History of the Kurds

There are over 23 million Kurds in the world today and the great majority live in the mountainous region, sometimes called Kurdistan, comprising southeast Turkey and northern portions of Syria, Iraq, and Iran. Although the great majority of Kurds are Sunni Muslims a small number practice other faiths and there are large numbers of Shi'a Muslim Kurds in Iran. The Kurds speak three principal languages: Kurdi, Zaza, and Kurmanji, which is the language of the majority of Kurdish people in Turkey and, as "the literary language of the Kurds," is the "most prestigious of all Kurdish vernaculars" (Entessar 4

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nd cultural suicide" as their only choices (Ciment 47). But the government adopted a laissez-faire approach to economic development in "the East," as the Kurdish regions came to be known, and many of the Kurds' religious-civic leaders "grew richer by turning themselves into commercial farmers and exploiting their leadership of Kurdish labor and control over Kurdish territory" (Ciment 49). In the 1950s numerous wealthy Kurds also migrated to the cities while the Kurdish people in general made themselves felt in general elections, including the election of a number of Kurdish members of parliament. Urban Kurds began to organize and work for "economic change and development in the East" and were careful "to work within the system and avoid public politicization of their movement," which was known as Doguculuk (Entessar 88). But the Turkish government suspected them of plans for eventual rebellion or political efforts at secession and ordered the arrest of the movement's leaders in late 1959. The economic corruption of former Kurdish leaders and the brutal suppression of a legal, peaceful organization such as Doguculuk revealed once again just how much democracy and fair treatment the Kurds could expect from Turkey or their own
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2008
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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