MARC ID:	180.
ALTERNATE NAMES:	Mountain Turks
SIZE OF GROUP:	4,000,000
LOCATION:	Also in Iraq, Iran, Syria.
DISTINCTIVES:	Language, ethnicity.
SOCIAL CHANGE:	nr.
LANGUAGES:	Kurdish (Kurmanjiki or Zaza); Kurdish (Kurmanji). 55% bilingual in Turkish.
SCRIPTURE:	Kurmanji: New Testament 1872; portions 1856-1953. Work in progress. Kurmanjiki: No Scripture. Work in progress.
RECORDINGS:	None.
RELIGION:	Islam 95%; Secularism 5%.
CHURCHES & MISSIONS:	Syriac Evangelical.
OPENNESS TO RELIGIOUS CHANGE:	Somewhat closed.
RECEPTIVITY TO CHRISTIANITY:	Indifferent.
GROWTH OF CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY:	nr.

The Kurds are the third most numerous people in the Middle East and number about four million in Turkey. They have occupied the same area for 3000 years, an area that is now part of five different countries: Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and the USSR. The migration of the people in this area, disregarding established national boundaries, has kept them from assimilating with other nationalities and often contributed to their conflict with those national governments.

The Kurds are varied people. many are nomadic herdsmen, some are farmers; some engage in a variety of occupations in the cities. They have a tribal, kinbased socio-political structure, characterized by a distinction between nobles and commoners. The Kurdish language is closely related to Persian and is very important in Kurdish unity. "Kurdistan" is a beautiful mountainous land which includes the biblical city of Nineveh in the south and Mount Ararat in the north.

Turkish authorities have tended to deny that the Kurds have a separate ethnic identity. They are not called Kurds but "Mountain Turks, I for the government accepts no other 'nation" as living in Turkey except Turks. The Kurdish areas of Turkey are far less developed economically than the western provinces. There are far fewer vehicles and roads and almost no industrialization. Schools are poor and most Kurds do not speak Turkish.

Religion has a very important influence among the Kurdish tribes. About two-thirds of Turkey's Kurds are thought to be Sunni Muslims. The remainder are Alevi Muslims. There are also small numbers of Kurdish Yazabis who are adherents of a secretive faith combining elements of paganism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism.

The Syriac Evangelical Church is one of the few groups known to be working among the Kurdish people. Literacy training, effective translation, and distribution of the Bible are needed for the spread of Christianity. Marxism and the rugged and secluded area in which they live are the primary hindrances to Kurdish evangelism.

'Arabs! do not deny your excellence ... but Saladin who took the world was of Kurdish stock!" Even a young Kurdish country girl in Turkey can quote the 19th century Kurdish poet, Sheikh Riza Talabani, spokesman for the indomitably proud spirit of his kinspeople. Like most other Kurds, she is fair-skinned with dark hair, reserved with outsiders, but displaying a strong sense of humor among those who know her. Even today her people are mainly herdsmen since little of the Kurdish countryside has been industrialized. Even though in recent years some Kurds have gone abroad to study in western universities, they are still closely tied to their people through their social structures which are tribal, based on kinship and the Muslim religion.

Today's 10 million-Kurds form one of the world's largest 'nations,' yet they are without a country. They live in a kidney-shaped region with includes areas in Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and the USSR. Since the 12th century, the Kurds have been fighting to gain their own country, constantly in conflict with the governments of most of the countries they inhabit.

Almost 5 million Kurds live in Turkey where the government for years has refused to acknowledge their existence as a separate people group or the uniqueness of their language. Although national policies in the other countries where they live have been to assimilate them into the general population, the Kurds have proudly retained their own ethnic traditions and resisted blending with other groups.

Heavenly Father, send Your Light to these large numbers of Kurds who live in spiritual darkness. May they too join in the inheritance of the heavenly kingdom!

The officer marched the four young Germans into the cell then stepped out and locked the door. The men were being imprisoned for handing out Christian literature in the language of the three to five million Kurds in Turkey.

