Kurds in Armenia

Ancient Medieval Modern The Kurds in Armenia (Armenian: Քրդերը Հայաստանում, romanized: K’rderë Hayastanum; Kurdish: Kurdên Ermenistanê Кӧрден Әрмәньстане), also referred to as the Kurds of Rewan[a] (Kurdên Rewanê), form a major part of the historically significant Kurdish population in the post-Soviet space, and live mainly in the western parts of Armenia.

[7] Kurdish tribes began to migrate from the south to the territory of modern-day Armenia, particularly onto the Ararat Plain, in the 18th century.

[9] Conversely, some Kurds, particularly in the former Kars Oblast, did not accept Armenian rule and joined in revolts by the Turkic-speaking population of Armenia.

[15] In 1937, during the period of Stalinism, many Kurds in Armenia and neighboring Azerbaijan were forcibly deported to Kazakhstan, other Central Asian republics and Siberia.

[14] With the outbreak of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the late 1980s, many Muslim Kurds fled Armenia together with Azerbaijanis, with whom they were connected by cultural, religious and often marital ties.

[18] In 1992–1994 the Kurdish minority of the Lachin and Kelbajar districts of Azerbaijan was forced to flee due to the Armenian invasion during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.

[19] According to Shakro Mgoyan, the director of the Center of Kurdish Research, the situation with Kurds in Armenia today is normal and there is not any open intolerance.

[27] Armenian poet Hovhannes Shiraz used the motives of Kurdish legend in his famous poem "Siamanto and Khjezare".