Anti-Kurdish sentiment, also known asanti-Kurdism orKurdophobia, is hostility, fear, intolerance or racism against theKurdish people,Kurdistan,Kurdish culture, orKurdish languages.[1] A person who holds such positions is sometimes referred to as a "Kurdophobe".
Gérard Chaliand coined the term to describe how Kurds have been oppressed.[1] InTurkey, the government has historically denied Kurdish identity andlanguage.[2] InSyria andIraq, similar anti-Kurdish policies have caused significant harm, includinggenocidal campaigns in Iraq underSaddam Hussein.[3] Recently, conflicts like thefight againstISIS have increased awareness but also heightened anti-Kurdish actions and discrimination. Kurds there have been receiving death threats and demands for their expulsion.[4]
The term 'anti-Kurdism' appears to have been first coined byGérard Chaliand, who used it to describe anti-Kurdish sentiment inIraq andTurkey during the mid- to late twentieth century.[1] Much anti-Kurdish sentiment is a result ofultra-nationalist ideologies promoted by the states which preserve a significant Kurdish population.
In Turkey, Kurdish identity was officially denied by the state,[2] which sought toTurkify theKurds in Turkey. Kurdish language and identity are not recognised in the constitution.[5] TheTurkish government institutionalizedracism and paid academics to teach theories that would deny the existence of Kurds. An example of this is the "kurt-kart theory", which asserted that Kurds were merely Turks whose name came from the "kurt-kart" sound the people made when they walked through the snow of the mountainous southeast of Turkey.[6] Turkish diplomats were taught by theNational Secret Service that neither Kurds nor the Kurdish language exist.[7] VariousTurkish nationalist political parties and groups in Turkey have successfully campaigned using the general anti-Kurdish sentiment of theTurkish people.[8] The Turkish state uses "fightingterrorism" to justify military encroachment on Kurdish areas.[9][10]
Anti-Kurdish sentiment increased in theArab world during the formation of theUnited Arab Republic. At that time,Gamal Abdel Nasser implemented a policy ofArabizing the new republic by cracking down on political dissent amongKurds in Syria.[11] Following the collapse of the United Arab Republic,Syria would be officially declared theSyrian Arab Republic based on these sameArab nationalist policies.
Anti-Kurdish sentiment has also been present inIraq where there is a large Kurdish population. Anti-Kurdism manifested itself in the form of genocide andSaddam Hussein'sAnfal campaign inIraqi Kurdistan.[3]
Kurds in Iraq and Syria were embroiled in a war against theIslamic State of Iraq and the Levant. As a result of the increasing awareness of the Kurdish people due to this conflict, anti-Kurdism has also been on the rise. In the United Kingdom, a Kurdish shop owner was attacked by an Iranian man whoadvocated genocide against Kurds.[12]
In November 2014, a KurdishfootballerDeniz Naki was the victim of an attack inTurkey. Naki, who played for the Turkish club,Gençlerbirliği S.K., was attacked by Turks while he was out buying food in Turkey's capital,Ankara. The incident occurred shortly after Naki had declared that he was Kurdish and expressed support on social media for theKurdish groups fighting against ISIS militants. A number of assailants allegedly cursed him and called him a "dirty Kurd" before beating him and injuring his hand and giving him a black eye. Naki later left Turkey and returned to Germany to continue his football career.[13]
In Turkey, rising national fervor driven by the military offensive against Kurdish militias in northern Syria has led to increased discrimination against Kurds, many of whom are Turkish citizens.[14] Recent incidents, like the attack on 74-year-old Ekrem Yasli for speaking Kurdish in a hospital, highlight the growing problem. Yasli's attacker was charged but later acquitted due to a lack of evidence pointing to an anti-Kurdish motive. Human rights lawyers and activists argue that the state's failure to address ethnically motivated violence and the prevalence of hate speech in Turkish society contribute to these attacks.[15]
In Japan, beginning in Spring 2023, there was a significant increase in anti-Kurdish sentiment. A report byThe Asahi Shimbun claimed that this was in part due to posts made by Turkish people making anti-Kurdish posts in the Japanese language on the social media platformX.[16] NumerousJapanese commenters reportedly demanded that Kurds should be expelled from Japan or killed.[17]Japanese local government employees reported being inundated with phone calls to expel the Kurds or foreigners in general. One employee reported that their entire day was taken up with dealing with such calls. One man was charged with sending death threats to a Kurdish organization; he reportedly vowed to "kill all the Kurds and feed them to the pigs".[18]Taro Kono, a leading politician with ruling right-wingnationalistLiberal Democratic Party, blamed the Kurdish refugees and pointed to the problem of "disguised refugees" in Japan.[19][20]
