The Kurdish Institute of Paris (; ), founded in February 1983 by (amongst others) film producer

Yılmaz Güney Yılmaz Güney (' Pütün; 1 April 1937 – 9 September 1984) was a Turkish film director, screenwriter, novelist, actor and communist political activist. He quickly rose to prominence in the Turkish film industry. Many of his works were made f ...

and poet

Cigerxwîn Cigerxwîn or Cegerxwîn (, ; 1903 – 22 October 1984) was a Kurdish writer and poet. He is known to be one of the most influential Kurdish writers and poets in the Kurdistan region of the Middle East, and his work has been renewed for the cre ...

, is an organisation focused on the

Kurdish language Kurdish (, , ) is a Northwestern Iranian languages, Northwestern Iranian language or dialect continuum, group of languages spoken by Kurds in the region of Kurdistan, namely in southeast Turkish Kurdistan, Turkey, northern Iraqi Kurdistan, Ira ...

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

, and

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

. It is one of the principal academic centers of the Kurdish language in Europe. Its main publications include the linguistic journal ''Kurmancî'', a monthly press review about Kurdish issues titled ''Bulletin de liaison et d'information'' (Bulletin of Contact and Information), and ''Études Kurdes'', a research journal in French. Most of the institute's activities are focused on the

Kurmanji Kurmanji (, ), also termed Northern Kurdish, is the northernmost of the Kurdish languages, spoken predominantly in southeast Turkey, northwest and northeast Iran, northern Iraq, northern Syria and the Caucasus and Khorasan regions. It is the ...

dialect of Kurdish. The institute has a library preserving thousands of historical documents, pamphlets and periodicals about

Kurds Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...

. Two representatives from the French Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Culture provide the link between the institute and the

government of France The Government of France (, ), officially the Government of the French Republic (, ), exercises Executive (government), executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister of France, prime minister, who is the head of government, ...

. The institute is headed by Kendal Nezan as president, with

Abbas Vali Abbas Vali (born 1949) is an Iranian political and social theorist specialising in modern and contemporary political thought and modern Middle Eastern Politics. Biography Vali was born in 1949 in Mahabad, Iran. He obtained a BA in Political Scien ...

(

Swansea University Swansea University () is a public university, public research university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. It was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. In 1996, it chang ...

) and Fuad Hussein (

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, ) is a public university, public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities, it is the fourth-oldest academic institution in the Netherlan ...

) as vice presidents.

''Kurmancî''

is a linguistic magazine published twice a year since 1987 to spread the results of the Kurdish Institute's linguistic seminars on problems of terminology and standardisation of the Kurdish language. All issues of this periodical are available on the publisher's website, as is the Kurdish–French–English–Turkish index of the first twenty issues. The name is a Kurdish spelling of the name of the most widely spoken dialect of the Kurdish language, Kurmanji.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1983 establishments in France Diaspora organizations in France Kurdish culture in France Kurds in France Kurdish organisations Organizations based in Paris Research institutes established in 1983