| Fact Sheet: Kurdistan |
|
|
|
| Written by Administrator | |
| Monday, 24 September 2007 | |
|
Fact sheet: K U R D I S T A NLiterally meaning "the land of Kurds”; in ancient times Koordistan, Curdistan, Kurdia or Kurdiya were used to identify Kurdistan. Kurdistan is the name of a geographic and cultural region in the Middle East, inhabited predominantly by the Kurds. As a traditional ethnographic region, Kurdistan is generally held to include the contiguous regions in northern and northeastern Mesopotamia with large Kurdish populations. Kurdistan extends from Caucasus to the Mediterranean Sea and from black sea to north of Persian Gulf. Today, Kurdistan is divided among five states (Parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia.) Kurdistan or Kurdish homeland consists of about 200,000 Square miles and is roughly about the size of France or larger than California and New York combined. From a political standpoint, Iraqi Kurdistan is the only region which has gained official recognition internationally as a federal entity within Federal Iraq.
KurdsThe Kurds are an ethnic group who are indigenous to a region often referred to as Kurdistan; Kurds are descent of Medes and Hurrian; The Kurds are a distinct ethnic group of Indo-European descent that inhabit a region including parts of present-day Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Syria and the former USSR. Kurds are largely Sunni Muslim people with their own language and culture; moreover, there are non-Muslim Kurds. Kurdish languages / Dialects Kurmandji is spoken in all the Kurdish homelands.Sorani is the most studied and best-known Kurdish language is spoken in Iran, and Iraq.Gurani is the liturgical language of the "People of Truth" (Ahl-i-Haqq)Zaza or Dimili is spoken in Turkey. Kurds - recent historyKurds were promised autonomy in the Treaty of Sevres (1920) but the treaty was never ratified. Instead, a peace treaty between the allies and Turkey, Treaty of Lausanne (1923), was adopted which did not mention any rights for Kurds. Kurds were not mentioned in any subsequent international document until the UN Security Council Resolution 688 was passed in April 1991. Historical Documents: 1- Treaty of Sevres 1920, 2- Treaty of Sevres (Kurdistan section), 3- The King-Crane Commission Report 1919, 4- Treaty of Lausanne 1923, 5- Wilson's Fourteen Points, and 6- UN SC Resolution 688.
|
|
| Last Updated ( Monday, 24 September 2007 ) |
| Next > |
|---|