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The
Republic of Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
has an official policy in place that denies the existence of the
Kurds Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...
as a distinct ethnicity. The Kurds, who are a people that speak various dialects of Northwestern Iranic languages, have historically constituted the demographic majority in southeastern Turkey (or "
Turkish Kurdistan Turkish Kurdistan or Northern Kurdistan () is the southeastern part of Turkey where Kurds form the predominant ethnic group. The Kurdish Institute of Paris estimates that there are 20 million Kurds living in Turkey, the majority of them in the ...
") and their independent national aspirations have stood at the forefront of the long-running
Kurdish–Turkish conflict Kurdish nationalism, Kurdish nationalist uprisings have periodically occurred in Turkey, beginning with the Turkish War of Independence and the consequent transition from the Ottoman Empire to the modern Turkish state and continuing to the pre ...
. Insisting that the Kurds, like the
Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic of Turkey * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic lang ...
, are a
Turkic people Turkic peoples are a collection of diverse ethnic groups of West Asia, West, Central Asia, Central, East Asia, East, and North Asia as well as parts of Europe, who speak Turkic languages.. "Turkic peoples, any of various peoples whose members ...
, Turkish state institutions do not recognize the
Kurdish language Kurdish (, , ) is a Northwestern Iranian languages, Northwestern Iranian language or dialect continuum, group of languages spoken by Kurds in the region of Kurdistan, namely in southeast Turkish Kurdistan, Turkey, northern Iraqi Kurdistan, Ira ...
as a language and also omit the Kurdish ethnonym and the term "
Kurdistan Kurdistan (, ; ), or Greater Kurdistan, is a roughly defined geo- cultural region in West Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages, and national identity have historically been based. G ...
" in their discourse. In the 20th century, as the words "Kurd" and "Kurdish" were prohibited by Turkish law, all Kurds were referred to as Mountain Turks () in a wider attempt to portray them as a people who lost their Turkic identity over time by intermingling with
Arabs Arabs (,  , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of yea ...
,
Armenians Armenians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the Armenian highlands of West Asia.Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiq ...
, and
Persians Persians ( ), or the Persian people (), are an Iranian ethnic group from West Asia that came from an earlier group called the Proto-Iranians, which likely split from the Indo-Iranians in 1800 BCE from either Afghanistan or Central Asia. They ...
, among others. More recently, Turkey's opposition to Kurdish independence has defined how it has conducted itself throughout the
Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
, particularly with regard to the
Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria The Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), also known as Rojava, is a ''de facto'' Autonomous administrative division, autonomous region in northeastern Syria. It consists of self-governing Regions of North and E ...
and the
Kurdistan Region of Iraq Kurdistan Region (KRI) is a semi-autonomous federal region of the Republic of Iraq. It comprises four Kurdish-majority governorates of Arab-majority Iraq: Erbil Governorate, Sulaymaniyah Governorate, Duhok Governorate, and Halabja Governora ...
.


Background

Kurds are Turkey's largest ethnic minority, accounting for 18% of the country's population per
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
. Throughout the 20th century, Turkish Kurds faced widespread persecution, with the
Dersim rebellion The Dersim massacre, also known as Dersim genocide, was carried out by the Turkish military over the course of three operations in the Dersim Province (renamed Tunceli) against Kurds, Kurdish rebels of Kurdish Alevism, Alevi faith, and civilians ...
alone having led to the deaths of approximately 13,160 civilians at the hands of the Turkish military in the 1930s. While denying their Kurdish identity, the Turkish government has also sought to Turkify the Kurds with the pretext that they are actually assimilated Turks.


