Kurdish and Turkish are two adjectives that are related to Kurds and Turks, respectively. These two groups of people are linguistically, culturally and ethnically different from each other. Kurdish people are an ethnic group in the Middle East, who are closely related to Iranians. Turkish people are a Turkic ethnic group and a nation that live mainly in Turkey. This is the key difference between Kurdish and Turkish. Kurdish and Turkish also refer to the languages spoken by these two ethnic groups.
What Does Kurdish Mean?
Kurds or Kurdish people are an ethnic group in the Middle East. They are linguistically and culturally closely related to the Iranians. Kurdish people mainly inhabit eastern and south-eastern Turkey, western Iran, northern Iraq, and northern Syria. These areas where the Kurds form a majority of the population is also known as Kurdistan. There are about 32 millions of Kurds living all over the world. They are the fourth largest ethnicity group in the Middle East.
Kurds speak the Kurdish language, which belongs to the Indo-Iranian language family. However, most of the Kurds are bilingual or multilingual, speaking the dominant language in the area they live in. Kurdish is considered as an official language in Iraq and as a regional language in Iran. In Armenia, it is a minority language.
Kurdish-inhabited area
What Does Turkish Mean?
Turks or Turkish people are a nation and a Turkic ethnic group living mainly in Turkey and speaking Turkish. Turkish minorities also live in areas that used to belong to Ottoman Empire. Turkish diaspora community also live in countries like the UK, Germany, France, Belgium, etc. Islam is the main religion followed by Turks; however, the constitution of Turkey doesn’t recognize an official religion.
Turks are the largest ethnic group in Turkey. Turkic peoples are originally from Central Asia and it is believed that they first arrived in the Middle East in the 7th century.
Turkish language, also known as Istanbul Turkish, is one of the most spoken Turkic languages. There are about 90 million native Turkish speakers worldwide. Turkish is written using a Latin alphabet, which was introduced in the early 20th century to replace the Ottoman Turkish alphabet.
Main subgroups of Turkish dialects across Southeast Europe and the Middle East.
What is the difference between Kurdish and Turkish?
People:
Kurdish people (Kurds) are an ethnic group in the Middle East.
Turkish people (Turks) are a Turkic ethnic group and a nation living mainly in Turkey.
Language:
Kurdish is the language spoken by Kurds.
Turkish is the language spoken by Turks.
Language Family:
Kurdish is an Indo-Iranian language.
Turkish is a Turkic language.
Geographical Area:
Kurdish people mainly live in areas that are roughly called Kurdistan – eastern and south-eastern Turkey, western Iran, northern Iraq, and northern Syria.
Turkish is people mainly live in Turkey and areas that used to belong to the Ottoman empire.
Writing System:
Kurdish is written either in Bedirxan alphabet (a Latin alphabet) or Sorani alphabet ( a Persian alphabet).
Turkish is written in a Latin script which was introduced 1928 to replaced the Ottoman script.
History:
Kurdish is associated with Kurdistan.
Turkish is associated with the Ottoman Empire.
Nation State:
Kurdish people have no nation state.
Turkish people consider Turkey as their nation state.
Image Courtesy:
“Kurdish-inhabited area by CIA (1992)” – by U.S. Central Intelligence Agency – Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection at The University of Texas at Austin(Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia
“Turkey Turkish dialects map (Main subgroups) en” By Photo Balkan – Own work (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia