Show anI iI I iI i j ij I t 7 l lr r c I 4 T i 4 1 1 4 j r Y a S Y X 2 y v rs I A Kurd of the Turkey Persia Border Prepared by the National Society D G C C F- F r FLIE LIE Kurds who have revolted r along the Turkish Persian hor bor- bor border J bor-J der and against whom larg large Turkish forces have been oper open operating sting near famous Mount Ararat have ha been fighting periodically against the established states of Asia Minor for thousands of years ears Alwa Always s 's their favorite method of strife has lias been guerrilla warfare They have been historic marauders but perhaps the they have every reason so far as environ environment environment environment ment is concerned to lead such lives State after state has lias struck agaInst them with forces more powerful than any the they could raise The days of Assyrian power In Mesopotamia seem seem pretty far back toward to the beginnings of history Records of that empire show that time and n again Its soldiers solders were sent Into the rough country around time the headwaters of the lie great rivers to sub suh subdue subdue due the mountaineers ancestors mountaineers ancestors of time the who Kurds Kurds who tarried harried A Assyria's A syrias syria's out out- outlying outlying lying settlements These same moun moun- mountaineers mountaineers fought the Armenians when wilen the latter came into the re region lon be be- between between tween 1000 and GOO COO B B C When Xenophon retreated from from Asia Minor lInor in B C 0 Q tile the Kurds then called the Carduchi his Greeks rolling great stones stone down on them from cliffs and moun moun- mountains mountains They fou fought ht continually a against the Bagdad caliphs Since time the lie lurks rose to power In Asia Minor the I Kurds have fought them repeatedly in fact the Turks never established an any considerable measure of control over o these fierce loving freedom high high- highLanders highlanders landers Since the World orld war time the European territory of Turl Turkey ey has been ne negligible negligible ll- ll gible The fhe country has consisted al almo almost almost mo most t solely of the big fat peninsula lying between the Black sea sen on time the north and the eastern arm of time the Mediterranean on the south and an extension to time the lie east about as broad broadas broadis ns as the Asia Minor peninsula reaching rou roughly half way from the Black sea Sf seato to the lie Caspian The southern half or of orthis this eastern the extension extension the southeast southeast- southeastern southeastern ern corner orner of postwar Is Turkey Turkey what is loosely called Kurdistan guI Time The Theother other half of time the eastern extension Immediately north of Kurdistan was once Turkish Armenia Kurdish Sphere Is Large Now that tens of thousands of the Armenian residents have been en across time the Russian border border while other tens of thousands luls ha have e perished the region hardly harIly deserves s the lie old name mime The rhe Kurdish population was always hl h in Turkish Armenia now It Is proportionately much greater grenter The whole eastern end of present sent Turkey constituting almost a third of the territory of the countr country therefore ma may roughly he considered the Kurd Kurd- Kurdish Kurdish ish sphere of Influence It Is In the northeast corner of Turkey that the Kurds have ha recently he been n most active Geographic and political and eco ceo economic complications aplenty fire are found lu la tills this re region lon On the east Kurdistan touch touches Persia and lie s the peo people for a n considerable distance Into that country are arc Kurds too indeed Kurdish I people Inhabit the entire ros mountain range which extends from Turkey for GOO COO miles to time the southeast forming the boundary lie lie- between be tween t and h Iraq q The Kurds belong to the Iranian branch orthe of the white race Because of tile the open aIr lives which the they live lI most of them have hate harsh features feature Time fhe great reat majority are nominally The plateau region lying partly In old Armenia partly in Kurdistan where many of the most warlike Kurds live presents a good example of the effects on man of n a mixture of ru rugged ed uplands and fertile mlle valleys s 's Limestone mountains and recently extinct volcanoes vol- vol volcanoes vol volcanoes canoes occupy the upper levels Loser er are magnificent canyons cut by hr time the TIgris and l Euphrates and numerous broad shaped basin val tal- tali valleys I les legs leys whose are fertile pIn IllS The ancestors of time the Kurds were