Kurmanji Kurds

For more details on this topic, see Kurds.
Kurmanji Kurds
Total population
c. 20,222,890[1]
Regions with significant populations
 Turkey 15,000,000[1]
 Iraq 2,800,000 (2004)[1]
 Iran 350,000 (1988)[1]
 Syria 938,000 (1993)[1]
 Armenia 45,000 (2002)[1]
 Azerbaijan 20,000 (1989)[1]
 Georgia 40,000 (1991)[1]
 Lebanon 215,000[1]
 Turkmenistan 20,000 (1962)[1]
 Kazakhstan 38,325
(2011 census)[2]
46,000[3]–150,000[4]
Languages
Kurdish
(Northern Kurdish, Central Kurdish and Dimily)
Religion
Islam, Zoroastrianism
Related ethnic groups
other Kurdish kinfolks, Iranian peoples

The Kurmanji Kurds (Kurdish: Kurdên Kurmancî کوردێن کورمانجی) or simple Kurmanj (Kurdish: Kurmanc کورمانج) are an ethnic group and part of the Kurdish peoples, they live primarily in Northern parts of Kurdistan (from Sarhad to Hakkaria and to Upper Mesopotamia) and in Anatolia (Turkey), north of Mukrian and in Khorasan (Iran), in Bahdinan region of Kurdistan (Iraq) also in northern parts over the Syrian Arab Republic.

History

The Kurmanjis (or their Ancestors) were from Mannea, Kortsayk and Mardpetakan, they inhabited the regions from lake Urmia to the Tigris river. Since they converted to Islam, many Kurmanji dynasties expand toward north, northwest and to the west, the Marwanids ruled from Sophene (Diarbakr) to lake Van and the Shaddadids ruled the regions between Aras and Kura rivers also over Armenia and Shirvan.

Etymology

Further information: Manneans

According to M. Izady, The name Kurmanc could mean Mannean Kurds, Kurd and Manna, the Manneans lived in the region west of lake Urmia.[5]

The regional pronunciations of "Kurmanj" are; Kurmanc, Qurmanc, Kirmanc and Kurdmanc.

People

Further information: Kurds of Anatolia
Further information: Kurds of Khorasan

More than 20 million people speaks the northern Dialect of Kurdish, and live in the countries of Turkey, Iran, Syria, Iraq, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia and other states of central Asia, but the majority is in Kurdistan, Anatolia and Khorasan

Language

For more details on this topic, see Northern Kurdish.

Kurmanjis speaking the Kurmanji (Kurmancî) dialect of the Kurdish languages, the dialect is in the West known under the name Northern Kurdish, in Southern parts of Kurdistan it is known as Badînî (a dialect continuum of N.Kurdish) and the Sharima people in Dersim region call the dialect as Kirdaskî.

Religion

For more details on this topic, see Religion in Kurdistan.
For more details on this topic, see Zoroastrianism.

All religious Kurmanjis believe in one God, named the Khuade (Xwedê), and are mostly Muslim (Alevi, Sunni) most of the Sunni Kurmanjis belonging to the Shafi school.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Northern, Kurdish". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2015. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  2. ↑ "Table 4.1.1 Population by individual ethnic groups" (PDF). Government of Kazakhstan. stat.kz. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 28, 2013. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  3. ↑ "Kazakhstan: Ethnic Minorities Guaranteed Seats In Parliament". Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty. 27 June 2007. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  4. ↑ "Kazakhstan: A paradise for ethnic minorities". Kurdish Media. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  5. ↑ https://books.google.at/books?id=EAbICQAAQBAJ&pg=PA167&dq=kurt+and+manna+kurmanj&hl=de&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjjz9nQ1t_NAhWB1RQKHUYkB10Q6AEIHDAA
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