Kurds

Kurds

ETHNONYMS: Self-designation: Kurd, Kurmandz

Orientation

Identification, Location, and Demography. According to Statistical data for 1989, the total population of Kurds in the USSR was 152,717. Of these, 56,127 were in Armenia; 33,331 in Georgia; 25,425 in Kazakhstan; 12,226 in Azerbaijan; 14,262 in Kirgizia; 4,387 in Turkmenia; 1,839 in Uzbekistan; and 56 in Tajikistan. The areas of dense settlement are in Transcaucasia (Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia). According to the 1979 census, the Kurds of Azerbaijan are not included among the major (more numerous) nationalities of the Azerbaijan Republic, because of natural and artificial assimilation. In Kazakhstan and Central Asia live the descendants of Kurds from the former Kurdistan District. The population figures are somewhat low, since in Kazakhstan many Kurdish inhabitants are registered as Turks or Azerbaijanis. Kurds live scattered in Ukraine, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Moldova. At the present time a significant part of the Kurdish population has left Central Asia, Transcaucasia, and Kazakhstan for the Krasnodar region. Kurds staunchly retain a national self-consciousness. The majority of Kurds are Muslims—mostly Sunnis, some Shiites. A number of Kurds (called "Yezidis") are adherents of the syncretistic religion known as Yezidism. The religious distinctions have tended to separate the communities into separate Yezidi and Muslim settlements.

Linguistic Affiliation. Soviet Kurds speak the northern dialect (Kurmandz) of the Kurdish language, which belongs (along with Talysh and some other languages) to the Northwestern Subgroup of the Iranian Group of the Indo-European Family.

History and Cultural Relations

The appearance of Kurdish kin-tribal confederations in Transcaucasia dates from the tenth century, and in the eleventh century the famous Kurdish dynasty of the Seddadis ruled over an enormous territory from the city of Elisavetpol (modern Kirovabad in Azerbaijan) to the city of Ani (in modern Turkey). Toward the end of the nineteenth century the Kurdish population in Transcaucasia was concentrated in the Aleksandropol, Novobayazet, Surmalin, Sharuro-Daralagez, and Erevan districts of Erevan Province (Armenia); the Aresh, Jebrail, Javanshir, and Zangezur districts of Elisavetpol Province (Azerbaijan); and the Akhalkalaki, Akhaltsikhe, and Borchalin districts of Tiflis Province (Georgia). Individual clans appeared in Transcaucasia after the Russo-Persian wars of 1804-1813 and 1826-1828. These were either the inhabitants of those villages that, in accordance with the conditions of the Gyulistan and Turkmanchay agreements, came under Russian authority, or they were nomadic Kurds in Transcaucasian territory. At the beginning of the nineteenth century several Kurdish tribes presented the Russian authorities in Caucasia with a request to allow them to settle in Russia and accept Russian citizenship.

At the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries, as a result of the genocide of the Yezidi Kurds and the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, as well as the Kurds' search for better pasturage for their cattle, the Yezidi Kurds fled with the Armenians to Armenia and the Muslim Kurds migrated to Azerbaijan, where the majority population professed Islam. Thus the Kurdish population in Transcaucasia split along confessional lines. Subsequently, in the 1920s, many Kurds left Azerbaijan for Armenia (where some villages of Muslim Kurds were created in the Basargechar, Dilizhan, and other regions); at the same time some went from Armenia into Georgia. In Georgia the Yezidi Kurds are mostly an urban population, living in Tbilisi, where they came in search of work. The Muslim Kurdish population settled primarily in Azerbaijan, in the Kelbajar, Lachin, Kubatlin, and Zangelan regions. In the 1920s these regions, with their center in the city of Lachin, became the Kurdistan District of Soviet Azerbaijan. At the beginning of the 1930s the Kurdistan District was transformed into the Kurdish National Autonomous Region, but in connection with the new administrative division of Azerbaijan the region was abolished. In 1937 there was a forced deportation of the Kurdish population from Azerbaijan and Armenia and, in 1944, from Georgia.