Turkification of Kurds

İbrahim Kafesoğlu İbrahim Kafesoğlu (1914–1984) was a Turkish historian and academic who is known for his role in the development of the Turkish–Islamic synthesis. He was a faculty member of Istanbul University and Atatürk University. He cofounded the cons ...
claimed that Kurds were not a nation, but a tribe of Turkic, Turanid origin. In 1975, Mahmut Rışvanoğlu, himself an ethnic Kurd from the Reşwan tribe, released a book titled "The Tribes of the East and Imperialism" in which he insisted that all Kurds are Turkic people originating from
Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...
. He alleged that towards the end of the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
, imperialists from both the
East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...
and
West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...
began "brainwashing" today's Kurds into denying their Turkic heritage; the so-called imperialists declared that Kurds were a completely separate people and part of the “
Aryan race The Aryan race is a pseudoscientific historical race concepts, historical race concept that emerged in the late-19th century to describe people who descend from the Proto-Indo-Europeans as a Race (human categorization), racial grouping. The ter ...
” before spreading
Kurdish nationalism Kurdish nationalism () is a nationalist political movement which asserts that Kurds are a nation and espouses the creation of an independent Kurdistan from Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. Early Kurdish nationalism had its roots in the Ottoman ...
. The Outlook, based in New York, in 1925, described Kurds as "Turanian both by race and language". Alexandre Jaba, a consul from the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
who was posted to
Erzurum Erzurum (; ) is a List of cities in Turkey, city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. It is the site of an ...
in the 1850s, met with the Kurdish elder Mela Mehmûdê Bayezîdî and requested him to write summaries on the
Kurdish literature Kurdish literature ( or ) is literature written in the Kurdish languages. Literary Kurdish works have been written in each of the six main Kurdish languages: Zaza language, Zaza, Gorani language, Gorani, Kurmanji, Sorani, Laki language, Laki and S ...
, folklore, and society, and to translate the
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
-language
Sharafnama The ''Sharafnama'' (Kurdish: شەرەفنامە ''Şerefname''; Persian: شرفنامه ''Sharafnâmeh''; ) is a book written in 1597 by the medieval Kurdish historian and poet Sharaf al-Din Bitlisi (1543–1599) in Persian. ''Sharafnama'' is re ...
into Kurdish. Jaba later compiled the first Kurdish dictionary, and the German linguist
Ferdinand Justi Ferdinand Justi (2 June 1837 in Marburg, Germany – 17 February 1907 in Marburg) was a German linguist and Orientalist. He finished his studies of linguistics at the University of Marburg and the University of Göttingen. In 1861 he lived in Ma ...
wrote the first Kurdish grammar. Around sixty years later, Vasily Nikitin, who was the Russian consul in
Urmia Urmia (; ) is the largest city in West Azerbaijan Province of Iran. In the Central District of Urmia County, it is capital of the province, the county, and the district. The city is situated near the borders of Iran with Turkey and Iraq. ...
between 1915 and 1918, joined the nascent academic discipline of
Kurdology Kurdology or Kurdish studies is an academic discipline centered on the study of Kurds and consists of several disciplines such as culture, history and linguistics. Kurdish studies traces its institutional history to 1916, when in St. Petersburg in t ...
.
Vladimir Minorsky Vladimir Fyodorovich Minorsky (; – 25 March 1966) was a White Russian academic, historian, and scholar of Oriental studies, best known for his contributions to the study of history of Iran and the Iranian peoples such as Persians, Lurs, and ...
, who began his career as a Russian diplomat, began writing articles in the
Encyclopaedia of Islam The ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'' (''EI'') is a reference work that facilitates the Islamic studies, academic study of Islam. It is published by Brill Publishers, Brill and provides information on various aspects of Islam and the Muslim world, Isl ...
about the Kurdish people and Kurdistan. Rışvanoğlu is noted for having expressed a dislike for Minorsky and often referred to encyclopedias as "imperialist tools" in an obvious reference to Minorsky's studies. He often accused Minorsky and other
Orientalists In art history, literature, and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects of the Eastern world (or "Orient") by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. Orientalist painting, particularly of the Middle ...
of being “ Turkophobes” by researching the independent Kurdish identity. In the
British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...
, on the other hand, there were also diplomats and academics who wrote about the Kurds and established a presence in Kurdistan.
