Kurdish PEN Centre and human rights in modern Kurdish literature

16 December 2004
KurdishMedia.com
By Dr Zorab Aloian


The modern Kurdish literature - although essentially united – evolves in three major dialects and two alphabets.

The Kurdish language and culture in the 20th century to a big part owes to the those mostly Yezidi Kurds who escaped the Ottoman massacres and found refuge in Armenia. The Soviet state in general and Armenian intelligentsia in particular promoted the preservation and developments of Kurdish literature. The first Latin-based Kurdish alphabet was created in 1928 in Armenia, the first Kurdish novel – roman – was written by Arab Shamilov, an Armenian Kurd. The first theatre, the first movie, the first section of Kurdish writers, Kurdish schools and academic institutions in Armenia – they are a very positive reverberation of common Armenian-Kurdish destiny. The Kurds, on their part, highlight this memory and display their sympathy towards the Armenian wounds.

Thus, the writer, Felat Dilgesh from Istanbul wrote a short story called Zûra (Anosh). It is about an Armenian girl saved by a Kurdish family during the genocide campaign after the World War 1. The girl received a new name Zûra, remained in the Kurdish family, but her separation from the repressed family was a heavy burden on her soul. The author describes, how Zûra was every day looking for her mummy, checking every room in the house.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.