Kurds and Kurdistan
"Kurds home ends where the mountains end."
-Bahri Ozturk, a Kurd born in Silk, Turkey
The size of the Kurdish homeland is roughly equivalent to that of France or Texas. Kurdistan, as the nation is called, consists
essentially of mountains. The central and northern Zagros, the
eastern Taurus and Pontus, and the northern half of the Amanus are the contributing ranges. Annual precipitation in the central regions is between 60-80 inches a year, and drops to about 20-40 inches in the lower elevations. Much of this precipitation comes as snow and can fall up to six months of the year. The mean annual temperature is
between 55-65 degrees Fahrenheit, though this becomes cooler with the higher elevations. Despite being so mountainous, Kurdistan has more arable land than can be found in many Middle Eastern countries (Ozturk).
Modern Kurds are racially mostly Mediterranean, and resemble
southern Europeans physically. Their language is Kurdish, a member of
the Indo-European language family, and can be divided into two
groups, Kurmanji and Dimili-Gurani, as well as many sub-dialects.
Approximately 60% of the Kurdish people consider themselves Sunni
Muslims of Shafiite rite. Most other Kurds practice indigenous
Kurdish faiths, which tend to be variations on an ancient religion labeled in general as Yardanism or the “Cult of the Angels.” A small minority of Kurds are members of Jewish, Christian or Baha’i communities (Ozturk).
Kurdistan society is distinct for its strong tribal organization. Independence and autonomy make up the political status of the land, and tribal confederacies are the highest form of social organization (Ozturk).
Kurdistan has been divided among five sovereign states since the end of World War I. Turkey has the largest portion of land, 43%, while Iran (31%), Iraq (18%), Syria (6%) and the former Soviet Union (2%) take up the rest. The Kurds are the only ethnic group in the world that have indigenous populations in three global geopolitical blocs: the Arab World, NATO, and the South Asian-Central Asian bloc. Until recently, the Soviet bloc constituted a fourth (Ozturk).
Kurds now make up the fourth largest ethnicity in the Middle East, and are projected to become the third largest, surpassing the Turks, by the year 2000. Approximately 52% of Kurdish people are in the political state of Turkey, 25.5% in Iran, 16% in Iraq, 5% in Syria, and 1.5% in the CIS. The Kurdish population declined during the first part of the twentieth century due to a struggling economy and poor health care, in addition to famines, deportations, and massacres. The
population is again increasing and now represents 15% of the
population of the entire Middle East (Ozturk).
Amir Muhammad Ibrahim*
Amir is a 24 year old native of Kurdistan. He was born in
Sulaymaniyah (Solomon City) in what is, politically speaking, the
northern part of Iraq. His tribe, the Dizai, migrated there from the region of Erbil as many as 400 years ago. His father met his mother while he was pursuing doctoral studies abroad, and though Amir spent his first year in Kurdistan, he spent his next six in his mother’s native land. They then returned to Iraq, choosing to reside in Baghdad so his father could find employment, teaching architecture.
Though his father speaks Kurdish fluently, the government
discouraged the propagation of Kurdish culture and language, and Amir
knows very little himself. His native languages are Russian and
Arabic. He considers himself a Sunni Muslim, but does not really
practice the religion. He feels that very few people are still
traditional, citing the amount of time it takes as a limiting
condition.
Amir describes his years in Baghdad as difficult. He believes the
animosity between ethnic groups in Iraq was not an issue until Saddam
Hussein came to power in 1979, and attributes it to Hussein’s desire
to have better control of the nation. Hussein did not limit the focus
to minority groups, as he spurred conflict in the Arab community
itself, and between Muslim sects. Amir’s family moved back to Iraq in
1979, which Amir attributes to “bad luck.”
Amir and his family could be identified as Kurdish by their names
and by their physical features. Arabs, who made up approximately 80%
of the city’s population, frequently harassed minorities, including
Kurds, Christians and Jews, though the reciprocal was not allowed.
Abuse, persecution, and hostility became common against Kurds. Amir
is quick to add that he does not want to over-generalize, asserting
that some Arabs were nice. He cited one family in particular that
aided his family when they arrived in Baghdad.
After the massacre of 5000 Kurds near his home town in 1988, and
the execution of two cousins who had formed a resistance in response
to the tragedy, Amir became involved in a political organization that
aligned itself with the Kurdish Democratic Party. He and three of his
friends used an elaborate system to remain in secret contact with the
party, receiving their directions in this manner. The main purpose of
the organization was resistance, and since military action was
impossible, they used alternative methods that focused on the
distribution of ideas and informational pamphlets. Their goal was to
attack the government itself by making others aware of the real
issues and attracting anyone, including Arabs, to their side. The
ultimate goal of these resistance groups was, and remains to be, the
redefining of boundaries so that Kurdistan is its own political
state.