Mark Sykes Colonel Sir Tatton Benvenuto Mark Sykes, 6th Baronet (16 March 1879 – 16 February 1919) was an English traveller, Conservative Party politician, and diplomatic advisor, particularly with regard to the Middle East at the time of the First ...
, Ely B. Soane, Edward Noel, and Cecil J. Edmonds were especially active in highlighting the political and societal differences separating
Iraqi Kurds The Iraqi Kurds (, ) are the second largest ethnic group of Iraq. They traditionally speak the Kurdish languages of Sorani, Kurmanji, Feyli and also Gorani. Historically, Kurds in Iraq have experienced varying degrees of autonomy and marginal ...
from the Turkish nation. Noel personally travelled across Kurdistan in 1919 to see how committed to nationalism the
Kurdish tribes Kurdish tribes are tribes of Kurds, Kurdish people, an ethnic group from the geo-cultural region of Kurdistan in West Asia, Western Asia. The tribes are socio-political and generally also a territorial unit based on descent and kinship, real or ...
were. For his part, Rışvanoğlu never denied his Kurdish ethnicity and identity, but that every Kurd was Turkic instead of Iranic, as is commonly understood in mainstream academia. The Turkish nationalist Mehmet Eröz claimed that the Kurds, like the
Azeris Azerbaijanis (; , ), Azeris (, ), or Azerbaijani Turks (, ) are a Turkic ethnic group living mainly in the Azerbaijan region of northwestern Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan. They are predominantly Shia Muslims. They comprise the largest ...
and the
Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic of Turkey * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic lang ...
, originated from the
Oghuz Turks The Oghuz Turks ( Middle Turkic: , ) were a western Turkic people who spoke the Oghuz branch of the Turkic language family. In the 8th century, they formed a tribal confederation conventionally named the Oghuz Yabgu State in Central Asia ...
and therefore could not qualify as a completely distinct ethnicity. Eröz claimed that the word "Kurd" (Turkish: ''Kürt'') was found on the Turkic Elegest inscription and that it specifically referred to Kurds and also stated that "Kurdish Turks" would be the proper terminology to describe Kurds in Turkey.Eröz, Doğu Anadolu’nun Türklüğü, p. 13 Both Eröz and Rışvanoğlu compiled words from
Old Turkic Old Siberian Turkic, generally known as East Old Turkic and often shortened to Old Turkic, was a Siberian Turkic language spoken around East Turkistan and Mongolia. It was first discovered in inscriptions originating from the Second Turkic Kh ...
that they found in modern Kurdish dialects, and in which they developed a theory that claimed that despite the Kurdish language being influenced by the
Iranic languages The Iranian languages, also called the Iranic languages, are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family that are spoken natively by the Iranian peoples, predominantly in the Iranian Plateau. The Iranian language ...
over time, many elements that were unique to the so-called " Kurdish Oghuz language" have survived in their modern language. A Turkish prosecutor at a court in 1971, speaking about the issue of Kurdish separatism in Turkey during a trial against members of the
Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front The Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front ( or DHKP-C) is a Turkish Marxist–Leninist communist party in Turkey. It was founded in 1978 as Revolutionary Left (Turkish: or ), and has been involved in a militant campaign against the Rep ...
, went on to make statements about the various Kurdish languages and dialects and stated that "there is no doubt that Kurdish is a Turkic language, just like
Yakut Yakut or Yakutian may refer to: * Yakuts, the Turkic peoples indigenous to the Sakha Republic * Yakut language, a Turkic language * Yakut scripts, Scripts used to write the Yakut language * Yakut (name) * Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic ...
or Chuvash. It is not immediately recognizable as such because our racial brothers have, for centuries, had contact with Arabs, Armenians and Persians, which has destroyed the purity of their language." This claim is similar in nature to the one that alleges that the Persian-speaking
Hazaras The Hazaras (; ) are an ethnic group and a principal component of Afghanistan’s population. They are one of the largest ethnic groups in Afghanistan, primarily residing in the Hazaristan (Hazarajat) region in central Afghanistan. Hazaras al ...
, who inhabit modern-day
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
and
Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
, are a Turkic people who had their language heavily Iranicized while retaining some Turkic elements. Whereas
Ziya Gökalp Mehmet Ziya Gökalp (born Mehmed Ziya, 23 March 1876 – 25 October 1924) was a Turkish sociologist, writer, poet, and politician. After the 1908 Young Turk Revolution that reinstated constitutionalism in the Ottoman Empire, he adopted the pen ...
