The most important single feature of Kurdish society since the end of medieval times has been its

strong tribal organization, with independence or autonomy being the political status of the land. The society's process of developing the next stage of societal convergence and the creation of a political culture of interest in a pan-Kurdish polity was well under way in Kurdistan when it was decisively aborted with the parceling out of the country at the end of the first World War. Tribal confederacies thus remain the highest form of social organization, while the political process and the elite remain to large degree tribal. In the absence of a national Kurdish state and government, tribes serve as the highest native source of authority in which people place their allegiance. Most Kurdish tribal groups have their own real ancestry and almost every tribe possesses a strong sense of territorial identity. Today, new educated ruling elite with a well-defined ideology, which has become the main force in Kurdish society, has taken a position of leadership in all activities of Kurdish society, such as political parties, labor unions, women's organizations, and peasant's movement. The ruling educated elite is replacing the role of the tribal chiefs and feudal lords, which have been the main obstacle in the way of progress of the Kurdish society. Culture: Kurds are one of the oldest of those social cultures, an ancient civilization that is still with us today. Pre-Islamic religion of the Kurds, Zerdushti which originated about 4,000 years ago and is the most ancient living and first monotheistic religion in the world, is one of the undiscovered richness of the Kurdish life. Some of the festivals and celebration in Kurdistan such as Newroz (New year) goes back to the Zerdushti period. Newroz: The Kurdish new year on the first day of spring which marks the anniversary of the overthrow of the tyrant Zahak around 2,500 BC by Kawa, the blacksmith, one of folk myths of the origins of the Kurds, is the symbol of the new life, light, victory, freedom and justice. Newroz has become an important event in the cultural life of the Kurdish nation. People revive the memory of past historical events, compare it with their present sad situation and express their yearning and hope to be free from foreign domination.

Despite of all the restrictions imposed by states (Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria), Kurdish literary activities are flourishing. Kurdish literature is divided into a rich oral and written literature. The richness in oral literature is apparent in the common sayings, songs and stories. There are variety and countless number of songs; dancing songs, songs about love and war which can be heard everywhere in the country, in the house, at work and on the lips of the shepherd. The tales "cirok" are no less rich than the songs. The legends and stories of the wonders, daily misery the most popular one "Memozin; happiness, love, courage and honor are often very long. The historical epic which is based on an episode from history can occasionally make the Kurd who is fundamentally a warrior sentimental. The Classical age of Kurdish literature begins in the 15th century with a whole galaxy of excellent poets. "Diwan" by Sheik Ahmed Nishani better known by the name of the Mullah Jezireh (1407-1481), "Mewlud" by Mullah Ahmed of Bate (1426-1495), the Kurdish national epic "Memozin" by Ahmed Khani (1650-1706), "Mewlewi" by Mullah Rahim Tewagozi (1806-1852) who was the first to compose stanzas of alternative rhymes, "Defter-ve-Kelem" of Ahl-e-Haqq by Temur Qhuli who died in 1852, "Leila and Majnon" by Mullah Welaw Khan. The second trend becomes apparent in the 19th century. Patriotism makes its appearance in this period. An example would be Shah Pirto of Hakkari, Mela Khizer of Shahrizor and Haji Kadir Koyi. From 1920 to today Kurdish literature continues to grow and flourish. Many important journals and publications appeared. Another example is Jin of Sulaymaniah (Kurdistan-Iraq), Glawej (Baghdad-Iraq), in Iran Hetaw, Kurdistan, in Damascus Howar and Ronahi. At present time there is a genuine work of literature; narratives, tales and poetry. Because of spread of education in Kurdish society the style and quality of Kurdish prose has been improving greatly.

Poetry: Poetry has been an impelling force in Kurdish society. It incites Kurds toward freedom and progress. Kurdish poets have given their great works; descriptions of nature, love, family and daily life to us. Some examples would be Mullah Hemdi Sahibkiran (1876-1936), Ahmed Mukhtar (1897-1935), Mamosta Heyman and Hejar at the time of the independent Republic of Mahabad (1946, The first Kurdish independent Republic which crashed by the Iranian army after 11 months) and nationalist, patriotic idealist and social reformer Cegerxwin.

