Turkey alone occupies half Kurdistan. The Turkish Kurdistan covers an area of 230.000 km2, represents 30% of the whole area of Turkey and is inhabited by approximately 20 million Kurds.

The remaining area of Kurdistan is occupied by Iraq, Iran and a small part by Syria.

In Iran, the Kurds do not have sufficient freedom and any autonomy. In Iraq, they have also autonomy, with their own parliament in Erbil, in north Iraq.

However Turky does not recognize any human right to the Kurds and forbids them to speak their own language, to sing their songs, to have newspapers, books, schools, culture, in Turkey.

The Kurds are a Indo-European people, related to the Persians. They inhabited the lands where they live today, 35 centuries ago. Their language is related to the Persian language and was written since the 7th century B.C. According to the latest scientific research, they are considered descendants of the Medes. Thus, they have absolutely no relation (racial, linguistic, anthropologic) to their Turkish oppressors, who are of Mongolic descent. They also have no relation with the Arabs who are of Semitic descent. The only common characteristic among these three nations is the Moslem religion.

The Kurds enter history from the time of their acceptance of Islam after the occupation of their country by the army of Chalifa Omar in 637A. D. Saladin, the heroic opponent of the Crusaders, is the great hero of the Kurds during the middle Ages. Saladin formed a great empire, which survived even after his death, in 1193.

The Mongolian attacks of the beginning of the l3th century dissolved the Kurdish states. Because of the separation into many autonomous states and the feudal organization of society, a great part of Kurdistan was later conquered by the Ottoman Empire and the rest was conquered by Persia.

There is hardly any parallel in history, to the struggles of the Kurds for their independence. In 1806 Babazade Abdul Rahman organized the first revolt against the Turks in Mosul. Since then, there have been 38 Kurdish revolts and uprisings.

The greatest was that which took place in 1925,led by Sheikh Said. It lasted almost 20 months. The totalitarian regime of Kemal crushed the Kurds and drowned their revolt in blood.

The Kurds were slaughtered or hanged by thousands. The Turkish newspaper VAKIT, wrote characteristically in 7-5-1925 <>. This is always the Turkish response to peoples demanding their independence. The Kurdish revolts in Turkey had 1.500.000 victims. There is constantly for 50 years martial law in the eastern Turkish provinces, where the Kurds live, and the district is forbidden to foreigners.

The Turkish authorities want to ignore the Kurds, they call them mountainous Turks and they deprive them of any human right. Blood, violence, oppression, have not erased the desire of the Kurdish people to live independent not under this totalitarian enslavement where they are today.

The Turkish military regime has recently intensified the oppression and extermination of Kurds. Thousands of them rot in prisons while others live in caves. It would however be wrong to believe that violence against the Kurds was less intense under the so-called democratic regime of Turkey. Policy is one and the same for any Turkish regime: The policy of extermination of every minority.

The Treaty of Sevres, which has not been officially annulled, mentions an autonomous, independent Kurdistan. The Kurds have the right to free themselves from Turkish yoke. Kurdish independence must become a reality. Give your help to that end.

In the pages that follow you will see photographs and video of the drama and the struggle of the Kurdish people.