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General Studies 2 >> International Relations

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IRANIAN KURDS

IRANIAN KURDS

 
Source: The Indian Express

1. CONTEXT

Nationwide protests over the death of a young Iranian Kurdish woman in the custody of Iran's morality police have been at their most intense in the northwestern areas where the majority of the country's 10 million Kurds live.
 
The protests, now in their fourth week as demonstrators defy a crackdown by security forces, pose the biggest challenge to Iran's clerical rulers in years. The demonstrations began in reaction to the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini and then spread to every one of Iran's 31 provinces.

2. HISTORY

Kurdish people are an ethnolinguistic Iranian group indigenous to Mesopotamian plains and highlands contemporary to south-eastern Turkey, north-eastern Syria, northern Iraq, north-western Iran, and south-western Armenia. Kurdish is a language of the northwestern Iranian group which has likely separated from other dialects of central Iran.
 
Kurdish nationalism emerged after World war 1 with the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire which had historically successfully integrated(but not assimilated) the Kurds, through the use of forced repression of Kurdish movements to gain independence. World War1 gave much-needed demand for a separate state for Kurds through the Treaty of Serves but was suppressed by Turkey and Iran during Kurdish revolts in the 1920s, 1930, and 1937-1938. Since then revolt against a separate nation is continued to till date.
 

3. Relations with Countries

Turkey 
 
About half of all Kurds live in Turkey which accounts for 18 percent of the Turkish population. Several Kurdish revolts were forcibly suppressed by Turkey during the 1920s and 1930s as well as they were officially den9ied and any expression by the Kurds of their identity was harshly repressed. Also till 1991, the use of the Kurdish language, although widespread, was illegal.
 
Iraq
 
Kurds make up around 17% of Iraq's population with a majority in at least three provinces in Northern Iraq which are known as Iraqi Kurdistan. During the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, the regime implemented anti-Kurdish policies which led to the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of civilians, the wholesale destruction of thousands of villages, and the deportation of thousands of Kurds to southern and central Iraq.
 
Iran
 
Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution touched off bloodshed in its Kurdistan region with heavy clashes between the Shi'ite revolutionaries and the Kurdish party of Iranian Kurdistan, which fought for independence. 
Kurds share much of their history with Iran and are seen as a reason why Kurdish leaders in Iran do not want a separate Kurdish state but the government of Iran has always been opposed to any sign of freedom for the Iranian Kurds.
 
Syria
 
Kurds and other Non-Arabs constitute around 10 percent of Syria's population making them the largest ethnic minority in the country. Syria used various techniques to suppress the ethnic identity of Kurds including bans on the use of the Kurdish language, refusal to register children with Kurdish names, the replacement of Kurdish place names with new names in Arabic, the prohibition of businesses that do not have Arabic names, the prohibition of Kurdish private schools, and the prohibition of books and other materials written in Kurdish.
 
IS turning against Kurdish enclaves led to fear among Kurds about losing out their territories and the century-long fight for a separate nation resulted in Kurds gaining allies among western countries and standing against ISIS.
 
New Militant groups such as the Kurdistan free life party have emerged over the past two decades and have occasionally clashed with security forces. Their leaders have often sought refuge in Iraqi Kurdistan and have been attacked by Iranian missiles.

4. Society

  • With eight million to 10 million Kurds living in Ira, Tehran fears pressure for secession will grow among a minority with a long history of struggle for its political rights.
  • Kurds in Iran have long suffered deep-rooted discrimination. Their social, political, and cultural rights have been repressed, as have their economic aspirations," human rights group Amnesty International said in a report.
  • Kurdish regions have been economically neglected, resulting in entrenched poverty. Forced evictions and destruction of homes have left Kurds with restricted access to adequate housing.

For Prelims & Mains

For Prelims:
Kurds, Kurdish party of the Iranian Kurdistan (KPDI), Treat of sevres, Ottoman Empire
For Mains:
1. Who are Kurds? Discuss their history and relations with the middle-eastern countries.
 

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