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Kurds

From EverybodyWiki Bios & Wiki

"Kurd" redirects here. For other uses, see Kurd (disambiguation).
Kurdish people
Script error: The function "langx" does not exist.
Total population
30–35 million[1]
(Washington Kurdish Institute, 2024 estimate)
30–40 million[2]
(The World Factbook, 2015 estimate)
36.4–45.6 million[3]
(Kurdish Institute of Paris, 2017 estimate)
Regions with significant populations
Turkeyest. 14.3–20 million[2][3]
Iranest. 8.2–12 million[2][3]
Iraqest. 5.6–8.5 million[2][3]
Syriaest. 1.5–3.6 million[2][3][4]
Germany1.2–1.5 million[5][6]
Azerbaijan150,000–180,000[7][8]
France150,000[9]
Sweden100,000+[10][11][12][13]
Netherlands100,000[14]
Russia63,818[15]
Belgium50,000[16]
United Kingdom49,841[17][18][19]
Kazakhstan47,938[20]
Armenia37,470[21]
Switzerland35,000[22]
Denmark30,000[23]
Jordan30,000[24]
Austria23,000[25]
Greece22,000[26]
United States20,591–40,000[27]
Canada16,315[28]
Finland15,850[29]
Georgia13,861[30]
Kyrgyzstan13,200[31]
Australia10,171[32]
Indonesia4,800[33]
Languages
Religion
Related ethnic groups
Other Iranic peoples
 
Part of a series on:

Kurdish history and Kurdish culture

Kurds (Script error: The function "langx" does not exist.), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranic ethnic group[39] from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syria.[40] Consisting of 30–45 million people,[1][3][41][42] 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 Kurdish languages and the Zaza–Gorani languages, both of which belong to the Western Iranic branch of the Iranic language family,[43][44] 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.[45] 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.[46] 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.

Etymology

Main article: Name of the Kurds

The exact origins of the name Kurd are unclear.[47] The underlying toponym is recorded in Assyrian as Qardu and in Middle Bronze Age Sumerian as Kar-da.[48] Assyrian Qardu refers to an area in the upper Tigris basin, and it is presumably reflected in corrupted form in Classical Arabic Ǧūdī (جودي), re-adopted in Kurdish as Cûdî.[49] The name would be continued as the first element in the toponym Corduene, mentioned by Xenophon as the tribe who opposed the retreat of the Ten Thousand through the mountains north of Mesopotamia in the 4th century BC.

There are, however, dissenting views, which do not derive the name of the Kurds from Qardu and Corduene but opt for derivation from Cyrtii (Cyrtaei) instead.[50]

Regardless of its possible roots in ancient toponymy, the ethnonym Kurd might be derived from a term kwrt- used in Middle Persian as a common noun to refer to 'nomads' or 'tent-dwellers', which could be applied as an attribute to any Iranic group with such a lifestyle.[51]

The term gained the characteristic of an ethnonym following the Muslim conquest of Persia, as it was adopted into Arabic and gradually became associated with an amalgamation of Iranic and Iranicized tribes and groups in the region.[52][53]

The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland in 1923 claimed that the same way Kerman in Persian was Qarman in Syriac, Kurd in Persian was Qardu in Syriac, stating that "the Persian gurd or kurd, which seems to have been derived from a common origin with the Babylonian gardu or qardu, signifies 'brave', 'valiant', or 'warlike', and bravery and the love of fighting are the outstanding traits of the Kurdish character. From the Persians it passed into Arabic, whence it became the common European name of the Kurds."[54]

Language

Main article: Kurdish languages
Kurdish-inhabited areas in the Middle East (1992)
File:Maunsell's map, Pre-World War I British Ethnographical Map of eastern Turkey in Asia, Syria and western Persia 01.jpg
Maunsell's map of 1910, a pre-World War I British ethnographical map of the Middle East, showing the Kurdish regions in yellow (both light and dark)

Kurdish (Kurdish: Kurdî or کوردی) is a collection of related dialects spoken by the Kurds.[55] It is mainly spoken in those parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey which comprise Kurdistan.[56] 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.[57]

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. Turkified and Arabised Kurds often speak little or no Kurdish.