was also an ethnic Kurd who identified as a Turk, he did not contribute nor place importance on the theory of Kurds being a Turkic people, and believed that Turkishness is a matter of choice and dedication, not descent or background. Mehmed Şükrü Sekban, a Kurdish medical doctor from
Ergani Ergani (, ), formerly known as Arghni or Arghana, is a municipality and district of Diyarbakır Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,510 km2, and its population is 136,099 (2022). Ergani District is located in the administrative as the Southeastern ...
who worked in
Sulaymaniyah Sulaymaniyah or Slemani (; ), is a city in the east of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and is the capital of the Sulaymaniyah Governorate. It is surrounded by the Azmar (Ezmer), Goizha (Goyje) and Qaiwan (Qeywan) Mountains in the northeast, Bara ...
in modern-day
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
, was likely the first person to publish an entire book that asserts that all Kurds are originally Turkic. The book was titled "The Kurdish Question: On the Problems of Minorities" and written in
French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...
in 1933 before being translated to
Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish (, ; ) was the standardized register of the Turkish language in the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extensively, in all aspects, from Arabic and Persian. It was written in the Ottoman Turkish alphabet. ...
two years later. Sekban was originally a Kurdish nationalist who later renounced Kurdish nationalism and began research in which he proclaimed that Kurds were ethnically related to Turks, and suggested that it would be best for both of them to form a singular political community. He claimed that the Kurds had migrated to the West Asia much earlier than other Turkic people did and significantly intermixed with the local Iranic-speaking peoples, and had their Oghuz Turkic language heavily changed after being dominated by the
Medes The Medes were an Iron Age Iranian peoples, Iranian people who spoke the Median language and who inhabited an area known as Media (region), Media between western Iran, western and northern Iran. Around the 11th century BC, they occupied the m ...
. Sekban further stated that Kurds were not direct descendants of the Medes, nor were the Medes Kurdish, and that these were all empty claims made by Kurdish nationalists. Ahmet Arvasi, in support of Sekban's claims, asserted that the Kurds indeed constituted part of the Turkic nation and that any claims of distinctness were based on false claims by foreign imperialists in order to divide the Turks. He also claimed that before the
dissolution of the Ottoman Empire The dissolution of the Ottoman Empire (1908–1922) was a period of history of the Ottoman Empire beginning with the Young Turk Revolution and ultimately ending with the empire's dissolution and the founding of the modern state of Turkey. The ...
, Kurds referred to themselves as Kurds while knowing they were part of the Turkic people. Arvasi also claimed that Kurds are not descendants of the Medes,
Gutians The Guti (), also known by the derived exonyms Gutians or Guteans, were a people of the ancient Near East who both appeared and disappeared during the Bronze Age. Their homeland was known as Gutium (Sumerian language, Sumerian: , ''GutūmKI'' o ...
,
Corduene Gordyene or Corduene (; ; ) was an ancient historical region, located south of Lake Van, present-day eastern Turkey. According to the ''1911 Encyclopædia Britannica'', Gordyene is the ancient name of the region of ''Bohtan'', now Şırnak Prov ...
, or Merwanids, and that "Kurd" as an ethnonym was never mentioned in the languages of these nations. Arvasi claimed that the etymology of the ethnonym "Kurd" comes from words in various
Turkic languages The Turkic languages are a language family of more than 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and West Asia. The Turkic langua ...
which refer to snow, such as "Kürt" in Kazakh and Chuvash, "Kört" in
Kazan Tatar The Volga Tatars or simply Tatars (; ) are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group native to the Idel-Ural, Volga-Ural region of European Russia, western Russia. They are subdivided into various subgroups. Volga Tatars are the second-largest ethni ...
, "Körtük" in
Uyghur Uyghur may refer to: * Uyghurs, a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia (West China) ** Uyghur language, a Turkic language spoken primarily by the Uyghurs *** Old Uyghur language, a different Turkic language spoken in the Uyghur K ...
and Kyrgyz, all meaning "heavy snow drift", as well as "Kürt" in the
Taranchi Taranchi is a term denoting the Turkic-speaking, Muslim, sedentary population living in oases around the Tarim Basin in today's Xinjiang, China, whose native language is Turkic Karluk and whose ancestral heritages include Tocharians, Iranic p ...
language meaning "freshly fallen snow". Arvasi also claimed that the term "Kurdistan", created by
