In it Michael interviews two Iranian Kurds who, along with many others, have set up shop in Kurdish Iraq. It is the sort of easy going, free flowing discussion that leads to surprising places. For example, see how this discussion of Kurdish language evolves.
Mohtadi: It’s more than just accents. With two of them, it is more than just accents. The one which is called Standard Kurdish Sorani, which is spoken and written in Iranian Kurdistan and Iraqi Kurdistan. The other which is spoken and written illegally in Turkey and Syria.
MJT: Is it still illegal in Turkey? I understand the Turks have changed most of these laws.
Mohtadi: Yes, there is a process of change in Turkey. But they still have a long way to go.
MJT: I know they do. Last year I was in Turkish Kurdistan. It’s not a nice place. There is still fighting going on there. And the economy is at zero.
Mohtadi: To be honest it’s like…when we go to Istanbul and Ankara there are different parts if you look at Kurdistan. It’s like a colony. You can feel that they have been exploited by colonialism and oppressed. It’s not like 20th Century or 21st.
Lasswell: Or even the 19th. I think it would have been better under the Ottomans.
MJT: It probably was better under the Ottomans.
Mohtadi: It was. I mean, we have a famous Kurdish historian, Mohammad Amin Zaki. He was a very high-ranking official in the Ottoman Empire. And he tells us how he became aware of his Kurdishness. He says: Nobody said we are Turks. Everybody said we are Ottomans. And we were alright. It was alright for us. Then people started to say we are Turks. And I realized I was not a Turk. So I realized I was a Kurd.
They Turkified everything in Turkey. So there was no place for “others.” And that was the beginning of…
Modarresi: …the awakening.
Mohtadi: Yes, the Kurdish awakening.
There is so much more to this article that makes it important and interesting to read.
No comments:
Post a Comment