The Purpose of this site is;

to explain Kurdish culture, language, history and geography, to inform visitors about the tragedy of Kurds who have lived for thousands of years in MEZOPOTAMIA (between the Euphnates and Tigris rivers) without freedom, and let you learn the reality of PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) which is their liberty movement....
 

We, Kurdish youth, keeps on living in the hottest point of the conflict.Untill now, many people, organization or politician have commented on the issue. Some remarked us as terrorists, while some others revolutionist or liberalistic.But the important point is; who knows enough about the issue. We live here by the time coflict started and after.So, do you think we have the right to talk about or not?

Kurds, only talking about their near history in Turkey, are living as a colony in the hardest life conditions.. None of their simplest rights were accepted by Turkish Republic after its foundation in 1923. Of course, this was not only their fate. All of the other societies; likewise Armenians, Suryani-Christians, Cyprians were directly affected by the hostile attitude of Turkish ideology, which is called as "Kemalism", that was named by its founder.It should be mentioned that, this ideology of Turks never brought happiness to the societies in Turkey. There were lots of genocides on this societies. Similarly, Kurds were victims of Kemalist ideology, too.

In Turkey, it is forbidden to speak, be educated in Kurdish. Use of Kurdish is a component of crime in all governmental buildings, like hospitals, schools etc..No one can establish a Kurdish tv, radio or newspaper in Turkey.Even to name children in Kurdish is not allowed by the Turkish Constitution. Clearly, the Turkish government and army insists to assimilate Kurds and force us to forget our ethnic origin and culture. It was defined by the Turkish Republic simply, with the slogan of "Turkey Belongs to Turks". So if you are not a Turk or accept to be,this means that you don’t have the opportunity and the right to live in.

During the history, lots of Kurdish intellectuals and the resistant society tried to stay aginst this cruel assimilation policy.In all democratic efforts which only legal avenues used, they were punished heavily by the Turkish sovereigns.Many of their pioneers were impisoned or killed, mostly after regular coup d’etats.

When the Kurdish society realized that use of legal democratic bodies brings no profit, they started to fight for freedom like, most of the Europeans did during the Ottoman Empire.However 20 of biggest Kurdish revolts for freedom only in the last 75 years, were extinguished by Turkish Army and its imperialist supporters with the use of bloodiest methods. Milions of Kurds were killed and unfortunately, so-called civilized world stayed in silence against all this massacre.Nowadays, Kurds are again struggling for their rights. Because there is no other chance left us to achieve our goals.

The Turkish army and government which calls Kurds and their freedom movement PKK as terrorist, used all kinds of degrading treatments against our society in 14 years dirty war.Torture,executions,dissapearances,think and death penalties, are ordinary incidents in the daily life of a Kurd.

More than 4000 villages of innocent Kurdish patriots were burned by Turkish army in order to the allegations of supporting PKK, without any evidence. As a result of this, almost 4.000.000 people were forced to flow away their homes and obliged to live as IDP’s(Internally Displaced People) in the western province of the country.But, it was not over, this time they faced pressure and violence from the extreme Turkish nationalists and police.

More than 3500 patriot Kurd intellectuals, such as writers,journalists,doctors and teachers were killed by the secret force of army called Turkish Gladio (JITEM) that includes the rascists and fascists.

It was stated by the Turkish government that almost 30.000 people died because of the conflict. Again according to the official numbers, nearly 20.000 of them are Kurdish guerillas and as it was mentioned before, 3000-4000 of the remain list are the Kurds who were killed brutally by Turkish Gladio.

Today,Turkish government tries to convince all the world that we’re terorists with various methods.They use the prosperous amount of money which comes from the dirty war, and the support of their Imperialist colleques. Moreover, they can easily threaten all the resisiting individuals, organizations, even countries with the wars(Syria) or boycotts(Italy).

But on the contrary,several times cease-fires were declared by the PKK to stop war and find a peaceful politic solution for the problem. But as you cen estimate, neither the problem itself nor the Kurds in Turkey is not acceptable for the Turkish government.They denied our society and its existence for the last 3000 years and still maintaining this incomprehensible manner.