Ahmad Sanjar Sanjar (, ; full name: ''Muizz ad-Dunya wa ad-Din Adud ad-Dawlah Abul-Harith Ahmad Sanjar ibn Malik-Shah'') (6 November 1086 – 8 May 1157) was the Seljuq ruler of Khorasan from 1097 until 1118,Seljuks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; , ''Saljuqian'',) alternatively spelled as Saljuqids or Seljuk Turks, was an Oghuz Turkic, Sunni Muslim dynasty that gradually became Persianate and contributed to Turco-Persian culture. The founder of th ...
, meant "mountainous land which heavy snow fell on". He also stated that before the imperialists began coming to the Ottoman Empire, there was never a distinction between Kurds and other Turkic people, and that the term Kurdistan was used by everyone to refer to lands where Kurds lived, without separatist or negative intentions. He accuses imperialists of having designed a Kurdish nationalism in which was specifically designed to convince Kurds that they aren't Turkic, as well as falsifying Kurdish history and origins. Şerif Fırat's "History of Varto and the Provinces of the East", became a very popular book. Fırat was a Zaza
Alevi Alevism (; ; ) is a syncretic heterodox Islamic tradition, whose adherents follow the mystical Islamic teachings of Haji Bektash Veli, who taught the teachings of the Twelve Imams, whilst incorporating some traditions from shamanism. Differing ...
tribal chief of a branch of the Hormek tribe. In 1925, his branch of the tribe had helped crush the Sheikh Said revolt. Fırat's book mentioned stories that were passed down from generation to generation, found among other Alevi tribes as well, which mentioned that all Alevis originate from
Khorasan KhorasanDabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 (; , ) is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plateau in West and Central Asia that encompasses western and no ...
. Fırat writes that his ancestors had lost their Turkic language after living with the Iranic Zazas, who are also Turkic but had migrated from Khorasan to Anatolia much earlier. Fırat also claimed that every Kurdish tribe is genuinely Turkic, whether in Turkey, Iran, Iraq or Syria, or anywhere. The biggest contributor to the theory of Kurds being Turkic, was M. Fahrettin Kırzıoğlu. Kırzıoğlu was born in
Susuz Susuz (, , ) is a town in Kars Province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. It is the seat of Susuz District.
,
Kars Kars ( or ; ; ) is a city in northeast Turkey. It is the seat of Kars Province and Kars District. ...
in 1917, to a Kumyk family originally from
Dagestan Dagestan ( ; ; ), officially the Republic of Dagestan, is a republic of Russia situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, along the Caspian Sea. It is located north of the Greater Caucasus, and is a part of the North Caucasian Fede ...
. He studied
Turkology Turkology (or Turcology or Turkic studies) is a complex of humanities sciences studying languages, history, literature, folklore, culture, and ethnology of people speaking Turkic languages and the Turkic peoples in chronological and comparative c ...
at Istanbul University and got into Pan-Turkism. In his works, he targeted Western and Russian Kurdologists, especially Minorsky, Nikitine and Vil’chevsky, and dedicated a large part of his career to debunking their claims that Kurds were not a Turkic people. He claimed that foreign Kurdologists were extremely biased and falsified history and studies in order to distance Kurds and Turks from each other. Kırzıoğlu alleges that the word "Kurd" comes from the Old Turkic words "kurtuk" or "kürtüm", which in various Turkic languages refer to large heaps of snow, referring to the tall and snowy mountains which Kurds live on. Kırzıoğlu claims that all Kurdish tribes began from various tribes within the Üçok division of Oghuz Turks. Historians reported that
Sharafkhan Bidlisi Sharaf al-Din Khan b. Shams al-Din b. Sharaf Beg Bedlisi (, ; ; 25 February 1543 – ) was a Kurdish Emir of Bitlis. He was also a historian, writer and poet. He wrote exclusively in Persian. Born in the Qara Rud village, in central Iran, bet ...
mentioned that every Kurd descends from one Oghuz tribe, eventually splitting off into many smaller subtribes. They also reported how Sharafkhan Bidlisi mentioned the Kurds as a part of the Turkic people since the times of
Oghuz Khagan Oghuz Khagan or Oghuz Khan (; ; ) is a legendary khan of the Turkic people and an eponymous ancestor of Oghuz Turks. Some Turkic cultures use the legend of Oghuz Khan to describe their ethnic and tribal origins. The various versions of the narra ...
, in the Sharafnama which he presented to Sultan Mehmet III in 1597. In these theories it also mentions how the colors red-yellow-green were used from the Göktürks to the Ottomans, and are important to all other Turkic peoples, of which many wore green-yellow-red silk clothing. It was also stated that these three colors have national and spiritual value for Turks. Ziya Gökalp alleged that while Oghuz Turkoman nomads who migrated among Anatolians maintained their culture and language, they were much more relaxed among Kurds due to much cultural and linguistic similarities, and therefore assimilated much easier, whereas many Kurds who migrated among Turkomans were also relaxed and assimilated easily.