Not to be defeated, these courageous witnesses for Jesus began testifying to the Kurds with whom they shared their cell. one young man, there for political resistance, was argumentative. "Don't tell me about your Jesus! We have our own religion, " Ahmet would challenge them time and again. When brought to trial months latter, two of the f our Germans opted to go back to the Turkish prison rather than quit speaking about Jesus. "You tole the judge what?' exclaimed the young Kurd when they reappeared in the cell. "We said what the apostles said," answered Johann. "'Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to men rather than God, you must judge. We cannot but speak of Jesus.'" (Acts 4:20, 21).

Now Ahmet was ready to listen; he admired the Germans' conviction for truth which led them to sacrifice -freedom. "Tell me, how does a person become a Christian?' he asked. Soon Ahmet was asking God to release him from anger and fill him with Christ's joy.

Upon his release from prison, Ahmet sought his Kurdish friends. They all longed to have their own Kurdish nation and protested whenever they could against the Turkish government. But Ahmet told them about his discovery of true life. Since then, they too have begun to believe. Now a group of up to twenty Kurdish believers meet quietly each week for fellowship around the Word of God.

Father, we rejoice with the angels in heaven for these new believers among the Kurds. May the whole Kurdish 'nation' come to hear of Jesus.

'It's not a holy day nor a family feast. Then, why am I being kissed by my uncle?'" In late January, Kurdish columnist Gungor Mengi wrote this proverb, reflecting the surprise and distrust of Turkey's Kurds when President Ozal suddenly lifted the long-time government ban on the use of the Kurdish language. Speaking it, writing it, or publishing or possessing any Kurdish literature has long been a grave offense punished by stiff fines, prison or even death. The Kurds, a proud and independent mountain people, always felt the government was determined to destroy their culture. Why the sudden change? No wonder they were suspicious.

In Turkey alone, the Kurds number 12 million and make up almost one-fifth of the total population. Their 3000-year-old homeland also includes parts of Iran, Iraq and Syria where they are also persecuted in varying degrees. That is why they dream the impossible dream of having their own autonomous Kurdistan. In spite of government restrictions, Kurdish publications and protests have never stopped, and in the beautiful but impoverished southeast mountains of Turkey, Kurdish Marxist guerillas continue a dirty war with Turkish troops, with Kurdish villages ravaged by both sides.

Today, a few people of God, either so-called "tentmakers" or visitors with greater freedom of movement, bring the Good News to these oppressed Sunni and Alevi Muslims in their heartland. Although Turkish Kurdeistan has a higher response rate to Bible correspondence courses than the rest of Turkey, follow-up is harder than in western cities, where most Christian workers are concentrated.

Lord, prepare the hearts of the Kurds for Your love. In Jesus' name, raise up more disciplers, we pray.

'If we say we are Kurds, we die. If we say we are Turks, we die. The question is not of a Kurdish state, but of a free and decent life, I said Remzi. A leader of several Kurdish nationalists, he was explaining the problems of his people to his American friend, Bob, while they stood in the ruins of a Kurdish village in Turkey.

He continued, 'About 7,500,000 of us live here in Turkey today. In the 1920s, there was an attempt to form an independent Kurdistan. We have never been assimilated into Turkish life. Many of us are refugees from Iraq. Hatred an all-out fighting have developed between us and the Turks, here and even in Germany. Thousands have lost their lives. Our people have suffered pain, torture, death-squad murders, burning and mutilation. What can we do but to fight back? Our only hope is the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party). We are tired, Bob, but we cannot give up. I pray that Allah will finally hear the agony of our hearts and grant us justice.*

Most Kurds in Turkey are Sunni Muslims and closed to the gospel. They put their hope in violence against the Turkish government, and have even attacked Turkish government buildings in Germany. Translations of the New Testament in Kurmanji, the largest Kurdish dialect, is now complete, and thousands have been distributed, but not in Turkey. Christian witnessing is difficult among these Kurds.

Lord, we pray the Sunni Muslim Kurds of Turkey will open their hearts to You this year. May they know You as their true friend.

