Total population | |
---|---|
9–10 million | |
Languages | |
Kurdish, Gorani and Persian | |
Religion | |
Shia Islam (Twelver)[1][2] Sunni Islam (Shafi'i)[3] (Sufi order Qadiriyya also present)[4] Yarsanism | |
Related ethnic groups | |
see Iranian peoples |
Kurds in Iran (Kurdish: کورد لە ئێران, romanized: Kurdên Îranê,[5] Persian: کردها در ایران)[6] constitute a large minority in the country with a population of around 9 and 10 million people.[7][8]
Geography
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Iranian_Kurds_demonstration_in_support_of_Koban%C3%AE_people_04.jpg/220px-Iranian_Kurds_demonstration_in_support_of_Koban%C3%AE_people_04.jpg)
Iranian Kurdistan or Eastern Kurdistan (Kurdish: Rojhilatê Kurdistanê), refers to the parts of western Iran inhabited by Kurds which borders Iraq and Turkey.[9] It includes the Kurdistan Province, Kermanshah Province, West Azerbaijan Province, Ilam Province, and Lorestan Province.[10][11]
Shia Feyli Kurds inhabit Kermanshah Province, except for those parts where people are Jaff, and Ilam Province; as well as some parts of Kurdistan and Hamadan provinces. The Kurds of Khorasan, in the North Khorasan Province of northeastern Iran, are Shi'ite Muslims.[12][13] The Lak tribe populate parts of Ilam Province and Lorestan Province, while Chegini Kurds reside in central Lorestan.
Religion
The two major religions among Kurds in Iran are Islam and Yarsanism, while fewer Kurds adhere to Baháʼí Faith and Judaism.[14] There is disagreement on which is the largest denomination among Kurds; experts such as Richard N. Frye and Martin van Bruinessen argue that Sunni Islam (the Shafi'i branch[3]) is the majority religion,[15][16] while researcher Anu Leinonen believes it is the Twelver branch of Shia Islam.[17]
Pockets of Sunni Kurds belong to the Qadiriyya tariqa (around Marivan and Sanandaj). These orders have experienced repression from the state, including the destruction of their places of worship.[4][18] Yarsanis are also targeted by the central government.[19]
Political history
Emergence of Kurdish nationalism
While Ottoman Kurdistan has been identified as the source of Kurdish national inspiration, Iranian Kurdistan has been identified as the ideological cradle for the emergence of Kurdish nationalism.[20]
In Iran, Kurdish intellectual writings and poetry from the 16th and 17th century indicate that the Kurdish population in the country was aware of the necessity of Kurdish unity and the need to form political and administrative entities for Kurds. However, these calls for Kurdish unity did not reach the broader Kurdish population until the 20th century when it awakened and diffused as a response to the implementation of nation-state policies (Persianization) by changing Iranian rulers. These policies not only alienated Kurds but also excluded them from equal access to citizenship. An example was the Constitutional Revolution of 1905–1911, which elevated Persian above Kurdish by asserting it as official language, language of administration and language of education.[21]
Cross-border interaction (1918–1979)
Kurds have a strong cross-border ethnic linkage and few historical Kurdish rebellions were limited to the borders of a single country. For example, the rebellion of Sheikh Ubeydullah in Turkish Kurdistan around 1880 inspired Simko Shikak to rebel in 1918, while the various Barzani rebellions in Iraqi Kurdistan became a source of support for the Republic of Mahabad.[22] Other examples of cross-border interaction include the subjugation of the Simko Shikak revolt forcing Simko to flee to Rawandiz in Iraqi Kurdistan – where he sought the support of Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji.[23] Following the fall of the Republic of Mahabad in 1946, some of its leaders also fled to Iraqi Kurdistan where they were sheltered by the son of Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji. Mustafa Barzani had also supported the Republic of Mahabad by sending 2,100 soldiers which in turn also increased Kurdish self-confidence. Many teachers and military officers from Iraqi Kurdistan moreover crossed the border to support the republic.[23]
