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Journal ArticleDOI

Prolegomena to the Study of the Kurds

01 Jan 2009-Iran and the Caucasus (Brill)-Vol. 13, Iss: 1, pp 1-57
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a thorough review of nearly all relevant aspects of Kurd Studies concerning the ethnic history, identity, religion, language, and literature of the Kurds, making extensive use of all available data and materials, including ancient and mediaeval, particularly those previously examined with regard to related topics.
Abstract: The article presents a thorough review of nearly all relevant aspects of Kurdish Studies concerning the ethnic history, identity, religion, language, and literature of the Kurds. Elaborating upon the respective issues, the author makes extensive use of all available data and materials, including ancient and mediaeval, particularly those never previously examined with regard to related topics. The objective examination of most crucial problems of the field contributes to a better understanding of Kurdish prehistory, expanding, at the same time, the basic methodological concepts upon which further research should be grounded. Due to the politicised nature of Kurdological disciplines, many ideological elements of non-academic provenance, that have found their way into the scholarly milieu in recent decades and have become a constant set of stereotypes and cliches, have been highlighted in the paper.

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Journal ArticleDOI
10 Oct 2014
TL;DR: In this article, a classification of Kurmanji-internal variation into major regional dialects, based on lexical, phonological and morphosyntactic data collected from five localities in Southeastern Turkey, is presented.
Abstract: Investigation of the regional variation in Kurmanji, especially its varieties spoken in Turkey, has been almost entirely neglected in the existing literature on Kurdish. In addition to earlier isolated examinations of Kurmanji dialects (cf. MacKenzie, 1961; Ritter, 1971, 1976; Blau, 1975; Jastrow, 1977), native-speaker researchers have recently provided a substantial amount of dialect material across the Kurmanji-speech zone. However, a methodologically-informed evaluation of these observations into a dialect classification is yet to be undertaken. This article aims at providing an initial classification of Kurmanji-internal variation into major regional dialects, based on lexical, phonological and morphosyntactic data collected from five localities in Southeastern Turkey. Ciherengiya zimani ya navxweyi di kurmanciye de: tesnifeke seretayi ya zaravayan Di nav xebaten li ser zimane kurdi de, heta niha, vekolina cudatiyen devok u zaravayen kurmanciye, bi taybeti ewen di nav sinoren Tirkiyeye de, hema bi temami hatiye pistguhkirin. Ji bili cend xebaten serbixwe yen pestir li ser zaravayen kurmanci (wek MacKenzie 1961; Ritter, 1971 u 1976; Blau, 1976; Jastrow 1977), di nav van salen dawi de vekoleren kurdiziman qewareyeke mezin a dane u materyelen ji gelek zaravayen kurmanciye berhev kirine. Le bele, hej ev cavderiyen berbelav bi rengeki metodolojik nehatine nirxandin ku tesnifeke zaravayan je bi dest bikeve. Ev meqale dil dike tesnifeke seretayi ya zaravayen sereki yen kurmanciye peskes bike li ser bingehe daneyen peyvi u fonolojik u rezimani yen li penc deveren basur-rojhilate Tirkiyeye berhevkiri. جیاوازی ناوچەیی لەناو کرمانجیدا: پۆلینبەندییەکی سەرەتایی زاراوەکان لەناو ئەو لێکۆڵینەوانەی کە سەبارەت بە جیاوازی ناوچەیی لە کرمانجیدا ئەنجام دراوە، بەتایبەت ئەوانەی کە لەمەڕ جۆربەجۆری ئەو [زاراوانەی] کە لە تورکیا قسەیان پێ دەکرێ، بەتەواوی لەمەڕ هەبوونی ئەدەبیاتێکی هەبوو بە زمانی کوردی چاوپۆشی دەکرێت. سەرەڕای چەند تاقیکردنەوەیەکی تاک و تەرا سەبارەت بە شێوەزارەکانی کرمانجی کە پێشتر بەئەنجام گەیشتوون (بەراوردی بکەن لەگەڵ مەک‌کینزی، ١٩٦١؛ ڕیتێر، ١٩٧١ و ١٩٧٦؛ بلەو، ١٩٧٦؛ یاسترۆ، ١٩٧٧) لەم ساڵانەی دواییدا توێژەرانی کورد ڕادەیەکی بەرچاو لە مادەی پێویست سەبارەت بە شێوەزارەکانی کرمانجییان لە دەڤەری کرمانجی ئاخێودا دەستەبەر کردووە. هەرچەند بەمەبەستی پۆلینبەندی زاراوەکان، هەتاکوو ئێستا، هەڵسەنگاندنێکی مێتۆدیک و پڕزانیاری لەسەر ئەم تێڕامانانە ئەنجام نەدراوە. ئامانجی ئەم وتارە بریتییە لەوەی کە پۆلینبەندییەکی سەرەتایی لەو جیاوازییە ناوخۆییەی کە لە زاراوە سەرەکییەکانی ناوچە کرمانجی ئاخێوەکاندا هەیە بەدەستەوە بدات و بۆ ئەم مەبەستە توێژینەوەکە لەسەر بنەمای ئەو داتا وشەیی، دەنگناسی و پێکهاتەی ڕێزمانییانە ئەنجام دەدرێت کە لە پێنج ناوچەی باشوری ڕۆژهەڵاتی تورکیا کۆ کراونەتەوە.