20th century


1920s–1960s

The
euphemism A euphemism ( ) is when an expression that could offend or imply something unpleasant is replaced with one that is agreeable or inoffensive. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the u ...
"Mountain Turks" () for the Kurds was invented by General and initially used to describe a people living in the mountains who did not speak their own language but a Turkish dialect.
Tevfik Rüştü Aras Tevfik Rüştü Aras (11 February 1883 – 5 January 1972) was a Turkish politician, serving as deputy and foreign minister of Turkey during the Atatürk era (1923–1938). Early years Aras was born in 1883 in Çanakkale. He graduated from th ...
, the Turkish foreign minister between 1925 and 1938, defended the idea that the Kurds should disappear like the Indians in the United States.
Kâzım Karabekir Musa Kâzım Karabekir (also Kazim or Kiazim in English; 1882 – 26 January 1948) was a Turkish people, Turkish general and politician. He was the commander of the Eastern Front (Turkey), Eastern Army of the Ottoman Empire during the Turkish Wa ...
, a former commander of the
Turkish Army The Turkish Land Forces () is the main branch of the Turkish Armed Forces responsible for Army, land-based military operations. The army was formed on November 8, 1920, after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Significant campaigns since the ...
during the
War of Independence Wars of national liberation, also called wars of independence or wars of liberation, are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) ...
, said the Kurds in
Dersim Tunceli (, , ) is a municipality (belde) in Tunceli District and capital of Tunceli Province, Turkey. The city has a Zaza majority. It had a population of 35,161 in 2021. Name During Ottoman times, the settlement was called ''Kalan'' or ''Mam ...
were in fact assimilated Turks and they should be reminded of their Turkishness. The Turkish Minister of Justice
Mahmut Esat Bozkurt Mahmut Esat Bozkurt (1892 – 21 December 1943) was a Turkish jurist, politician, government minister and academic. His birth name was Mahmut Esat. But after the adaptation of the Turkish Surname Law in 1934, he chose the surname ''Bozkurt'' ...
, stated that there is no other nation which could claim rights in Turkey than the Turkish race, and that all non-Turks would only have the right to be a servant or slave. Subsequently, the simple mention of the words "Kurds" and "Kurdistan" was prohibited, and replaced with terms like "Mountain Turks" and " The East", respectively. The prohibition also included text in foreign languages. It was denied that a Kurdish nation had ever existed; according to the
Turkish History Thesis The Turkish History Thesis (''Türk Tarih Tezi'') is a Turkish ultranationalist, pseudohistoric thesis which posited the belief that the Turks moved from their ancestral homeland in Central Asia and migrated to China, India, the Balkans, t ...
, the Kurds migrated from
Turan Turan (; ; , , ) is a historical region in Central Asia. The term is of Iranian origin and may refer to a particular prehistoric human settlement, a historic geographical region, or a culture. The original Turanians were an Iranian tribe of th ...
ic Central Asia in the past. During the 1920s and 1930s, merchants were fined separately for every word of Kurdish they used. In school, students were punished if they were caught speaking Kurdish and during the 1960s Turkish language boarding schools were established in order to separate the students from their Kurdish relatives and Turkify the Kurdish population.