I IThe I pushed rd from lUau runny many of these desirable lowlands by the Armenian InvasIon and from others b by the later arriving Turks Some Recent Revolts Even the fairly recent regime of Pasha has had lInd several Kurdish revolts on its hands There was a sporadic uprising In 1929 1020 and In 10 3 the tribesmen made malle nn fin unsuccessful effort to set up their own government go The he scrapping of the caliphate at Con Con- Constantinople aroused them and nearly every change in old Moslem customs custom's customs has Irritated them diem Revolt Ue after re- re revolt re revolt volt olt has been quelled hut but as soon n as the Kurd replenishes his forces and supplies he Is ready to attack agaIn Tile The Kurd farmers of the th Iraq plains mire are more prosperous tha than the tribes tribesmen men of the hill hIlI country Travelers climb the time trails of Kurdistan for miles nilles without seeing a n village e When one does appear It Is usually situated In Inn ina Inn n a well protected spot Houses Mouses are placed without re regard ard to building line and a eye birds eye s view of a village re- re reveals re reveals eals a jumble of mud and stare structures The peasants peasant's house Is a room one one structure which might he mistaken for fora a stable The tri tribesmen esmen reserves one side of his abode for his animals wIllie while his family occupies the other side Kurds sit on the floor door when they rest or eat therefore they do not need tables or chairs The lime tribal chief or headman fares better hetter He lIe has Imas a house for hIs Ills family nail n a guest house where he lives Ii and entertains gue guests ts He Lie Is offended if n a traveler does not stay with him him- Once the traveler has lias stopped he must re- re remaIn remain re remain main for dinner Huner The food i is placed on the floor In the center of the din diners ers ens Should n a guest stretch his Ills legs toward another person convey food to his Ins mouth with his left hand liand or fondle the time do dog his host is offended No knives and aud forks are to be found formed In the l Kurd silver sil chest but hut if a n guest has difficulty in feeding himself with his hands a spoon will be he handed to him Few meals are served that do donot donot not Include mast curdled milk mill the favorite dish of the Kurd A little water mixed with time the mast makes s the lie Kurd national drink The tribesmen like vegetables but set set- seldom sel seldom dom tom serve m meat They Buy Their Wives Under Moslem law the 1 Kurd maY take cake four wives Wives are bought so the peasant usually usually- has only one The chiefs take the full quota Wives are priced pried according to their rank Time The tribesman can get a wife In ex- ex exchange ex exchange change for a n pon pony or goat or one may Ull cost the equivalent alent of The wedding entails a n season seaon of merry merry- merrymaking merry making making malIng In which the whole tribe joins hut but it takes less than a minute to dis dis- dl dissolve dissolve solve a union The man simply Imply says the times and I divorce you three parties are arc free To the foreigner the time Kurds seem to know little else ele than the lie Art of high high- highway highway way robbery Many Ian of the mountain tribesmen mountain are arc adept thieves but hut In Inthe inthe Inthe the hills as well as the plains many Kurds earn honest livings by farming I and cattle raisin raising Kurds lire are pastoral vil- vil villages vil villages I their people seldom moving from lages loges except pt to ml migrate rate to hl higher her nIU- nIU nl tudes during the summer for new nev pas pas- pas pasturage mirage In spite of exciting events c In the theft ft fighting history of the Kurl Kurds Kurds the tribesmen were almost unknown 11 out out- outside outside sl side e time the Near East Fast before the war When n II delegation of Kurds op- op appeared ap appeared leared at the peace conferences In WI 1910 newspaper men did lid not know who the tribesmen might be When their Identity was revealed the Kurds went on the front pages and frequently have been there since sluice The presence of Kurds In the region relon of what Is now no northern Ira Iraq was a n hard diplomatic problem for the treaty treah drafters to solve after the lire World World war Except In City the population of this region Is almost solidly Kurdish It Is the odor dor and PO power er of petroleum that Hint In hm some ways dominate all else In this tills region What promises t to become one of t the he major oil fields of the WOo wo Id centers about 4 |