paca ater ee Et wee

As Terrace Review — Wednesday, April 17, 1991

THE LOST CIVILIZATION OF KURDISTAN

The Kurds are refugees

no matter where they go

Editor’s note: This article is the
first in a three-part series about
the Kurds, a group of people on
whom international attention ts
now focused as they are
systematically being driven out of
frag by Saddam Hussein’s govern-
ment and into exile in neighbour.
ing countries.

Television and radio broadcasts,

- and reports from refugee camps by

on-site journalists carried in news-
papers, have shown the suffering
and deprivation being experienced
by millions of Iragi Kurds as they
flee their homeland and await
international aid in squalid condi-
tions in the border areas of Turkey
and Iran. Terrace resident Steve
Ramzi, an Iraqi by birth, has com-
piled the following social and
political history of these people,
who in the latter half of the 20th
century find themselves without a
couniry.

Steve Ramzi is a general sono-
grapher and vascular technician at
Mills Memorial, and an occasional
contributor to the Terrace Review
on Middle Eastern affairs and
general science,

Much is being said in the news
now about the Kurds in Iraq, Iran
Syria, Turkey and the USSR. Who
are they? What do they want?
Why are they treated so badly?

History in the Middle East calls
the Kurds, "Children of the Djinn".
The word djinn means demon, a
reference their reputation among
ancient peoples of the region as
strong, devious fighters. They were

compared to ferocious mountain |

gueritlas. The word kur-rd in Ara-
bic means "continuous and forward
fighters", people who fight like
commandos or guerillas, striking

fast under darkness and running to.

the mountains to hide.

Some claim that the Kurds are
descendants of the Akkad empire
that controlled Turkey, Iran, part
of Syria and the north of Iraq in
ancient times. The Akkadians were
strong, vicious fighters, not unlike
the Assyrians who also ruled Iraq
for a time.

As an indication of what the
Kurds hold important, here is part
of the Kurdish national anthem:
Oh Enemy, the Kurdish nation will
always endure, Not even the mas-
ters of war will destroy it, Let no

: USSR.

—PVTTTCE,

SULEIMAN THA?" WeNANDAY

~—

a

BAGHDAD:
°

Original land

URMIA
IRAN

oF KERMAN SHAH

°
TEHRAN

_ KURDISTAN
bed FORDER CROSSING
ane ARLA OF KURDISH RAS ENCE

+ KURDIH VELAGE
e Town

Lf? nwomererns

one say the Kurds are dead. The
Kurds will live, our flag will never
be lowered.

I learned a lot about the Kurds
from one of my five aunts, who
lived in Baghdad and was married
to a Kurdish man. My mother is of
Macedonian (Greek) origin, and
this is a story she and my aunt
used to tell me:

Once upon a time Solomon the
prophet (the diblical King

The Way I
See It...

by Stephanie Wiebe

The way I see it, there are two
kinds of people in this world: dog

_ people and non-dog people. The

subtle difference is not always
indicated through casual acquain-
tance, but there’s something about
dog people that sets them apart
from the dog-less.

Dog people are defined as those
people who love dogs, own dogs,
are owned by dogs, or wish they
were. Some people like other
people’s dogs, preferting to
occasionally borrow rather than
commit long-term. And then there
are the dog-less, those without
any interest in dogs, even perhaps
disliking dogs. It’s not clear _
whether the personality
differences between these groups
is determined by their feelings
towards: dogs or whether their
feelings towards dogs are deter-
mined by personalities — this has
probably been documented by a
million-dollar government study,
and if it hasn’t yet, I’d like to
apply for the grant.

Dog people are not always as
they appear. They can act normal
in public situations, such as at
work, parties or while running
errands. In the privacy of their
homes, however, the pretence
drops and dog people show their

true colours. A tough, business
executive may have spent a heavy
afternoon determining the direc-
tional flow of millions of dollars,
or perhaps political decisions that
could change everyone’s lives.
But at six-fifleen p.m., that exe-

cutive could be flat on the living
room floor, surrendering to 30-
kilograms of over-excited salivat-
ing fur. "No, Spike — ha ha ha
— stop it, Spike — hee hee hee!"
Only a dog person would suc-
cumb to this canine split per-
sonality syndrome.

Responsible dog people walk
their dogs. The dog needs exer-
cise, they reason. This is not the
true purpose of walking a dog.
We all know the real reason
people walk their dogs — it’s so
the dog can relieve itself in new
surroundings, away from the dog
owner’s yard, Few dog people
will admit to this — dog people
are full of denial. One local man,
an ecclesiastical minister who
should be above reproach,
accompanies his dog on a daily
excursion for the sole purpose of
desecrating distant territory. Walk-
ing down the street, lead by the
huge canine creature, his image
of an upstanding "pillar of the
community" exercising his pet is
a facade. The dog knows this,
and lowers his head in shame.
But as they walk farther away
from home turf, the dog’s needs
become more urgent, and he tugs
at the leash. Evidently the dog
requires the scenic toilet of a
vacant lot for his performance,
and he’s not alone. Many dog
owners specifically exercise their
dogs toward vacant lots for their
daily habits. As the town deve- —
‘tops and vacant lots become

scarce, an epidemic of sluggish
canine bowels will result from
this indulgence. Vacant lot —
owners are also in for a surprise
when they finally decide to land-
scape.