66 citations

Book ChapterDOI
22 Apr 2021

28 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Comparison with other ethnobotanical field studies recently conducted among surrounding populations has shown that Kurds tend to gather and consume the largest number of non-weedy wild vegetables, confirming that studies on wild food plant gathering in the Fertile Crescent and Turco-Arabic-Iranic regions of the Middle East are crucial for understanding the possible evolution of wild food plants gathering.
Abstract: Iraqi Kurdistan is a special hotspot for bio-cultural diversity and for investigating patterns of traditional wild food plant foraging, considering that this area was the home of the first Neolithic communities and has been, over millennia, a crossroad of different civilizations and cultures. The aim of this ethnobotanical field study was to cross-culturally compare the wild food plants traditionally gathered by Kurdish Muslims and those gathered by the ancient Kurdish Kakai (Yarsan) religious group and to possibly better understand the human ecology behind these practices. Twelve villages were visited and 123 study participants (55 Kakai and 68 Muslim Kurds) were interviewed on the specific topic of the wild food plants they currently gather and consume. The culinary use of 54 folk wild plant taxa (corresponding to 65 botanical taxa) and two folk wild mushroom taxa were documented. While Kakais and Muslims do share a majority of the quoted food plants and also their uses, among the plant ingredients exclusively and commonly quoted by Muslims non-weedy plants are slightly preponderant. Moreover, more than half of the overall recorded wild food plants are used raw as snacks, i.e. plant parts are consumed on the spot after their gathering and only sometimes do they enter into the domestic arena. Among them, it is worth mentioning the consumption of raw wild crocus corms, also still common in Turkish Kurdistan and that of wild tulip bulbs, which was documented to be popular until the beginning of the twentieth century in the Middle East. Comparison with other ethnobotanical field studies recently conducted among surrounding populations has shown that Kurds tend to gather and consume the largest number of non-weedy wild vegetables. The collected data indicate robust traces of nomadic pastoralism in Kurdish traditional foraging. This finding confirms that studies on wild food plant gathering in the Fertile Crescent and Turco-Arabic-Iranic regions of the Middle East are crucial for understanding the possible evolution of wild food plant gathering through history within the post-Neolithic continuum between pastoralism and horticulturalism.

24 citations

Book ChapterDOI
22 Apr 2021

23 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
01 Oct 1955-Language

597 citations

Book
01 Oct 2002
TL;DR: The most comprehensive treatment of ethnic groups in Turkey is the TAVO map A VIII 14 a-b (Republic of Turkey: Rural Ethnic Minorities) as mentioned in this paper, which was published in 1989.
Abstract: This volume represents a supplement to the first volume, which appeared in 1989, and provided the documentation on which TAVO maps A VIII 14 a-b (Republic of Turkey: Rural Ethnic Minorities) were based. The book remains the only comprehensive treatment of ethnic groups in Turkey yet attempted, and volume II brings it up to date. The new volume includes extensive documentation on areas for which material was not available in 1989, together with an index of villages, covering those referred to in both volumes, revised to include the administrative allocations in the latest census. The new material is concerned principally with Kurdish and Alevi villages in Central Anatolia, and differs from the lists in volume I in that it is provided mainly by the ethnic actors themselves, either in the form of regional surveys compiled privately by people from specific ethnic groups, or as lists culled from journals representing ethnic groups, in which surveys began to appear only in the course of the last ten years. In addition there are new surveys compiled by specialist outsiders, such as one on the Laz, one on the Daghistanis and one on Arab settlements in Hatay. Further listings by villages and administrative districts provide additions to the lists in volume I, and where necessary, corrections. The numbering of surveys and lists is consistent with that in volume I. One additional ethnic group is considered, bringing the total described to 48. Volume II also contains a reappraisal of the present ethnic situation in Turkey, and an evaluation of current attitudes towards it, together with a postscript on the latest dramatic developments in eastern Aantolia. Contributions on specific aspects of ethnicity in its latest manifestations are provided by R.Benninhaus on the Mhallami, L.Paul on the Zaza language and its ethnic implications, D.Shankland on an Alevi group in Central Anatolia, and G.Wiessner on the Kurds. As before, it is hoped that the book will provide the basis for a wide variety of future work in which the identification of local cultures is important. The new volume can be purchased as a supplement to volume I by those who already possess this, or together with volume I, which is reissued unchanged, as a complete set. The map can still be ordered separately. Vol. I (TAVO 60.1) reprint 2002, ISBN 3-9500-297-6: EUR 168,Vols. I & II (TAVO 60 1, 2), 2002, ISBN 3-89500-325-5: EUR 238,-