Childish laughter interrupted Nese and another young Kurdish woman as they talked. Nese glanced up at the three-year-old playing with a ball of thread nearby and smiled to herself. somehow he had managed to find fun even in the midst of a Turkish refugee center. Then she turned her attention back to the boy's mother, and the two continued the discussion Nese had begun about Jesus.

Although the 7,500,000 Kurds make up 14-19% of the population of Turkey, they have historically been oppressed. violent nationalistic movements on the part of the Kurds have given the government an unfavorable view of them. In fact, a few years ago, admitting that one was a Kurd was a crime punishable by three years in prison! The Kurdish tongues in Turkey, Kurmanji, Kirmanjki and Zaza, were finally legalized in 1991. There is a need for four translations of Scriptures for Kurdish peoples in Turkey.

Most Kurds are Muslims. Many follow the Alevi teachings, a mystical branch of Shi'ite Islam which gives very high regard to Jesus Christ. They have shown some degree of receptivity to the gospel. There are also 200 Christians among the Yezidis.

Recently a young Kurdish woman named Nese came to Christ and was discipled by Turkish Christians. Now she shares Christ with Kurdish refugee women and children. Because of the government's attitude toward Kurds, this is a very sensitive and potentially dangerous ministry.

Lord Jesus, please protect Nese and give her wisdom as she seeks to bring Your light to her people. Give these refugees an openness to the truth that Nese shares with them.

The nightmares began when Thomas was four years old and lasted for ten years. Every night he saw the bodies of his mother, other relatives and people he knew in his dreams. He was three- and-a -half when 77 people were killed by the Kurds in the church built by his grandfather. Missionaries had started churches in the mid-1800's in Turkish Kurdistan. Then starting 70 years ago, all the Christians and missionaries in that area were killed or forced into exile in other countries.

When he was ten years old Thomas was sent to America. As decades went by, .he had a new dream of seeing his church in Eastern Turkey reopened. When Millions of Christians were praying for the peoples of the 10/40 Window in October '93, his dream came true. At 82 years of age Thomas went with a few others to Turkey to pray, forgiving the Kurds and praying for their salvation in his boyhood church on October 10th! This is one example of prayers of fo , forgiveness stripping the enemy of his power and freeing Kurdish souls so they may hear and receive the good news of Jesus Christ.

This story is being written in November, as we are beginning to hear news from the prayer teams that went into each of the 10/40 Window countries in October. One team leader, who is a longtime worker in Turkey, writes, encouraging intercessors who prayed at home: "Never in my years of service have I found ministry in the Spirit so easy."

We praise You, Lord Jesus, for Your power at work through prayer. Let ancient and recent churches in Eastern Turkey be reopened and flourish in outreach to Kurds and the other peoples there.

"My fortune in exchange for these flowers," thought the man as he smiled and cut them for his wife. After gathering them and walking along the stream's edge, all he could smell were the many fragrances wafting through the air. The variety of colorful flowers danced with the cool wind before him. He remembered kissing his wife for the first time near this stream, and now his own daughter would soon be old enough to kiss for the first time. After daydreaming further, he scurried home to deliver the flowers. he placed them next to the radio, which his wife had recently painted red.

The Kurds love flowers. On archaeological digs, Kurdish laborers have been known to attach flower bouquets to their axes and picks, water trucks, and walls, and to themselves. Normally, these flowers clash dramatically in color with clothing Kurds wear, but they care little for such matters in light of the beauty of flowers.

Here in Turkey, the colorful attire worn among the nearly 100,000 Khurasan group resembles clothing found in medieval Turkey because these Kurds originated in northwest Iraq and Turkey, but fled during the bloody 16th and 17th centuries. The love of color itself probably originates from their respect of their colorful mountain environs, with its multi-colored rocks and lichens. The Khurasan tribe, as well as most Kurds of Turkey, speaks Bahdinani, the north Kurmanji dialect, the most common Kurdish dialect.

Father, thank You for creating this colorful people. Reveal to the Khurasan Kurds that they should be thankful to You, not only for the beauty of Your creation, but also for Your Son, Jesus Christ.