Kurds in Turkey
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 13,4 million (KONDA 2013 estimate) 12,6 million (CIA World Factbook 2008 estimate) 22,5 million (Kurdish claim) |
|
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Mainly in Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia, Large migrant population in Istanbul, Izmir, Adana and Mersin |
|
| Languages | |
| Northern Kurdish • Turkish | |
| Religion | |
| Islam (Predominantly Sunni, minority Alevism) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Zazas and other Iranian peoples |
Kurds in Turkey (Kurdish: Kurdên li Tirkiyeyê, Turkish: Türkiye'deki Kürtler, Türkiye Kürtleri) are the largest ethnic minority in the country. According to various estimates, they compose between 15% and 20% of the population of Turkey. Unlike the Turkish people, the Kurds speak an Indo-European language. There are Kurds living in various provinces of Turkey, but are primarily concentrated in the east and southeast of the country, the region of Northern Kurdistan.
Massacres, such as the Dersim rebellion and the Zilan massacre, have periodically occurred against the Kurds since the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923. In an attempt to deny their existence, the Turkish government categorized Kurds as "Mountain Turks" until 1991, and the words "Kurds", "Kurdistan", or "Kurdish" were officially banned by the Turkish government. Following the military coup of 1980, the Kurdish language was officially prohibited in public and private life. Many people who spoke, published, or sang in Kurdish were arrested and imprisoned. Since lifting of the ban in 1991, the Kurdish population of Turkey has long sought to have Kurdish included as a language of instruction in public schools as well as a subject. In Turkey, it is illegal to use Kurdish as a language of instruction in both public and private schools. Kurdish language is only allowed as a subject in some schools.
Since the 1970s, the European Court of Human Rights has condemned Turkey for the thousands of human rights abuses. Some judgments are related to executions of Kurdish civilians, torturing, forced displacements, destroyed villages, arbitrary arrests, murdered and disappeared Kurdish journalists. The latest judgments are from 2014.
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