1960s–1980s

The term "Mountain Turk" became more commonly used in 1961. The
Turkish president The president of Turkey, officially the president of the Republic of Türkiye (), is the head of state and head of government of Turkey. The president directs the executive branch of the national government and is the commander-in-chief of the ...
Cemal Gürsel Cemal Gürsel (9 June 1894 – 14 September 1966) was a Turkish military officer and politician who was the fourth president of Turkey, serving from 1960 to 1966 after taking power in a coup d'état. Early life Gürsel was born in the town ...
denied the existence of
Kurds in Turkey The Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Turkey. According to various estimates, they compose between 15% and 20% of the population of Turkey.; ; Sandra Mackey , "The reckoning: Iraq and the legacy of Saddam", W.W. Norton and Company, 200 ...
in a press conference in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
and during a speech he held in Diyarbakir. Gürsel wrote a foreword to the book ''History of Varto and the Eastern Provinces'' by
Mehmet Şerif Fırat Mehmet Şerif Fırat (1894/1899 – 1949) was a Kurdish author and is known for his 1945 book ''History of Varto and the Eastern Provinces'' in which he denied the existence of Kurds and claimed they are of Turkish origin. The book was republis ...
, in which he credited Fırat for providing scientific evidence for the Turkishness of the Kurds and demanded scientific studies to leave no doubt that Kurds were in reality "Mountain Turks". The book was made available to University Professors, students and journalists for free and also included into the libraries of educational institutions. Cemal Gürsel was also closely linked to the then newly established Turkish Cultural Research Institute (TKAE) which published several books on the topic. Besides, Gürsel encouraged the use of the phrase "Spit in the face of him who calls you a Kurd". During the trials against the Revolutionary Cultural Eastern Hearths (DDKO) following the coup d'état in 1971, the prosecution argued that Kurds do not actually exist, and their language was in reality a dialect of Turkish.
Kenan Evren Ahmet Kenan Evren (17 July 1917 – 9 May 2015) was a Turkish military officer and dictator who served as the seventh president of Turkey from 1980 to 1989. He assumed the post by leading the 1980 military coup. On 18 June 2014, a Turkish cou ...
, the chief of the military junta following the coup d'état in 1980, denied the existence of a Kurdish ethnicity and restricted the use of the Kurdish language. The term "Mountain Turk" was officially replaced with the new euphemism "Eastern Turk" in 1980. After the appearance of the
Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or the PKK, isDespite the PKK's 12th Congress announcing plans for total organisational dissolution, the PKK has not yet been dissolved de facto or de jure. a Kurds, Kurdish militant political organization and armed ...
in the 1980s, their members were accused of trying to convince the eastern Turks that they were Kurds.


