Kurds in Istanbul

The Kurdish population in early 20th century is estimated at roughly 10 thousand people, who were composed of ayans and their families but also some laborers.{{cite book |last1=Özoğlu |first1=Hakan |title=Osmanlı devleti ve Kürt milliyetçiliği |date=2005 |publisher=Kitap Yayınevi |page=117 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IA4z1ryrhNQC&pg=PA117 |access-date=6 December 2022 |quote=20. yüzyılın başlarında yaklaşık on bin olarak tahmin edilen İstanbul'un Kürt nüfusu sadece âyandan ve âyanın çocuklarından değil, aynı zamanda birçok emekçiden oluşuyordu.}}

In 1995, the Kurdish Human Rights Watch estimated that the Kurds in Istanbul numbered ca. 2 million.{{cite book|author=Mustafa Mohamed Karadaghi|title=Handbook of Kurdish Human Rights Watch, Inc: A Non-profit Humanitarian Organization|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2HagAAAAMAAJ|year=1995|publisher=UN}} In 1996, Servet Mutlu estimated that the Kurds were 8.16% (594,000) of Istanbul instead of the often stated 1.5 million.{{cite book|author=Ferhad Ibrahim|title=The Kurdish Conflict in Turkey: Obstacles and Chances for Peace and Democracy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3kgierPu_7EC&pg=PA181|year=2000|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|isbn=978-3-8258-4744-9|pages=181–}} In 1998, the German Foreign Ministry stated that there were 3 million Kurds in Istanbul. In 1997, American diplomat John Tirman regarded a PKK official's claim of 4 million Kurds in Istanbul as "exaggerated."{{cite book|author=John Tirman|title=Spoils of War: The Human Cost of America's Arms Trade|url=https://archive.org/details/spoilsofwarhuman00tirm|url-access=registration|year=1997|page=269|publisher=Free Press|isbn=978-0-684-82726-1|quote=A rebel leader based in Athens explained in exaggerated fashion that 'The Turkish state is having problems in western Turkey with people forced out of their villages. There are four million Kurds in Istanbul[...']}}

According to a 2019 KONDA study, Kurds constituted around 17% of Istanbul's adult total population who were Turkish citizens.{{cite web|title=23 Haziran 2019 Sandık Analizi ve Seçmen Kümeleri|url=https://konda.com.tr/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/23Haziran2019_Istanbul_Sandik_Analizi.pdf|website=KONDA}}

• Karayolları, Gaziosmanpaşa: Kurdish majority{{cite magazine |last1=Zalewski |first1=Piotr |title=Istanbul: Big Trouble in Little Kurdistan |url=http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2104027,00.html |magazine=Time |date=9 January 2012}}
• Gazi, Gaziosmanpaşa: mixed
• Esenyurt{{Cite journal |last=Ahmetbeyzade |first=Cihan |date=2007-09-01 |title=Negotiating Silences in the So‐Called Low‐Intensity War: The Making of the Kurdish Diaspora in İstanbul |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/518315 |journal=Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=159–182 |doi=10.1086/518315 |s2cid=144116131 |issn=0097-9740|url-access=subscription }}
• Tarlabaşı
• Fatih
• Bağcılar
• Zeytinburnu
• Kanarya,Küçükçekmece

The first Kurdish cultural and political associations were established in Istanbul.{{cite book|author1=Philip G. Kreyenbroek|author2=Stefan Sperl|title=The Kurds: A Contemporary Overview|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JZ6JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA40|date=17 August 2005|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-90766-3|pages=40–}} During the reign of Abdulhamid II (r. 1876–1909) the Kurds began producing literature on the condition of the Kurds in Istanbul.{{cite book|author=Hakan Ozoglu|title=Kurdish Notables and the Ottoman State: Evolving Identities, Competing Loyalties, and Shifting Boundaries|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vEAu4L1oz_4C&pg=PA35|date=1 February 2012|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-7914-8556-9|pages=35–}} In 1918, Kurdish intellectuals established the Association for the Rise of the Kurds in Istanbul.{{cite book|title=A Democratic Future for the Kurds of Turkey: Proceedings of the Conference on North West Kurdistan (South East Turkey), March 12-13, 1994, Brussels|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5Xm6AAAAIAAJ|year=1995|publisher=medico international|isbn=978-1-900175-01-2}}

File:Rojî Kurd 1913.JPG

In the 1990s Kurds evicted from their villages by the Turkish military have settled in Esenyurt, Istanbul. In March 1995 Kurdish riots broke out in Istanbul.{{cite book|author=Robert W. Olson|title=The Kurdish Nationalist Movement in the 1990s: Its Impact on Turkey and the Middle East|url=https://archive.org/details/kurdishnationali00olso|url-access=registration|year=1996|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=0-8131-0896-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/kurdishnationali00olso/page/44 44]–}}

File:Newroz Istanbul(3).jpg celebrations in Istanbul in 2006]]

Kurds in Istanbul have played an important role in establishing Kurdish theatre scene in the country.{{Cite journal |last=Baş |first=Elif |date=September 2015 |title=The Rise of Kurdish Theatre in Istanbul |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/theatre-survey/article/abs/rise-of-kurdish-theatre-in-istanbul/E21BE96BFB647900FB7C075446D95AEE |journal=Theatre Survey |language=en |volume=56 |issue=3 |pages=314–335 |doi=10.1017/S0040557415000289 |s2cid=163800709 |issn=0040-5574|url-access=subscription }} Evicted from their homeland Kurdistan, the Kurds of Esenyurt perceive it as a "lived space".Ahmetbeyzade, Cihan (2007), p. 166 They often watched the Kurdish television broadcast from Europe Med TV.

• Kurdish Institute of Istanbul

• Minorities in Turkey
• Kurds in Turkey
• Armenians in Istanbul

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Category:Kurds in Turkey

Category:Ethnic groups in Istanbul