The War of Liberation of Iraki Kurdistan
Ismet Cheriff Vanly
MALAA
The Kurdish people are one of the most numerous of western Asia and perhaps the most ancient. The Anabasis, the Greek classic of Xenophon, written in 401 B.C., speaks of the Kurdish people under the name of “Kardu,” and locates them in the same country as today, mainly in the valley of the upper Tigris and Zeb rivers. The Kurds had been in this area well before then. After Xenophon, nearly 11 centuries passed before the Moslem Arabs arrived in Syria and Irak, and it was 15 centuries before the first Turks arrived in the country that was to become Turkey. Despite all the invasions of Kurdistan and western Asia, the Kurds maintained intact their language and their national characteristics, thanks to their fierce attachment to their independence and to the mountainous nature of their country.
The Kurds are a people of Indo-European origin and speak ...
Contents
The Afro-American Struggle / 1
Negro Nationalism and the Left - Harold Cruse / 26
Uncle Tom Goes to Africa - Julian Mayfield / 35
You Can’t Come Home Any More - William Worthy / 38
…..
The War of National Liberation of Iraki Kurdistan - Ismet Cheriff Vaniy / 117
…..
THE WAR OF LIBERATION OF IRAKI KURDISTAN
For nearly two years and especially after the fall of Kassem on February 8, 1963, the international press has been writing about a harsh war being fought in Iraki Kurdistan between the Kurdish people and the Baghdad government. If the European reader is more or less well informed about these events, it seems, on the other hand, that the Kurdish national question is on the whole unknown to the broad masses of Africa, Asia and Latin America. Although far fom having reached its greatest dimensions, this very complex question is already, however, of great importance, because it concerns the future of an oppressed nation, its relations with neighbouring nations, the future of the Middle East and of peace in that region. Before discussing present events, it is therefore necessary to situate the Kurdish problem in its geographic and historical context, although the length of this article only permits a rapid survey.
Who Are the Kurds ?
The Kurdish people are one of the most numerous of western Asia and perhaps the most ancient. The Anabasis, the Greek classic of Xenophon, written in 401 B.C., speaks of the Kurdish people under the name of “Kardu,” and locates them in the same country as today, mainly in the valley of the upper Tigris and Zeb rivers. The Kurds had been in this area well before then. After Xenophon, nearly 11 centuries passed before the Moslem Arabs arrived in Syria and Irak, and it was 15 centuries before the first Turks arrived in the country that was to become Turkey. Despite all the invasions of Kurdistan and western Asia, the Kurds maintained intact their language and their national characteristics, thanks to their fierce attachment to their independence and to the mountainous nature of their country. 1
The Kurds are a people of Indo-European origin and speak an independent language of the Aryan or Iranian family, related to Persian. Ethnically and linguistically, the relations between Kurds. Persians and Afghans are comparable to those that exist between Italians, Frenchmen, Spaniards, Catalans and Portuguese, or between Russians and Poles. The Kurds are considered the descendants and heirs of the ancient Medes of remote antiquity. Formerly of the Zoroastrian religion, they were converted to Islam after the Moslem conquest, but it is obvious that religious considerations are completely alien to the Kurdish national movement.
The Kurdish people constitute one …
1 See Encyclopedic de I’lslam and Encyclopedia Britannica, articles “Kurdes” and “Kurdistan.”
Ismet Cheriff Vanly
The War of Liberation of Iraki Kurdistan
MALAA
Monthly Africa Latin Amerika Asia
Aug.-Sept. 1963 - Vol. 1. Nos. 4-5
The War of Liberation of Iraki Kurdistan
By Ismet Cheriff Vanly
Representative of the
Democratic Party of Kurdistan
Printed in Swîtzerland
