Kurmanji

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Kurmanji (Kurdish: Kurmancî, also called Bahdini in Iraq and Shikaki in Iran) is the major Kurdish dialect spoken in Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, the ex-Soviet states and by Kurds living in Central Asia. Vast majority of the 40 million Kurds in the world speak this dialect. It is the only dialect spoken in all four parts of Kurdistan. Kurmanji is an Indo-European language.

In Turkey: 90% of the Kurds living there.
- Except for the regions of [some parts of Elazığ, Bingöl and Dêrsîm].
In Syria: All (100%) the Kurds there.
In Iraq: 45% of the Kurds in Iraq.
- In the region of Badinan (cities of [Duhok, Zakho, Amedi, Sinjar, Akre, Barzan and in Mosul, Kurmanji is spoken.

In Iran, 40% of the Iranian Kurds in cities such as Urmia, Maku, Khoy and as well as Kurds living in Khorasan province speak Kurmanji.
In Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan, Russia: All the Kurds
In Lebanon: All the Kurds there.
In Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and other Central-Asian states. All Kurds

Kurmanji dialect which uses the Latin Script is the most common dialect of the Kurdish language and spoken by 80% of all Kurds. The Latin script in which Kurdish is written in Kurdistan of Turkey and Syria, as well as in exile communities in Europe and the United States, Canada and Australia is based on Jaladet Bedirkhan's (Celadet Bedirxan) alphabet.

[edit] See also

Southern Kurdish

In Kurdistan of Iraq (south Kurdistan), Soranî (Southern Kurdish) is spoken by around 15 percent of the Kurds, which makes up around 6 million people.