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Kurds in Turkey

See also: Turkish Kurdistan

Kurds in Turkey
Kurdish-majority regions of Turkey according to The World Factbook (1992)
Total population
13.0–14.2 million[1]
(KONDA, 2013 estimate)
15.25 million[2]
(CIA World Factbook, 2016 estimate)
20 million[3]
(Kurdish Institute of Paris, 2017 estimate)
Regions with significant populations
Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia,
Large diaspora population in Istanbul, Izmir, Adana and Mersin
Languages
Religion
Predominantly Sunni Islam, minority Alevism and Yazidism
Related ethnic groups
Zazas and other Iranian peoples

The Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Turkey. According to various estimates, they compose between 15% and 20% of the population of Turkey.[4][5][6] There are Kurds living in various provinces of Turkey, but they are primarily concentrated in the east and southeast of the country within the region viewed by Kurds as Turkish Kurdistan.

During the violent suppressions of numerous Kurdish rebellions since the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, such as the Sheikh Said Rebellion, the Ararat rebellion, and the Dersim Rebellion, massacres have periodically been committed against the Kurds, with one prominent incident being the Zilan Massacre. The Turkish government categorized Kurds as "Mountain Turks" until 1991,[7][8][9] and denied the existence of Kurds.[10] The words "Kurds" or "Kurdistan" were banned in any language by the Turkish government, though "Kurdish" was allowed in census reports.[11] Following the military coup of 1980, the Kurdish languages were officially prohibited in public and private life.[12] Many people who spoke, published, or sang in Kurdish were arrested and imprisoned.[13] In Turkey, it is illegal to use Kurdish as a language of instruction in both public and private schools. The Kurdish language is only allowed as a subject in some schools.[14]

Since the 1980s, Kurdish movements have included both peaceful political activities for basic civil rights for Kurds in Turkey as well as armed rebellion and guerrilla warfare, including military attacks aimed mainly at Turkish military bases, demanding first a separate Kurdish state and later self-determination for the Kurds.[15] 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).[16]

During the Kurdish–Turkish conflict, food embargoes were placed on Kurdish villages and towns.[17][18] There were many instances of Kurds being forcibly expelled from their villages by Turkish security forces.[19] Many villages were reportedly set on fire or destroyed.[19][20] Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, political parties that represented Kurdish interests were banned.[21] In 2013, a ceasefire effectively ended the violence until June 2015, when hostilities renewed between the PKK and the Turkish government over Turkish involvement in the Syrian Civil War. Violence was widely reported against ordinary Kurdish citizens and the headquarters and branches of the pro-Kurdish rights Peoples' Democratic Party were attacked by mobs.[22]

  1. ^ How many Kurds live in Turkey? by Tarhan Erdem, Hurriyet Daily News, April 26, 2013
  2. ^ "The CIA World Factbook: Turkey (19% of a total population of 80.2 million (2017) gives a figure of about 15.25 million)". Archived from the original on 10 January 2021. Retrieved 9 November 2016.
  3. ^ The Kurdish Population by the Kurdish Institute of Paris, 2017 estimate. "The territory, which the Kurds call Northern Kurdistan (Kurdistana Bakur), has 14.2 million inhabitants in 2016. According to several surveys, 86% of them are Kurds... So in 2016 there are about 12.2 million Kurds still living in Kurdistan in Turkey. We know that there are also strong Kurdish communities in the big Turkish metropolises like Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara, Adana and Mersin. The numerical importance of this "diaspora" is estimated according to sources at 7 to 10 million... Assuming an average estimate of 8 million Kurds in the Turkish part of Turkey, thus arrives at the figure of 20 million Kurds in Turkey."
  4. ^ "Türkiye'deki Kürtlerin sayısı!". Milliyet (in Turkish). 6 June 2008. Retrieved 29 June 2008.; Atar, Tolga (6 June 2008). "MGK'nın sır raporu ortaya çıktı!". Bugun (in Turkish). Koza İpek Gazetecilik ve Yayıncılık A.Ş. Archived from the original on 17 October 2008. Retrieved 24 October 2008.; Atar, Tolga (7 June 2008). "Sır rapor şoku". Bugun (in Turkish). Koza İpek Gazetecilik ve Yayıncılık A.Ş. Archived from the original on 6 February 2009. Retrieved 24 October 2008.
  5. ^ Sandra Mackey , "The reckoning: Iraq and the legacy of Saddam", W.W. Norton and Company, 2002. Excerpt from pg 350: "As much as 25% of Turkey is Kurdish."
  6. ^ [1] Archived 10 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine [2] Archived 11 April 2020 at the Wayback Machine UNICEF Children in the Population
  7. ^ Turkey - Linguistic and Ethnic Groups - U.S. Library of Congress
  8. ^ Bartkus, Viva Ona, The Dynamic of Secession, (Cambridge University Press, 1999), 90–91.
  9. ^ Çelik, Yasemin (1999). Contemporary Turkish foreign policy (1. publ. ed.). Westport, Conn.: Praeger. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-275-96590-7.
  10. ^ Jongerden, Joost (1 January 2007). The Settlement Issue in Turkey and the Kurds: An Analysis of Spatical Policies, Modernity and War. BRILL. p. 53. ISBN 978-90-04-15557-2.
  11. ^ "Kurdish Language Policy in Turkey | Kurdish Academy Of Languages". Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  12. ^ Toumani, Meline. Minority Rules, New York Times, 17 February 2008
  13. ^ Aslan, Senem (2014). Nation Building in Turkey and Morocco. Cambridge University Press. p. 134. ISBN 978-1-107-05460-8.
  14. ^ "COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  15. ^ "Kurdistan-Turkey". GlobalSecurity.org. 22 March 2007. Retrieved 28 March 2007.
  16. ^ "In your opinion, do the Kurds want to have a separate state?" (PDF). Public Perception of the Kurdish Question. Turkey: Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) and Pollmark. 2009. p. 63. ISBN 978-605-4023-06-6. Archived from the original (Poll report) on 2 October 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2010.Some Kurdish movements, such as Kurdistan Freedom Hawks have targeted also Kurdish and Turkish civilians.
  17. ^ Olson, Robert (1996). The Kurdish Nationalist Movement in the 1990s: Its Impact on Turkey and the Middle East. Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky. p. 16. ISBN 0-8131-0896-9.
  18. ^ Shaker, Nadeen. "After Being Banned for Almost a Century, Turkey's Kurds Are Clamoring to Learn Their Own Language". Muftah.
  19. ^ a b Gunes, Cengiz (2013). The Kurdish National Movement in Turkey: From Protest to Resistance. Routledge. p. 130. ISBN 978-1-136-58798-6.
  20. ^ Ibrahim, Ferhad (2000). The Kurdisch Conflict in Turkey: Obstacles and Chances for Peace and Democracy. Münster: New York, N.Y.: Lit ; St. Martin's press. p. 182. ISBN 3-8258-4744-6.
  21. ^ Baser, Bahar (2015). Diasporas and Homeland Conflicts: A Comparative Perspective. Ashgate Publishing. p. 63. ISBN 978-1-4724-2562-1.
  22. ^ "'Lynching Campaign' Targets Kurds in Turkey, HDP Offices Attacked". Armenian Weekly. 9 September 2015.

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