Kurdification

{{Main|Chechen Kurds}}

When refugees from Caucasus reached the Ottoman Empire, Constantinople decided not to settle these in Kurdistan due to the extreme poverty and lack of material resources for the refugees. Yet after some time, the Ottomans started seeing the refugees as a chance to diminish the Kurdish claim to the region and allowed the refugees to settle in the region.{{cite book|author1=Janet Klein|title=The Margins of Empire: Kurdish Militias in the Ottoman Tribal Zone|date=2011|publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-7775-9}} In 1862, Circassian refugees from the Shapsug tribe arrived in the Kurdish areas of Ahlat and Adilcevaz and settled in the three Kurdish villages of Yoğurtyemez, Xanik (Çukurtarla), Develik and founded the village of Koxiş (Yolçatı).{{cite news|title=Unutulmuş Ahlat Çerkesleri-1|url=http://www.cerkesfed.org/2016/08/16/unutulmus-ahlat-cerkesleri-1/|access-date=11 December 2016|agency=Cerkes-Fed|date=16 August 2016|language=tr}}

The first big wave of Caucasian refugees to Kurdistan was in 1864 when 15,000 to 20,000 refugees settled in Sarıkamış, founding new villages and settling in abandoned Greek and Armenian villages.{{cite journal|author1=Georgi Chochiev and Bekir Koç|title=Migrants from the North Caucasus in Eastern Anatolia: Some Notes on Their Settlement and Adaptation|journal=Journal of Asian History|date=2006|volume=40|issue=183|publisher=Harrassowitz Verlag}} The largest group of refugees were Circassias who fled the Circassia region (part of the Russian Empire) during the ethnic cleansing of Circassians.{{cite book|author1=Anita L. P. Burdett|title=Armenia: Political and Ethnic Boundaries 1878–1948|date=1998|publisher=Archive Ed.|isbn=978-1-85207-955-0|page=1017}} Concurrently with the Circassian migration, Ossetians settled in the villages of Xulik (Otluyazı) and Ağcaviran (Akçaören) in Ahlat.{{cite book|author1=Anthony Gorman|title=Diasporas of the Modern Middle East|isbn=978-0-7486-8611-7|date=2015-05-29}}{{cite book|title=Çerkes fıkraları|date=1994|publisher=University of Wisconsin – Madison|page=10|language=tr}} According to the Russian intelligence officer Aleksandr Kolyubakin, no less than 1,500 Ossetians lived in the Sanjak of Muş in the late 1880s.

Chechens and Ingushs mostly settled in Varto area, in the villages of Arincik (Kıyıbaşı), Çarbuhur (Bağiçi), Tepeköy, Artet (Serinova), Ulusırt and Arinç (Çöğürlü).{{cite book|title=Caucasian battlefields: A History of the Wars on the Turco-Caucasian Border, 1828–1921|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=104|isbn=978-1-108-01335-2|date=2011-02-17}}

From early stage on, these Caucasians went through a process of Kurdification and thereby had Kurdish as their mother tongue.Ahmet Buran Ph.D., Türkiye'de Diller ve Etnik Gruplar, 2012{{cite book|author1=Yeldar Barış Kalkan|title=Çerkes halkı ve sorunları: Çerkes tarih, kültür, coğrafya ve siyasetine sınıfsal yaklaşım|date=2006|page=175}}{{cite book|author1=Dursun Gümüşoğlu|title=Anadolu'da bir köy: Eskikonak : antropolojik inceleme|date=2008}}

With the departure of non-Muslim populations of many cities in regions with significant Kurdish population, the native urban Muslim populations also migrated to cities such as Gaziantep, İzmir, Adana, Ankara, and Istanbul. The tractorization in rural Kurdish communities during the 1950s and the later abandonment of villages due to the Kurdish-Turkish conflict caused many Kurds to migrate to nearby cities that were losing their native population such as Diyarbakır but also to distant cities like Mersin, either mostly or partially Kurdifying the ethnic makeup.{{cite book |last1=Yanmış |first1=Mehmet |title=Yakın Dönemde Kürtler: Kimlik, Din, Gelenek |date=11 April 2017 |pages=81,82,121 |publisher=eKitap Projesi & Cheapest Books |isbn=9786059496377 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cA6SDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT81 |access-date=15 July 2022}} The aim of the resettlements and depopulation of the Kurdish population from villages to the cities were the Turkification of the Kurdish population{{Cite web |last=Jongerden |first=Joost |date=2009 |title=Crafting Space, Making People: The Spatial Design of Nation in Modern Turkey |url=https://edepot.wur.nl/108719 |website=European Journal of Turkish Studies}} or according to İsmail Beşikçi the destruction of the Kurdish nation.Jongerden, Joost (2009).p.2