According to Mackenzie, there are few linguistic features that all Kurdish dialects have in common and that are not at the same time found in other Iranian languages.[58]

The Kurdish dialects according to Mackenzie are classified as:[59]

  • Northern group (the Kurmanji dialect group)
  • Central group (part of the Sorani dialect group)
  • Southern group (part of the Xwarin dialect group) including Laki

The Zaza and Gorani are ethnic Kurds,[60] but the Zaza–Gorani languages are not classified as Kurdish.[61]

Population

Main article: Kurdish population

The number of Kurds living in Southwest Asia is estimated at between 30 and 45 million, with another one or two million living in the Kurdish diaspora. Kurds comprise anywhere from 18 to 25% of the population in Turkey,[2][62] 15 to 20% in Iraq;[2] 10% in Iran;[2] and 9% in Syria.[2][63] Kurds form regional majorities in all four of these countries, viz. in Turkish Kurdistan, Iraqi Kurdistan, Iranian Kurdistan and Syrian Kurdistan. The Kurds are the fourth largest ethnic group in West Asia after Arabs, Persians, and Turks.

The total number of Kurds in 1991 was placed at 22.5 million, with 48% of this number living in Turkey, 24% in Iran, 18% in Iraq, and 4% in Syria.[64]

Recent emigration accounts for a population of close to 1.5 million in Western countries, about half of them in Germany.

A special case are the Kurdish populations in the Transcaucasus and Central Asia, displaced there mostly in the time of the Russian Empire, who underwent independent developments for more than a century and have developed an ethnic identity in their own right.[65] This group's population was estimated at close to 0.4 million in 1990.[66]

Religion

Main article: Religion in Kurdistan

Islam

Most Kurds are Sunni Muslims who adhere to the Shafiʽi school, while a significant minority adhere to the Hanafi school[67] and also Alevism. Moreover, many Shafi'i Kurds adhere to either one of the two Sufi orders Naqshbandi and Qadiriyya.[68]

Beside Sunni Islam, Alevism and Shia Islam also have millions of Kurdish followers.[69]

Yazidism

Main articles: Yazidis and Yazidism
Yazidi new year celebrations in Lalish, 18 April 2017

Yazidism is a monotheistic ethnic religion with roots in a western branch of an Iranic pre-Zoroastrian religion.[70][71][72][73] It is based on the belief of one God who created the world and entrusted it into the care of seven Holy Beings.[74][75] The leader of this heptad is Tawûsê Melek, who is symbolized with a peacock.[74][76] Its adherents number from 700,000 to 1 million worldwide[77] and are indigenous to the Kurdish regions of Iraq, Syria and Turkey, with some significant, more recent communities in Russia, Georgia and Armenia established by refugees fleeing persecution by Muslims in Ottoman Empire.[75] Yazidism shares with Kurdish Alevism and Yarsanism many similar qualities that date back to the pre-Islamic era.[78][79][80]

Yarsanism

Main article: Yarsanism

Yarsanism (also known as Ahl-I-Haqq, Ahl-e-Hagh or Kakai) is also one of the religions associated with Kurdistan.

Although most of the sacred Yarsan texts are in the Gorani and all of the Yarsan holy places are located in Kurdistan, followers of this religion are also found in other regions. For example, while there are more than 300,000 Yarsani in Iraqi Kurdistan, there are more than 2 million Yarsani in Iran.[81] However, the Yarsani lack political rights in both countries.