In 1944, the Society for the Revival of the Kurds/Kurdistan (JK) considered the first Kurdish nationalist movement met with a Turkish Kurdish delegation and an Iraqi Kurdish delegation at the border area near Mount Dalanpar where they signed the Pact of Three Borders which demonstrated the existence of a strong Kurdish sense of cross-border solidarity and sentiment.[24]
Cross-border interaction became difficult to sustain in the 1950s due to repression from SAVAK on the Iranian side. However, Kurds were able to reinforce the cross-border political activity, when the First Iraqi–Kurdish War commenced in 1961, as the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI) gave financial support and loyalty to their counterpart in Iraq, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), while KDPI themselves accessed spatial resources. Relations between KDP and KDPI would later deteriorate greatly as KDP became a close ally of SAVAK against Iraq. CIA documents from 1963 show that the KDP rebuffed support from KDPI due to the desire to maintain close relations with Iran.[25]
In the 1970s, KDPI with Komalah and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) fought around Piranshahr, Sardasht, Baneh in the northern parts of Iranian Kurdistan against Iranian forces who received support from KDP.[26]
Cross-border interaction after 1979
After the Iranian Revolution in 1979, political infighting among Kurds increased and KDPI and Komala fought over political and spatial influence in Iranian Kurdistan as they were fighting Iran together. In the 1980s, the two political and military groups had become powerful and cross-border interaction was therefore less important.[27]
Separatism
Kurdish separatism in Iran[28] or the Kurdish–Iranian conflict[29][30] is an ongoing,[31][32][28][33] long running, separatist dispute between the Kurdish opposition in Western Iran and the governments of Iran,[28] lasting since the emergence of Reza Shah Pahlavi in 1918.[31]
During the Iranian Revolution, Kurdish nationalist political parties were unsuccessful in attracting support, who at that time had no interest in autonomy.[34][35] However, since the 1990s, Kurdish nationalism in the region has grown, partly due to outrage at the government's violent suppression of Kurdish activism.[36]
Tribes
See also
- Ardalan
- Mokryan
- List of Iranian Kurds
- A Modern History of the Kurds by David McDowall
References
- ^ Leinonen, Anu (2017). Unity or Diversity? Turkish Nationalism, Kurds, and the Turkish Mainstream Press (PDF). Helsinki: University of Helsinki. p. 66. ISBN 978-951-51-2890-4.
Most Iranian Kurds are Shi'a (of Twelver Shi'ism).
- ^ Sebastian Maisel (2018). The Kurds: An Encyclopedia of Life, Culture, and Society. p. 54.
- ^ a b Ali Ezzatyar (2016). The Last Mufti of Iranian Kurdistan: Ethnic and Religious Implications in the Greater Middle East. Springer. p. 29. ISBN 9781137563248.
- ^ a b "Dervish practice Sufism on a yearly, 30-day journey through Kurdistan". Rûdaw. 27 February 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
- ^ "خوێندکارانی کورد لە ئێران". zheen.org (in Kurdish). Retrieved 22 April 2020.
- ^ محمّدعلی چلونگر; کیومرث عظیمی (2012). "پراکندگی فرق و مذاهب تشیّع در کردستان". فصلنامه علمی شیعه شناسی (in Persian). 10 (39): 81–100. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
- ^ Brown, Sara E.; Smith, Stephen D. (2021). The Routledge Handbook of Religion, Mass Atrocity, and Genocide. Routledge. p. 345.
- ^ Sebastian Maisel (2018). The Kurds: An Encyclopedia of Life, Culture, and Society. p. xii.
- ^ Kurdish Awakening: Nation Building in a Fragmented Homeland, (2014), by Ofra Bengio, University of Texas Press
- ^ Federal Research Division, 2004, Iran: A Country Study, Kessinger Publishing, ISBN 1-4191-2670-9, ISBN 978-1-4191-2670-3, p. 121, "The Kurdish area of Iran includes most of West Azerbaijan."
- ^ Youssef Courbage, Emmanuel Todd, 2011, A Convergence of Civilizations: The Transformation of Muslim Societies Around the World, p. 74. Columbia University Press, ISBN 0-231-15002-4, ISBN 978-0-231-15002-6. "Kurds are also a majority of the population in the provinces of Kermanshah, West Azerbaijan, and Ilam."
- ^ ایلهاوطوایف کرد ایران. rangvarehayeyekrang.ir. Archived from the original on 2017-12-17. Retrieved 2017-08-12.