We, kurdish youth, call all the democratic bodies for awareness and sensitiv'ity and International Solidarity concerning use of severe violence by Turkish government against our society. We warn everybody that if there will not be a society called as Kurds because of Turkish Governments Genocides in the future, this would be the shame of all humanity ?

We also ask everybody to read more and more. and to seek for the true answers of these questios below, to be able to understand the process of ongoing war in KURDISTAN.

What is the history of Kurds?
What are the aims of PKK ?
Who violates Human Rights?
Who have killed 30.000 people ; the PKK or Turkish Army ?
Who is the oppressor ? and,
Who is the real terrorist??
 

It should be known that we’re ready for peace for our rights.But if the war would be insisted by the sovereigns we’re ready for that, too.

The Imperialiasts and colonialists will be defeated.
The democratic humanity and our oppressed society will win.
Long Live KURDISTAN.
Long Live PKK
Long Live President APO.
 

 

 

 

 

You are the number


 

visitor since 23/11/98...

This page was designed and prepared by some patriotic students from AMED the capital of KURDISTAN and dedicated to SEROK APO!!

 

HISTORY

 

                    Being the native inhabitants of their land there are no "beginnings" for Kurdish history and people. Kurds and their history are the end products of thousands of years of continuous internal evolution and assimilation of new peoples and ideas introduced sporadically into their land.

                    Genetically,Kurds are the descendants of all who ever came to settle in Kurdistan, and not any one of them. A people such as the Guti, Kurti. Mede, Mard, Carduchi, Gordyene, Adianbene, Zila and Khaldi signify not the ancestor of the Kurds but only an ancestor. Archaeological finds continue to document that some of mankind's earliest steps towards development of agricultural. domestication of many common farm animals(sheep, goats, hogs and dogs). record keeping (the token system), development of domestic technologies (weaving, fired pottery making and glazing), metallurgy and urbanization took place in Kurdistan, dating back between 12,000 and 8.000 years ago. The earliest evidence so far of a unified and distinct culture (and possibly, ethnicity) by people inhabiting the Kurdish mountains dates back to the Halaf culture of 8,000-7,400 years ago. This was followed by the spread of the Ubaidian culture, which was a foreign introduction from Mesopotamia. After about a millennium, its dominance was replaced by the Hurrian culture, which may or may not have been the Halafian people reasserting their dominance over their mountainous homeland. The Hurrian period lasted from 6,300 to about 2,600 years ago. Much more is known of the Hurrians. They spoke a language of the Northeast Caucasian family of languages (or Alarodian), kin to modern Chechen and Lezgian. The Hurrians spread far and wide, dominating much territory outside their Zagros-Taurus mountain base. Their settlement of was completed-all the way to the Aegean coasts. Like their Kurdish descendents, they however did not expand too far from the mountains. Their intrusions into the neighboring plains of Mesopotamia and the Iranian Plateau, therefore, were primarily military annexations with little population settlement. Their economy was surprisingly integrated and focused, along with their political bonds, mainly running parallel with the Zagros-Taurus mountains, rather than radiating out to the lowlands, as was the case during the preceding (foreign) Ubaid cultural period. The mountain-plain economic exchanges remained secondary in importance, judging by the archaeological remains of goods and their origin. The Hurrians-whose name survives now most prominently
 

City Walls in Amed
 

The second longest city walls in the world in Amed KURDISTAN.

in the dialect and district of Hawraman/Awraman in Kurdistan-divided into many clans and subgroups, who set up city-states, kingdoms and empires known today after their respective clan names. These included the Gutis, Kurti, Khadi, Mards, Mushku, Manna, Hatti, Mittanni, Urartu, and the Kassites, to name just a few. All these were Hurrians, and together form the Hurrian phase of Kurdish history. By about 4.000 years ago, the first van-guard of the Indo-European-speaking peoples were trickling into Kurdistan in limited numbers and settling there. These formed the aristocracy of the Mittani, Kassite, and Hittite kingdoms, while the common people there remained solidly Hurrian.

