Faylis, Kurds and Lurs: Ambiguity on the frontier of Iran and Iraq. An overview of the literature.
Presented at the Third International Conference on Faylee Kurds,
Brussels, European Parliament, 12 April 2018
by: Martin van Bruinessen, Utrecht University.

Let me begin by thanking Akram Hawas for inviting me to this conference and insisting that I come although I told him I have never done any special research on the Fayli. What I am going to tell today is what I have found in the existing scholarly literature, with perhaps an
occasional observation or anecdote remembered from my days of research and travels in the region.
I shall briefly question the assumption behind the title of today’s conference: is it true that the Faylis are Kurds? In what sense are they Kurdish, and are all Faylis equally Kurdish? If they are Kurdish now, have they always been Kurdish, or have there been other possible identities? Since when have they been known as Fayli? What distinguishes Faylis from other Kurds (or Lurs, or Iranians)? Is the participation by some Faylis in the Kurdish movement proof of their Kurdishness? But then what if other Faylis decide that class or religious sect is more important than nationality and join communist or Islamist movements? Does that make them less Kurdish? Has disappointment in the attitude of the Kurdish parties (KDP and PUK) had an impact on how most Fayli define their identities? Is being Fayli an ethnic, a linguistic, a religious, a regional, or a political identity?. [1]