Zoroastrianism

Main article: Zoroastrianism
Faravahar (or Ferohar), one of the primary symbols of Zoroastrianism, believed to be the depiction of a Fravashi (guardian spirit)

The 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. The Iranian philosopher Sohrevardi drew heavily from Zoroastrian teachings.[82] Ascribed to the teachings of the prophet Zoroaster, the faith's Supreme Being is Ahura Mazda. Leading characteristics, such as messianism, the Golden Rule, heaven and hell, and free will influenced other religious systems, including Second Temple Judaism, Gnosticism, Christianity, and Islam.[83]

In 2016, the first official Zoroastrian fire temple of Iraqi Kurdistan opened in Sulaymaniyah. Attendees celebrated the occasion by lighting a ritual fire and beating the frame drum or 'daf'.[84] Awat Tayib, the chief of followers of Zoroastrianism in the Kurdistan region, claimed that many were returning to Zoroastrianism but some kept it secret out of fear of reprisals from Islamists.[84]

Christianity

Main articles: Kurdish Christians, Bible translations into Kurdish, and Christianity

Although historically there have been various accounts of Kurdish Christians, most often these were in the form of individuals, and not as communities. However, in the 19th and 20th century various travel logs tell of Kurdish Christian tribes, as well as Kurdish Muslim tribes who had substantial Christian populations living amongst them. A significant number of these were allegedly originally Armenian or Assyrian,[85] and it has been recorded that a small number of Christian traditions have been preserved. Several Christian prayers in Kurdish have been found from earlier centuries.[86] In recent years some Kurds from Muslim backgrounds have converted to Christianity.[87][88][89]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Kurdish Population". Washington Kurdish Institute. Archived from the original on 9 January 2025. Retrieved 4 April 2025. There are an estimated 30-35 million Kurds, and about half of them live in Turkey.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 The World Factbook (Online ed.). Langley, Virginia: US Central Intelligence Agency. 2015. ISSN 1553-8133. Archived from the original on 6 January 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2015. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help) Search this book on A rough estimate in this edition gives populations of 14.3 million in Turkey, 8.2 million in Iran, about 5.6 to 7.4 million in Iraq, and less than 2 million in Syria, which adds up to approximately 28–30 million Kurds in Kurdistan or in adjacent regions. The CIA estimates are as of August 2015 – Turkey: Kurdish 18%, of 81.6 million; Iran: Kurd 10%, of 81.82 million; Iraq: Kurdish 15–20%, of 37.01 million, Syria: Kurds, Armenians, and other 9.7%, of 17.01 million.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 The Kurdish Population by the Kurdish Institute of Paris, 2017 estimate. The Kurdish population is estimated at 15–20 million in Turkey, 10–12 million in Iran, 8–8.5 million in Iraq, 3–3.6 million in Syria, 1.2–1.5 million in the European diaspora, and 400k–500k in the former USSR—for a total of 36.4 million to 45.6 million globally.
  4. ↑ "Demographics of Syria". Heritage for Peace. Archived from the original on 5 December 2024. Retrieved 4 April 2025. Around 1.5 million Kurds form Syria’s largest ethnic minority. About a third of them live in the foothills of the Taurus Mountains north of Aleppo, and an equal number along the Turkish border in the Jazirah. A further 10 per cent can be found in the vicinity of Jarabulus northeast of Aleppo, and from 10-15 per cent in the Hayy al-Akrad (Quarter of the Kurds) on the outskirts of Damascus.
  5. ↑ ""Wir Kurden ärgern uns über die Bundesregierung" – Politik". Süddeutsche.de. 21 March 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  6. ↑ "Geschenk an Erdogan? Kurdisches Kulturfestival verboten". heise.de. 5 September 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  7. ↑ The cultural situation of the Kurds, A report by Lord Russell-Johnston, Council of Europe, July 2006.
