Kurds

"Kurd" redirects here. For other uses, see Kurd (disambiguation).

Kurds
کورد, Kurd
Flag of Kurdistan
Total population
30–40 million[1]
(The World Factbook, 2015 estimate)
36.4–45.6 million[2]
(Kurdish Institute of Paris, 2017 estimate)
Regions with significant populations
 Turkeyest. 14.3–20 million[1][2]
 Iranest. 8.2–12 million[1][2]
 Iraqest. 5.6–8.5 million[1][2]
 Syriaest. 2–3.6 million[1][2]
 Germany1.2–1.5 million[3][4]
 Azerbaijan150,000–180,000[5][6]
 France150,000[7]
 Sweden100,000+[8][9][10][11]
 Netherlands100,000[12]
 Russia63,818[13]
 Belgium50,000[14]
 United Kingdom49,841[15][16][17]
 Kazakhstan47,938[18]
 Armenia37,470[19]
  Switzerland35,000[20]
 Denmark30,000[21]
 Jordan30,000[22]
 Austria23,000[23]
 Greece22,000[24]
 United States20,591–40,000[25]
 Canada16,315[26]
 Finland15,850[27]
 Georgia13,861[28]
 Kyrgyzstan13,200[29]
 Australia10,171[30]
Languages
Kurdish language (Kurmanji, Sorani, Southern Kurdish, Laki)[31]
Zaza, Gorani[32]
Religion
Predominantly: Islam[a] (majority for Sunni Islam, large minorities of Shia Islam and Alevism[b])
Significant minority: Yazidism and Yarsanism
others (including Zoroastrianism and Christianity[c])[33][34][35]
Related ethnic groups
Other Iranic peoples
 
People
Population
  • Homeland
History

Ancient

Karduchian dynasties

Corduene
Zabdicene
Cyrtians
Moxoene

Medieval

Modern
Culture
Languages
Kurdish languages
Religion

Kurds or Kurdish people (Kurdish: کورد, romanized: Kurd) are an Iranic[36] ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northern Syria.[37] There are exclaves of Kurds in Central Anatolia, Khorasan, and the Caucasus, as well as significant Kurdish diaspora communities in the cities of western Turkey (in particular Istanbul) and Western Europe (primarily in Germany). The Kurdish population is estimated to be between 30 and 45 million.[2][38]

Kurds speak the Kurdish languages and the Zaza–Gorani languages, which belong to the Western Iranian branch of the Iranian languages.[39][40]

Kurds do not comprise a majority in any country, making them a stateless people.[41] After World War I and the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, the victorious Western allies made provision for a Kurdish state in the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres. However, that treaty was not ratified. When the Treaty of Lausanne set the boundaries of modern Turkey three years later, no such provision was made, leaving Kurds with minority status in all of the new countries of Turkey, Iraq, and Syria.[42] Recent history of the Kurds includes numerous genocides and rebellions, along with ongoing armed conflicts in Turkish, Iranian, Syrian, and Iraqi Kurdistan. Kurds in Iraq and Syria have autonomous regions, while Kurdish movements continue to pursue greater cultural rights, autonomy, and independence throughout Kurdistan[when defined as?].

  1. ^ a b c d e 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. 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.
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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.
  3. ^ ""Wir Kurden ärgern uns über die Bundesregierung" – Politik". Süddeutsche.de. 21 March 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  4. ^ "Geschenk an Erdogan? Kurdisches Kulturfestival verboten". heise.de. 5 September 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  5. ^ The cultural situation of the Kurds, A report by Lord Russell-Johnston, Council of Europe, July 2006.
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ "3 Kurdish women political activists shot dead in Paris". CNN. 11 January 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
  8. ^ "NATO Membership for Sweden: Between Turkey and the Kurds". The Washington Institute. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  9. ^ "Will exiled Kurds pay price of Sweden's NATO entry?". Christian Science Monitor. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  10. ^ "NATO bid reignites Sweden's dispute with Turkey over Kurds". POLITICO. 24 May 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  11. ^ TT (23 September 2017). "Svenskkurder: Självständighet kan inte vänta". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). ISSN 1101-2412. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  12. ^ "Diaspora Kurde". Institutkurde.org (in French). Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  13. ^ "Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 г. Национальный состав населения Российской Федерации". Demoscope.ru. Archived from the original on 21 May 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
  14. ^ "The Kurdish Diaspora". Institut Kurde de Paris. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
  15. ^ "QS211EW – Ethnic group (detailed)". nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 3 August 2013.
  16. ^ "Ethnic Group – Full Detail_QS201NI" (PDF). Retrieved 4 September 2013.
  17. ^ "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.
  18. ^ "Ethnic composition of Kazakhstan 2021". Retrieved 4 July 2022.
  19. ^ "Information from the 2011 Armenian National Census" (PDF). Statistics of Armenia (in Armenian). Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  20. ^ "Switzerland". Ethnologue. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  21. ^ "Fakta: Kurdere i Danmark". Jyllandsposten (in Danish). 8 May 2006. Retrieved 24 December 2013.
  22. ^ Al-Khatib, Mahmoud A.; Al-Ali, Mohammed N. "Language and Cultural Shift Among the Kurds of Jordan" (PDF). p. 12. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
  23. ^ "Austria". Ethnologue. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  24. ^ "Greece". Ethnologue. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  25. ^ "2011–2015 American Community Survey Selected Population Tables". Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 12 February 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  26. ^ "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.
  27. ^ "Language according to age and sex by region 1990 – 2021". Statistics Finland. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
  28. ^ "Population/Census" (PDF). geostat.ge.
  29. ^ "Number of resident population by selected nationality" (PDF). United Nations. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 July 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  30. ^ "Australia – Ancestry". 2022. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
  31. ^ "Atlas of the Languages of Iran A working classification". Languages of Iran. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  32. ^ 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.
  33. ^ "Kurds in Turkey".
  34. ^ "Learn About Kurdish Religion".
  35. ^ "Kurds of Iran: The missing piece in the Middle East Puzzle".
  36. ^
  37. ^ Bengio, Ofra (2014). Kurdish Awakening: Nation Building in a Fragmented Homeland. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-75813-1.
  38. ^ 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.
  39. ^ "Kurds". The Columbia Encyclopedia (6th ed.). Encyclopedia.com. 2014. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  40. ^ Windfuhr (2013). Iranian Languages. Routledge. p. 587. ISBN 978-1135797041.
  41. ^ "Timeline: The Kurds' Quest for Independence".
  42. ^ Who are the Kurds? by BBC News, 31 October 2017


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