1950’s

A Brief Overview…

The End of the Kurdish Republic and the execution of Qazi Mohammad, deeply hurt the modern Kurdish National Movement that stretched over all four parts. In the 1950s, many families were struggling to keep the Kurdish identity alive, oppressed by the harsh anti-Kurdish policies in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. Despite the ethnic persecution, the survival of the Kurdish language, strong identity and culture can be attributed to the prominent role of the Kurdish matriarchy. Most Kurdish children were educated, if not indoctrinated by the new nationalist and homogenic identities, that were that of Kemal Atatürk’s Turkey, Pan-Arabist Syria and Iraq and Royalist Iran. The elimination of Kurdish names, banning of Kurdish language and even dresses in Turkey, almost succeeded to eliminate Kurdish identity in the public sphere. Nevertheless, it was often due to the women in society that the flames of identity were rekindled time and again, while many of the men joined the resistance movements in the mountains or simply were occupied with being the bread winners in utmost economically harsh times due to the aftermaths of WWII.