Kurds of Soviet Union, Armenia, Georgia, Central Asia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan: Self-designation. The majority of Kurds, by different sources numbered between 10 and 12 million, live in Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria. The Kurds of Caucasia and Central Asia have been cut off for a considerable period of time and their development in Russia and then in the Soviet Union has been somewhat different. In this light the Soviet Kurds may be considered to be an ethnic group in their own right. It is also worth mentioning that the name Kurd is officially used only in the Soviet Union, in Turkey they are called Turkish Highlanders and in Iran Persian Highlanders. The Kurdish name for themselves is kurmandzh. Habitat. In Transcaucasia the Kurds live in enclaves among the main population: in Armenia mainly in Aparan, the Talin and Echmiadzin regions and in settlements in eight other regions; in Azerbaijan mainly in the west, in the regions of Lyaki, Kelbadjar, Kubatly and Zangelan; in Georgia the Kurds have mainly settled in towns or live scattered in the eastern part. Some Kurds live in the republics of Central Asia and Kazakhstan. Their oldest habitat is in the south of Turkmenia along the Iranian border, many of them live also in Ashkhabad, in the town and region of Mary. Population. In 1939 the number of Kurds registered in the Soviet Union was 76,000, according to the 1959 census this number had decreased to 59,000 (26,000 in Armenia, 16,000 in Georgia and more than 14,000 in Central Asia and Kazakhstan). At the time of the 1979 census there were 51,000 Kurds in Armenia, 26,000 in Georgia, but no data for Azerbaijan. In 1983 the number of Kurds in the Soviet Union was 130,000. Kurdish is an Indo-European language which belongs to the northwestern Iranian branch and is divided into several dialects. The Kurds of Caucasia and Central Asia speak the kurmandzh dialect, but the language of the Central-Asian Kurds, especially those of Turkmenia, is somewhat different. Bilingualism is wide-spread. Usually the second language is that of the host country but younger people, especially in towns, speak also Russian. The Caucasian Kurds have their own script. Anthropologically the Kurds belong to the Balkano-Caucasian Caspian type of the European race akin to the Azerbaijanis, Tats, Talysh etc. The anthropological type of the Central-Asian Kurds has not been thoroughly studied but they are related to the Iranian Europeans (Iranian Kurds). Religion. In the main, the Kurds are followers of Islam. The Armenian Kurds are Sunnites, the Central-Asian and Azerbaijani, Shiite. Kurds-Yezidis in Armenia and Georgia are a distinctive ethnic group. Their religion is based on Mazdeism, the dualistic religion of ancient Persians, which incorporates also elements of Judaism and Christianity. Yezidis have been called the worshippers of the Devil. Because of their religious rites the Yezidis were despised by the rest of Kurds and lived in isolation. Sometimes they have been considered to be a separate people, at least for the census of 1926 when the number of Yezidis in the Soviet Union was recorded as 15,000. Their base is in Iraq.
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 05:22:12 +0000
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