- ^ "عشایر کرد خراسان؛ گردشگری عشایری" (in Persian). 29 October 2016. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
- ^ Helen Chapin Metz, ed. (1989). Iran: a country study. Federal Research Division. p. 126.
- ^ R. N. Frye. "Iran v. Peoples of Iran". Iranica Online. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
- ^ Martin Van Bruinessen (1991). "Religion in Kurdistan". Kurdish Times. 4. Istanbul: The Isis Press: 8. doi:10.31826/9781463229887-003. ISBN 9781463229887.
- ^ Anu Leinonen (2017). Unity or Diversity? Turkish Nationalism, Kurds, and the Turkish Mainstream Press. Helsinki. p. 66. ISBN 978-951-51-2890-4. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
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- ^ "Yarsan under attack in Iran". Kurdistan24. 8 March 2016. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
- ^ Hassaniyan (2021), pp. 21–22.
- ^ Hassaniyan (2021), pp. 18–20.
- ^ Hassaniyan (2021), p. 21.
- ^ a b Hassaniyan (2021), p. 58–59.
- ^ Hassaniyan (2021), p. 58.
- ^ Hassaniyan (2021), p. 62–63.
- ^ Hassaniyan (2021), p. 64.
- ^ Hassaniyan (2021), p. 64–65.
- ^ a b c Habeeb, William Mark; Frankel, Rafael D.; Al-Oraibi, Mina (2012). The Middle East in Turmoil: Conflict, Revolution, and Change. Santa Barbara: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-313-33914-1. OCLC 753913763.
- ^ Bhutani, Surendra (1980), Contemporary Gulf, Academic Press, p. 32
- ^ Near East, North Africa report, 1994
- ^ a b Smith, Benjamin, "The Kurds of Iran: Opportunistic and Failed Resistance, 1918‐" (PDF), Land and Rebellion: Kurdish Separatism in Comparative Perspective, Cornell, p. 10, archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-06-15
- ^ University of Arkansas. Political Science department. Iran/Kurds (1943-present). Retrieved 9 September 2012. [1]
- ^ Elling, Rasmus Christian (2013). Minorities in Iran: Nationalism and Ethnicity after Khomeini. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 312. ISBN 978-0-230-11584-2. OCLC 714725127.
- ^ Romano, David (2006). The Kurdish Nationalist Movement. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 235. ISBN 0-521-85041-X.
- ^ McDowall (1996). A Modern History of the Kurds. London: I.B. Tauris. p. 270. ISBN 1-85043-653-3.
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- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Ghasemi Pirbalouti; Momeni; Bahmani (31 December 2012). "Ethnobotanical Study of Medicinal Plants Used by Kurd Tribe in Dehloran and Abdanan Districts, Ilam Province, Iran". African Journal of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicines. 10 (2): 368–385. doi:10.4314/ajtcam.v10i2.24. ISSN 0189-6016. PMC 3746586. PMID 24146463.
- ^ a b "Kurdish tribes". Iranica Online. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
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- ^ Oberling, Pierre (1964-12-31). "The Tribes of Qaraca Dag: A Brief History". Oriens. 17: 60–95. doi:10.2307/1580019. ISSN 0078-6527. JSTOR 1580019.
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- ^ a b c d "Delikanlu". Iranica Online. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
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- ^ a b c d e Mohammad Aliakbari, Mojtaba Gheitasi, Erik Anonby (September 2014). "On Language Distribution in Ilam Province, Iran". Iranian Studies. 48 (6): 835–850. doi:10.1080/00210862.2014.913423. S2CID 162337795. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
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Bibliography
- Hassaniyan, Allan (2021), Kurdish Politics in Iran, Cambridge University Press, doi:10.1017/9781009029971, ISBN 9781009029971, S2CID 241171409
Further reading
- Bayani, Farhad; Serajzadeh, Seyed Hossein (2021). "Islamic Fundamentalism as a lifestyle? a Sociological Study of Islamic Fundamentalism among Sunni Kurds of Iran". British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 50: 123–141. doi:10.1080/13530194.2021.1937517. S2CID 236293538.
- Cabi, Marouf (2021). The Formation of Modern Kurdish Society in Iran: Modernity, Modernization and Social Change 1921-1979. I.B. Tauris. pp. 1–232. ISBN 978-0755642243.