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The Kurds inhabit an area known as Kurdistan, which roughly includes the Zagros and Taurus mountain ranges, and lies along the borders of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria. Traditionally, the Kurds were nomadic pastoralists or settled agriculturalists, but now mainly live in settled agricultural communities with livestock. The Kurds are predominantly orthodox Sunni Muslims of the Shafi school, however, some tribes are Shiite (Busby, 1996). This entry focuses on the orthodox Sunni Muslim Kurds living in the town and vicinity of Rowanduz, Iraq, ca. 1950. The Kurdish religious beliefs are interwoven through many spheres of life. The religious group is coterminous with the society in the sense that the Kurds are not an autonomous political group, as, "the society is politically integrated with others in a pluralistic state within which it enjoys theoretically equal status (Column 1, Tuden and Marshall, 1972)." Therefore, religion is coterminous with Kurdish society aside from the polity, which is integrated with the Iraq government. ; Non UBC ; Unreviewed ; Other

Cover -- Half Title Page -- Series Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Preface -- Foreword -- World Map -- Chronology -- Chapter 1 Historical Background on the Kurds -- Chapter Exercises -- Viewpoint 1 An Overview of the Kurds -- Viewpoint 2 Turkey's 1934 Settlement Law Targets Non-Turks Including Kurds -- Viewpoint 3 The Kurds Hoped for Equality and Peace on the Eve of Iraq's Independence -- Viewpoint 4 Turkey's Kurds Feel Fustrated and Bitter -- Viewpoint 5 Saddam Hussein is Accused of Using Poison Gas Against the Kurds -- Viewpoint 6 The Kurds Rebel in Iraq and Turkey After The Gulf War -- Viewpoint 7 Kurdish Graves Are Exhumed in Iraq -- Viewpoint 8 Kurds and Shia Muslims Vote Together in Post-Saddam Iraq -- Chapter 2 Controversies Surrounding the Kurds -- Chapter Exercises -- Viewpoint 1 Saddam Hussein's Actions Against the Kurds Constitute Genocide -- Viewpoint 2 Saddam Hussein's Actions Against the Kurds were Horrific, But Do Not Consititue Genocide -- Viewpoint 3 The Kurds Should Be Granted an Independent State -- Viewpoint 4 It Is Too Risky to Set Up an Independent State for the Kurds -- Viewpoint 5 The United States Has Nobly Protected Weaker Nations and Groups Like the Kurds -- Viewpoint 6 Chapter Three: Saddam Hussein's American Train -- Viewpoint 7 Iraqi Arabs Flock to Kurdistan -- Viewpoint 8 Kurdistan After Saddam Hussein Is Still Dependent on Foreign Support -- Viewpoint 9 Kurdistan After Saddam Hussein Is a Violent Gangster State -- Viewpoint 10 Turkish Actions Against Kurds Consititue Genocide -- Viewpoint 11 Turkey Has Not Mistreated the Kurds -- Viewpoint 12 The Kurdish Language and Culture Are Still Under Threat in Turkey -- Chapter 3 Personal Narratives -- Chapter Exercises -- Viewpoint 1 A Kurd Who Grew Up In Turkey Laments the Denial of His Cultural Identity

Considers the question of whether the Kurds will come into their own as a cohesive ethnic group in the mold of many others in recent years in Europe. Forces working against ethnic unity for the Kurds include geography, cultural & political fragmentation, & linguistic differences. Further, Kurds represent a small minority in all of the countries in which they reside; their situation in Iraq, Iran, & Turkey is briefly reviewed. The movement toward independence of the Kurds in Iraq is shown to have encouraged all Kurdish people to seek permanence to their affairs. However, achievement of this end is bound up with the fate of the authoritarian regimes in Iran & Iraq, which provides the essential uncertainty to their situation. It is concluded that changes will come for the Kurds, but slowly, as political circumstances in their countries of residence slowly become amenable to democratic movements. D. M. Smith