Please help me understand the "Kurds".

They seem like a decent bunch, oppressed by many but do not seem to promote worldwide terrorism. I was aware of them in Turkey via the PKK where by us British (pre Internet) were fed that the PKK were Terrorists bombing the Tourist Resorts and were a nasty lot, never any media on persecution etc.

Next time they popped up on my radar was when we (the west) used them in GW1 and then abandoned them, again, limited info to anecdotes in books I have read but aware Saddam use Chemical Weapons on them which I suppose fueled part of our "WMD" crusade against Saddam.

I dont recall much about them during GW2 and the insurgency, I recall from some books they were pretty pi55ed off with us (the West) because we left them in the poop after GW1? So no idea where they sat during that campaign.

They next popped up on my radar being hunted by ISIS and it appears the only force able to stop ISIS and then with western weapons (and maybe Iran??) they stopped the ISIS flood across Iraq much to the respect of the west.

Now they are involved in Syria (I know there are Kurdish Syrians so its a given they are involved) and as I said, they seem a decent bunch.

Would like to know what ATS thinks about the Kurdish and from some in the know if we would be playing with fire supporting any side.

Please try and leave Muslim and Islamic hatred at the door but am interested in how the Kurdish who are both Christian and Sunni Muslim (and others) seem to my uneducated on this matter mind seem to co-exist??

Peace.

a reply to: Forensick

Gladly.

Kurds are, as you pointed out, an ethnic based group and enjoy several spiritual paths.

They were deemed monkeys by the Ottoman empire and partly exterminated around the same time as the Armenians because they were less evolved than the Turks.

They have been attacked on all sides because they're not as numerous as neighbouring nations.
Yet instead of considering their self either Irakis or Turks or what have you, they claim ethnic identity as Kurds, and therefore feel entitled to being governed by their peers.

Can't blame them, as their not-peers try to pull a genocide on them from all sides.

They are brave warriors and jolly good fellows ime.

a reply to: wisvol

Wow that's an insane reality happening with them.

Hopefully I can learn more from this thread

originally posted by: wisvol
a reply to: Forensick

Gladly.

Kurds are, as you pointed out, an ethnic based group and enjoy several spiritual paths.

They were deemed monkeys by the Ottoman empire and partly exterminated around the same time as the Armenians because they were less evolved than the Turks.

They have been attacked on all sides because they're not as numerous as neighbouring nations.
Yet instead of considering their self either Irakis or Turks or what have you, they claim ethnic identity as Kurds, and therefore feel entitled to being governed by their peers.

Can't blame them, as their not-peers try to pull a genocide on them from all sides.

They are brave warriors and jolly good fellows ime.

Thanks for your input, when you say they dont consider themselves Iraqi, Turks etc. and feel entitles to be governed by their peers, aside from persecution for being Kurdish, do they consider themselves from being above the laws of their "host nation'.

Are there enough of them and the will, (although I hate to suggest this because of the troubles with Israel) to create a Kurdish land?

a reply to: Forensick

They are Communist, Socialists ( Marxist ) culture is Zoroastrianism.. An old nomadic culture, almost like the myth of the apache.. The four areas divided, portrays a huge difference in culture..

a reply to: Forensick

Thanks for your input, when you say they dont consider themselves Iraqi, Turks etc. and feel entitles to be governed by their peers, aside from persecution for being Kurdish, do they consider themselves from being above the laws of their "host nation'. Are there enough of them and the will, (although I hate to suggest this because of the troubles with Israel) to create a Kurdish land?

Great points

In my limited understanding of the situation of Kurdish people, I can say this:

I don't think they consider their self above the laws of others, as evidenced by the massive legal massacres they have experienced. This is why they prefer their law which allows them to exist.
Iran also claims dominion over the Kurds, which are distinct from both mainstream Iranian culture and ethnicity and lemon kurd.

Kurdistan is for all intents and purposes a fairly independent nation, has been for countless centuries, and the UN recognition of Kurdistan's system of self-government or lack thereof means little to Kurds. I can only agree.

There are clearly parallels to be drawn with Israel, an old trade and academic partner.
Although the comparison stops in favour of Kurdistan being immune to religious considerations.

"enough" of them is quite debatable, there once were about forty million Kurds, and there may be about thirty million today.

I don't really have a reliable English source but this one was recently translated if you'd click on the GB flag methinks www.institutkurde.org...

a reply to: wisvol

The Kurds are one of the indigenous people of the Mesopotamian plains and the highlands in what are now south-eastern Turkey,,Their problem lies with territorial claims by sovereign nearby states, who wants a indoctrination of a monotheistic cultural dogma.. The Kurds are self sufficient, and actually i could consider free..

In my number one country of the world, Sweden, ya know, tha OG of the world.. We have a indigenous people called, sami,
they cant interfere with Swedish culture, but they can practice it.. But the most important thing we have a law called allemansrätten. ill post a link.. I means anyone can walk on your land, without getting an American going, F*** YEAH AMERICA!!

link

There are kurds in the middle east everywhere. Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey. They are brave and fighting people. Usually there are some groups among them who want independence like PKK. But most of them are living in their countries peacefully.

One thing to remember is that the Kurds participated in the Armenien massacre with the Turks.....
They are a people apart and their land was divided by the French and british after ww1
When the two drew up the boundaries of the ME.....
There are distinct factions of Kurds they are far from unified...

The one's freedom fighters are the other one's terrorist.

I think there has to made a distinction beetween kurds and the PKK.
The PKK is a kurdish workers party.

Abdullah Öcallah was their leader, he got jailed by Turkey on an island in the Marmara Sea.
And the PKK got listed as a terrorist organisation in Turkey and many european countries.

That s probably why the kurds are seen or received as terrorists.

There is a long and violent history between Turks and Kurds. Nearly every turkish or kurdish demonstration in Europe in the last year turned really violent.

In germany there have been street battles with hundreds of opponents beating each other with iron bars.
There was another demonstration in Switzerland, where one party drove with two cars in and over protesters.

Anyways, the kurds are fearless fighters, and what sets them apart from other groups: kurdish woman have their own battalions. They are really hardcore. Brave, fearless, trained and prepared.

ADDITION: Here' s a vice documentary on Kurdish women fighters

a reply to: Forensick

The Kurdish are a people without a land. Fighting for the survival of their culture and the right to be free. I used to talk to a Kurdish immigrant that moved to the US...he owned and operated a video game arcade (back when there were such things.) Really nice guy and he explained alot of his situation to me.