Asia, especially the Mideast, is home to diverse ethnic groups. Arabs and Kurds are some of these cultural groupings. Southwestern Asia is home to these ethnic communities.
A descriptive table is also given to aid in the comparison and understanding of how various ethnic groupings function and thrive.
Key Takeaways
- Kurds are an ethnic group primarily residing in the Kurdistan region, which spans parts of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria.
- Arabs are an ethnic group originating from the Arabian Peninsula and now spread across various countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
- The Kurdish language belongs to the Indo-European family, while the Arabic language is Semitic.
Kurds vs Arabs
Kurds, also called Kurdish people, are an Iranian ethnic group that is native to Kurdistan in Western Asia, but they can be found in Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria. Arabs, or the Arab people, are an ethnic group that inhabits the Arab Peninsula in North Africa and Western Asia. All Arabs are Semites.
Kurd is a race or ethnicity that lives in the Mountain Range of southeast Turkey, the Zagros Hills of modern-day Iran, parts of northern Iraq, southeastern Syrian territories, west Armenia, and other nearby locations.
The term has distinct overtones in Iran and Iraq: Iran’s western region of Kurdistan and Iraq’s Kurdish independent territory are both legally recognized internal organizations by this term. A large nonadjacent Kurdish community also occurs in Iran’s northwestern Khorasan area.
Semitic people of the Middle East before the introduction of Islam included the Arabic dialect. In current usage, it refers to any Arabic-speaking persons residing in the wide territory extending from Senegal on Africa’s East Coast to southern Iran, which includes the whole Maghreb region of Northern Africa, Egypt and Sudan borders, the Arabian Peninsula, as well as Iraq.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | Kurds | Arabs |
|---|---|---|
| Area | Kurdistan- an imaginary state that covers parts of Iran, Iraq, Turkey and the borders of Syria. | Arabian Peninsula Countries like UAE and Dubai. |
| Origin | Kurds are a diverse group of people of Median, Semitic, Turkic, and Armenian ancestry. | All Arabs are Semites. |
| Mother Tongue | Kurdish language, Sorani and Arabic. | Arabic (Old and Modern) |
| World Population | 30 – 45 Million | 423 Million |
| Religions | Islam, Judaism and Christianity. | Islam |
What are Kurds?
Even though the Kurds are the world’s biggest ethnic minority without even a state—they are largely split among Ankara, Iraq, Syria, and Assad and have frequently played crucial roles in US foreign affairs.
In northern Syria, the Kurds established their own independent, secular nation as they fought back against the Islamic State. In October 2019, meanwhile, US President Donald Trump ordered the departure of US forces from the Syrian-Turkish border, paving the way for the Turkish army to assault the Kurds.
Conflicts between ethnic communities occur in such areas as a result of this.
The Kurds were forced to seek a Kurdish settlement as a result of the violence. Kurdistan, which translates as “land of the Kurds,” was subsequently coined. There is no Kurdish nation-state as of yet.
What are Arabs?
Arabs, known as Arabian people, are an ethnic group that mostly inhabits the Arabian peninsula, primarily in Southwest Asia and North Africa. In the Americas, Continental Europe, Sumatra, Turkey, and Persia, an Arab diaspora has developed itself in considerable numbers.
The theological force that linked the desert sustenance nomads—the Bedouins—with the urban inhabitants of the oasis was Islamic, which arose on the west-central Arab Peninsula in the late 7th century.
As a consequence of the fast establishment of Islam’s authority in those countries, Arabic, the dialect of the Islamic holy text (the Quran), was embraced over most of the African Region.
The bulk of Arabs still lives in tiny, secluded agricultural communities where conservative values and vocations predominate, notably women’s subordination and house isolation (purdah).
Main Differences Between Kurds and Arabs
- Kurd’s origins include Medes, Semitism, and Armenians, whereas the Arabs are Semitic and of one origin only.
- Kurds have a vague motherland, namely, Kurdistan, which is not a recognized state, whereas Arabs reside in UAE and Middle-East Peninsula, which are recognized states.
- https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29702440
- https://www.africa.upenn.edu/K-12/Who_16629.html
Last Updated : 13 July, 2023
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Piyush Yadav has spent the past 25 years working as a physicist in the local community. He is a physicist passionate about making science more accessible to our readers. He holds a BSc in Natural Sciences and Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Science. You can read more about him on his bio page.
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