The ‘Problem’ Kurd: A Kurdish Perspective

History has witnessed numerous barbaric oppressions of people belonging to various communities. Even in the twenty-first century, which is marked by greater technological advancements, human barbarism succeeds overall scientific innovations and revolutions. Martin Barker, Etienne Balibar and Pierre-Andre Taguieff developed the concept of Neo-Racism or Cultural racism in the 1990s. The discrimination based on cultural differences and the prejudices against certain cultures is commonly addressed as cultural racism.

The Kurds are indigenous people of the Mesopotamian plains, and they reside in Kurdistan, a broadly defined geographic region that spreads across four different countries such as Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria. Kurdish people do not have a country of their own, even though there are more than forty million Kurds residing in these four different countries. Kurds are stamped as separatists and terrorists by their respective governments. Kurds in the modern world are not allowed to use their language or follow their culture or lifestyle. Those who defy the orders of not to remain Kurdish are considered terrorists and anti-national. Kurds are not allowed to publish literary works or speak publicly about the problems faced by the Kurdish population. Kurdish villages are constantly monitored by the authorities. Kurds are often arrested and imprisoned without any valid reason. In a nutshell, Kurds live under suppression and fear of displacement. The paper looks into the allegation that Kurds are anti-social or destructive from a Kurdish perspective. The Kurdish people suffer discrimination and bigotry because of the vested interests of the people around them. Kurds are victims of the neo-racist ideology of the dominant culture. The paper tries to investigate the bitter reality behind the persecution of Kurds.

Novels of three Kurdish writers have been selected to understand the lived experience of the Kurds. Ava Homa’s Daughters of Smoke and Fire (2020), My Father’s Rifle: A Childhood in Kurdistan (2005) by Hiner Salim and Karzan Sherabayani’s Letters from a Kurd (2015) are the three works made part of the study.

Keywords: Ethnic cleansing-Kurdish oppression- Kurdophobhia- Neo-Racism- Cultural Racism.