  8. ↑ Ismet Chériff Vanly, "The Kurds in the Soviet Union", in: Philip G. Kreyenbroek & S. Sperl (eds.), The Kurds: A Contemporary Overview (London: Routledge, 1992). pg 164: Table based on 1990 estimates: Azerbaijan (180,000), Armenia (50,000), Georgia (40,000), Kazakhstan (30,000), Kyrghizistan (20,000), Uzbekistan (10,000), Tajikistan (3,000), Turkmenistan (50,000), Siberia (35,000), Krasnodar (20,000), Other (12,000), Total 450,000
  9. ↑ "3 Kurdish women political activists shot dead in Paris". CNN. 11 January 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
  10. ↑ "NATO Membership for Sweden: Between Turkey and the Kurds". The Washington Institute. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  11. ↑ "Will exiled Kurds pay price of Sweden's NATO entry?". The Christian Science Monitor. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  12. ↑ "NATO bid reignites Sweden's dispute with Turkey over Kurds". POLITICO. 24 May 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  13. ↑ TT (23 September 2017). "Svenskkurder: Självständighet kan inte vänta". Svenska Dagbladet (in svenska). ISSN 1101-2412. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  14. ↑ "Diaspora Kurde". Institutkurde.org (in français). Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  15. ↑ "Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 г. Национальный состав населения Российской Федерации". Demoscope.ru. Archived from the original on 21 May 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2012. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  16. ↑ "The Kurdish Diaspora". Institut Kurde de Paris. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
  17. ↑ "QS211EW – Ethnic group (detailed)". nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 3 August 2013.
  18. ↑ "Ethnic Group – Full Detail_QS201NI" (PDF). Retrieved 4 September 2013.
  19. ↑ "Scotland's Census 2011 – National Records of Scotland – Ethnic group (detailed)" (PDF). Scotland Census. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 May 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2013. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  20. ↑ "Ethnic composition of Kazakhstan 2021". Retrieved 4 July 2022.
  21. ↑ "Information from the 2011 Armenian National Census" (PDF). Statistics of Armenia (in հայերեն). Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  22. ↑ "Switzerland". Ethnologue. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  23. ↑ "Fakta: Kurdere i Danmark". Jyllandsposten (in dansk). 8 May 2006. Retrieved 24 December 2013.
  24. ↑ Al-Khatib, Mahmoud A.; Al-Ali, Mohammed N. "Language and Cultural Shift Among the Kurds of Jordan" (PDF). p. 12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 October 2018. Retrieved 10 November 2012. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  25. ↑ "Austria". Ethnologue. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  26. ↑ "Greece". Ethnologue. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  27. ↑ "2011–2015 American Community Survey Selected Population Tables". Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 12 February 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2019. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  28. ↑ "Ethnic Origin (279), Single and Multiple Ethnic Origin Responses (3), Generation Status (4), Age (12) and Sex (3) for the Population in Private Households of Canada, Provinces and Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2016 Census". 25 October 2017. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  29. ↑ "Language according to age and sex by region 1990 – 2021". Statistics Finland. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
  30. ↑ "Population/Census" (PDF). geostat.ge.
  31. ↑ "Number of resident population by selected nationality" (PDF). United Nations. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 July 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2012. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  32. ↑ "Australia – Ancestry". 2022. Archived from the original on 14 January 2022. Retrieved 27 November 2022. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  33. ↑ Hoffman, Sue (2012). "Living in Limbo: Iraqi Refugees in Indonesia". Refuge: Canada's Journal on Refugees. New Haven: Yale Law Journal. 28 (1): 15–24. doi:10.25071/1920-7336.36085.
