Kurds in Lebanon

Kurds in Lebanon refers to people born in or residing in Lebanon who are of Kurdish origin. Estimates on the number of Kurds in Lebanon prior to 1985 were around 60,000.[2] Today, there are tens of thousands of Kurds in Lebanon, mainly in Beirut.[3]

Kurds in Lebanon
Total population
60,000[1]
Regions with significant populations
Beirut
Languages
Kurdish and Arabic
Religion
Majority: Islam (Sunni, Shia) Minority: Christianity (Maronite Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Armenian Apostolic Church)
Related ethnic groups
Kurds

History

Most Kurds in Lebanon have come in recent decades, but the Kurdish community of Lebanon dates back to the 12th century, when Lebanon was ruled by the Kurdish Ayyubid dynasty.[4] The Ottomans also sent loyal Kurdish families to modern-day Syria and Lebanon, where they got administrative roles.[4] These Kurdish groups settled in and ruled many areas of Lebanon for a long period of time.[5]:27

The first modern wave of Kurdish immigration to Lebanon was in the period of 1925-1950 when thousands of Kurds fled violence and poverty in Turkey.[6] The second wave of Kurds entered in the late 1950s and early 1960s, most of whom fled from political repression in Syria and Turkey.[4] During the early 1990s, the Lebanese government destroyed many squatter quarters in Beirut, where many Kurds lived, leading to the emigration of nearly one quarter of Lebanon's Kurdish population.[4]

During the Lebanese Civil War, Kurds fought for the Lebanese National Movement.[7]

Current status

As of 2012, around 40% of all Kurds in Lebanon do not have Lebanese citizenship.[4]

gollark: How helpful. I TOTALLY want to click a link to see the definition.
gollark: ddg! gi
gollark: Explain.
gollark: You are three (3) crows.
gollark: It bundles the code in a shell script along with the entire tcc binary, and when run the shell script compiles and runs your code at hardcoded paths in /tmp.

See also

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-12-05. Retrieved 2014-03-09.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "People: Information & Library Science: Indiana University" (PDF). Retrieved 13 November 2014.
  3. Historical Dictionary of Lebanon - Page 125 by Asʻad AbuKhalil
  4. "Kurds in Lebanon endure poverty, grapple with assimilation". Retrieved 13 November 2014.
  5. Lokman I. Meho; Kelly L. Maglaughlin. Kurdish Culture and Society: An Annotated Bibliography.
  6. A Modern History of the Kurds - Page 485 by David MacDowall
  7. "Kurds in Lebanon endure poverty, grapple with assimilation". Ekurd.net (via The Daily Star Lebanon). 9 February 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.