This is a list of countries of the world sorted by total Kurdish-speaking population. The estimated number of Kurdish speakers in the world is 31,417,000. This is based on information between 1997 and 2006, and isn’t current.
Kurdish literature (in Kurdish: Wêjeya Kurdî) refers to the literature written in Kurdish language. Literary Kurdish works have been written in one of the three main dialects of Gorani, Kurmanji and Sorani. There is no existing evidence of Kurdish literature of pre-Islamic period. Some sources consider Ali Hariri(1425-1495) as the first well-known poet who wrote in Kurdish. He was from the Hakkari region.
Bekhal’s Tears
Bekhal’s Tears (Kurdish:Firmîskî Bêxal) is a 2005 Kurdish film directed by Lauand Omar and produced in Iraq.
Kurdish dance (Kurdish: Govend) is a group of traditional hand-holding dances similar to those from the Balkans, Lebanon, Iraq and to Iran. It is a form of round dancing, with a single or a couple of figure dancers often added to the geometrical centre of dancing circle.
According to Encyclopaedia of Islam, Kurds sing and dance in all of their festivals, birthdays and marriage ceremonies. These folkloric dances are one of the main factors in distinguishing Kurds from neighbouring Muslim populations .
Kurdish traditional clothings (Kurdish: Cilî Kurdî) are variant. Kurdish women wear colorful clothes.
Types of clothing:
Kewapatol
Renk u choxe
Klash
Sorane
Pishten
Kurdish women (Kurdish: Jinên/Afiretên Kurd) have traditionally played important roles in Kurdish history, society and politics.
In Politics
Sharaf-al-Din Bitlisi in Sharafnama written in 1597, mentions three Kurdish women assuming power in Kurdish principalities. Also Evliya Çelebi noted that Kurdish women did occasionally assume power in Kurdistan and Ottoman authorities accepted the succession in those principalities by a female ruler.
By Dr. A. Ghassemlou (late 1970s / Edited by gerard Chailiand)
On the 20th of August, 1941, the Soviet, British and American Allied
Armies entered Iran. Reza Shah’s dictatorship was replaced with a weak
Government, based in Tehran and with no control over the south of the
country, which was under British and American occupation, or the north,
which was occupied by the Soviet Union. Various democratic rights were
granted to the growing number of political parties in the country.
The Mahabad area was occupied neither by Britain or America nor by the
Soviet Union. It was an area with a long tradition of Kurdish
nationalism.
THE KURDS’ RELATIONSHIP WITH THE WEST
NARRATOR:
While the Kurds have a long history of learning to live with their enemies, they have an equally long history of being betrayed by their allies. Sadly, even the great democracies of the west have not always lived up to the promises they’ve made to the Kurds.
During the nineteen-seventies the United States supported Kurdish autonomy in northern Iraq in order to pressure Saddam Hussein during his negotiations with Iran. But as soon as agreement was reached the Kurds were unceremoniously abandoned by their U.S. allies and exposed to the full fury and vengeance of Saddam’s regime.
by: Dr. B. A. Eliasi 1998
INTRODUCTION:The aim of this document is to introduce in brief the history of the current National Flag
of Kurdistan and to help those who use the Kurdish national flag to reproduce it correctly.
The document contains the basic rules for the construction of the flag as well as
the standard colors to be used.
Ey Reqîb
Oh Enemy
Oh enemy, the Kurdish nation is alive with its language
It cannot be defeated by the weapons of any time
Let no one say the Kurds are dead
The Kurds are alive
The Kurds are alive and their flag will never fall
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