Some Assyrians in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq complained that construction plans are "aimed at affecting a demographic change that divides Assyrian blocs". Some Yazidis, Shabaks and Turkmens have reported that they are facing a policy of cultural and security control against them.{{cite web|url=http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/09/iraq-kurdistan-region-protect-minority-rights.html|title=Iraqi Kurdistan Must Ensure Minority Rights |work=Al-Monitor|access-date=23 April 2016|date=2013-09-23 }}

According to Sweden-based economist David Ghanim, the goal of some tactics of the KRG had been to push Shabak and Yazidi communities to identify as Kurds, which has been strongly denied by KRG authorities. He also claimed that the Kurdish authorities are working to impose Kurdish identity on the Yazidis and the Shabaks.{{cite book|last1=Ghanim|first1=David|title=Iraq's Dysfunctional Democracy|page=34|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZZ076ls9unQC&q=Iraq%27s+Dysfunctional+Democracy|isbn=9780313398025|date=2011-09-12|publisher=Abc-Clio }}

The Kurdish regional government has also been accused of trying to Kurdify other regions such as the Nineveh Plains and Kirkuk by providing financial support for Kurds who want to settle in those areas.{{cite book|last=Hashim|first=Ahmed|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C6pHkXuYNw4C&pg=PT251|title=Insurgency and counter-insurgency in Iraq|publisher=Cornell University Press|year=2005|isbn=978-0-8014-4452-4|page=223|access-date=2015-10-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160107174842/https://books.google.com/books?id=C6pHkXuYNw4C&pg=PT251|archive-date=2016-01-07|url-status=live}}{{cite book|last=Taneja|first=Preti|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P2otAQAAIAAJ|title=Assimilation, exodus, eradication: Iraq's minority communities since 2003|publisher=Minority Rights Group International|year=2007|page=20|isbn=9781904584605|access-date=2015-10-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160107174842/https://books.google.com/books?id=P2otAQAAIAAJ&q|archive-date=2016-01-07|url-status=live}}

{{See also|Kirkuk Massacre of 1959}}

While Kurdish forces held the city of Kirkuk, Kurdish authorities attempted to Kurdify the city. Turkmen and Arab residents in Kirkuk experienced intimidation, harassment and were forced to leave their homes, in order to increase the Kurdish demographic in Kirkuk and bolster their claims to the city. Multiple Human Rights Watch reports detail the confiscation of Turkmen and Arab families' documents, preventing them from voting, buying property and travelling. Turkmen residents of Kirkuk were detained by Kurdish forces and compelled to leave the city. Kurdish authorities expelled hundreds of Arab families from the city, demolishing their homes in the process.{{Cite web|title=Iraq: Kirkuk Security Forces Expel Displaced Turkmen|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/05/07/iraq-kirkuk-security-forces-expel-displaced-turkmen|website=Human Rights Watch|date=7 May 2017 }}{{Cite web|title=KRG: Kurdish Forces Ejecting Arabs In Kirkuk|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/11/03/krg-kurdish-forces-ejecting-arabs-kirkuk|website=Human Rights Watch|date=3 November 2016 }}{{Cite web|title=Iraq: Arab's homes destroyed in Kirkuk|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7ykOzhXU58 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/W7ykOzhXU58 |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live|website=Human Rights Watch| date=2 November 2016 }}{{cbignore}}

United Nations reports since 2006 have documented that Kurdish authorities and Peshmerga militia forces were illegally policing Kirkuk and other disputed areas, and that these militia have abducted Turkmen and Arabs, subjecting them to torture.{{Cite web|title=Uncertain Refuge, Dangerous Return: Iraq's Uprooted Minorities|url=https://minorityrights.org/wp-content/uploads/old-site-downloads/download-710-Download-full-report.pdf|website=Minority Rights Group International}}

In West Azerbaijan, many Karapapakhs were Kurdified.Turkic Peoples Of The World, Margaret Bainbridge, 2013, pp. 149

