KOKTURK
ORHUN MEMORIALS
APPROX. 700 AD
SIMILAR MEMORIALS IN
YENISEY MAY BE THE
FIRST 
KURDISH MEMORIAL!!!

Memorial Stones of the first 
Turkish empire containing the
word "Turk" in its name. Memorial 
stones erected in Yenisey by the
Gokturks have the first reference to 
the word "kürt" (kurd)... 
The Kokturk glossary includes
500+ words used in Anatolian 
Kurdish dialects.

THE FIRST (?) TURKISH 
ALPHABET: RUNIC
KOKTURK ALPHABET
ALSO, THE FIRST
KURDISH ALPHABET?

As a part of the effort to drive Turks out of Anatolia, the West has undoubtedly done their best to create a fourth entity  in the region different from Turks, Arabs, and Persians; and consequently there has been intense academic interest for a long time, particularly during the 19th century. Basically, there has been an effort to show that Kurdish people are native to the region while "Turks" are latecomers to be driven out. 

Precisely, due to this effort, it is worth considering  the history of "Turks"... True enough, Chinese sources refer to Turks dating back to 1582 BC in Asia, and Turks are known to be involved in the founding of in excess of a dozen states or Empires.  As part of this long story, Turks have been in Anatolia  in overwhelming numbers for the last 1000 years.  There is; however,substantial findings that Turks have been in Anatolia since 4000-2000 BC. Sumer, Elam, Kalde, Guti, Urartu groups have been shown to have Asian roots. Ural-Altai languages such as Hungarian and Turkish share words with Sumerian...  Carved on tablets, we read about the 17 Anatolian kings joining forces against the Akadian king Naram-Sin, one of whom is Turki. Likewise on 13 tablets, we read about the Turukku tribes... The predominantly Turkish Iskit-Saka  states begin in 8th century BC, lasts a 1000 years and extends down to te Zagros mountains etc etc etc...On the other hand,  Korfman's findings (1999) even cast doubts on the Greek identity of Trojans who are shown to speak an Anatolian language, Luvi.  The point of the foregoing is not to identify the mentioned ancient civilizations as Turkish as they were more than likely conglomerates of many people.  Turkish history is too rich to need this kind of effort. The purpose is simply to point to the depth of Anatolian cultures, and to point out the absurdity of efforts trying to pin the  identify modern Kurdish people to such roots while ignoring the undoubtable presence of Turkish people in ancient Anatolia.

With respect to " feelings of belonging", and cultural groupings, the only criteria for who one is, is who one claims to be.  The Kurdish identity today does not depend on race or roots, but on a unity of culture and feeling. Nevertheless, it is a fact worth noting that Kurdish and Turkish cultures are almost indistinguishable. So much so in fact that except for perhaps the diversity of languages, it is impossible to differentiate between the Kurdish and Turkish cultures regardless of the parameters of culture one looks at - ie. songs, sayings, dances, foods, marriages, religion, remaining shamanistic beliefs, the 12-animals calender etc -- there seems to be a single culture.  This does not detract from the fact that, presently, there is an authentic  and identifiable Kurdish identity.

There are numerous theories -- none with much credibility and most politically motivated-- regarding the roots of Kurdish people. Some of them are that they are descendant from Karduk, Med-Scythian,  Karvetian, Guti, Hitites, Hurries, Mannai, Mittani, Subari, Nayri, Cyrti, Urartu, Lulu, Lur, Khaldi, Kassit etc.  While it is not very  fashionable in some circles, there is also a possibility that the roots of the Turks and the Kurds are one and the same. The word "k.ü.r.t" is found only in Turkish sources.  Kurds are not restricted to the Middle East, but  live and have lived on a very wide geographical area. However; Kurds are only found in regions dominated by Turks and Scythians (The Scythians are a group that consist primarily Turkish tribes) a geography that includes the  Caucuses, Afganistan-Horasan, Dagistan, Yenisey, Arabia, Altai, Hungary regions -- all locations where Kurds have been found... Until the 12th century, history has no record of a people referred to as "Kurd" or a region referred to as "Kurdistan" in Turkiye, Iran, Iraq or Syria regions EXCEPT  for the Turkish homeland in the Yenisey region, we find the first reference to the word "kurd"... According to Professor DeGroot's findings; the earliest recorded references to either Turk or Kurd with the EXACT CURRENT SPELLINGS go back to 700 AD, to the first monuments inscribed in runic Turkish; whereas, in the West, first references to Kurdish villages are around the 11th century but not in the Middle East. The 11th century  Kurdish villages are in the midst of Ongur (Hungar) Turks in Hungary... In the 12th century the Oguz Turkish Selchuk Sultan fo the first time refers to "Kurdistan" as an administrative unit in Iran. The word "Kurt" arrives in the MiddleEast with the coming of the Oguz Turks.

The inscription on the "Eleges" memorial stone (732 AD) found in Yenisey (China) bears --in the Turkish of that time-- "Men Kürt el-kanı Alp-Urungu..." or in current Turkish "Ben Kürt hanı Alp-Unrungu.", or in English " I, the Kurdish Kahn, Alp-Unrungu", and the name Alp-Unrungu is itself Turkish. Other memorials in Turkish from the same period, the Orhun memorials contain no less than 532 words (a large number compared to the available vocabulary) that are no longer used in Anatolian Turkish but are in current use in Anatolian Kurdish dialects. Turkish is the only language in which the word “kürt” has a meaning, and one of the 24 grandsons of Oguz Khan, the mythological founder of the Turks, was “Kürt”. 

In Eastern Turkey, the clan-type cultural organization has continued to the present.  According to the observations of Ziya Gokalp-- a famous theoretician of Turkish nationalism who is himself of "Kurdish" origin-- many are the Kurdish clans that have become Turkish—ie forgotten Kurdish… And many are the Turkish clans that have "forgotten" Turkish to become Kurdish. One example is the Turkan tribe members who unequivocally state that they are of “Turkish” origin in Kurdish… It is a well known fact that a portion of Avsars, Dogers, the Kalac, the Kiki, and the Karakeci are are a few more of the bona-fide Oguz Turkish tribes that have become Kurdified. 

None of this is meant to deny the modern Kurdish identity. To reitrate, with respect to " feelings of belonging", and cultural group identity, the only criteria for who one is,  is who one claims to be.  The Kurdish identity today does not depend on race or roots, but on a unity of culture and feeling. Kurdish Turks are just as much a part of Turkiye as Laz, Arab, Cerkez etc Turks. All are citizens of Turkiye with equal rights prepared to solve existing difficulties and move into a bright future. Turkish citizens, despite neighbouring trouble-makers or PKK will vote with ballots not with bullets. Is it not very obvious that Turkiye can handle any internal issues very quickly provided  Greece, Southern Cyprus, Syria etc would stop scratching the wounds of their neighbours?