Why Study Kurdish?
The Kurds are the largest nation without a state of their own, and they are indigenous to the Middle East. Their land, Kurdistan, is massively important in terms of oil, water throughout Mesopotamia and the Levant, and U.S. security interests. The Kurds played the key role in the fight against ISIS. Kurdish women have played a leading role in the Middle East and the most well-known and wide-spread Kurdish slogan is “woman, life, freedom” (in Kurdish: “jin, jiyan, azadî”). Kurdish is one of the formal languages in Iraq and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. Even though more than 20% of Turkey and 10% of Iran are native Kurds, they are without basic rights such as studying in their mother tongue. There are smaller groups of Kurdish speakers in the Caucasus and in diasporic communities across Western Europe and the United States. Estimates put the total number of native Kurdish speakers to be more than 40 million.
Kurdish language is an Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European languages with multiple dialects spoken in Kurdistan, which are: Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji), Central Kurdish (Sorani), and Southern Kurdish. Zazaki-Gorani are also counted as a Kurdish dialect by most of their speakers and Kurdish linguists. Once you learn Kurdish, understanding and learning the other old languages of Mesopotamia and Iran will be easier.
Kurdistan is home to many unique historical sites like Shanidar Cave (Kurdish: Eşkewtî Şaneder) where multiple neanderthal remains were discovered. Göbekli Tepe (Kurdish: Girê Mizaran), one of the first manifestations of human-made monumental architecture. Erbil Citadel (Qellay Hewlêr), one of the longest continuously inhabited sites in the world. Mount Ararat (Kurdish: Çiyayê Agirî), considered the resting place of Noah's Ark. Taq-e Bostan (Kurdish: Taq-Wesan) a site with a series of large rock reliefs from the era of the Sassanid Empire, carved around the 4th century CE. Also, two famous rivers, the Tigris (in Kurdish: Dîcle) and the Euphrates (in Kurdish: Firat) flow through Kurdistan on their way to the Persian Gulf.
The best-known historical writing and oral traditions in Kurdish are the religious scriptures of Yarsanism and Yazidism, and the poetry masterpieces like Mem û Zîn, Qellay Dimdim, Siyabend û Xecê. Kurdistan is also well-known for its mountainous nature, religious coexistence, Kurdish coffee, Kurdish horses, and Kurdish Mastiff dogs. The sun on the Kurdish national flag is an ancient symbol with twenty-one sunbeams representing the first date of Kurdish New Year, Newroz, in the International Calendar. Most of the Kurds are Muslims with a substantial number of Yarsans, Yazidis, Zoroastrians, Christians and Jews.