Language and Literacy

In the past most of the Kurds of Transcaucasia were illiterate. In the Russian Empire the Kurds had no national schools. In 1921, according to the first agricultural census, 1 out of every 100 adult Kurds was literate (1.44 percent of male Kurds in the Kurdistan District and a mere 0.04 percent of female Kurds). From the 1920s various measures for popular education among the Kurds were implemented. The most important problem was the creation of a written language, textbooks, grammars, and dictionaries in the Kurdish language, despite the fact that the Kurdish language was not studied until comparatively late in Europe (the first Kurdish grammar was published in 1787). In 1921 a Kurdish alphabet was devised in Armenia on the basis of the Armenian alphabet. A Kurdish alphabet using Latin letters was created in Armenia in 1929. In 1944, also in Armenia, a Kurdish alphabet using Cyrillic characters (with the addition of seven signs for the rendering of specific phonemes) was promulgated, although this led to some isolation of the Soviet Kurdish readership. (All Kurdish literature abroad is published in the Latin and Arabic alphabets.) A major role in the creation of the Kurdish alphabet, textbooks, grammars, dictionaries, and artistic literature was played by Kurdish pedagogues, writers, and scholars (Arab Shamilov, Amine Avdal, Ajie Jindi, Jasme Jalil, Museib Akhundov, Bakhchoe Slo, K. K. Kurdoev, Ch. Kh. Bakaev, and many others).

Government programs led to the reduction of illiteracy among adults. In the 1922-1923 school year in Armenia there were five Kurdish elementary schools with more than 260 pupils. At the end of the 1930s Kurdish schools were reorganized, and the Kurds were allowed the option of studying their native language. In 1925 more than fifty schools were opened for the Kurds of Armenia and Azerbaijan (and in Tbilisi an evening school), at which both men and women studied. Kurdish teacjers received training in technical schools and institutions of higher education. A Kurdish technical school was opened in Armenia in 1928, another in Azerbaijan in 1933. A group of young Kurds studied at the workers' high school of the Leningrad Institute of Oriental Languages under the guidance of academician I. A. Orbeli. At the present time the Kurds generally have a command their native language, but their knowledge of other languages depends on the language of the surrounding people, the language in which they have been educated, and other factors; they may be familiar with Armenian, Azerbaijani, Georgian, Russian, or other languages. According to statistical data for 1989, out of the general population of 152,717 Kurds, 123,006 considered Kurdish their native language, 6,817 Russian, and 2,289 another language; 43,889 were fluent in Russian and 61,683 in other languages.

Settlements

Their difficult historical fortunes notwithstanding, the Kurds of the former Soviet Union have staunchly preserved their traditional customs, a material and intellectual culture having common roots with that of the Kurds of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. This is manifested in economic and cultural forms, the typology of settlements and habitations, national costume, carpet making, cuisine, the observance of religious rituals, and folklore.

Among the Kurds of Armenia, patronymic and kin-tribal settlements existed up to the 1930s and 1940s, which attests to the long retention of traditional family structures. The majority of Azerbaijani Kurds seem not to have retained a memory of their clan and tribal backgrounds; this is reflected in the settlement patterns of Kurdish villages in Azerbaijan. A village was usually founded near a spring. Public buildings did not exist in the villages. Some Muslim villages had a religious school (mekteb ); among the Yezidis, the children of well-off parents studied at the homes of the sheikhs. Kurdish villages had no mosques for Muslim Kurds or prayer houses for Yezidi Kurds. In Azerbaijan the Kurds prayed in the Azerbaijani mosques; in Armenia, where Yezidi Kurds predominated, the religious functions of the village were celebrated in the house of the sheikh. The villages had no markets or market squares; Kurds went to Armenian or Azerbaijani villages to buy or sell produce and the products of home industry. Kurdish graveyards were located near the village. Kurds in Armenia had patronymic graveyards; those in Azerbaijan had nonpatronymic graveyards alongside Azerbaijano-Kurdish graveyards. In the 1920s to the 1930s the Kurdish village gradually changed. In the republics of Transcaucasia new villages began to be created for those who had adopted a sedentary form of life. The Soviet state rendered material assistance to Kurdish peasants in the construction of new settlements. In the major Kurdish towns, particularly in Armenia, new dwellings, farms, and mills were erected. The new towns had sociocultural and economic centers with village soviets, schools, and reading rooms. The results of this process were especially evident in the Kurdish villages of Armenia in the 1950s to the 1980s.

The change in the external appearance of the Transcaucasian Kurdish villages is connected with a change in the way of life and the dwelling place. Until the beginning of the twentieth century the basic types of habitation were the tent (kon, chadïr, reshmal ) for the nomadic and seminomadic population, and the winter dwelling (mal, khani ), an underground or half-underground mud hut for the seminomadic and sedentary population. The Kurdish homestead was a single, horizontally oriented complex consisting of an underground or half-underground hut, stable, sheepfold, and storeroom (in some parts of Azerbaijan, the oreintation was vertical). The main construction material was unfinished brick, unpolished stone, or sometimes tufa (in Armenia). Houses in the plains had flat roofs, those in the mountains cupola-shaped roofs with an aperture (kolek ) in the ceiling for light and smoke. The ceiling beams rested on wooden columns (stun ). A hearth (tandur ) in the earthen floor was used to heat the home, bake bread, prepare food, and enact ritual ceremonies. The hearth has a sacred place in the life of the Kurds.

