| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 16,603 (0.3%) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Uusimaa | 8,573 (0.5%) [1] |
| Southwest Finland | 2,861 (0.6%) [1] |
| Pirkanmaa | 871 (0.2%) [1] |
| Päijät-Häme | 809 (0.4%) [1] |
| Central Finland | 487 (0.2%) [1] |
| Languages | |
| Finnish and Kurdish | |
| Religion | |
| Sunni Islam Christianity Atheism Yazidism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Iranian peoples | |
 |
Kurds in Finland (Finnish : Suomen kurdit) refers to Kurds living in Finland. In 2022 there were 16,603 Kurdish speakers in Finland. [1]
Kurds started first arriving to Finland in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1995 there were 1,166 Turkish citizens in Finland, out of which around 300-550 were Kurds. A significant portion of the Turkish pizzerias and kebab-restaurants in Finland are established by Kurds, some Kurds work at the airports in Finland. [2] While others come to Finland for studying, or work in IT companies.
Some of the Finnish Kurds originate from Turkey and Iran, but most of them have come from Kurdistan region of Iraq, where they started arriving from in the 1990s as UNHCR quota refugees. Kurds make up the majority of Iraqi immigrants to Finland. [3] After ISIL gained ground against the Peshmerga in Iraqi Kurdistan the Finnish Kurds organized protests against ISIL. [4] According to the chairman of Finnish-Kurdish friendship association several dozens of Finnish Kurds had left to Syria and Iraq in order to fight against ISIL. [5]
Finnish Kurds speak several different dialects of Kurdish, the largest of which are Sorani and Kurmanji Kurdish. Kurmanji has more speakers worldwide, but Sorani is the most spoken Kurdish dialect in Finland. It is likely that there are more ethnic Kurds than there are those who speak it as a first language. For example, some of the Kurds who originate from Turkey speak Turkish rather than Kurdish. There are several different Kurdish organizations in Finland, many of which have direct or indirect connections to political parties in Iraqi Kurdistan. [3]
Most Finnish Kurds are Muslims, some are atheists or non-practicing Muslims.
Different Kurdish organizations in Finland host their own Nowruz (Kurdish new year) celebrations. [3] [6]
There are several Kurdish organizations in Finland, including Kurdiliitto [7] and Suomalais-Kurdilainen ystävyysseura. [8]
In October 2019, thousands of Finnish Kurds staged a protest in Helsinki over Turkey's military operation in Syria. [9] On 26 August 2022, Kurds living in Finland held a demonstration in Helsinki to protest the NATO agreement with Finland, Sweden and Turkey and the trilateral memorandum meeting of Finland, Sweden and Turkey. [10] Turkey demanded that Finland end its support to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and People's Defense Units (YPG). [11]
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Source: [12] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Regions of Finland | Population (2008) | % of Kurdish-speaking population | Population (2018) | % of Kurdish-speaking population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uusimaa | 3,106 | 48.1% | 7,501 | 53.4% |
| Southwest Finland | 1,312 | 20.3% | 2,545 | 18.1% |
| Pirkanmaa | 454 | 7% | 798 | 5.7% |
| Päijät-Häme | 394 | 6.1% | 748 | 5.3% |
| Central Finland | 258 | 4% | 424 | 3% |
| North Ostrobothnia | 120 | 1.9% | 378 | 2.7% |
| Ostrobothnia | 226 | 3.5% | 311 | 2.2% |
| Kymenlaakso | 122 | 1.9% | 256 | 1.8% |
| Lapland | 86 | 1.3% | 185 | 1.3% |
| Kanta-Häme | 56 | 0.9% | 130 | 0.9% |
| North Karelia | 10 | 0.2% | 127 | 0.9% |
| South Karelia | 62 | 1% | 127 | 0.9% |
| Satakunta | 24 | 0.4% | 114 | 0.8% |
| Northern Savonia | 21 | 0.3% | 96 | 0.7% |
| Kainuu | 74 | 1.1% | 76 | 0.5% |
| South Ostrobothnia | 23 | 0.4% | 73 | 0.5% |
| Southern Savonia | 16 | 0.2% | 65 | 0.5% |
| Åland | 70 | 1.1% | 52 | 0.4% |
| Central Ostrobothnia | 21 | 0.3% | 48 | 0.3% |
| Finland | 6,455 | 14,054 | ||
Kurdish people or Kurds are an Iranic ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northern Syria. There are exclaves of Kurds in Central Anatolia, Khorasan, and the Caucasus, as well as significant Kurdish diaspora communities in the cities of western Turkey and Western Europe. The Kurdish population is estimated to be between 30 and 45 million.
Kurdish is a Northwestern Iranian language or group of languages spoken by Kurds in the region of Kurdistan, namely in Turkey, northern Iraq, northwest and northeast Iran, and Syria.
Sorani Kurdish, also known as Central Kurdish, is a Kurdish dialect or a language that is spoken in Iraq, mainly in Iraqi Kurdistan, as well as the provinces of Kurdistan, Kermanshah, and West Azerbaijan in western Iran. Sorani is one of the two official languages of Iraq, along with Arabic, and is in administrative documents simply referred to as "Kurdish".
