Turkish Kurdistan
references
Kurdistan lies in the Middle East. It covers 409.650
square kilometers where 20-25 million Kurds live. Four big rivers
have their source in Kurdistan - Euphrat, Tigris, Araz and Kezil-Ozan.
Territory of Kurdistan is also rich in natural resources, e.g.,
oil in Kirkuk, Khanagin and Djezire (8-10% of the world reserves
), gold, silver, iron and chrome. The Kurdish nation has its own
language, identity and culture, which it has retained during centuries
of repression .
Kurdistan, which today lies in Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Russia,
has been divided several times during its history. One of these
divisions took place after the fall of the Ottoman empire in 1917.
France and Britain did not carry out their promises to make a
Kurdish state, and in the treaty of Lausanne in 1924 Kurdistan
was divided by the British mandatory power among Turkey, Iraq,
Iran and Syria. The Kurds have tried several times to obtain their
independence, and Kurdistan has seen many armed insurrections.
In 1946, the Kurdish Republic of Mahabad was founded in Iran,
but before a year was over it was crushed by Iranian soldiers,
as a victim of international conflicts. Also in recent years,
the Kurds in Iraq, Iran and Turkey have been fighting against
prohibition of the Kurdish language, censorship, deportation,
executions and arabisation. In Turkey the armed forces try to
destroy the Kurdish society, completely disregarding all human
rights. The government in Iraq was forced to proclaim autonomy
for the Kurds in 1970 after ten years of war, but the autonomy
was never realized and finally, in 1975, the Kurdish resistance
was cruelly crushed. After 1975, 4700 villages were destroyed
and their residents deported. In 1988 the genocide in Iraq culminated
in the gas attacks on several villages, killing and blessing innocent
civilians within a couple of minutes. Thousands of Kurds have
left Kurdistan and live in Europe or in refugee camps, cut off
any help donated by international relief organizations.
books
Zinniker, J., Badertscher, K. Tagebuch aus Kurdistan,
Coban Verlag, 1979
| Kurdistan main page | Portraits
1 | Portraits
2 | Playing
with the guns |
| Kurdistan stock photographs
| Kurdistan references | Kurdistan links |
two stories from Kurdistan by Jannis Zinniker
(in German):
| Nuria
| Zelal
|
other projects by Zbigniew Kosc: home
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Kosc
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mail to: z.kosc@chello.nl