1	Religion Among the Kurds: Internal Tolerance, External Conflict Vanessa G. Acker Kennedy School Review
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3	Distribution of Kurds
4	Distribution of Kurds
5	Iraqi Kurdistan – political divisions
6	Language diversity Language families in region: Turkish, Arabic, Kurdish/Persian Kurdish – Indo-Iranian language, similar to Persian spoken in Iran Kurdish dialects: Kurmanji (Bahdahnani) – Syria, Turkey, northernmost portions of Iraq Sorani – NW Iraq and Iran Zaza – Alevis in Turkey Various other dialects
7	Alphabets Kurds in Turkey use Latin-Turkish script Kurds in Iran, Iraq, and Syria use a modified Arabic alphabet Kurds in the Caucasus use modified Cyrillic and Latin scripts
8	Tribal affiliation – Kurdish tribes Hakkari – Turkey Baban and Hamawan – Iraq But largely irrelevant to most contemporary Kurds
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10	Middle East in 19^th Century
11	Kurdish religious influences Mesopotamian and Anatolian cults – deep antiquity Jewish – 8^th centruy b.c. Zoroastrianism Ahl-e Haqq, Yezidism – probable Zoroastrian roots Hellinistic cults Christianity Islam
12	Indigenous Kurdish religions “Cult of Angels” Yezidism – accused of devil worship Alevism – Ali most important angel of the Universal Spirit Includes Syrian Arabs, Turkish Turkmen Yarsanism – 10-15% of population – Iran, Iraq. Reincarnation Ahl-i-Haq – Shiite overlay Tayifasan – Traditionalist, urban, most persecuted Angelic and Demonic beings balanced Transmigration of souls Universal spirit
13	Kurdish Islam Sunni – Two-thirds Sufism – widely followed Kurds mediators of three great cultural traditions of Islam Ottoman Turks Persians Arabs Literate Kurds multi-lingual Kurdish Islam syncretic with other religions Local traditions Mysticism, miracles, sainthood beliefs More charismatic than mainstream islam
14	Other religions in Kurdistan Armenians Syrian Orthodox Assyrians Jews – most moved to Israel in 1950s Turkomans – ethnoreligious group Symbiotic with Kurds
15	Kurdish culture Women have greater autonomy No tradition of veiling Women active in politics, rebellions Peshmerga Warrior tradition Victim tradition Minorities in nationalist states
16	Post-WWI Kurds sought to create Kurdistan (Wilson’s rhetoric of self-determination) European powers sought to divide up Anatolia after defeat of Ottoman Turks Greece seized Izmir Kemal (Ataturk) – consolidated control over Anatolia Iraq created out of Vilayats of Mosul (Kurdish & Turkomen), Basra (Arab), and Baghdad (Arab). (Treaty of Sévres) 1925 – League of Nations awarded Vilayat of Mosul (Iraqi Kurdistan) to Iraqi control, with proviso of relative Kurdish autonomy re. language and governance, under League mandate till 1950. Observed largely in the breach.
17	Kurdish Political Enclaves & Territorial Demands: 1919-1998
18	Kurds in Iraq Arabization campaign by Ba’th Party Saddam Hussein’s ethnic cleansing Razed 1,400 Kurdish villages Forcibly transferred at least 600,000 Kurds to “collective towns” After Iran-Iraq war – Saddam Hussein feared Kurdish 5th column 1985 – razed 200 Kurdish villages, displacing 55,000 Kurds, killing many 1988 – Anfal campaign – destroyed appx 4,000 of 4,655 villages (85%), executed or “disappeared” est. 182,000 men, women, and children – abt. 36% of Kurdish population April 1987-March 1988 – chemical weapons, death of 5,000
19	Kurdish political parties in Iraq KPD – Kurdish Democratic Party Mustafa Barzani – after 1975 defeat, accommodation with Iraqi government PUK – Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Jalal Talabani – continued resistance 1992 – stopped fighting, entered elections Both parties secular