Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

I.
Prospect Heights library
documents Kurdish culture
.......,.,,~
.,..-
A newl,. established lib.
rory in Prospect HelghlS
seeks to live bade to one of
the earth's oldest, and now
disenfranchised. cultures a
small portion or ils Ian.
lUlle and place names-
~ stuff or which a culture is
mode.
'The Kurdish Library, situaicd
on Ihe parlor noor or a
brownstone al )45 P.. k Place
.. Underhill Avenue, is slowly
becomin, Ihe repoSl1ory rar
Kurdish books. costumes and
mapa. aU of whidI are i1lqa1 in
die c::ountries which now cJlJm
portions of KW'distan-a Wyomina
size area thai incl~des
easlern 1\Irl.cy, northern Syria
and Iraq and wcslrm IrUl.
Kurdistan has bffn warred
over ror «nluries, explained
lhe library's rounder Ven
BCiudin Saeedpour. and ilS
boundarÏC$ wne finally abolIS'
hed al tht end or World War I.
whm IS part or the Ottoman
Empire il was dIVIded by the
countries that now rorm the
m~n day Middle Easl. For
18 million Kurds. thear
mountainous. river h~n land
became more of a ClUseand I
state or mind th"n a country
Tribal and fiercely Independenl.
the Kurds have been
~Slnlln ußCOOrdll\aledre¥oIU
(or nearly a qUlrter of I century,
only to be IUprcued, intum,
by the Arabi, Persians and
1\Irlu.
Their mollo is "Have no
Fnends."
In Turkey. nine million
Kurds are subjected to imprisonmml
and lorture for war.
ina their OOICumesor spakina
their lanlulle: in Iraq, the
homeland or Ihree million
Kurds hiS become a waSied
balllc around; in Iran, fiYe million
Kurds arc rilhtinl the
Khomeini relime's errorts to
annihilate them.
Concern over Kurdish separatism
has been deep in TUrkC')",
ever slftce the Kurds revolted
alainst Ihe infanl republic or
Kemal Atahlrk in 192~.ln 1979
Iraq and Turkey alreed to
cooperate in supreSSlnl
Kurdish separatism 1ft thcl(
border areas.
Saeedpour caUed the Kurds
.4a people who have lived In the
same mounLllns ror perhaps as
many as 4.000 years. and have
th('lr own laltlUlle. hi~lory and
cùlture. Yet their e'liSlenee hI!
been dema! by the M,ddJe
East, and t~'ve been linored
by lhe Wes( 10 placale our od
and Slralellc mteresls."
nuee weeks ago the delermined,
enerlellc Saeedpour
opened lhe hbrary on lhe mam
noor of her brownstone in Ihls
quiel, Iree Uned rnidenllal
neiIIlborhood. On the mornl ..
of a vilkor's arrival, .... slained
..... windows dlll.oed • low
I,in. sun, baclrli.htin, (he
..,acinths and a larle silnr
lamavar that decorate Ihe
small yet ",nt room.
EnI...... color pholOll'aphs
- of lhe crallY. dun colored
land and c:hiIdrm in mulli-hued
costumes -dfcorale lhe walls.
AJonI"de the prints .re maps
d.lm,lo 1807 thai deline the
rormer boundaries or Kurdi~
lin.
Thrcc .lag cun display music.1
m~lruments. hand.loomed
('O'ilumes DI lnal hair rron:
soulhU'ilefft Turkey. velvel
drMscs from Iran.nd Iraq, and
l'laI woven Klhm rullS
Saccdpour said the Kurdish
books, Il'KKtor whkh are out or
print and musl t.r smu~.led
horn Ihe MuJdle Easl with
,real care and s«recy, arc slow
in arrivina. but she has already
filled two cases rrom the floor
to lhe 14 root C('lllfti.
Amona them is thr only alphabet
book published in
northern Kurdistan-mosl or
the copi~ W('fe conliscaled by
Turkish orrtcials and ilS aUlhor
was Imprisoned ror four
months; Schfurf Nand. a
history or the Kurds wrillen by
a Kurd; .nd A Road Thn*th
J(urdura". by Ihr en&lnccr and
scholar Archibald Hamllcon.
which Jlvn an In4epth look al
the Kurek,lheir culture,.nd lhe
ardors faced in buddin' a ro.d
°lhrouah • lind sr'il by moun.
tams and laced Wllh IoriO and
turbuleni nvets.
Despite the raet thai she I~lhe
.JWidowof Homm,youn 'iaeed.
pour. I Kurd who died of
leukemia in 1981, the S6 YClr
old Sacrcdpour Ir3l.;tsher IRter.
at in lhe Kurdish l:IUiC10 lhe
day when her husband showed
her the Odord Enlhsh
OIl:lionary's ddimtlon pr his
people.
1lle rrnowncd dldion.ry de.
fined the Kurd as "Oft( or. tin,
pasloral. and predatory people
in Kurdinan. " Saecdpour IR
turn round Il "stranllely lfome
lhat one can find no WnlCfn
dictionary in which any or the
peoples implicaled lA the
explail.lion or the Kurds are
charlClerizcd as 'pr«latory.... .
She said her newly lormed '1
co.nmitmenllO lhe Kurds was
boIsIered by the ract that u a
Russian Jew she is keenly aware
(hat" Jews. Armenians and
now Kurclshavcbetn murdered
simply hec.use or what they
are. To pUl economics and
IIralelic inlCTC'SUahead or the
defense or these people l'i 10
rorrell Ihe whole ralionale
behind condemninl the
Holocau"."
dl'i~ ~~~r~t;:.~~:a~:;
THE ARMENIAN WEEKLY 27.9.1986
Internationally Renowned
Kurdish Singer, Shivan Pewer,
Gives Performance for
Greater. Boston Armenians
Intern.otion ..Uy f..mous Kurdish singer Shi....n Pewer performing
S..turd ..y, September 20, 1986 ..t the new H..irenik
Building. .._ ._ •.• __ .
bus, Ohio and Or. Kajal, an an.
WATERTOWN, _MA_-I'"!t~rn~.:. thropologlst tram Sail. Diego,
tlonally famous KurdIsh na.• California. "',
tlonallstlc singer, Shivan The gathering, which tOOk
Pewer, entertained a gathering place Saturday evening,
of Armemans from the greater September 20, 1986, was
. Boston area dunng a perlar. organized by the Boston
mance which took place at the chapter of the Hamazkaln
fourth floor reception hall of Armenian Cultural Associa.
JIIe new Hairenik Building tlon. Jerair Garabian welcom-
Mr. Pewer was Joined by two ed everyone Qn behalf of
members Of the Kurdish com. Hama4tain. He thanked the
munit y "'Of Amenca. Mr. guests for their visit and con.
M~hamed Searv, from Colum. gratulaled the renowned
pli,hl ohht KUrLh,lHd obl:lm
cd r(cognltlon by Culllifai
Sur'll\lnl Inc .. I lIon-('Iro(11
OfJ.nIUIIl"l" fOllnded by
Inlhropolili't\ at l13r...ud
Uni\lcnlty .nd commltled 10
IM\urvival or'hreatencd ~IC'
lic< Saeedpour', mlllal .tInI' for
the lihrary, wlud't 1\ 110" llpC'n
ùllIy Il) l'lPIHHnlmcllr, i~ In
enlarar Ils lollc\.llon