The Kurdish language is an independent language, having its own historic development and continuity. The Kurdish language was derived from the ancient Median language. It is described by linguists as the western branch of the Iranic group of the Indo-European family of languages. The Kurdish language has its own grammatical system and rich living vocabularies. It is fundamentally different from Semitic Arabic, Persian and Altaic Turkish. Modern Kurdish language divides into two major groups: The Kurmanji group which is the most spoken by about three-quarters of the Kurds today. Kurmanji is spoken in northern Kurdistan (Kurdistan in Turkey), In Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia republic, in Syria the entire Kurdish population speaks Kurmanji, in Iraq the two provinces of Duhok, Mosul, and Yezidis of the Sinjar, in Iran in the north and west of Lake Urmia. The second group is called Sorani primarily spoken in provinces of Erbil, Sulaimaniya and Kirkuk of Iraq and widely in the Urmia basin, Mahabad district, among Mukri tribes, in the Ardalan region, Kurmanshah province and Kurdish province of Sinna in Iran especially in regions bordering on Iran and Iraq.

To the far north of Kurdistan along Kizil Irmak and Murat rivers in Turkey, Dimili (less accurately but more commonly known as Zaza) dialect is spoken by about 4 million Kurds. There are small pockets of this language spoken in various corners of Anatolia, northern Iraq, northern Iran and the Caucasus as well. There are no important differences of vocabulary or phonetics. In the far southern Kurdistan, both in Iraq and Iran, the Gurani dialect is spoken along with its two major subdivisions: Laki and Awramani.

Linguistic variation Kurdish is diverse dialectally with geographical variation. Sorani and Kurmanji are generally regarded as separate languages. Others regard them as dialects of the same language to reflect their common origin and divide them as follows: Northern Kurdish or Kurmanji; Central or Sorani; and Southern, spoken in the area of Bakhtaran, Iran. Each of these groups are dialectally diverse in turn. Some authorities recognize a two-way split between Northern and Southern by collapsing Central and Southern as one. Within each of these geographical regions other distinctions are possible. The dialect of the town of Sulaimaniya, Iraq is recognized as a standardized literary version. Another standard is apparently developing among Kurds in exile. In Iran, written Kurdish is based on the Mukri subdialect of Sorani; it differs only slightly from the Sulaimaniya standard. Orthography: In Iraq and Iran a modified version of the Persian-Arabic alphabet has been adapted to Sorani. The Kurds of Turkey have recently embarked on an extensive campaign of publication in the North Kurmanji dialect of Kurmanji (Bahdinani) from their publishing houses in Europe. These employed a modified form of the Latin alphabet. The Kurds of the former Soviet Union first began writing Kurdish in the Armenian alphabet in the 1920s, followed by Latin in 1927, then Cyrillic in 1945, and now in both Cyrillic and Latin. Gurani dialects continue to employ the Persian alphabet without any change. Dimili now uses the same modified Latin alphabet as North Kurmanji for print. Kurdish has thirty-one consonant phonemes some of which have entered the language through borrowing from Arabic; and five long and four short vowel

phonemes. Stem-final vowels are regularly stressed, but stress is somewhat complicated and predictable morphologically. No vowel sequences are permitted.

In society: In Iran Kurdish language has been slowly flourishing. Since 1984 Iranian government is permitted a stream of publications in Kurdish and there is a a long-wave external broadcast as well as regional broadcasts on medium-wave radio in Kurdish and other minority languages. In the south in Iran, a related language, Gurani, was a literary language used along with Persian and Arabic, but the works produced have played no role in the development of a modern literature. In Iraq, the language has official regional status and since 1919 and it is the language of instruction in public schools. There is at least one Kurdish-language newspaper in Iraq and at least one publisher that puts publications out in Kurdish as well as Arabic, Turkish, English and French. There are both TV and radio broadcasts in Kurdish. Iraqi Kurds have established the urban dialect of Sulaimaniya as a literary language and have attempted to rid it of its Arabic borrowings which characterize the spoken dialect on which it is based. In the early 1920s, newspapers began to be published in Sulaimaniya, in 1931 Sorani Kurdish was officially recognized by Iraqi authorities and began to be used in primary schools. In Turkey in 1925, Kurdish was banned. The publication of books and magazines in Kurdish is also still illegal and any public usage was sanctioned and an individual using Kurdish in public could be fined. During this time Kurdish lost ground, bilingualism increased, and very few learned to read or write their language. In 1961, with a new Turkish constitution, Kurdish publications began to appear, often bilingual, but frequently banned as soon as they appeared. Moreover, since 1967 through the late 80s there was a hardening of attitude and a series of laws were promulgated which are intended to repress the use of Kurdish. In Syria the language has no official regional status, but freely spoken in all Kurdish areas. The first Kurdish Kurmanji newspaper in Roman-based script published in Damascus in 1932. This was the first in a long series of publications produced in exile. Armenian Kurds, at least under the Soviets, were productive in producing Kurmanji works. In 1934, attempts were made among the Kurds in Armenia to adopt Kurmanji as the literary standard for all Kurds, but the attempt failed. In 1976 Kurdish language and literature were taught in Kurdish in the Kurdish village schools. From 1956 Radio Erivan broadcast daily Kurdish programs which attracted a wide audience throughout Kurdistan. There have been other efforts among academics to reconcile differences between Kurmanji and Sorani, but these too have met with little success. For Kurmanji there was a literary tradition that started in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, waned in the 18th and 19th centuries, but taken up again by mainly immigrant Kurds in Syria and in Europe after the French mandate ended in Syria in 1945. The poetry produced since the late 18th century in the Sulaimaniya variant of Sorani. In 1958 and again in 1970, Kurdish gained various degrees of official recognition, literary output increased and flourished, and literacy through education became a fact, but the gains made in those years in the direction of linguistic autonomy and productivity have eroded. Resources:

In spite of rich natural resource in Kurdistan, there has not been much investment in Kurdish economy thus Kurdistan is counted as an undeveloped country. Minerals such as copper, chromium, iron, silver, sulfur, and even gold are found in this region of the world. Water, which in the near future might be more valuable to Middle Eastern country than oil, is plentiful in Kurdistan. Tigris, Euphrates Khabur, Tharthar, Karkha are rise from the mountain of Kurdistan. Oil wells of Kirkuk and Kirmanshah have made Kurdistan among the largest oil reserves in Middle East. Agriculture is the backbone of the economy: wheat, barley, rice, tobacco are key products in Kurdistan. Meat, dairy products and wool of Kurdistan are great source of income for Kurdistan residence.

Economy: In Iran: Most of the active population in this part of Kurdistan work in agriculture, which is remained the most important source of income. Not many large-scale industries are set up a plant in Kurdistan. Although oil has been produced in large scale in Kirmanshah and Naft Shahr, governments that are in power in Iran have kept Kurdish region as one of the most underdeveloped areas of the country. Cash crops like tobacco, sugar beets and cotton are playing a growing role in the local economy. Good quality tobacco is in great demand throughout the Middle East. Soybeans and sunflowers are primarily cash crops. These crops supply state markets for vegetable oil. Many fruit and nut trees grow naturally in Zagors Taurus forests. Pistachios, almonds, hazel nuts, chestnuts and acorns have traditionally been collected from these natural growths. Wild barriers, particularly bland and white mulberries, are found in almost every village, but are not yet produced in large quantities for market. In Iraq: This region of Kurdistan is among the largest oil reserves in the Middles East. Especially oil reserves in Kirkuk are the most productive Kurdish petroleum files in central Kurdistan. In central Kurdistan, two large dams at Darbandi Khan and Dokhan are major hydroelectric sources for the region and Baghdad metropolitan area. The sugar mills and cement factories have more relevance to the current Kurdish economy than oil industry has. The world largest deposit of rock sulfur, located southwest of Erbil at Sharqat, has recently been brought under production. In Syria: The Kurds of Syria mostly are active in agriculture, which is concentrated in the Kurd-Dagh area and widespread in both Jezireh and Ain-Arab area. They also have possession of considerably large quantity of sheep and goats herds. As of other part of Kurdistan, this part has been kept underdeveloped. In Turkey: More than half of the Kurds in this part of Kurdistan live in countryside and make their living from stock rearing and agriculture. About 10% of active populations are involved in industry jobs and the rest are engaged in services, trade, craftwork and shop keeping. Lands are mainly owned by the Kurdish minor nobles (Agha), tribal chief and sheikhs. Unfortunately the Kurdish Aghas and Sheikhs have established most of their hotels and small factories in the big cities where they make more profits. In Kurdish region only small establishments like craft workshops producing soap, oil, carpets, sugar refineries, cement factories, tobacco processing plants and textile factory have been made. Nowadays Kurdish agriculture has dominated Turkish and even neighboring countries markets. Cotton, sugar beet and tobacco are tending to shift the traditional food corps. Most of the mountain villages exchange their animal products such as wool, butter and cheese for finished products such as sugar, tea, jewelry, toys or for certain fruits and vegetables that cant be found in their area. Reference: The Kurds, by Prof. Mehrdad R. Izady A People without a country, by Gerard Chaliand and David Mcdowall The Kurds, by Martin Short and Anthony McDermott Kurdistan Times by Mustafa Al Karadaghi Culture, Exploring Kurdistan by Prof. M. R. Izady

Language, Exploring Kurdistan by Prof. M. R. Izady Kurdistan Times by Mustafa Al Karadaghi A people without a country by Gerard Chaliand and David McDowall