In the southwest of Khoy, there are Kurdicized groups of Küresünni Turks.[http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kurdish-tribes The most important Kurdish tribes in that region are ..., Korahsunni Kurdicized Turks, southwest of Ḵoy]

A group of Kurdicized Tilku Turks live around Santeh and Zagheh of Saqqez County.[http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kurdish-tribes iranicaonline:Tilakuʾi (Kurdicized Turks, around Sonnata and Zāḡa)]

During the Syrian Civil War, the Syrian Democratic Forces have been accused of Kurdification.{{Cite news |date=2019-11-14 |title=The Future of the Kurds in Syria |language=en |work=Council on Foreign Relations |url=https://www.cfr.org/conference-calls/future-kurds-syria |access-date=2021-02-16}}{{Cite news |date=2017-02-07 |title=Have the Syrian Kurds Committed War Crimes? |language=en |work=Council on Foreign Relations |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/have-the-syrian-kurds-committed-war-crimes/ |access-date=2021-02-16}} During 2016, Fabrice Balanche reported that the PYD was aiming to connect Kobane and Afrin cantons in the Manbij area between the Euphrates River and Afrin, where Kurds represent less than a quarter of the population, believing that various Kurdification methods could help subdue a large portion of the Turkmen and Arab population.{{cite web |last1=Balanche |first1=Fabrice |title=Rojava's Sustainability and the PKK's Regional Strategy |url=https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/rojavas-sustainability-and-pkks-regional-strategy |website=The Washington Institute for Near East Policy |access-date=26 July 2022}} Liz Sly of The Washington Post stated: {{Quote|text="The Kurds formally renamed Tal Abyad with a Kurdish name, "Gire Spi", and proclaim its new identity in signs throughout the town — written in the Latin script used by Turkish Kurds but not readily understood by Syrian Kurds or Arabs. They have also unilaterally detached it from the existing Syrian province of Raqqa and made it a part of their newly formed autonomous enclave, carved from areas traditionally inhabited by Kurds but steadily encroaching also on territories that were historically Arab."{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the-challenges-of-governing-after-the-islamic-state/2015/10/30/8985938c-7673-11e5-a5e2-40d6b2ad18dd_story.html|title= They freed a Syrian town from ISIS. Now they have to govern it|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=2015 |access-date= 30 October 2015 }}|author=Liz Sly|title="They freed a Syrian town from ISIS. Now they have to govern it."|source=The Washington Post}}Likewise, YPG is accused of Kurdifying the names of the villages, especially the Arab villages in Raqqa.{{cite journal |last1=Sivrikaya |first1=Halil Atilla |title=ARAP BAHARI'NIN SURİYE SAHASINDA ARAP DİLİNE OLAN YANSIMALARI: PYD/YPG ÖRNEĞİ |journal=Güvenlik Bilimleri Dergisi |date=November 2019 |volume=8 |issue=2 |page=335 |doi=10.28956/gbd.646356 |s2cid=213975513 |doi-access=free }} World Council of Arameans has also accused PYD of Kurdifying the region and terrorizing the Christians.{{cite web |title=Kurdish PYD-YPG Shamelessly Terrorizes Christian Churches In Northeast Syria |url=https://wca-ngo.org/wca-news/press-releases/656-kurdish-pyd-ypg-shamelessly-terrorizes-christian-churches-in-northeast-syria |website=World Council of Arameans (Syriacs) |access-date=16 July 2022}}

More recently, many states, NGOs such as Human Rights Watch,{{cite book |last1=Phillips |first1=David L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LxKEDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT224 |title=The Great Betrayal: How America Abandoned the Kurds and Lost the Middle East |date=2019 |publisher=I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd |location=New York |page=224 |isbn=9781786725769 |access-date=15 July 2022}} and more than a dozen Syrian rebel groups{{cite web |title=Syrian refugees 'return to Tal Abyad' after IS defeat |url=https://english.alaraby.co.uk/news/syrian-refugees-return-tal-abyad-after-defeat |access-date=15 July 2022 |website=The New Arab|date=17 June 2015 }} accused the Syrian Democratic Forces of Kurdifying traditional Arab and Turkmen lands. In 2015, Amnesty International disclosed allegations of unjustified forced displacement, demolition of homes, and the seizure and destruction of property of Arabs and Turkmens (including the destruction of entire villages in some cases) through a field research.{{cite web |title=Syria: 'We had nowhere to go' – Forced displacement and demolitions in Northern Syria |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde24/2503/2015/en/ |access-date=15 July 2022 |website=Amnesty International|date=12 October 2015 }}

