The Kurds
Hassan Arfa
Oxford University
First of all, it must be understood which people are to be considered as Kurds. As a result of a mixing of races due to many invasions, it is difficult to define to which race the individuals in different communities in the Middle East belong. In the case of the Kurds, the first criterion must be the use of one of the two chief Kurdish dialects, Zaza in the north and Kermanji in the centre and the south, to which Gurani, spoken In Kermanshah, can be added. But secondly, and perhaps chiefly, there is the feeling of the people that they are Kurds. The Kurdish groups scattered in eastern Iran, east Azerbaijan and even in south-eastern Iran, and the people of Garrus, in spite of their common ancestry have abandoned the Kurdish language and habits of life, and lost all affinity with the bulk of Kurds ...
Hassan Arfa has had long and firsthand experience of the Kurdish problem both as a soldier and as a diplomat. He fought the Kurds for many years in the frontier districts of Iran, but kept friendly relations with most of the Kurdish chiefs, his former adversaries. He was Chief of Staff of the Iranian Army from 1944-46 and Ambassador to Turkey from 1958-61. He has written an historical and political study of the Kurds in Turkey, Iran, and Iraq up to the present time, and considers in detail the many revolts carried out by the Kurds against the Governments of these three countries for patriotic, religious or other lesser reasons. His study reveals many little known facts about the vicissitudes of this warlike mountain race.
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