Kurdish is written using either of two alphabets: the Latin-based Bedirxan or Hawar alphabet, introduced by Celadet Alî Bedirxan in 1932 and popularized through the Hawar magazine, and the Kurdo-Arabic alphabet. The Kurdistan Region has agreed upon a standard for Central Kurdish, implemented in Unicode for computation purposes. The Hawar alphabet is primarily used in Syria, Turkey, and Armenia, while the Kurdo-Arabic alphabet is commonly used in Iraq and Iran. The Hawar alphabet is also used to some extent in Iraqi Kurdistan. Two additional alphabets, based on the Armenian and Cyrillic scripts, were once used by Kurds in the Soviet Union, most notably in the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic and Kurdistansky Uyezd.
The flag of Kurdistan is the flag of Kurds and was created by the Society for the Rise of Kurdistan in 1920. It would later, in different variants, be adopted as the national flag of different Kurdish states including Republic of Ararat, Republic of Mahabad and most recently by Kurdistan Region in 1992. Moreover, the Kingdom of Kurdistan used the crescent flag which was also considered a Kurdish flag.
Kurmanji, also termed Northern Kurdish, is the northernmost of the Kurdish languages, spoken predominantly in southeast Turkey, northwest and northeast Iran, northern Iraq, northern Syria and the Caucasus and Khorasan regions. It is the most widely spoken form of Kurdish.
Kurdish literature is literature written in the Kurdish languages. Literary Kurdish works have been written in each of the Six main languages: Zaza, Gorani, Kurmanji, Sorani, Laki and Southern Kurdish. Balül was a 9th century poet and religious scholar of the Yarsani faith is the first well-known poet who wrote in Gorani Kurdish. Moreover Ali Hariri (1009–1079) from the Hakkari region is one of the first well-known poets who wrote in Kurmanji Kurdish.
Kurdistan Region is an autonomous administrative entity within the Republic of Iraq. It comprises four Kurdish-majority divisions of Arab-majority Iraq: the Erbil Governorate, the Sulaymaniyah Governorate, the Duhok Governorate, and Halabja Governorate. The KRI is bordered by Iran to the east, by Turkey to the north, and by Syria to the west. It does not govern all of Iraqi Kurdistan, and lays claim to the disputed territories of northern Iraq; these territories have a predominantly non-Arab population and were subject to the Ba'athist Arabization campaigns throughout the late 20th century. Though the KRI's autonomy was realized in 1992, one year after Iraq's defeat in the Gulf War, these northern territories remain contested between the Kurdistan Regional Government and the Government of Iraq to the present day. In light of the dispute, the KRI's constitution declares the city of Kirkuk as the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. However, the KRI does not control Kirkuk, and the Kurdistan Region Parliament is based in Erbil. In 2014, when the Syria-based Islamic State began their Northern Iraq offensive and invaded the country, the Iraqi Armed Forces retreated from most of the disputed territories. The KRI's Peshmerga then entered and took control of them for the duration of the War in Iraq (2013–2017). In October 2017, following the defeat of the Islamic State, the Iraqi Armed Forces attacked the Peshmerga and reasserted control over the disputed territories.
The Kurdish population is estimated to be between 30 and 45 million. Most Kurdish people live in Kurdistan, which today is split between Iranian Kurdistan, Iraqi Kurdistan, Turkish Kurdistan, and Syrian Kurdistan.
The Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Turkey. According to various estimates, they compose between 15% and 20% of the population of Turkey. There are Kurds living in various provinces of Turkey, but they are primarily concentrated in the east and southeast of the country within the region viewed by Kurds as Turkish Kurdistan.
Kurdification is a cultural change in which people, territory, or language become Kurdish. This can happen both naturally or as a deliberate government policy.
Kurds in the United States refers to people born in or residing in the United States of Kurdish origin or those considered to be ethnic Kurds.
Kurds in Sweden may refer to people born in or residing in the Sweden of Kurdish origin.
Kurds in Germany are residents or citizens of Germany of full or partial Kurdish origin. There is a large Kurdish community in Germany. The number of Kurds living in Germany is unknown. Many estimates assume that the number is in the million range. In February 2000, the Federal Government of Germany estimated that approximately 500,000 Kurds lived in Germany at that time.
Part of the Bible was first available in the Kurdish language in 1856. Modern translations of the whole Bible are available in standard Kurmanji and Sorani, with many portions in other dialects.
Rudaw Media Network, is a major media broadcaster in the Kurdistan Region, Iraq.
Kurds in France may refer to people born in or residing in France of full or partial Kurds origin.
The foreign relations of Rojava are the external relations of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). The AANES, consisting of three regions, was formed in early 2014 in the context of the Syrian Civil War, a conflict that has caused the involvement of many different countries and international organizations in the area.
Kurds in the Netherlands may refer to people born in or residing in the Netherlands of Kurdish origin.
Kurdish-Islamic synthesis, or Kurdish-Islamic nationalism is a form of Kurdish nationalism which is Islamist in nature, unlike mainstream Kurdish nationalism, which is secularist in nature.
| Europe |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Middle East | ||
| South & East Asia | ||
| Africa | ||
| Americas | ||
| Persons | ||
| See also | ||
| Asia |
|  | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Europe | ||||
| North America | ||||
