Kurds in Turkey

Kurds in Turkey (Kurdish: Kurdên li Tirkiyeyê‎; Turkish: Türkiye'deki Kürtler) are the largest ethnic minority in the country. According to some estimates, they compose 15.7%-25% and by others 10%-30% of the population in Turkey. Unlike the Turkish people, the Kurds speak an Indo-European language. There are Kurds living in all provinces of Turkey, but are primarily concentrated in the east and southeast of the country, the region of Kurdistan.Massacres, such as the Dersim massacre and the Zilan massacre, have periodically occurred against the Kurds since the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923. In an attempt to deny their existence, the Turkish government categorized Kurds as ""Mountain Turks"" until 1991. The words ""Kurds"", ""Kurdistan"", or ""Kurdish"" were officially banned by the Turkish government. Following the military coup of 1980, the Kurdish language was officially prohibited in public and private life. Many people who spoke, published, or sang in Kurdish were arrested and imprisoned. Since lifting of the ban in 1991, the Kurdish population of Turkey has long sought to have Kurdish included as a language of instruction in public schools as well as a subject.Since the 1980s, Kurdish movements included both peaceful political activities for basic civil rights for Kurds in Turkey as well as armed rebellion and guerrilla warfare, including military attacks aimed at civilians and Turkish military bases, demanding a separate Kurdish state. According to a Turkish opinion poll, 59% of self-identified Kurds in Turkey think that Kurds in Turkey do not seek a separate state (while 71.3% of self-identified Turks think they do).During the Turkey–PKK conflict, food embargoes were placed on Kurdish populated villages and towns. There were many instances of Kurds being forcefully deported out of their villages by Turkish security forces. Many villages were reportedly set on fire or destroyed. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, political parties that represented Kurdish interests were banned. In 2013, a ceasefire effectively ended the violence until June 2015, when hostilities renewed between the PKK and the Turkish government over the Turkey–ISIL conflict. Violence was widely reported against ordinary Kurdish citizens and the headquarters and branches of the pro-Kurdish rights Peoples' Democratic Party were attacked by mobs.