Show burds kurds g bhodia A f I 1 i ll 11 14 I 1 i tt 1 X f k W A tf U A kurd of the turkey persia border prepared by the national geographic society W washington hington 1 D C LIE kurds burds who bo have revolted TUE ter along the turkish persian border and against whom large turkish forces have been operating near famous mount ararat have been fighting periodically against the established states of asia minor for thousands of years always their favorite method of strife has been guerrilla warfare they have been historic marauders but perhaps they have every reason so far as enlson cm iron ment Is concerned to lead such lives state after state has struck a against ainest them with forces more powerful than any they could raise the days of assyrian power in ill mesopotamia seem pretty far back toward the beginnings of f history records of that empire sl show I 1 ow th that t time and again its soldiers nere sent into tile the rough country around the headwaters of the great rivers to subdue the mountaineers ancestors of the kurds burds who harried As As syrias outlying settlements these samel mountaineers tai tal fought the armenians Armen ians when the latter came into the region between 1000 and GW COO B 0 1 when xenophon retreated from asia minor in R B C the kurds burds then called the Carduc carduchi hl attacked his greeks rolling great stones down on them from cliffs and mountains they fought continually against the bagdad caliphs since the turks rose to power in asia minor the kurds burds have fought them repeatedly in fact the turks never established any considerable measure of control over these fierce freedom loving high landers I 1 since ethe abe world war the european terri territory tori of turl rey ey tills lias been bee n n negligible e if the country has consisted al mat most solely of the big fat peninsula penin suli lying bet between Neen the black sea on the north and tile eastern arm of the mediterranean on the south and an all extension to the east about as broad broa I as the asia minor peninsula reaching achinK re roughly half way from the sea to the caspian tile the southern half of this eastern extension tenion ex the southeastern corner of postwar turkey Is ahat TS hat is loosely called kurdistan TI the ie other half of the eastern extension immediately korthof north nor of kurdistan was once turkish armenia kurdish sphere Is large now that tens of thousands of the armenian Ar residents have been beef driven across the RUssi alf border bolder while other tens of thousands have perished peri shoil the ohp region hardly dese deserves res the old name the kurdish population was always high in turkish armenia now it Is proportionately much greater the whole eastern end of present turkey constituting almost a third of the territory of the country therefore 1 may roughly ro be consid considered pred tile the kurd ish sphere of influence it Is in tile alie northeast corner of turkey that burds kurds have recently been most active Ceo geographic graphic and political and eco comic complications aplenty are found lu in this region in on tile east kurdistan touches persia find and the lie people for a consider considerable alde distance into that country are kurd burds too indeed kurdish people inhabit the entire wilin tain range extends from turkey for GOO miles to the southeast forming the boundary between pernia and iraq the kurds burds belong to the iranian branch of the white race because of the open nir clr lives levei which they live most of them have harsh features the cicat majority are aide nominally edans the plateau region lulng ang partly in old armenia partly la in kurdistan where many man of the most warlike burds kurds live presents a good example of the lie effects on oil man of a mixture of rugged uplands and fertile valleys limestone mountains and recently 1 extinct volcanoes occupy the upper levels lover are magnificent canyons cui cut b by y tile alie tigris and euphrates head heads streams and numerous broad baalu shaped val leys whose floors are fertile plains the ancestors of the kurda were pushed from many of thebe cle desirable shrable lowlands by the Armen armenian Sau invasion md ind from others by the later inter arriving arming to turks some recent revolts even tile the fairly recent re regime gime of kemal pasha has had several kurdish revolts on its hands there was a sporadic uprising in 1029 1929 and in 1025 1925 tile the tribesmen made an unsuccessful effort to set upa up their own government the rhe scrapping of the caliphate at con stantin ople aroused them and nearly every change in old moslem customs tills lias irritated them revolt after re volt olt has been quelled but as soon as the K kurd ard replenishes his forces and supplies applies he Is ready to attack again tile the kurd farmers of the iraq plains ore are more prosperous than the tribesmen pen of the hill country travelers c climb 11 in b the trails of kurdistan for miles without seeing a village ilia e when one does appear it Is usually situated in a well protected spot houses are placed without regard to building line and a birdseye birds eye view of a village reveals a jumble of mud and stove store structures q the peasants house is a one room structure which might be mistaken for a stable the tribesmen reserves one side of its his abode for his animals while tits his family occupies the other oilier side burds kurds sit on the floor when they rest or eat therefore ther eforo they do not need tables or chairs the tribal chief or headman fares better ne he has a house for its ills family an and d a guest house aher vicere e he lives ilves and entertains guests lie he is offended if a traveler does not dot stay efm hm once the traveler lias has stopped he must remain for dinner the food is placed on oil the floor door in the center of the din ers should a acuest stretch tits liis legs toward n nother another person convey food to his with liis its left hand or fondle the dog to his host Is offended 7 no knives and forks are arc to be found in the kurd karol sll sih er chest but if i a guest has as difficulty in feeding himself ith shands lii a sabon will be handed to him few meals are served that do not include most mast curdled milk the favorite dish of the kurd A little water nater mixed etli with the most mast makes mas maglio I 1 lio 10 the kurd national drink the tribesmen title like vegetables b but 1 af seldom serve moat they buy their wives I 1 under moslem law the kurd m may ay t take ale four wives wives ire are bought the peasant usually lias has oni only v one the chiefs take the full quota wives wires ire are priced according to their rank the tribesman can g get et a wife in exchange for a pony or golit goat or one may cost the equivalent of 2500 2 the wedding edding entails a season of merrymaking in which the whole tribe joins but it takes less than a minute to dissolve a union the alie man simply says 1 I divorce you three times and the parties are free to the foi foreigner eigner tile the kurds burds seem to know little else than tile the art of highway robbery many of hie file mountain tribesmen sire are adept thieves hut but in tile hills as well veil as tile the plains many kurds burds earn honest by farming and cattee raising kurds burds fire are pastoral pas lorn people boldnin moving movin front from their villages except to ml migrate rate to higher felti tudes audes during the glimmer summer for new pasturage in spite of exciting events in the fighting history of the kurds burds the tribesmen were almost unk unknown outside the near rast kast before the world war when a delegation of kurds burds dp ap feared at the peace conferences conference in fit 1910 not know iho ho the tribesmen might be when their identity was revealed the kurds burds went on oil the front pages and frequently have been there since the presence of kurds burds in the region of what nhat is now northern iraq wasa hard diplomatic problem for the treff y drafters 0 io o soave a fier chii alie world viar var Except ln city the kopul population of tilts this elun ls is almost SI solidly lolly ku Kur it Is is the idor und and power of petroleum that in some borne ways dornI dominate nate all ebe ln in this region what pr t to become oae one of the major oil fields ol of the wo we id centers i about I 1 I 1 |