html