Kurds in the United Kingdom

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Kurds in the United Kingdom
Total population
(50,000 (estimated))
Regions with significant populations
London, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow
Languages
British English, Kurdish, Turkish, Arabic, Persian, Syriac
Religion
Islam (majority Sunni, minority Alevi), Yazidi, Zoroastrian, and a significant number of Yarsan, Shabak, and Kurdish Christians
Related ethnic groups
Iranian people (Yazidis, Zazas)

Kurds in the United Kingdom may refer to people born in or residing in the United Kingdom of Kurdish origin.

History

Kurdish people first arrived to Britain in large numbers during the 1980s,[1] mostly from the disputed territories of Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Iran, Armenia and Syria), fleeing the suppression of their language and culture.[2]

Issues

Honour killings are also prevalent among the Kurdish diaspora in the UK [3] A well-known case was Heshu Yones, stabbed to death by her Kurdish father in London in 2002 when her family heard a love song dedicated to her and suspected she had a boyfriend.[4] Other examples include the killing of Tulay Goren, a Kurdish Shia Muslim girl who immigrated with her family from Turkey.[5] Banaz Mahmod, a 20-year-old Iraqi Kurd woman from Mitcham, south London, was killed in 2006, in a murder orchestrated by her father, uncle and cousins.[6] Her life and murder were presented in a documentary called Banaz a Love Story, directed and produced by Deeyah Khan.

Demography

According to the Department for Communities and Local Government, drawing on a BBC source, the Kurdish community in the UK numbered around 50,000 in 2002, among which Iraqi Kurds make up the largest group, exceeding the numbers from Turkey and Iran.[7] They have settled across the country including in major cities such as London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Glasgow.[8][9]

"Kurdish" is not one of the predefined tick-box answers for the ethnicity question on the UK Census, but respondents are able to write in their preferred self-designation.[10] In the 2011 Census, the number of respondents writing in "Kurdish" was 47,871 in England, 1,106 in Wales,[11] 844 in Scotland[12] and 20 in Northern Ireland.[13] The number of people in England and Wales that speak Kurdish as their main language was recorded as 48,239.[14] In Scotland, the figure was 924.[15]

Notable Britons of Kurdish descent

See also

References

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External links

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