 

                    By about 3,000 years ago, the trickle had turned into a flood, and Hurrian Kurdistan was fast becoming Indo-European Kurdistan. Far from having been wiped out, the Hurrian legacy, despite its linguistic eclipse, remains the single most important element of the Kurdish culture until today. It forms the substructure for every aspects of Kurdish existence, from their native religion to their art, their social organization, women's status, and even the form of their militia warfare. Medes, Scythians and Sagarthians are just the better-known clans of the Indo-European-speaking Aryans who settled in Kurdistan. By about 2,600 years ago, the Medes had already set up an empire that included all Kurdistan and vast territories far beyond. Medeans were followed by scores of other kingdoms and city-statesQall dominated by Aryan aristocracies and a populace that was becoming Indo-European, Kurdish speakers if not so already. By the advent of the classical era in 300 BC. Kurds were already experiencing massive population movements that resulted in settlement and domination of many neighboring regions. Important Kurdish polities of this time were all by-products of these movements. The Zelan Kurdish clan of Commagene (Adiyaman area), for example, spread to establish in addition to the Zelanid dynasty of Commagene, the Zelanid kingdom of Cappadocia and the Zelanid empire of PontusQall in Anatolia. These became Roman vassals by the end of the first century BC. In the east the Kurdish kingdoms of Gordyene, Cortea, Media, Kirm, and Adiabene had, by the first century B C, become confederate members of the Parthian Federation. While all larger Kurdish Kingdoms of the west gradually lost their existence to the Romans, in the east they survived into the 3rd century A D and the advent of the Sasanian Persian empire. The last major Kurdish dynasty, the Kayosids, fell in AD 380. Smaller Kurdish principalities (called the Kotyar, "mountain administrators") however, preserved their autonomous existence into the 7th century and the coming of Islam.

                    Several socio-economic revolutions in the garb of religious movements emerged in Kurdistan at this time, many due to the exploitation by central governments, some due to natural disasters. These continued as underground movement into the Islamic era, bursting forth periodically to demand social reforms. The Mazdakite and Khurramite movements are best-known among these. The eclipse of the Sasanian and Byzantine power by the Muslim caliphate, and its own subsequent weakening, permitted the Kurdish principalities and "mountain administrators" to set up new, independent states. The Shaddadids of the Caucasus and Armenia, the Rawadids of Azerbaijan, the Marwandis of eastern Anatolia; the Hasanwayhids, Fadhilwayhids, and Ayyarids of the central Zagros and the Shabankara of Fars and Kirman are some of the medieval Kurdish dynasties. The Ayyubids stand out from these by the vastness of their domain. From their capital at Cairo they ruled territories of eastern Libya, Egypt, Yemen, western Arabia, Syria, the Holy Lands, Armenia and much of Kurdistan. As the custodians of Islam's holy cities of Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem, the Ayyubids were instrumental in the defeat and expulsion of the Crusaders from the Holy Land. With the 12th and 13th centuries the Turkic nomads arrived in the area who in time politically dominated vast segments of the Middle East. Most independent Kurdish states succumbed to various Turkic kingdoms and empires. Kurdish principalities, however, survived and continued with their autonomous existence until the 17th century. Intermittently, these would rule independently when local empires weakened or collapsed. The advent of the Safavid and Ottoman empires in the area and their division of Kurdistan into two uneven imperial dependencies was on a par with the practice of the preceding few centuries. Their introduction of artillery and scorched-earth policy into Kurdistan was a new, and devastating development.

