Kurdish recognition of the Armenian genocide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdish_recognition_of_the_Armenian_genocide
Kurdish recognition of the Armenian Genocide and Assyrian Genocide is the recognition by the Kurds of their participation in the genocide of Armenians and Assyrians during World War I when Kurds, along with Turks and Muslim groups from various Caucasian tribes, attacked and killed innocent Armenian and Assyrian civilians and refugees. Throughout the Kurdish-populated regions, some Kurds participated in the genocide of the Armenians while other Kurds opposed the genocide, in some cases even hiding or adopting Armenian refugees.[1] Kurds in prison were given amnesty and released from prison if they would massacre the Armenians.[2]
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NOTE: to this day, Turkey denies their direction of the Armenian Genocide. And they practice much the same treatment on the Kurds.
Also Note: Not all Kurds are the same. There are distinct differences between Kurds in Turkey, Kurds in Iran, Kurds in Iraq and Kurds in Syria. Not only by nation but by tribal groups it varies. The practice a form of communalism. They bring government to the local level and each area can vary somewhat. Depending on the country they inhabit.
Kurds are not all Muslim (this is an issue for Turkey). The percentage of Christian, Yazidi, Zoroastrian varies a lot from country to country and region to region. There are pockets of high concentration of Christian belief within the Kurdish areas. Most are careful who they express that belief to.
It is a fact that Kurds and Armenians have a good relationship today.
I was pressed for time before, but now read all comments in this thread.
I know several Kurds. When I had a blog about Iran several years ago, quite a few were visiting and leaving comments regularly, especially for Kurd-related topics. As did a number of Israelis, Iranian-Armenians & Assyrians and Turks (from Turkey). The comments exchanged between most of the Turks and Kurds were most illuminating and often heated.
>>>”Also Note: Not all Kurds are the same. There are distinct differences between Kurds in Turkey, Kurds in Iran, Kurds in Iraq and Kurds in Syria. Not only by nation but by tribal groups it varies.”<<<
The key (historical) issues between Armenians and Assyrians, and the Kurds are:
1. The main culprit, historically & religiously speaking, for Armenian genocide and fuelling tension with Assyrians or Christians generrally, were the Turks, since before the Ottoman Empire.
2. Per Texas Fossil’s quote above, the Kurds are not and never been a single, homogeneous group of people. I mean that in its fullest sense. Although most are ‘officially’ Sunni-muslims (Christians and Jews are rare among them unless more recent converts), and most ethnically are “Iranic” & linguistically speak various *dialects* of the same Kurdish or “Iranic” language (a couple are very close to Persian language spoken in Iran), there is a Kurdish language called Zaza, which the Kurds only in Turkey speak, and it is much closer to Turkish than Indo-Iranian subgroup of languages.
3. As extension of point #2 above, different Kurdish groups hold different political ideology, ranging from ultra-Islamic (in Turkey, Iraq and Iran, but are in minority), to democratic-secular (mostly in Iraq, Iran & Syria - this is the largest group of Kurds in ideology), to more socialist such as PKK (mostly in Turkey - note their ideology has evolved over time - they were more communist leaning during USSR era).
4. During the Armenian genocide, it was only a small group of “ultra-Islamic” Kurds, who actually participated in the genocide, fuelled by Turkey and very much Islam-driven. Want to also note that these “Islamic” Kurds have fought other mentioned Kurdish groups, over the decades. Because the majority of Kurds are secular.
5. The reason KRG wants Christians and others to join and fight under the banner of Peshmerga is because, unlike Iran, Kurds do not and have not had a fully independent land or country of their own in modern history. The struggle and wars (with Assyrians too) has always been to acquire & retain their own land, not so much about religious ideology. Other than that, the Kurds have good relations with Christians and other religious groups.
Iran, OTOH, is a distinct, independent country, which has hosted a wide variety of ethnic, and religious groups (including Yazidis) for the past 2500 years. Most of whom are ethnically and linguistically Aryan (or I tend to call it Iranic).
The American public perception regarding the Kurds (at least in Iraq) is much more favourable, because they are promoted as US allies. The same goes for Afghan, Egyptian, Pakistani, Saudi Arabian, the Gulf states, and Jordanian regimes; none have a good human rights record, and almost all Islamic terrorists in the last 25 years have been from those countries.
The perception regarding Iran, OTOH, is that of the Mullahs regime, which isn’t a US ally - not the ordinary people of Iran, who rarely if ever engage in Islamic terrorism.
I agree with Solidwood when saying the American et al stance to nuke or bomb Iran and turn it into glass, especially after seeing rather unsuccessful US regime-change efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria, with so many innocent people killed, countries destabilised and destroyed, does not generate confidence in many Iranian expats and the ones in Iran (regardless of their ethnicity or religion) that ANY US administration will do the right thing in Iran.
After all, it was a US administration (and its European & Islamist Arab allies) who supported the Khomeinist (Islamic) revolution, and threw a former US ally (the Shah) under the bus.