Kurdish belongs to the Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. It consists of a continuum of languages/dialects spoken in Kurdistan, an area that covers northern Iraq, north-western Iran, north-eastern Syria and south-eastern Turkey. Kurds are also found in south-western Armenia and an enclave in Azerbaijan. Iraqi Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Province in Iran are officially acknowledged as parts of Kurdistan. Turkish and Syrian governments do not recognize their controlled parts of Kurdistan as a demographic or geographic region.
According the research the first Indo-European-speaking people started to migrate into present-day Kurdistan about 4,000 years ago. In the next two thousand years, the old language of the Kurds was completely displaced by Indo-European that eventually evolved into present-day Kurdish.
The status of Kurdish varies from country to country.
KURD people in Iran
Kurdish is spoken as a home language. Most Iranian Kurds live in villages, the rest are nomadic. Kurdish is taught in schools in Kurdish areas. There are newspapers, magazines, and radio broadcasts, writing letter in Kurdish. Most Kurdish speakers in Iran also speak Persian (Farsi).
KURD people in Iraq
In Kurdistan in Iraq, Kurdish has official regional status. Since 1919, it has been the medium of instruction in public schools. There is a newspaper and some publications in Kurdish, as well as TV and radio broadcasts. There has been an attempt to establish a literary language based on the dialect of Sulaimaniya, the capital of Kurdistan, and to purge it of Arabic loanwords.
KURD people in Turkey
Kurdish has a long history of persecution in Turkey. It was banned in 1938 which led to a loss of literacy and growth of Kurdish-Turkish bilingualism. In 1961, with a new Turkish constitution, Kurdish publications began to appear but were frequently banned as soon as they came out. In 1967-1980 a series of laws were passed to repress the use of Kutdish. In 1991, the Turkish government legalized the use of Kurdish. In 2006, Turkey allowed private television channels to begin limited airing of Kurdish language programming, except for children's cartoons and educational programs that teach the Kurdish language.
KURD people in Armenia
From the 1930's to the 1980's, Armenia's small community of resident Kurds were protected and provided with substantial state-sponsored cultural support. There was a Kurdish radio broadcast and a Kurdish newspaper. Dance and theater groups flourished. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the situation changed dramatically, and the status of the Kurdish minority has come under increasing threat.
KURD people in Syria
Syria still opposes the use of Kurdish in the country.
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