"''Kurds'komu bratovi'' ( uk, Курдському братові, ) is an aesopian

poem Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

written by Ukrainian

Vasyl Symonenko Vasyl Andriiovych Symonenko ( uk, Василь Андрійович Симоненко; 8 January 1935 – 13 December 1963) was a Ukrainian poet, journalist, activist of dissident movement. He is considered one of the most important figures in ...

in March 1963 and disseminated clandestinely in

samizdat Samizdat (russian: самиздат, lit=self-publishing, links=no) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the document ...

until 1965 when it appeared posthumously in the German journal ''Suchasnist''. "''Kurds'komu bratovi'' has been described as one of Symonenko's greatest works and made Symonenko a national hero and one of the most important figures in

Ukrainian literature Ukrainian literature is literature written in the Ukrainian language. Ukrainian literature mostly developed under foreign domination over Ukrainian territories, foreign rule by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Poland, the Russian Empire, t ...

. The poem appeared during the height of the First Iraqi-Kurdish War in which the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

was involved. In 1968, an agricultural college lecturer named Mykola Kots was sentenced to seven years in camp and five years in exile after disseminating copies of the poem wherein the word 'Kurd' was replaced with 'Ukrainian'.

Summary

The poem has six

stanza In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian language, Italian ''stanza'' , "room") is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or Indentation (typesetting), indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme scheme, rhyme and ...

s and begins with a description of chauvinists invading the land of the

Kurds ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Ir ...

. In the first four stanzas, Symonenko addresses a Kurdish friend and encourages him to fight the invader and oppressor who aims at eradicating the

Kurdish language Kurdish (, ) is a language or a group of languages spoken by Kurds in the geo-cultural region of Kurdistan and the Kurdish diaspora. Kurdish constitutes a dialect continuum, belonging to Western Iranian languages in the Indo-European language ...

and the Kurdish people. By the end of the fourth stanza, Symonenko introduces the word 'our' and asserts that chauvinism and its deceits are the worst foes of both Kurds and

Ukrainians Ukrainians ( uk, Українці, Ukraintsi, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. They are the seventh-largest nation in Europe. The native language of the Ukrainians is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian. The majority ...

Analysis

Svitlana Kobets of the University of Toronto argues that the poem became "a symbol of national resurrection and resistance to Soviet oppression". When the poem was secretly disseminated, it became associated with the aspirations to liberate

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

from the

, and Symonenko's take on the Kurdish liberation movement gave the Ukrainian liberation movement a universal meaning. Symonenko himself asserted that historical parallels were needed because the common denominator was chauvinism, and argued that

would end up in the same situation as the Kurds regarding

statelessness In international law, a stateless person is someone who is "not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its law". Some stateless people are also refugees. However, not all refugees are stateless, and many people who are st ...

if they did not fight the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

regime. Nataliya Romanova points out the similarities between the writing in "''Kurds'komu bratovi'' with the poem "''Kavkaz'' (Кавказ) by

Taras Shevchenko Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko ( uk, Тарас Григорович Шевченко , pronounced without the middle name; – ), also known as Kobzar Taras, or simply Kobzar (a kobzar is a bard in Ukrainian culture), was a Ukraine, Ukrainian p ...

, arguing that by using Shevchenko as a prototext (source text), Symonenko echoed the sentiments of resistance against Russian rule which were prevalent in the works of Shevchenko. The inspiration is seen at the first

References

{{reflist 1963 poems Censored works Censorship in the Soviet Union Kurdish people Kurdish rebellions Poetry by Vasyl Symonenko Ukrainian anti-Soviet resistance movement Ukrainian literature

Summary

Analysis

See also

References