Dog people often wrestle with
their dogs, rolling on the floor as
the animal licks their faces.
These people claim that the dog’s
mouth is cleaner than most —
humans. Everyone else knows
this is not true, as human beings
do not engage in toilet bow!
drinking, nor do they poke their
noses into piles of unidentifiable
disgusting matter on sidewalks
and in bushes. Dogs don’t floss,
either. Dog people refuse to
consider this logic, as they revel
in the cool saliva of their bad-
breathed, black-lipped buddies.
Dog people are stubbom, too.

As for non-dog people, it is
generally true that they engage in
none of the above behaviour
patterns. Hence, the difference.
One might say that while dog
people are multi-personalitied,
stubborn, full of pretence and
denial; non-dog people are not.
On the other hand, extensive
studies have shown that dog
people are more relaxed, live
longer, and have well-balanced
mental health. It’s also been
determined that there are more
dog people than non-dog people.
Though no study claims the small
number of non-dog people to be a
dying, tense, crazy tot, one might
easily assume this from the pro-
dog data.

Face it, in the human rat race,
the dog people are ahead. They
might seem a bit strange, but
they’re definitely winning — by a
canine nose.

Solomon) cast five hundred magi-
cal spirits (djinni, or demons) out
of his kingdom and exiled them to
the mountains of Zagros. The djinz
first fled to Greece and selected
five hundred beautiful virgins as
their brides, and then went to settle
in Kurdistan, or City of the Kurds.

The Kurdish language is different
from other languages of the region.
Those who live in Iran speak
Faylie, a language similar to Per-
sian. Those who live in Turkey —

“where most Kurds have ended up

— speak Kurdish, Turkomanian
and other Kurdish dialogues.

The most reliable historical
Studies indicate that the Kurds
originated from Medes, the early
Irania-based dynasty that con-
quered Ninevah (northern Iraq) in
Mesopotamia about 612 B.C. They
were then conquered by the Per-

sians in 550 B.C. Since that time
the area has been swept by one
conquering nation after another:
Seleucides, Parthians, Sassanians,
Armenians, Romans, Zaniines,
Arabs, Sijuks, Mongols, Ottomans
and others.

Before the advent of Islam, most
Kurds were Zoroastrian in their
religious faith, and some have
become Baha’i’s. Newroz is their
annual day of national and cele-
bration, the word meaning "the
new day, the day that good rises
over: evil and the sun over dark-
ness",

The Kurds gave followers of
Islam and the Arabic people one of
their great defenders, Saladin
(Salah-ed-din Ayyubi), the Lraqi
general who defeated Richard the
Lion Heart and drove the Cru-
saders from Palestine in 1187. He
is revered by both Arabs and
Kurds as the great leader who
united all the Arabic Muslim
nations,

Although parts of Kurdistan in
Iran and Turkey have been ruled at
times by Kurdish chieftains and
princes, there has never really been
a united Kurdistan. The Kurds, like
the Arabs, would like to be united
because they share a common
history, janguage, culture and
religion.

In 1514 the partition of Kurdistan
between the Ottoman (Turkish) and
Persian (Iranian) empires was
fixed. After World War I the
Kurds were promised an indepen-

dent state by the allies. As early
the late 19th century, Sheik
Obeidullah lobbied the govern-
ments of European countries to
help Kurds who are under pressure
from the Turks, Persians and
Arabs. The Kurds appealed to the
international community under
Woodrow Wilson’s 14 Point de-
claration of 1918, one of the provi-
sions of which was for ethnic
minorities to be granted their own
independent states. Under that
declaration the Armenians got their
own country but the Kurds and
Assyrians did not.

The Kurds’ traditional lands fell
mostly within the borders of Tur-
key. Historically, they have been
treated badly by the Turks.
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the Turk-
ish dictator who controlled the
country in the wake of World War
I, rejected the Kurdish claims of
independence, had thousands of
people in the Kurdish resistance
killed, and outlawed the Kurdish
language, spoken at that time by
more than a quarter of the people
in Turkey. Ataturk’s brutal sup-
pression of the Kurdish revolt
forced thousands of Kurds to flee
to Iraq, Iran and Syria.

The Kurds attained their first ©

state in modern times from 1921-
46 in the Rezaiyeh area of Iran.
After World War II, when the
Russians pulled out of northern
Iran, the Kurds declared indepen-
dence, and the Iranian military
moved in and killed the Kurds,
hanging their leaders. The Kurds
once again became an ethnic
minority in the country.

Next week: the Kurdish role in
regional politics.

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