Nemrut Mountain-Kurdistan
 

                    In the course of the 16th to 18th centuries, vast portions of Kurdistan were systematically devastated and large numbers of Kurds were deported to far corners of the Safavid and Ottoman empires. The magnitude of death and destruction wrought on Kurdistan unified its people in their call to rid the land of these foreign vandals. The lasting mutual suffering awakened in Kurds a community feeling a nationalism, that called for a unified Kurdish state and fostering of Kurdish culture and language. Thus the historian Sharaf al-Din Bitlisi wrote the first pan-Kurdish history the Sharafnama in 1597, as Ahmad Khani composed the national epic of Mem-o-Zin in 1695, which called for a Kurdish state to fend for its people. Kurdish nationalism was born. For one last time a large Kurdish kingdom-the Zand, was born in 1750. Like the medieval Ayyubids, however, the Zands set up their capital and kingdom outside Kurdistan, and pursued no policies aimed at unification of the Kurdish nation. By 1867, the very last autonomous Kurdish principalities were being systematically eradicated by the Ottoman and Persian governments that ruled Kurdistan. They now ruled directly, via governors, all Kurdish provinces. The situation further deteriorated after the end of the WWI and dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.

                    The Treaty of Sevres (signed August 10, 1921) anticipated an independent Kurdish state to cover large portions of the former Ottoman Kurdistan. Unimpressed by the Kurds' many bloody uprisings for independence, France and Britain divided up Ottoman Kurdistan between Turkey, Syria and Iraq. The Treaty of Lausanne (signed June 24, 1923) formalized this division. Kurds of Persia/Iran, meanwhile, were kept where they were by Teheran. Drawing of well-guarded state boundaries dividing Kurdistan has, since 1921, afflicted Kurdish society with such a degree of fragmentation, that its impact is tearing apart the Kurds' unity as a nation. The 1920s saw the setting up of Kurdish Autonomous Province (the "Red Kurdistan") in Soviet Azerbaijan. It was disbanded in 1929. In 1945, Kurds set up a Kurdish republic at Mahabad in the Soviet, occupied zone in Iran. It lasted one year, until it was reoccupied by the Iranian army.

                    Since the end of World War I, Kurdistan has been administered by five sovereign states, with the largest portions of the land being respectively in Turkey (43%) , Iran (31%), Iraq (18%), Syria (6%) and the former Soviet Union (2%). The Iranian Kurds have lived under that state's jurisdiction since 1514 and the Battle of Chaldiran. The other three quarters of the Kurds lived in the Ottoman Empire from that date until its break-up following WWI. The French Mandate Syria received a piece, and the British incorporated central Kurdistan or the Mosul Vilayet" and its oil fields at Kirkuk into their recently created Mandate of Iraq. Northern and western Kurdistan were to be given choice of independence by the Treaty of Sevres(August 10, 1920) which dismantled the defunct Ottoman Empire, but instead they were awarded to the newly established Republic of Turkey under the term of the Treaty of Lausanne (June 24, 1923). The Russian/Soviet Kurds had passed into their sphere in the course of the 19th century when territories were ceded by Persia/Iran. The Kurds remained the only ethnic group in the world with indigenous representatives in three world geopolitical blocs: the Arab World (in Iraq and Syria), NATO (in Turkey), the South Asian-Central Asian bloc (in Iran and Turkmenistan), and until recently the Soviet bloc (in the Caucasus, now Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia). As a matter fact, until the end of the Cold War, Kurds along with the Germans were the only people in the world with their home territories used as a front line of fire by both NATO and the Warsaw Pact forces.


 

                    Since 1970s, the Iraqi Kurds have enjoyed an official autonomous status in a portion of that state's Kurdistan. By the end of 1991, they had become all but independent from Iraq. By 1995, however, the Kurdish government in Arbil was at the verge of political suicide due to the outbreak of factional fighting between various Kurdish warlords. Since 1987 the Kurds in Turkey by themselves constituting a majority of all Kurds in Turkey have waged a war of national liberation against Ankara's 70 years of heavy handed suppression of any vestige of the Kurdish identity and its rich and ancient culture. The massive uprising had by 1995 propelled Turkey into a state of civil war. The burgeoning and youthful Kurdish population in Turkey, is now demanding absolute equality with the Turkish component in that state, and failing that, full independence. In the Caucasus, the fledgling Armenian Republic, in the course of 1992-94 wiped out the entire Kurdish community of the former "Red Kurdistan." Having ethnically "cleansed" it, Armenia has effectively annexed Red Kurdistan's territory that forms the land bridge between the Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia proper.