By 1989, Amir and his friends were caught, and taken in the middle
of the night to jail. They were tortured and given statements to sign
that declared they knew certain individuals and could vouch for their
criminal activities. Amir was in jail for eighteen days before his
father was able to use his connections to get him out. His friends
were not as fortunate, and to this day, he does not know what
happened to them.
Amir was allowed to finish high school and begin his college
studies. He had not been involved in further activities because the
file the government already had on him was a threat. About one and a
half years had passed when he was overheard by a professor in class
making what was construed as a politically dangerous statement. He
was reported and taken back to jail, this time for a few months. He
was forbidden to return to school and was forced to join the
military. Amir explains that being a part of the military is
degrading for Kurds, who contributed to the minorities that he
guessed made up 60% of the soldiers on the front line. Most did not
desire to protect the very nation that persecuted them, but they were
forced to carry weapons. The military could make them shoot at any
time, for if they retreated, they would be shot in the back, and if
they tried to flee, they would be executed. By the time Iraq invaded
Kuwait in August of 1990, Amir says many people did flee the army. By
the end of the war, the only portion of the military that still
supported Hussein was the execution squad.
Amir deserted the army himself, having bribed an officer so that
his records would report him “lost.” He left with his brother-in-law
and hid until the bombing of Baghdad began on January 16, 1991. At
that time, his parents and older sister left as well, and he hid in
his grandfather’s basement in northern Iraq until the cease-fire at
the end of March. By the end of the war, though Hussein was still in
power, his power was weakened, and Amir, his brother-in-law, and his
sister were able to escape over the northern border into Turkey.
Amir was then a political refugee, having been persecuted and now
without a home or a nation. He was unable to take anything with him
when he left, with the exception of a necklace given to him by his
mother to remember her by. In Turkey, he began the interview process
with representatives of the United Nations that would determine his
refugee status and which nation he would be able to relocate to. He
and his family spent some time in camps, and although the government
did not encourage it, they soon managed to find work and a place to
live in Ankara, Turkey. His sister and brother-in-law were accepted
by a country in Europe, and though he would have liked to go with
them, Amir was above minor status and could not. He was eventually
referred to the American embassy, and after more interviews and
tests, and after nearly two years spent in Turkey, he was given
permission to come to the United States. His parents left Iraq just
recently, in the fall of 1996.
Amir arrived in New York on September 19, 1992. He had no close
family in the country, though his older cousin, whom he was not very
close to, has relocated to Fargo since. Amir was given the choice of
resettling anywhere in the country he desired. He determined that his
main priority was pursuing an education, and decided that moving to
the Midwest would offer him less distraction and allow him to be more
financially independent.
Lutheran Social Services helped him resettle in Fargo, providing
assistance in finding an apartment and a job. He says he knew a very
small amount of English from high school, but that his lack of
proficiency was not really a barrier. He learned a lot from
television, and from interacting with people, using books, and
attending English as a Second Language classes. After one and a half
years, Amir began school in the US.
Amir is currently in his third year at North Dakota State
University. He is majoring in Chemistry, though he has determined to
leave his "options open.” He feels it is a good department, but
wishes that the campus was bigger. He works in the summer to save
money for school, and has his own apartment within walking distance
of campus. He intends to get his US citizenship sometime next year
and says he doesn’t feel like a traitor for “wanting to belong
somewhere!” He has memories and attachment to home, but points out
that his citizenship was to Iraq, not Kurdistan. He says America has
been friendly to him and accepted him when no other country would.
The US is now a second home to him, “maybe a first home now.”
Amir describes Fargo as cold, small, lonely, and very flat. He
says it is unusual for him because where he came from was very
crowded and was in a beautiful valley. He described the summers as
not too hot and though there was snow in the winter, it was not so
cold. He considers the people in Fargo friendly in general. However,
he feels there is very little for young people to do. When he is not
studying, he spends his time reading and with friends, and enjoys
drawing, chess, playing pool, and watching movies.
Amir still believes that coming to Fargo was a good decision and
has given him a good start. Though it is lonely, he feels it really
does make it easier to study. He does not intend to stay here,
however, and will be looking for a job somewhere else in the US
immediately after graduation.
*For reasons of privacy and concerns about safety for himself and
his family, the name and certain identifying details in this account
have been changed.
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