ABSTRACT
Kurdistan, and Sorani in southern Kurdistan, several sub-dialects and three different types of script, Arabic in Iraq and Iran, Hawar (Turkized Latin) in Turkey and Cyrillic in the Soviet Union. Three out of four Kurds are Sunni, the rest are mainly Shia (orthodox Shia and Alevi) and there are also some adherents of Yazidism (a melange of religions including Zoroastrism). Tribal cleavages and the fragmentation into five states further enhances divisions. However, the Kurds defy assimilation and the overwhelming majority still live in Kurdistan, the region they have inhabited for at least three thousand years.1