  34. ↑ "Atlas of the Languages of Iran A working classification". Languages of Iran. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  35. ↑ Michiel Leezenberg (1993). "Gorani Influence on Central Kurdish: Substratum or Prestige Borrowing?" (PDF). ILLC – Department of Philosophy, University of Amsterdam: 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 July 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2019. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  36. ↑ "Kurds in Turkey". Archived from the original on 15 February 2023. Retrieved 13 September 2022. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  37. ↑ "Learn About Kurdish Religion".
  38. ↑ "Kurds of Iran: The missing piece in the Middle East Puzzle".
  39. ↑ * Bois, Th.; Minorsky, V.; MacKenzie, D.N. (24 April 2012). "Kurds, Kurdistān". Encyclopedia of Islam, Second Edition. 5. Brill Online. p. 439. The Kurds, an Iranian people of the Near East, live at the junction of (...)
  40. ↑ Bengio, Ofra (2014). Kurdish Awakening: Nation Building in a Fragmented Homeland. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-75813-1. Search this book on
  41. ↑ "Kurdish People Fast Facts". CNN. 2025. Archived from the original on 5 April 2025. Retrieved 5 April 2025. Population: approximately 25–30 million
  42. ↑ Based on arithmetic from World Factbook and other sources cited herein: A Near Eastern population of 28–30 million, plus approximately a 2 million diaspora gives 30–32 million. If the highest (25%) estimate for the Kurdish population of Turkey, in Mackey (2002), proves correct, this would raise the total to around 37 million.
  43. ↑ "Kurds". The Columbia Encyclopedia (6th ed.). Encyclopedia.com. 2014. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  44. ↑ Windfuhr (2013). Iranian Languages. Routledge. p. 587. ISBN 978-1135797041. Search this book on
  45. ↑ "Timeline: The Kurds' Quest for Independence".
  46. ↑ Who are the Kurds? by BBC News, 31 October 2017
  47. ↑ Asatrian, Garnik (2009). "Prolegomena to the Study of the Kurds". Iran & the Caucasus. 13 (1): 25. ISSN 1609-8498. Generally, the etymons and primary meanings of tribal names or ethnonyms, as well as place names, are often irrecoverable; Kurd is also an obscurity
  48. ↑ Reynolds, G. S. (October–December 2004). "A Reflection on Two Qurʾānic Words (Iblīs and Jūdī), with Attention to the Theories of A. Mingana". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 124 (4): 683, 684, 687. doi:10.2307/4132112. ISSN 0003-0279. JSTOR 4132112.
  49. ↑ Ilya Gershevitch, William Bayne Fisher, The Cambridge History of Iran: The Median and Achamenian Periods, 964 pp., Cambridge University Press, 1985, ISBN 0-521-20091-1 Search this book on ., ISBN 978-0-521-20091-2 Search this book on ., (see footnote of p.257)
  50. ↑ Asatrian 2009, p. 26: "Evidently, the most reasonable explanation of this ethnonym must be sought for in its possible connections with the Cyrtii (Cyrtaei) of the Classical authors".
  51. ↑ Karnamak Ardashir Papakan and the Matadakan i Hazar Dastan. G. Asatrian, Prolegomena to the Study of the Kurds, Iran and the Caucasus, Vol.13, pp. 1–58, 2009. Excerpt 1: "Generally, the etymons and primary meanings of tribal names or ethnonyms, as well as place names, are often irrecoverable; Kurd is also an obscurity." "It is clear that kurt in all the contexts has a distinct social sense, 'nomad, tent-dweller.' It could equally be an attribute for any Iranian ethnic group having similar characteristics. To look for a particular ethnic sense here would be a futile exercise." P. 24: "The Pahlavi materials clearly show that kurd in pre-Islamic Iran was a social label, still a long way from becoming an ethnonym or a term denoting a distinct group of people."
  52. ↑ McDowall, David. 2000. A Modern History of the Kurds. Second Edition. London: I.B. Tauris. p. 9.
  53. ↑ Asatrian 2009, pp. 27-28.
  54. ↑ Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 1923, pp. 401-403
