|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| The Stateless Nation The Kurds are the largest ethnic group in the world without a state. The term "Kurdistan" is widely used in Iraq and in Iran to refer to the Kurdish area of northwest Iraq. Of the over 25 million Kurds, approximately 10 million live in Turkey, four million in Iraq, five million in Iran and a million in Syria, with the rest scattered throughout the rest of the world. The Kurds are ethnically and culturally different from both the Turks and the Iraqis. They speak a different language, and while all three groups are muslim, they all practice different forms. The Kurds have used this cultural difference as a reason to establish a homeland. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Kurdish language The Kurds are, together with the Arabs, Persians and Armenians, one of the most ancient people of the Near East. The Kurds have their own language, Kurdish, which is a member of the Indo-European family of languages; like Persian, Afghan and Beluchi, it is one of the Iranian languages but is unrelated to the Arabic and Turkish languages. Over time, various dialects have arisen within the Kurdish language. The most widely disseminated dialect is Kurmanci. It is spoken by about 90% of the Kurds in Turkey, in Iranian and Iraqi Kurdistan in the northern areas near the Turkish border, and by the Syrian Kurds - that is, by about 60% of all Kurds. The Sorani dialect is spoken by about 25% of the Kurds. This dialect is spoken in the middle and southern regions of Iranian and Iraqi Kurdistan. Zazaki is a third dialect, which is spoken in certain regions of Turkish Kurdistan. In the southernmost parts of Kurdistan, Gorani and other dialects are spoken. |
 Sign Guestbook |
 View Guestbook |
 vikram42@indiatimes.com |
|
. |
| Visitors: 00224 |