Kurds in Istanbul

Further information: Kurds in Turkey

The total number of Kurds in Istanbul is estimated variously from 3 to 4 million.^[1][2][3] Because Istanbul is widely accepted to house the largest Kurdish population in any city in the world, it is often dubbed as the biggest Kurdish city.^[1][4]

Demographics

Total population

The Kurdish population in early 20th century is estimated at roughly 10 thousand people, who were composed of ayans and their families but also some laborers.^[5]

In 1995, the Kurdish Human Rights Watch estimated that the Kurds in Istanbul numbered ca. 2 million.^[6] In 1996, Servet Mutlu estimated that the Kurds were 8.16% (594,000) of Istanbul instead of the often stated 1.5 million.^[7] In 1998, the German Foreign Ministry stated that there were 3 million Kurds in Istanbul.^[7] In 1997, American diplomat John Tirman regarded a PKK official's claim of 4 million Kurds in Istanbul as "exaggerated."^[8]

According to a 2019 KONDA study, Kurds constituted around 17% of Istanbul's adult total population who were Turkish citizens.^[9]

Neighborhoods with Kurdish communities

• Karayolları, Gaziosmanpaşa: Kurdish majority^[10]
• Gazi, Gaziosmanpaşa: mixed^[10]
• Esenyurt^[11]
• Tarlabaşı
• Fatih

History

The first Kurdish cultural and political associations were established in Istanbul.^[12] During the reign of Abdulhamid II (r. 1876–1909) the Kurds began producing literature on the condition of the Kurds in Istanbul.^[13] In 1918, Kurdish intellectuals established the Association for the Rise of the Kurds in Istanbul.^[14]

A Kurdish magazine published in Istanbul in 1913

In the 1990s Kurds evicted from their villages by the Turkish military have settled in Esenyurt, Istanbul.^[11] In March 1995 Kurdish riots broke out in Istanbul.^[15]

Newroz celebrations in Istanbul in 2006

Culture

Kurds in Istanbul have played an important role in establishing Kurdish theatre scene in the country.^[16] Evicted from their homeland Kurdistan, the Kurds of Esenyurt perceive it as a "lived space".^[17] They often watched the Kurdish television broadcast from Europe Med TV.^[17]

Organizations

• Kurdish Institute of Istanbul

See also

• Minorities in Turkey
• Kurds in Turkey
• Armenians in Istanbul

References

1. Toivanen, Mari (21 September 2021). The Kobane Generation: Kurdish Diaspora Mobilising in France. Helsinki University Press. pp. 54–55. Retrieved 6 December 2022. For instance, Istanbul hosts approximately three million Kurds and therefore can be said to be the biggest 'Kurdish city'.
2. ""Sizin ağaç dikmeniz de siyasettir."". Kırık Saat. 2 (46). 6 July 2021. Retrieved 6 December 2022. Çünkü İstanbul'da 3 milyon Kürt var.
3. Çiçek, Cuma (22 December 2016). The Kurds of Turkey: National, Religious and Economic Identities. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 149. Retrieved 6 December 2022. The city where the largest Kurdish population lives in Istanbul. Now there are neither historical, nor political, nor ethical, nor economic conditions to displace the 3-4 million Kurds who live in Istanbul.
4. Houston, Christopher (2005), "Creating a Diaspora within a Country: Kurds in Turkey", in Ember, Melvin; Ember, Carol R.; Skoggard, Ian (eds.), Encyclopedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the World, Boston, MA: Springer US, p. 408, doi:10.1007/978-0-387-29904-4_40, ISBN 978-0-387-29904-4, retrieved 2022-12-16
5. Özoğlu, Hakan (2005). Osmanlı devleti ve Kürt milliyetçiliği. Kitap Yayınevi. p. 117. Retrieved 6 December 2022. 20. yüzyılın başlarında yaklaşık on bin olarak tahmin edilen İstanbul'un Kürt nüfusu sadece âyandan ve âyanın çocuklarından değil , aynı zamanda birçok emekçiden oluşuyordu.
6. Mustafa Mohamed Karadaghi (1995). Handbook of Kurdish Human Rights Watch, Inc: A Non-profit Humanitarian Organization. UN.
7. Ferhad Ibrahim (2000). The Kurdish Conflict in Turkey: Obstacles and Chances for Peace and Democracy. LIT Verlag Münster. pp. 181–. ISBN 978-3-8258-4744-9.
8. John Tirman (1997). Spoils of War: The Human Cost of America's Arms Trade. Free Press. p. 269. ISBN 978-0-684-82726-1. A rebel leader based in Athens explained in exaggerated fashion that 'The Turkish state is having problems in western Turkey with people forced out of their villages. There are four million Kurds in Istanbul[...']
9. "23 Haziran 2019 Sandık Analizi ve Seçmen Kümeleri" (PDF). KONDA.
10. Zalewski, Piotr (9 January 2012). "Istanbul: Big Trouble in Little Kurdistan". Time.
11. Ahmetbeyzade, Cihan (2007-09-01). "Negotiating Silences in the So‐Called Low‐Intensity War: The Making of the Kurdish Diaspora in İstanbul". Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. 33 (1): 159–182. doi:10.1086/518315. ISSN 0097-9740. S2CID 144116131.
12. Philip G. Kreyenbroek; Stefan Sperl (17 August 2005). The Kurds: A Contemporary Overview. Routledge. pp. 40–. ISBN 978-1-134-90766-3.
13. Hakan Ozoglu (1 February 2012). Kurdish Notables and the Ottoman State: Evolving Identities, Competing Loyalties, and Shifting Boundaries. SUNY Press. pp. 35–. ISBN 978-0-7914-8556-9.
14. A Democratic Future for the Kurds of Turkey: Proceedings of the Conference on North West Kurdistan (South East Turkey), March 12-13, 1994, Brussels. medico international. 1995. ISBN 978-1-900175-01-2.
15. Robert W. Olson (1996). The Kurdish Nationalist Movement in the 1990s: Its Impact on Turkey and the Middle East. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 44–. ISBN 0-8131-0896-9.
16. Baş, Elif (September 2015). "The Rise of Kurdish Theatre in Istanbul". Theatre Survey. 56 (3): 314–335. doi:10.1017/S0040557415000289. ISSN 0040-5574. S2CID 163800709.
17. Ahmetbeyzade, Cihan (2007),p.166