Éditeur : Facts On File | Date & Lieu : 1996-01-01, New York |
Préface : | Pages : 226 |
Traduction : | ISBN : 0-8160-3339-0 |
Langue : Français | Format : 155x235 mm |
Code FIKP : Liv. Eng. Cim. Kur. N°1812 | Thème : Politique |
Présentation
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Table des Matières | Introduction | Identité | ||
The Kurds: State and Minority in Turkey, Iraq and Iran James Ciment, Ph.D., teaches history at City College of New York (CUNY). He is the author of Law and Order in the young adult series Life in America 100 Years Ago. While preparing this volume, in addition to his historical research, he spoke firsthand to a number of participants in the events described in the book. |
1 Introduction Level the mountains, and in a day the Kurds would be no more. Kurdish adage In Arabic, the words for “wolf” and “Kurd” are synonymous. Arab linguist The Kurds are a nation without a state, if by nation we mean a people who are ethnically distinctive and who have written for themselves a history of political and military struggle to achieve self-rule and cultural autonomy. In fact, since the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Kurds have become the largest ethnic group in the world that occupies a geographically compact area and has no nation-state of its own. The obstacles to Kurdish nationhood, however, have been as formidable as the determination of the Kurds themselves. The Kurds have the misfortune of occupying lands ruled by three aggressive and repressive states: Turkey, Iraq and Iran.1 Competing nationalisms, regional power struggles and international politics have continually thwarted Kurdish efforts at self-determination and cultural autonomy throughout the twentieth century, indeed, back to early Mesopotamian civilization. Imperial, republican, military, dictatorial and theocratic regimes alike have sought to subjugate the Kurds for strategic purposes, to gain access to economic resources, to establish administrative hegemony and to build independent nations. In short, the Kurds have had many enemies for many reasons, and they have had them for a long time. Yet not least among the obstacles to Kurdish independence have been the Kurds themselves. The Kurds are a mountain people. The isolation and impenetrability of their mountain homeland have long protected them. From this fastness, the Kurds have defended their autonomy and their distinctive way of life from the authority of lowland regimes throughout history. The mountains are where the ancient Kurds fled Babylonian hegemony and where the guerrillas of the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) fight the current Turkish regime in Ankara. But the mountains have also been the Kurds’ worst enemy. They have isolated them and kept them ignorant of political, economic and social … |