Economy

Subsistence and Commercial Activities. The primary occupation of the Kurds of Transcaucasia in the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth was the vertical transhumance of livestock. Before departing for the pastures in the spring, the Kurds would form into obas, temporary and voluntary unions of several large families that lasted until their return to winter quarters in late fall. The fundamental objective in the creation of the oba was the assurance of adequate care and maintenance for the cattle. Obas were either of the jol type, in which members contributed equally toward the upkeep of the cattle, or the type in which one of the more prosperous flock owners accepted the sheep of the other members of the oba into his flock. The number of families forming an oba depended on the number of sheep and goats owned by each family. In addition to nomadic cattle rearing there was also cattle rearing in pastures. A number of tribes combined pasturing of livestock with dry-land agriculture (grains, tobacco).

Clothing. Older women still wear the national costume. It consists of a shirt (kras ), baggy pantaloons (khevalkras ), vest (elek ), skirt (navdere, tuman ), apron (salek ), armlets (davzang ), woolen belt (bene peste ), hat (kofi, fino ) or silk head shawl, woolen stockings (gore ), and shoes. Ancient and modern decorations of all types (beads, rings, earrings, bracelets) and gold and silver coins on the kofi headgear are an obligatory component of female dress. In the past, Kurdish women wore nose ornaments (kerefil ) and foot ornaments (kherkhal ). The men's folk costume as a whole has gone out of use, but individual elements were worn until the first half of the twentieth century in Azerbaijan. The traditional national costume of the Kurds of Transcaucasia consisted of a shirt, wide trousers, a vest, a woolen belt, woolen socks, and shoes. A dagger thrust in the belt was formerly regarded as an inseparable element of the masculine costume.

Food. The Kurds have a distinctive national cuisine. From the beginning of spring the women stock up on produce (dairy products, meat, cereal, flour, vegetables) for the fall and winter. Semiprocessed dairy products are frequently used in many dishes, for example the refreshing beverage dau, from which various soups and curds are prepared. Curds can be fashioned into small balls (kyashk ) that are dried under the burning sun. In winter, when the cows' milk yield drops and it is impossible to get dau, Kurds crumble a ball of kyashk, soak it overnight in warm water, and consume the thick liquid the following day. They also make various sorts of cheese (e.g., panire sari and a stringy cheese called panire reshi ) Meat dishes include grilled mutton and Caucasian shashlik. Among the more common cereal dishes are porridges and soups prepared from processed grains (wheat, barley, and rice). Noodles (reshte ) made from flour are prepared for storage.

Industrial Arts. Domestic crafts, particulary those directly associated with the processing of wool, were important in the economy of the Kurds. Kurdish women have long been famous for the manufacture of carpets (with and without nap) and felt and woolen items for clothing and daily life. The carpets are adorned with depictions deriving from folk legends, tales, and religious beliefs—particularly those of the Yezidis. At the end of the nineteenth century Erevan and Elisavetpol provinces, as well as Akhaltsikhe District in Tiflis Province—that is, areas with a large Kurdish population—specialized in the production of woolen handicraft articles. The Kurds were also noted for the production of brass and unglazed ceramic utensils. Jugs with a broad, steady base were used for keeping meat, milk, and butter. The Kurds made bags for the storage of butter and cheese, as well as churns, out of hides with the hair turned outside and specially processed. In the rich forests of the Kelbajar and Lachin districts of Azerbaijan, the peasants manufactured wooden beehives. In some regions of Transcaucasia the men were involved in working stone; carving gravestones in the shape of a sheep, horse, or lion; and making mortars and vessels for water.

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs. Islam spread among the Kurds in the seventh and eighth centuries. Many Muslim rites and beliefs coexisted with pre-Islamic cults associated with lakes, stones, graves, trees, fire, and an ancestor cult. Among the Muslim Kurds reverance toward pirs (holy places) was widespread. Three types of these were distinguished. The first—stone mounds, formed by the casting of stones at places considered sacred—were revered primarily by the nomadic Kurds. Part of the mound was frequently covered by pieces of fabric hung on bushes or saplings by women. The Kurds believed that these pirs would save them from misfortune. The second type, created by sedentary Kurds, was associated with the graves of saints and the cult of the ancestors. On certain days the villagers brought offerings, usually baked bread and sweets, to these graves. The third kind reflected the cults of trees, stones, and water; these cults had devotees among both the sedentary and nomadic population.

