31 Facts About Kurds

Kurds speak the Kurdish languages and the Zaza–Gorani languages, which belong to the Western Iranian branch of the Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family.

Recent history of the Kurds includes numerous genocides and rebellions, along with ongoing armed conflicts in Turkish, Iranian, Syrian, and Iraqi Kurdistan.

Many Kurds are either bilingual or multilingual, speaking the language of their respective nation of origin, such as Arabic, Persian, and Turkish as a second language alongside their native Kurdish, while those in diaspora communities often speak three or more languages.

The Kurds are the fourth-largest ethnic group in West Asia after Arabs, Persians, and Turks.

Iranian religion of Zoroastrianism has had a major influence on the Iranian culture, which Kurds are a part of, and has maintained some effect since the demise of the religion in the Middle Ages.

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Many Kurds consider themselves descended from the Medes, an ancient Iranian people, and even use a calendar dating from 612 BC, when the Assyrian capital of Nineveh was conquered by the Medes.

Kurds found it heavily fortified, and guarded by three legions and a large body of Kurdish archers.

Thereafter, many Kurds were deported to Khorasan, not only to weaken the Kurds, but to protect the eastern border from invading Afghan and Turkmen tribes.

Kurds divided the territory into sanjaks or districts, and, making no attempt to interfere with the principle of heredity, installed the local chiefs as governors.

Kurds resettled the rich pastoral country between Erzerum and Erivan, which had lain in waste since the passage of Timur, with Kurds from the Hakkari and Bohtan districts.

Kurds has given a detailed account of the deportation of Kurds from Erzurum and Bitlis in the winter of 1916.

The Kurds were perceived to be subversive elements who would take the Russian side in the war.

Around 300, 000 Kurds were forced to move southwards to Urfa and then westwards to Aintab and Marasch.

Kurds backed by the United Kingdom declared independence in 1927 and established the Republic of Ararat.

In 1970 the Kurds rejected limited territorial self-rule within Iraq, demanding larger areas, including the oil-rich Kirkuk region.

The Kurds are still not allowed to get a primary education in their mother tongue and they do not have a right to self-determination, even though Turkey has signed the ICCPR.

Kurds's was released in 2004 amid warnings from European institutions that the continued imprisonment of the four Kurdish MPs would affect Turkey's bid to join the EU.

The Kurds sharing much of their history with the rest of Iran is seen as reason for why Kurdish leaders in Iran do not want a separate Kurdish state.

Government forces and non-Kurds were not the only ones to suffer in the attacks, the Kurdish population was robbed and assaulted.

Kurds have been well integrated in Iranian political life during reign of various governments.

Many Iranian Kurds show no interest in Kurdish nationalism, particularly Kurds of the Shia faith who sometimes even vigorously reject idea of autonomy, preferring direct rule from Tehran.

Kurds have a presence in Kirkuk, Mosul, Khanaqin, and Baghdad.

Kurds led by Mustafa Barzani were engaged in heavy fighting against successive Iraqi regimes from 1960 to 1975.

The embargo, however, backfired and Kurds held parliamentary elections in May 1992 and established Kurdistan Regional Government.

The area controlled by Peshmerga was expanded, and Kurds now have effective control in Kirkuk and parts of Mosul.

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Kurds often speak Kurdish in public, unless all those present do not.

Armenian Kurds were permitted their own state-sponsored newspaper, radio broadcasts and cultural events.

Kurds subsequently faced many repressive measures, including deportations, imposed by the Soviet government.

The total number of ethnic Kurds residing in the United States is estimated by the US Census Bureau to be 20, 591.

Kurds possess a rich tradition of folklore, which, until recent times, was largely transmitted by speech or song, from one generation to the next.

Kurds's first feature film was A Time for Drunken Horses, released in 2000.