In 2022, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is always in the international news. However, there is also a veteran actor named Yilmaz Erdogan who is well-known to the Turks. He has Kurdish blood flowing in his body. The movie "Vizontele" he starred in broke the It broke the domestic box office record in Turkey. In fact, many stars in the Turkish film and television industry have Kurdish blood flowing through their bodies.
Just 100 years ago, the once mighty Ottoman Empire disappeared from the world map. Many peoples who had been ruled by the Ottoman Empire finally rebuilt their own countries on their homeland. The Kurds living in eastern Anatolia also got the opportunity to establish an independent regime for the first time in history. It's a pity that this tragic nation was later divided into different countries and became local minority groups. This is the beginning of the century-old elegy of blood and tears.
Many stars in the Turkish film and television industry have Kurdish blood flowing through their bodies.
Where is Kurdistan?
"Traveling to the Kurdistan region? Are you crazy?"
That's basically the answer I get when I tell my friends that I plan to go to Kurdistan. I can imagine that when they heard "Kurdish", all kinds of images related to war and poverty in the news appeared in their minds. In addition, the public knows very little about the national culture of "Kurdish".
So, who are the Kurds?
The Kurds are currently the largest stateless nation in the world and the fourth most populous nation in West Asia, after the Arabs, Turks and Persians. According to 2017 statistics, the number of Kurds is roughly between 35 million and 45 million. Due to oppression by different regimes for nearly a century, a large number of Kurds fled abroad, forming a huge overseas community, a large part of which settled in Germany.
Most Kurds speak a dialect of Kurdish, which belongs to the Northwest Iranian branch of the Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family and is related to Persian. Other Kurds speak a Zaza-Gorani language that also belongs to the Northwest Iranian branch.
This sturdy nomadic people did not leave many traces in the early history. There are different opinions about the origin of the term "Kurdish". A relatively broad theory holds that "Kurdish" has evolved from a former regional name to an ethnic group name. The Greek historian Xenophon mentioned in "The Long March" that the Greek mercenaries were resisted by the Kardouchoi people when they retreated. Some people think that this is the ancestor of the Kurds; Cyrtians near the Zagros Mountains.
Another theory holds that "Kurdish" is of Middle Persian origin and was used to refer broadly to any nomadic tribe living in western Iran.
Today's "Kurdistan" means the place where Kurds live. In Iraq, it refers to the autonomous region dominated by Kurds in the north. In Iran, it refers to a province inhabited by Kurds in the west. In a broad sense, it covers a wide range. From the west of the Zagros Mountains in Iran in the east to the east of the Taurus Mountains in Turkey in the west.
Little children, shepherds in a Kurdish village in Turkey
The Euphrates and Tigris flowed thousands of miles from the mountains, flowed through the Kurdistan region, rushed to the plains of Mesopotamia, and poured into the Persian Gulf. The two big rivers have brought precious water resources to Kurdistan, and the area around Kirkuk in the south has extremely rich oil reserves.
On August 10, 1920, representatives of the Allied Powers and the defeated Ottomans signed a treaty in Sèvres, a suburb of Paris, delineating the new eastern border of Turkey after the defeat. According to Article 62 of the "Treaty of Sevres", the Kurds living east of the Euphrates River and south of the Republic of Armenia can obtain self-government rights; according to Article 64, if the Kurds decide to become independent within one year after the implementation of the treaty, then Turkey should agree.
The independence of the Kurdish region was supported by the British side at that time. The British hoped to weaken Turkey's influence in Mesopotamia and expand their influence in Mesopotamia. Powers from various countries are eyeing this region, especially the "black gold" of Mosul Province.
Unexpectedly, a strongman Kemal popped up in Turkey. He led the Turkish army to advance all the way, occupied and controlled the eastern part of the Antalya Peninsula, and forced the powerful to re-sign the "Treaty of Lausanne" three years later. In the new treaty, the Kurds and Armenians were sacrificed—in exchange for Turkey's withdrawal from the Arabian region, the Allies agreed to redefine eastern Anatolia to Turkey.
Under the new borders, the Kurds are more divided than ever, spread across four different countries.
In exchange for Turkey's withdrawal from the Arab region, the Entente agreed to redistribute eastern Anatolia to Turkey.
Iraqi Kurdish Area, the streets of Erbil
Bakery in Diyarbakir, Kurdish Region, Turkey
Turkish Kurdistan
In April 2022, I started the "Historical Exploration of Western Armenia" trip from Kars, Turkey's gateway city to the Caucasus. After the Armenian genocide, the area was inhabited by a large number of Kurds from neighboring areas and is part of Turkish Kurdistan. Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Turkey, with a population of nearly 20 million, accounting for nearly 20% of Turkey's total population.
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