Blincoe, Bob — Kurdish People: Their Struggle to Keep Their Homeland
In this 1997 edition of Radio Curious, we visited with Bob Blincoe, a Presbyterian minister, who lived and worked among the Kurds in the Zagros Mountains from 1990 to 1996.
The Kurdish people have long been aptly referred to as a “millet.” This is a Turkish term that originated in the Ottoman Empire when it ruled parts of central Europe to the near east from 1430 to 1921. It means “any ethnic group.” Until the 20th century millets, were able to control their way of life and effectively rule themselves. Now approximately 25 million Kurdish people live in the Zagros Mountains, where the borders of eastern Turkey, northern Iraq, and northwestern Iran converge. These Kurdish people live stateless and many homeless in their ancestral homeland. Currently they have been able to successfully defend themselves from brutal ISIS attacks.
When Bob Blincoe lived among the Kurds and worked as a community organizer in their ancestral homeland he first spoke Arabic, so he wouldn’t stand out. He quickly learned Kurdish which he spoke only with great discretion. His stories of the Kurdish people are important to consider now in light of terrorism and other dangers inflicted against them.
When Bob Blincoe and I visited in the studios of Radio Curious in the spring of 1997, we began our conversation when I asked him to describe the Zagros Mountains where so many Kurdish people live.
The book Bob Blincoe recommends is “A Peace to End All Peace,” by David Fromkin.
This program was originally broadcast in May 1997.
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