  55. ↑ Paul, Ludwig (2008). "Kurdish Language". Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved 2 December 2011. Writes about the problem of attaining a coherent definition of "Kurdish language" within the Northwestern Iranian dialect continuum. There is no unambiguous evolution of Kurdish from Middle Iranian, as "from Old and Middle Iranian times, no predecessors of the Kurdish language are yet known; the extant Kurdish texts may be traced back to no earlier than the 16th century CE." Ludwig Paul further states: "Linguistics itself, or dialectology, does not provide any general or straightforward definition of at which point a language becomes a dialect (or vice versa). To attain a fuller understanding of the difficulties and questions that are raised by the issue of the 'Kurdish language,' it is therefore necessary to consider also non-linguistic factors."
  56. ↑ Geographic distribution of Kurdish and other Iranic languages Archived 18 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  57. ↑ James, Boris (3 July 2019). Constructing the Realm of the Kurds (al-Mamlaka al-Akradiyya): Kurdish In-betweenness and Mamluk Ethnic Engineering (1130–1340 CE). Brill. p. 20. ISBN 978-90-04-38533-7. Search this book on
  58. ↑ "Kurdish Nationalism and Competing Ethnic Loyalties", Original English version of: "Nationalisme kurde et ethnicités intra-kurdes", Peuples Méditerranéens no. 68–69 (1994), 11–37. Excerpt: "This view was criticised by the linguist D. N. MacKenzie, according to whom there are but few linguistic features that all Kurdish dialects have in common and that are not at the same time found in other Iranian languages."
  59. ↑ G. Asatrian, Prolegomena to the Study of the Kurds, Iran and the Caucasus, Vol.13, pp. 1–58, 2009: "The classification of the Kurdish dialects is not an easy task, despite the fact that there have been numerous attempts mostly by Kurdish authors to put them into a system. However, for the time being the commonly accepted classification of the Kurdish dialects is that of the late Prof. D. N. Mackenzie, the author of fundamental works in Kurdish dialectology (see Mackenzie 1961; idem 1961–1962; idem 1963a; idem 1981), who distinguished three groups of dialects: Northern, Central, and Southern."
  60. ↑ Nodar Mosaki (14 March 2012). "The zazas: a kurdish sub-ethnic group or separate people?". Zazaki.net. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  61. ↑ "Iranian languages". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
  62. ↑ Mackey, Sandra (2002). The Reckoning: Iraq and the Legacy of Saddam. W.W. Norton and Co. p. 350. ISBN 9780393051414. As much as 25% of Turkey is Kurdish Search this book on This would raise the population estimate by about 5 million.[dubious – discuss]
  63. ↑ Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (9 March 2012). "Background Note: Syria". State.gov. Washington, DC: US State Department. Retrieved 2 August 2015. The CIA World Factbook reports all non-Arabs make up 9.7% of the Syrian population, but does not break out the Kurdish figure separately. However, this State Dept. source provides a figure of 9%. As of August 2015, the current document at this state.gov URL no longer provides such ethnic group data.
  64. ↑ Hassanpour, Amir (7 November 1995). "A Stateless Nation's Quest for Sovereignty in the Sky". Concordia University. Archived from the original on 20 August 2007. Retrieved 3 August 2015. Paper presented at the Freie Universitat Berlin. For the figure, cites: McDowall, David (1992). "The Kurds: A Nation Denied". London: Minority Rights Group.
  65. ↑ "The Kurds of Caucasia and Central Asia have been cut off for a considerable period of time and their development in Russia and then in the Soviet Union has been somewhat different. In this light the Soviet Kurds may be considered to be an ethnic group in their own right." The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire "Kurds". Institute of Estonia (EKI). Retrieved 22 June 2012.
  66. ↑ Ismet Chériff Vanly, "The Kurds in the Soviet Union", in: Philip G. Kreyenbroek & S. Sperl (eds.), The Kurds: A Contemporary Overview (London: Routledge, 1992), p. 164: Table based on 1990 estimates: Azerbaijan (180,000), Armenia (50,000), Georgia (40,000), Kazakhstan (30,000), Kyrgyzstan (20,000), Uzbekistan (10,000), Tajikistan (3,000), Turkmenistan (50,000), Siberia (35,000), Krasnodar (20,000), Other (12,000) (total 410,000).
