What cities in Turkey are Kurdish?
Turkish Kurdistān numbers at least 17 of them almost totally: in the north-east, the provinces of Erzincan, Erzurum and Kars; in the centre, going from west to east and from north to south, the provinces of Malatya, Tunceli, Elazığ, Bingöl, Muş, Karaköse (Ağrı), then Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, Siirt, Bitlis and Van; Finally …
Where do most Kurds live in Turkey?
Kurds mostly live in Northern Kurdistan, in Southeastern and Eastern Anatolia. But large Kurdish populations can be found in western Turkey due to internal migration. According to Rüstem Erkan, Istanbul is the province with the largest Kurdish population in Turkey.
Is Kurdish allowed in Turkey?
The words “Kurds”, “Kurdistan”, and “Kurdish” were officially banned by the Turkish government. Following the military coup of 1980, the Kurdish language was officially prohibited in public and private life. Many people who spoke, published, or sang in Kurdish were arrested and imprisoned.
Is Sivas Kurdish?
There are between 15-20 million Kurdish people in Turkey, most of whom are located in the Kurdish districts of Sivas and Marash and in Eastern and South-Eastern Anatolia, or what the Kurds call Northern Kurdistan. Large Kurdish communities also exist in Turkish cities, such as Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, Adana and Mersin.
What is the difference between Kurds and Turkish?
Turks speak Turkish; Kurds speak two or more languages and are multilingual people. They know and speak the language of the nation they live in like Turkish, Persian, Arabic, and Kurdish. Kurds are mostly Sunni Muslims, some minorities are Shia Muslims too; Turks are mainly Muslims but the country is a Secular State.
What countries do Kurds live?
Most of the Kurds live in contiguous areas of Iran, Iraq, and Turkey—a somewhat loosely defined geographic region generally referred to as Kurdistan (“Land of the Kurds”).
Are Kurds Shia or Sunni?
Nearly all Iraqi Kurds consider themselves Sunni Muslims. In our survey, 98\% of Kurds in Iraq identified themselves as Sunnis and only 2\% identified as Shias. (A small minority of Iraqi Kurds, including Yazidis, are not Muslims.)
What is the difference between Kurdish and Turkish?
How many Kurds are there in Istanbul?
The total number of Kurds in Istanbul is estimated variously from 4 to 5 million.
Are Kurds and Turks similar?
Kurdish and Turkish are two adjectives that are related to Kurds and Turks, respectively. These two groups of people are linguistically, culturally and ethnically different from each other. Kurdish people are an ethnic group in the Middle East, who are closely related to Iranians.
Do Kurds in Turkey want a separate state?
According to a state-sponsored Turkish opinion poll, 59\% of self-identified Kurds in Turkey think that Kurds in Turkey do not seek a separate state (while 71.3\% of self-identified Turks think they do). During the Kurdish–Turkish conflict, food embargoes were placed on Kurdish villages and towns.
What is the history of the Kurds in Turkey?
Massacres, such as the Dersim ethnocide and the Zilan massacre, have periodically occurred against the Kurds since the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923. The Turkish government categorized Kurds as “Mountain Turks” until 1991, and the words “Kurds”, “Kurdistan”, or “Kurdish” were officially banned by the Turkish government.
Who are the Kurdish militants in Turkey?
The militia comprises local Kurds and it has around 58,000 members. Some of the village guards are fiercely loyal to the Turkish state, leading to infighting among Kurdish militants.
What percentage of the Turkish population is Kurdish?
A report commissioned by the National Security Council (Turkey) in 2000 puts the number at 12,600,000 people, or 15.7\% of the population. One Western source estimates that up to 25\% of the Turkish population is Kurdish (approximately 18-19 million people).