167 citations

Book
25 Apr 1985
TL;DR: A new epoch opened after Athens lost an army and fleet before Syracuse in Sicily as mentioned in this paper, and the Greek objectives were now to deny forward positions to the enemy, should Xerxes try again; to reopen trade-routes, and, in Homeric style, revenge.
Abstract: Before Cyrus marched against Croesus, he had made overtures to the Asian Greeks, of whom the Ionians were the most important. the tragic incompatibility and failure of understanding between Persia, the highest manifestation of oriental imperialism, and the still developing bourgeois culture of the Greek cities. Cyrus' son Cambyses, continuing his father's agenda, in 525 assailed Egypt, and as a prelude to this, a great matter, for which his courtiers praised him, he 'won the sea'. Mardonios pressed on to where his fresh army and fleet awaited him, at the crossing into Europe. Greek objectives were now to deny forward positions to the enemy, should Xerxes try again; to reopen trade-routes, and, in Homeric style, revenge. Even during the great wars, but much more as the dust of conflict settled, Greeks and Persians were getting to know each other as human beings. A new epoch opened after Athens lost an army and fleet before Syracuse in Sicily.

147 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The investigation of the genetic relationship among three Jewish communities revealed that Kurdish and Sephardic Jews were indistinguishable from one another, whereas both differed slightly, yet significantly, from Ashkenazi Jews.
Abstract: A sample of 526 Y chromosomes representing six Middle Eastern populations (Ashkenazi, Sephardic, and Kurdish Jews from Israel; Muslim Kurds; Muslim Arabs from Israel and the Palestinian Authority Area; and Bedouin from the Negev) was analyzed for 13 binary polymorphisms and six microsatellite loci. The investigation of the genetic relationship among three Jewish communities revealed that Kurdish and Sephardic Jews were indistinguishable from one another, whereas both differed slightly, yet significantly, from Ashkenazi Jews. The differences among Ashkenazim may be a result of low-level gene flow from European populations and/or genetic drift during isolation. Admixture between Kurdish Jews and their former Muslim host population in Kurdistan appeared to be negligible. In comparison with data available from other relevant populations in the region, Jews were found to be more closely related to groups in the north of the Fertile Crescent (Kurds, Turks, and Armenians) than to their Arab neighbors. The two haplogroups Eu 9 and Eu 10 constitute a major part of the Y chromosome pool in the analyzed sample. Our data suggest that Eu 9 originated in the northern part, and Eu 10 in the southern part of the Fertile Crescent. Genetic dating yielded estimates of the expansion of both haplogroups that cover the Neolithic period in the region. Palestinian Arabs and Bedouin differed from the other Middle Eastern populations studied here, mainly in specific high-frequency Eu 10 haplotypes not found in the non-Arab groups. These chromosomes might have been introduced through migrations from the Arabian Peninsula during the last two millennia. The present study contributes to the elucidation of the complex demographic history that shaped the present-day genetic landscape in the region.

146 citations


"Prolegomena to the Study of the Kur..." refers methods in this paper

  • ...…Hebrew University in Jerusalem, applying new methods of analysis, point even to genetic affinities between a part of the Kurds and the Jews (see Oppenheim 2001; Traubman 2001; for a short survey of previous work on Kurdish physical anthropology, see Bois 1981: 446-447; on the recent studies in…...

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Journal ArticleDOI
Servet Mutlu1
TL;DR: In this article, the authors make as accurate an estimate of the number of Kurds in Turkey and of their geographical distribution as the data permit, and the question of the geographical distribution of the Kurds and non-Kurds in Turkey gives an idea of the extent of the likely population exchange should the Kurds ever form a separate state.
Abstract: The objective of this paper is to make as accurate an estimate of the number of Kurds in Turkey and of their geographical distribution as the data permit....The question of the geographical distribution of the Kurds and non-Kurds in Turkey...gives an idea...of the extent of the likely population exchange should the Kurds ever form a separate state. Even in the case of the more likely prospect of Turkey remaining a unitary state within its present borders the distribution of Kurds is of interest from the standpoint of national and local politics inasmuch as recently some of the Kurds especially in large cities seem to have been voting in a bloc for certain candidates. They have been providing the swing vote thus gaining a degree of importance far out of proportion to their number and to their ratio vis-a-vis the total electorate in a locality. (EXCERPT)

144 citations