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.
Contents
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
- Caucher Birkar, mathematician and professor at University of Cambridge
- Dlawer Ala'Aldeen, professor of Clinical Microbiology and head of the Molecular Bacteriology and Immunology Group at University of Nottingham
- Tara Jaff,a prominent contemporary Kurdish musician specializing in harp
- Saad Eskander, academic and researcher
- Houzan Mahmoud, women rights activist
- Nadhim Zahawi, the first British-Kurdish Member of Parliament[16]
- Shwan Jalal, footballer[17]
See also
References
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External links
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- Pages with reference errors
- "Related ethnic groups" needing confirmation
- Articles using Template:Infobox ethnic group with deprecated parameters
- Use dmy dates from May 2011
- Kurdish diaspora
- Ethnic groups in the United Kingdom
- British people of Kurdish descent
- British people of Asian descent
- Immigration to the United Kingdom by country of origin
- Muslim communities in Europe
- Articles with dead external links from October 2010