  67. ↑ Sarigil, Zeki; Fazlioglu, Omer (2014). "Exploring the roots and dynamics of Kurdish ethno-nationalism in Turkey" (PDF). Nations and Nationalism. Bilkent University. 20 (3): 447. doi:10.1111/nana.12058. hdl:11693/26432. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 December 2022. Retrieved 20 February 2021. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  68. ↑ van Bruinessen, Martin (2000). "The Qadiriyya and the lineages of Qadiri shaykhs in Kurdistan". Journal of the History of Sufism. 1–2. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.545.8465.
  69. ↑ McDowall, David (1992). The Kurds: A Nation Denied. Minority Rights Group. p. 57. ISBN 9781873194300. Search this book on
  70. ↑ Turgut, Lokman. Ancient rites and old religions in Kurdistan. OCLC 879288867. Search this book on
  71. ↑ Foltz, Richard (1 June 2017). "The "Original" Kurdish Religion? Kurdish Nationalism and the False Conflation of the Yezidi and Zoroastrian Traditions". Journal of Persianate Studies. 10 (1): 87–106. doi:10.1163/18747167-12341309. ISSN 1874-7094.
  72. ↑ Khanna, Omarkhali (2011). The status and role of the Yezidi legends and myths : to the question of comparative analysis of Yezidism, Yārisān (Ahl-e Haqq) and Zoroastrianism: a common substratum?. OCLC 999248462. Search this book on
  73. ↑ Kreyenbroek, Philip G. (1995). Yezidism—its Background, Observances, and Textual Tradition. E. Mellen Press. ISBN 978-0-7734-9004-8. Search this book on
  74. ↑ 74.0 74.1 Allison, Christine (25 January 2017). "The Yazidis". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.254. ISBN 9780199340378. Archived from the original on 11 March 2019. Retrieved 15 May 2021. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  75. ↑ 75.0 75.1 Birgül, Açıkyıldız (2010). The Yezidis : the History of a Community, Culture and Religion. London: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-0-85772-061-0. OCLC 772844849. Search this book on
  76. ↑ Maisel, Sebastian (24 December 2016). Yezidis in Syria: Identity Building among a Double Minority. Lexington Books. ISBN 9780739177754. Search this book on
  77. ↑ Rowe, Paul S. (20 September 2018). Routledge Handbook of Minorities in the Middle East. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-23378-7. Search this book on
  78. ↑ Bozarslan, Hamit; Gunes, Cengiz; Yadirgi, Veli (22 April 2021). The Cambridge History of the Kurds. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-58301-5. Search this book on
  79. ↑ Omarkhali, Khanna (January 2009). "The status and role of the Yezidi legends and myths. To the question of comparative analysis of Yezidism, Yārisān (Ahl-e Haqq) and Zoroastrianism: a common substratum?". Folia Orientalia. ISSN 0015-5675. OCLC 999248462.
  80. ↑ Turgut, Lokman (2013). Ancient rites and old religions in Kurdistan. OCLC 879288867. Search this book on
  81. ↑ "About Yarsan, a religious minority in Iran and Yarsani asylum seekers – Yarsanmedia" (in فارسی). Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  82. ↑ Henry Corbin. The Man of Light in Iranian Sufism. Omega Publications, New York. 1994. ISBN 0-930872-48-7 Search this book on ..
  83. ↑ Hinnel, J (1997), The Penguin Dictionary of Religion, Penguin Books UK
  84. ↑ 84.0 84.1 "Hopes for Zoroastrianism revival in Kurdistan as first temple opens its doors". Rudaw. 21 September 2016. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  85. ↑ Sykes, M. (1908). "The Kurdish Tribes of the Ottoman Empire". The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 38: 451–486. doi:10.2307/2843309. JSTOR 2843309.
  86. ↑ Hervas, L. Saggio. (1787). 'Pratico delle lingue: con prolegomeni, e una raccolta di orazioni dominicali in piu di trecento lingue e dialetti...'. Cesena: Per Gregorio Biasini, pp. 156–157.
  87. ↑ A Muslim Leader Converted to Christianity in Iraqi Kurdistan
  88. ↑ "The Kurds". Urbana. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 9 March 2016. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  89. ↑ "Christianity grows in Syrian town once besieged by Islamic State". Reuters. 16 April 2019.


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