The beliefs and rites of the Yezidi Kurds are strictly clandestine; no one who is not born a Yezidi can have access to them. The Yezidis recognize the existence of two principles—a good one, embodied in God, and an evil one, embodied in Malek-Tauz (represented as a peacock). They have cults associated with fire, the moon, trees, water, stones, and the sun. Malek-Tauz is depicted in the form of a bird standing on a high bronze or brass pedestal (senjag or sanjaq ). The founder of the sect of the Yezidis was Sheikh Adi, who lived in northern Mesopotamia (Iraq) in the twelfth century. His temple is located 70 kilometers from the city of Mosul. The Yezidis have their own sacred books, written in the thirteenth century: the Kitabe Jilva (Book of the Revelation) contains the essence of Yezidi dogma, and the Maskhafe Resh (Black Book) sets forth the legend of Yezid, son of Moawiya, and the various rites and customs.

Arts. The Kurdish nation is justifiably proud of its extremely rich oral literature—poems, tales, songs, proverbs, and legends, many of which have achieved popularity among other peoples (Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Persians, Turks, Arabs, and Assyrians). Kurdish folklore extols the moral beliefs of the people: reverence for elders (particularly women), hospitality, courage, valor, and the love of freedom. Among the most widespread Kurdish epics are "Mam i Zin," "Dïmdïm," and "Zambilfrosh." The creation of Kurdish alphabets led to the flowering of a written literature. Soviet Kurdish literature draws on the progressive traditions of an extremely rich folklore. Literature arose among the Soviet Kurds in the 1930s, particularly among the Kurds of Armenia. Kurdish writers (Vazire Nadri, Otare Sharo, Jardoe Genjo, and others) gave their people numerous creations (in verse and prose) telling of the tragic fate of the Kurdish nomads before the Soviet Revolution, of their life and traditions, and of popular education (especially among women). In the war years Kurdish literature focused on patriotic subjects, such as the destiny of the Kurds in the struggle with fascism. Soviet Kurdish literature continued to thrive in the postwar period. The works of poets and prose writers are permeated with themes about the homeland and the struggle of nations for peace (Jardoe Asad, Usve Bako, Kachakhe Murad, Miroe Asad, Mikaele Rashid, Karlene Chachan, Ferike Usv, etc.). Soviet Kurdish writers have been particularly concerned about the lives of their kin in Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria; about their courageous struggle for an independent Kurdistan ("the land of the Kurds"); and about the national-territorial rights of the many millions of Kurdish people.

Kurdish writers, forming a section of the Armenian writers' union, are giving their people a large number of literary works on national themes: family life, hospitality, courage, fortitude, and so on. In addition to literature in their language, the Kurds have a newspaper, Pia Taxe (The New Road), that first appeared in Erevan in 1928. Kurdish scholars are active in many areas, especially the study of Kurdish language, literature, and history within the Armenian Academy of Sciences. The Kurdish Cultural Center was formed in Moscow in 1989 for the further development of the culture of the Kurds. The center first published the newspaper Golos Kurda (The Kurdish Voice) in Russian and is also preparing publications on the language, literature, history, and ethnography of the Kurdish people.

See also Yezidis

Bibliography

Akiner, Shirin (1986). Islamic Peoples of The Soviet Union: An Historical and Statistical Handbook. 2nd ed., 208-215. London: KPI.

Aristova, T. F. (1966). Kurdy Zakavkaz'ia (The Transcaucasian Kurds). Moscow.

Aristova, T. F. (1980). Otrazhenie ètnicheskikh protsessov v traditsionno-bytovoi kul'ture kurdov Azerbaijana i Turkmenii" (The expression of ethnic processes in the traditional culture of the Kurds of Azerbaijan and Turkmenia). In Enicheskie protsessy u natsional'nykh grupp Srednei Azii i Kazakhstana (Ethnic processes among the national groups of Central Asia and Kazakhstan). Moscow.

Aristova, T. F. (1990). Material'naia kul'tura kurdov XIX-pervaia polovina XX v (The material culture of the Kurds in the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries). Moscow.

Bennigsen, Alexandre, and S. Enders Wimbush (1986). Muslims of the Soviet Empire: A Guide, 209-213. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Musaelian, Z. S., ed. (1963). Bibliografiia po kurdovedeniiu (Bibliography of Kurdish studies). Moscow.

Ordikhane Jalil, and Jalile Jalil, eds. (1972). Kurdskie poslovitsy i pogovorki (Kurdish proverbs and sayings). Moscow.

Rudenko, M. (1974). "Novogodnie obriadovye prazdnestva u kurdov" (Traditional New Year's festivals among the Kurds). In Fol'klor i etnografiia: Obriady i obriadovyi fol'klor (Folklore and ethnography: Rites and ritual folklore). Leningrad.

T. F. ARISTOVA (Translated by David Testen)