Magin_Edward-thesis

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translations, I have provided a brief grammar sketch of Northern Kurdish in Chapter 4.
Chapter 5 is the analysis of the corpus. In Chapter 6, I apply what has been learned from
the analysis to the matter of translation. In the concluding remarks, I also raise questions
concerning future study on the subject.
1.2 Historical overview
One popular myth about the Kurds’ beginning says that, “Centuries ago, Solomon
threw 500 of the magical spirits called jinn out of his kingdom and exiled them to the
mountains of the Zagros. These jinn first flew to Europe to select 500 beautiful virgins as
their brides and then went to settle in what became known as Kurdistan” (Kahn 1980:xi).
According to many historians, however, the Kurdish people are descendents of the
Medes, who during the sixth century B.C. built an empire (Lawrence 2008:11). Whatever
their beginnings, the Kurds are an ancient people who have lived in their homeland since
before recorded history.
After Mohammed’s death in 632 A.D, Abu Bakir, the first caliph, began his
campaign against the Byzantines, Sassanians, and other ruling empires within the area of
Mesopotamia. By 637 the Arab armies reached the Kurdish area. By 644 the Kurdish
leaders, who had joined the Sassanian resistance, began succumbing to the new religion,
Islam (McDowall 2005:21).
At the start of the nineteenth century, the Ottoman and Safavid empires ruled the
Kurdish area. Once Turkey was defeated in World War I, each non-Turkish minority
expected to achieve statehood, as Woodrow Wilson’s “Programme of the World’s Peace”
stated that each group should be “assured of an absolute unmolested opportunity of
autonomous development” (Short and McDermott 1975:7). However, after the Treaty of
Sèvres was signed in 1920 by the Sultan and the Allies, it was never affirmed by the
Turkish National Assembly. The Treaty of Lausanne was signed in 1923 without the
mention of an independent Kurdistan, and the international community has never again
reevaluated the issue (Short and McDermott 1975:7).