21st century


Censorship in academia

A 2020 report by the ''
İsmail Beşikçi İsmail Beşikçi (born 1939) is a Turkish sociologist, philosopher, revolutionist, and writer. He is a PEN Honorary Member. He has served 17 years in prison on propaganda charges stemming from his writings about the Kurdish population in Middle ...
'' ''Foundation'' on the censorship that exists in Kurdish studies in Turkey found that both censorship and self-censorship are frequent when writing about Kurds and their history, geography, culture and language for fear of being penalized. Words including "Kurdistan", "colony" and "anti-colonial" also remain a taboo in writing about Kurds.


Kurdish "Turkishness"

In March 2021, the Turkish Ministry of National Education released a schoolbook on the Kurdish-majority Diyarbakir Province that makes no mention of Kurds or the
Kurdish language Kurdish (, , ) is a Northwestern Iranian languages, Northwestern Iranian language or dialect continuum, group of languages spoken by Kurds in the region of Kurdistan, namely in southeast Turkish Kurdistan, Turkey, northern Iraqi Kurdistan, Ira ...
at all. It also claims that the language spoken in the city
Diyarbakır Diyarbakır is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province. Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortress, it is ...
is similar to the Turkish dialect spoken in
Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...
,
Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...
. In August 2021, authorities changed the name of a 17th-century mosque in
Kilis Kilis is a city in southernmost Turkey, near the Syria–Turkey border, border with Syria, and the administrative centre of Kilis Province and Kilis District. Its population is 112,187 (2022). On 6 February 2023 Kilis was badly affected by the tw ...
from "Kurds' mosque" to "Turks' mosque" prompting criticism from the Kurdish community. On the discourse of Erdoğan in regards to Kurds, Mucahit Bilici writes that:


See also

*
Anti-Kurdish sentiment Anti-Kurdish sentiment, also known as anti-Kurdism or Kurdophobia, is hostility, fear, intolerance or racism against the Kurds, Kurdish people, Kurdistan, Kurdish culture, or Kurdish languages. A person who holds such positions is sometimes ref ...
*
Conspiracy theories in Turkey Conspiracy theories are a prevalent feature of culture and politics in Turkey. Conspiracism is an important phenomenon in understanding Turkish politics. This is explained by a desire to "make up for lost Ottoman grandeur", the humiliation of perc ...
*
Theories of Kurds having Turkic origin A theory is a systematic and rational form of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the conclusions derived from such thinking. It involves contemplative and logical reasoning, often supported by processes such as observation, experimentation, ...
*
Human rights of Kurdish people in Turkey Kurds have had a long history of discrimination perpetrated against them by the Turkish government. Massacres have periodically occurred against the Kurds since the History of the Republic of Turkey, establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 ...
* Origin of the Kurds * *
A Modern History of the Kurds ''A Modern History of the Kurds'' is a history of the Kurdish people, written by David McDowall and published by I.B.Tauris in 1996 (hardback first edition). The work is a history of the Kurdish people from the 19th century to the present. ...
by David McDowall * List of massacres of Kurdish people


Notes


References

* * {{Anti-Kurdism, state=expanded
Denial Denial, in colloquial English usage, has at least three meanings: * the assertion that any particular statement or allegation, whose truth is uncertain, is not true; * the refusal of a request; and * the assertion that a true statement is fal ...
Persecution of Kurds in Turkey Turkish nationalism Racism in Turkey Kurds in Turkey Denialism Historical negationism Far-right politics in Turkey Kemalism Historiography of Turkey Genocide of indigenous peoples in Asia Cultural genocide Linguistic controversies Textbook controversies Education controversies in Turkey Racial segregation