In a report published by the United Nations' Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic on 10 March 2017, the Commission refuted Amnesty International's reports of ethnic cleansing, stating that "'though allegations of 'ethnic cleansing' continued to be received during the period under review, the Commission found no evidence to substantiate reports that YPG or SDF forces ever targeted Arab communities on the basis of ethnicity."{{cite web |date=15 March 2017 |title=Syria and Islamist groups guilty of war crimes, YPG cleared: UN report |url=https://komnews.com/syria-and-islamist-groups-guilty-of-war-crimes-ypg-cleared-un-report/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170317054645/https://komnews.com/syria-and-islamist-groups-guilty-of-war-crimes-ypg-cleared-un-report/ |archive-date=17 March 2017 |work=Kom News}}{{cite web |last=Antonopoulos |first=Paul |date=15 March 2017 |title=UN report counters Amnesty International's claim that Kurds are ethnically cleansing in Syria |url=https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/un-report-counters-amnesty-internationals-claim-that-kurds-are-ethnically-cleansing-in-syria/ |access-date=9 May 2017 |archive-date=18 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170518193449/https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/un-report-counters-amnesty-internationals-claim-that-kurds-are-ethnically-cleansing-in-syria/ |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |date=14 March 2017 |title=UN report refutes ethnic cleansing claims against Syrian Kurdish YPG, SDF |url=http://ekurd.net/ypg-changing-demographics-2017-03-14 |access-date=9 May 2017}} In interviews, YPG spokespersons acknowledged that a number of families were in fact displaced. However, they placed the number at no more than 25 and claimed military necessity.{{cite web |date=October 2015 |title=We had nowhere else to go, Forced displacement and demolition in northern Syria |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/MDE2425032015ENGLISH.pdf |access-date=20 October 2021 |website=Amnesty International |page=28 |quote=In some dangerous areas there are some specific cases that are very small, resulting from the terrorist threat, where families were sent away from the area ... Only 25 families were forced to leave across Rojava ... (They are told) 'Folks, remove your things please, and if you leave from this area until the war ends it will be a good thing ...' You have terrorists in al-Raqqa and their families – the uncle, and brother, and sister – are here, and they are in communication, giving them information. We were forced to distance these families. Not detain them. Distance them. Take them outside of the area.}} They stated that the family members of terrorists maintained communications with them, and therefore had to be removed from areas where they might pose a danger. They further stated that IS was using civilians in those areas to plant car bombs or carry out other attacks on the YPG.{{cite web |date=October 2015 |title=We had nowhere else to go, Forced displacement and demolition in northern Syria |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/MDE2425032015ENGLISH.pdf |access-date=20 October 2021 |website=Amnesty International |page=29 |quote=He added that IS was benefiting from the presence of civilians in these areas, and using them to plant car bombs or carry out other attacks on the YPG.}}

{{Portal|Kurdistan

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• Cultural assimilation
• Minorities in Iraq
• Kurdistan Regional Government
• Shabaks

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.turkmen.nl/ITRAC1.pdf A. Bazzaz, turkmen.nl] "The Kurdification procedure was soon implemented by the Kurdish leadership after toppling Saddam down in April 2003"
• Park, Bill, The Kurds and post-Saddam political arrangements in Iraq The Adelphi Papers (2005), Taylor & Francis: "The Kurds, who are intent on the further ‘Kurdification’ of Kirkuk before any census is held"
• Park, Bill, Iraqi scenarios, The Adelphi Papers, Volume 45, Number 374, May 2005, pp. 49–66
• [http://www.informaworld.com/index/768140031.pdf PKK Iran - Strategic Comments, 2004 - informaworld.com] "recent months Turkish intelligence has begun to report Turcoman frustration with Ankara’s failure to prevent the increasing ‘Kurdification’ of northern Iraq"

{{Cultural assimilation|sp=ize}}

Category:Cultural assimilation

Category:Kurdish nationalism

Category:Kurdistan Region (Iraq)

Category:Political neologisms

Category:Politics of Iraq