By Ebrahim Baghi
23rd Annual Conference of KNC-NA, April 30, 2011, Calgary, Canada
Mamosta Hemin, the pen name for Mohammad Amin Sheikholeslami (1921-1986), was a well-known Kurdish poet from Mahabad, Eastern of Kurdistan. He fled persecution in Iran to live out his life in exile in south Kurdistan. He once said:
Even if dying of hunger or from poverty
Still I will not serve strangers all my life long, I have no fear of chains, ropes, rods, or the prison Should they hack me into pieces, should they kill me? Still I will say: I am a Kurd!
The Kurds are a distinct national group living in an area often referred to as Kurdistan. They make up the majority of the population of this area — a region composed of eastern Anatolia, extreme north-eastern Syria, northern Iraq, north-west Iran, and parts of southern and south-eastern Armenia. In area, Kurdistan is as large as France, and has a population of 35-40 million. In addition to having occupied these areas for centuries, Kurds from all the countries mentioned above share a common language that, although related to modern Persian, is a unique Indo-European tongue. Most of the Kurds speak one of many dialects: Kurmandji, Sorani, Zaza, Gurani, Kalhuri and Hevrami.
The Kurds were not originally Muslims; their ancestors believed in the Zoroastrian religion. The Treaty of Severs, signed by the Turkish Empire and the United Kingdom in August 1920, dealt with Kurdish affairs in Articles 62-64. Article 64 in effect gave the Kurds the opportunity to form an independent state in Kurdistan, at least in those parts formerly belonging to the Ottoman Empire. Unfortunately for the Kurds, the treaty was rendered inoperative by the action of Mustafa Kemal (Atat