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] Most Iranian Kurds are bilingual in Kurdish and Persian.
Geography
Iranian Kurds inMarivan protest againstISIL during theSiege of Kobanî, 6 October 2014Kurds celebratingNewroz in Iranian Kurdistan, 2024
Pockets of Sunni Kurds belong to theQadiriyyatariqa (aroundMarivan andSanandaj). These orders have experienced repression from the state, including the destruction of theirplaces 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 theConstitutional Revolution of 1905–1911, which elevatedPersian 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 ofSheikh Ubeydullah inTurkish Kurdistan around 1880 inspiredSimko Shikak to rebel in 1918, while the variousBarzani rebellions inIraqi Kurdistan became a source of support for theRepublic of Mahabad.[22] Other examples of cross-border interaction include the subjugation of theSimko Shikak revolt forcing Simko to flee toRawandiz inIraqi Kurdistan – where he sought the support of SheikhMahmud Barzanji.[23] Following the fall of theRepublic 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 aTurkish Kurdish delegation and anIraqi Kurdish delegation at the border area near Mount Dalanpar where they signed thePact 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 fromSAVAK on the Iranian side. However, Kurds were able to reinforce the cross-border political activity, when theFirst Iraqi–Kurdish War commenced in 1961, as theDemocratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI) gave financial support and loyalty to their counterpart in Iraq, theKurdistan 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]
After theIranian 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]
Kurdish separatism in Iran[28] or theKurdish–Iranian conflict[29][30] is an ongoing,[31][32][28][33] long running, separatist dispute between the Kurdish opposition in WesternIran and the governments of Iran,[28] lasting since the emergence ofReza Shah Pahlavi in 1918.[31]
During theIranian 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]
^Sebastian Maisel (2018).The Kurds: An Encyclopedia of Life, Culture, and Society. p. 54.
^abAli Ezzatyar (2016).The Last Mufti of Iranian Kurdistan: Ethnic and Religious Implications in the Greater Middle East. Springer. p. 29.ISBN9781137563248.
^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,ISBN1-4191-2670-9,ISBN978-1-4191-2670-3, 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,ISBN0-231-15002-4,ISBN978-0-231-15002-6. "Kurds are also a majority of the population in the provinces of Kermanshah, West Azerbaijan, and Ilam."
^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.ISBN978-0-230-11584-2.OCLC714725127.
^حمیدرضا دالوند."حسنوند".Great Islamic Encyclopedia (in Persian).20: 1. Retrieved26 April 2020.
^Koohi-Kamali (2003).The Political Development of the Kurds in Iran: Pastoral Nationalism. Springer. p. 34.ISBN9780230535725.
^Borhanedin A. Yassin (1995).Vision Or Reality?: The Kurds in the Policy of the Great Powers, 1941-1947. Lund University Press. p. 72.ISBN9780862383893.
^"Natural Language Studies".Phonetics Laboratory.22: 11. 1976.
^"جاف".Great Islamic Encyclopedia (in Persian).17: 6358. Retrieved27 April 2020.
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.S2CID236293538.
Cabi, Marouf (2021).The Formation of Modern Kurdish Society in Iran: Modernity, Modernization and Social Change 1921-1979. I.B. Tauris. pp. 1–232.ISBN978-0755642243.
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