KURDS

Who Are the Kurds

A largely Sunni Muslim People with their own language and culture Most Kurds live in the generally contiguous areas of Turkey, Iran, Armenia and Syria a mountainous region of southwest Asia generally known as Kurdistan!"#and of the Kurds$% Are neither Ara&s, nor Turks and not Persians'

Popular Kurdish Sayings

Summary of (asic Attitudes,)alues and (eliefs

"It*s a great feeling to &e free' It*s a great feeling to live in peace and not feel any threats from a tyrant like Saddam' If this house is taken away from me, I live in a tent' If the tent is taken away and I am forced to live under a tree, I*ll still &e free$ A Kurdish refuge returning to Kirkuk According to Sohra& +arisiro a Kurdish ,lothes +esigner Kurds know little a&out their own culture "We need a cultural renaissance and this I &elieve can &e achieved if people stand up and firmly lay claim to their culture$ "-o friends &ut the mountains'$ .or indeed, the world has scarcely noticed when century after century, con/ueror after con/ueror has driven these once nomadic tri&es deep within their &eloved mountains to preserve their culture, their language and their lives' ' +r Sami A&dul 0ahman !+eputy Prime Minister% and mem&er of the Polit&uro, Kurdish +emocratic Party once said " If some&ody wants to take Saddam 1ust as a simple straightforward person, he would make a wrong 1udgment' 2e is not only a dou&le personality' 2e has several personalities' In one respect he can &e very nice, he can &e very polite (ut certainly he is very cruel and crimes done against Kurdish people and the rest of Ira/ people under his regime are unlike any other time in Ira/i history which has generally &een unfortunately a &loody history'$

KURDS
0eligious &eliefs and (asic Attitudes

Saddam 2ussein and the Kurds The Kurds are not militant religious fanatics' Most of them are Sunnite Muslims, and there is also a small minority of Shiites "3ur past is sad' 3ur present is a catastrophe' .ortunately, we don*t have a future$ 2iner Saleem, Kurdish film maker, /uoting his grandfather' It is considered to &e a ta&oo for Kurdish girls to model Kurdish woman are circumcised and supporters of the practice say it controls women*s se4ual desires and makes them clean' To the right a picture of Kurds gassed in 2ala&1a They feel like they don*t &elong anywhere and are often on at the crossroads of the world and are costumed to living with people from different religions for ages so they are very tolerant people'!TheotherIra/'com%

MEDIA
5ffects of Media on the Kurds Advantages Kurds are increasily resorting to people powered social media' The advent of the internet and its growing accessi&ility rate has made it easier for their voices to &e heard' This is particularly true of Kurdish cy&er activism' 6sing we&sites such as MySpace and .ace&ook, Kurds are actively promoting their culture Sehla a Kurd now living in Kuwait and whose last name was withheld &y re/uest, says "Kurdish activism is more widespread today than ever' AllowsKurds to campaign for their rights anonymously' +isadvatages Many Kurdish &logs are successfully hacked &y Turkish programmers

HISTORY AND CULTURE

Turkey Kurds Twenty percent of Turkey*s population is Kurdish (etween 789: and 789;, the military government passed several laws e4pressly &anning the use of Kurdish and the possession of written or audio materials in Kurdish'

Syria Kurds
2istory and ,ulture Kurds in Syria are less than ten percent of the population' Kurdish tri&al groups have lived in the country for generations, many arrived from Turkey &etween 78<= and 78;9, when Mustapha Kemal attempted to force his reform programs on the Kurds there' Tri&al loyalty is stronger than national loyalty to either the Syrian state or to a Kurdish nation' Picture of Mustapha Kemal!http>??en'wikipedia'org?wiki?M ustafa@Kemal@AtatA,;A(,rk%

Iran Kurds
His!ory and Cul!ur" They are a&out BA of the population Ma1ority of Kurds in Iran practice Sunni Islam Kurdish areas suffer from discrimination and official contempt in all political, economic, social and cultural areas of life' The Kurds declared the Mahaa&ad Kurdish 0epu&lic in Canuary 78=D, &ut it only lasted 77 months and the Iranian government recaptured Maha&ad and eliminated the Kurdish leaders'

IRA# KURDS

7E <:A of Ira/i population is Kurds The Kurds are part of Ira/ &ut are not Ara&s like 9:A of the population' 78B: (agdad grants Kurds language rights and self rule, &ut deal &reaks down partly over oil revenues' 78B= -ew clashes eruptF Ira/is force 7;:,::: Kurds into Iran' (ut Iran withdraws support for Kurds the following year' 7899 under Saddam 2ussein*s regime Ira/is launch poison gas attack, killing E,::: Kurds in the town of 2ala&1a !Well known as (lack .riday% 7887 After Persian Gulf War, northern Ira/*s Kurdish area comes under international protection' Saddam 2ussein wanted to wipe out the Kurds off the face of the earth'www'theotherira/'com