On April 14, 2008, the Section of Kurdish Studies and Regional Problems of the Department of Near and Middle East of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences held a conference "110 years of Kurdish Journalism". It was attended by employees of the Institute's sector and a number of scientific institutions (MGIMO(U)). Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Institute of Market Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of the Middle East, etc.), representatives of the Kurdish community (Foundation for the Development of Kurdish Culture, etc.), Kurdish political organizations of Iraqi Kurdistan in Russia and the CIS countries (KDP and PUK), the Council of the Kurdish Regional National and Cultural Autonomy of Moscow, journalists of Kurdish publications in Russia and radio broadcasting Russian Federation in the Kurdish language, representatives of practical organizations.

Head of the Department of Kurdish Studies and Regional Problems O. I. Zhigalina opened the conference and gave the floor to M. S. Lazarev, who emphasized the relevance of studying the problem of Kurdish nationalism and its coverage in the Kurdish media, which is a channel of Kurdish ideology. In his opinion, it is important to analyze the accumulated material, understand what political program the Kurdish press offers, and understand whether Kurdish journalism plays the role of a political organizer that shapes the political climate. The Kurdish media always provide new information, being the mouthpiece of the Kurdish national movement. This raises a very important question, which has not yet been fully resolved - the question of the language of general Kurdish communication. M. S. Lazarev called the Kurdish press one of the main historical sources. It can be argued that the Kurdish media, based on the principle of freedom of speech (even if only in one of the parts of Kurdistan), is an important social force with real power. Forming public opinion, they have become a powerful means of influencing regional authorities.

O. I. Zhigalina in her report "History of the origin and stages of development of the Kurdish press" told about the history of the Kurdish press in 1898, when the Kurdistan newspaper was first published in Cairo by the Kurdish journalist M. Badirkhan. Domestic and foreign scientists (O. L. Vilchevsky, S. Edmonds, J. Jalile, Z. A. Yusupova, M. S. Lazarev, M. A. Gasratyan, Sh. Kh. Mgoi, A.M. Menteshashvili, M. Sapan, etc.), whose research is devoted to this topic, emphasized the educational significance of the Kurdish press and journalism in general. According to an analysis of materials published in the Kurdistan newspaper, it was mainly aimed at Turkish Kurds. It published articles on Kurdish literature and history, about prominent personalities of Kurdistan, military leaders. As a pioneer in its field, this newspaper laid the first stone in the history of Kurdish journalism. O. I. Zhigalina noted the great role of the best representatives of the Kurdish creative intelligentsia, such as Ibrahim Ahmed, Hazhar, Mukriani and others, and their contribution to the development of Kurdish journalism. She briefly described the stages of development of Kurdish journalism in the 20th century.

The birth of the Kurdish periodical press and the further development of journalism is connected with the issue of self-determination of Kurdistan. The problems of the history and culture of the Kurdish people, their literature, language and folklore are reflected in the Kurdish press. April 22 - the date of publication of the first issue of the newspaper-is celebrated in Kurdistan as the Day of Kurdish Journalism.

The problems of modern Kurdish journalism in all parts of ethnic Kurdistan were analyzed in detail in the report of N. Z. Mosaki (IB RAS) "Modern Kurdish-language mass media". He noted that the first modern Kurdish media outlets were established outside of Kurdistan. Now the center of development of Kurdish journalism is Iraqi (Southern) Kurdistan. This is facilitated by the semi-independent status of the Kurdish Autonomous Region (KAR), which it received after the overthrow of the dictatorial regime of S. Hussein. Over the past 10 years, large information holdings have sprung up there under Kurdish political parties (KDP and PUK), as well as in Turkish Kurdistan (under PKK) and Iranian Kurdistan (under DPIK). They include TV and radio channels, the publication of newspapers and magazines, and other printed materials. Electronic media, which is the most efficient source of information, has gained rapid development in the Kurdistan region. The expert also noted some shortcomings of the Kurdish media, largely due to the lag in the development of the Kurdish language, which does not fully reflect modern realities.: lack of quality-

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state-owned economic journals, lack of a law on mass media, etc. The speaker noted the important role of Kurdish television, emphasizing that the number of TV channels is growing in Iraqi Kurdistan, where the situation with freedom of speech is much better than in other parts of ethnic Kurdistan.

K. V. Vertyaev (IB RAS) focused on the analysis of the Kurdish media in Turkey. He noted that their development is uneven, which is due to the situation in Turkish Kurdistan, on the one hand, and on the other - to the policy of the Turkish leadership, which alternates cultural liberalization in Kurdish areas with a strict ban on Kurdish media, relying on the press law, which restricts information that undermines the country's security base or is associated with separatism. He described in detail the development of the media during the period of liberalization of President T. Ozal, when a lot of Kurdish legal printed materials were published. An influential newspaper, the expert noted, in particular, was the newspaper Svobodnaya Strana, which had its own website. However, at present, the Kurdish media are under the control of the authorities, who have banned many previously legally published Kurdish publications. An Internet portal covering events in Turkish Kurdistan was also closed. This is partly due to the fact that the entire South-East of Turkey is located in the media space of Iraqi Kurdistan, where the influence of Turkish media is limited. Therefore, Turkey intends to start broadcasting in the Kurdish language here. The country's authorities are trying to force the solution of the Kurdish problem, including by creating pro-Turkish Kurdish media outlets.

Reports were made by representatives of the Kurdish political parties of Iraqi Kurdistan in Russia B. Hoshavi (KDP) and Sh. Said (PUK).

B. Hoshavi spoke about the media of Kurdish political parties in all parts of ethnic Kurdistan, highlighting the role of the Habat newspaper, the organ of the KDP, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. At key moments in the development of the Kurdish national movement, the Kurdish media performed an important ideological and political function. They served as a tool to mobilize the masses for the struggle of Kurds for their national rights. B. Hoshavi noted that the development of Kurdish media in Syrian Kurdistan is very limited. The same applies to Iranian Kurdistan. However, the latter noted the liberalization of socio-political life during the tenure of the Cabinet of President Khatami. In Iraqi Kurdistan, Kurdish television now has 12 TV channels, and the Kurd 1 channel, created by the Kurdish Institute in Paris, will soon start operating.

About the state of the Kurdish media in Iraqi Kurdistan since 1992, Sh. Said, UC representative in Russia and CIS countries. He said that in recent years, the subject matter of publications has changed significantly: politics has gradually begun to give way to coverage of socio-economic, cultural and moral problems. Publications pay a lot of attention to criticism of local authorities, problems of corruption, social problems, etc. Such materials are published in six daily newspapers; a music channel has been created; there are 5 - 6 holdings engaged in publishing books, organizing international book exhibitions, etc., including Serdesh and Aras. Established in 1998, the Union of Kurdish Journalists, a member of the International Association of Journalists, plays an important role in organizing work and protecting the rights of journalists. KAR does not yet have a corresponding ministry. The draft law on mass media was prepared by the Government, but was rejected by President Barzani, who returned it for revision.

Sh. Said noted that some political groups are making attempts to use freedom of speech in their own interests. At the same time, for example, Al-Jazeera, which is banned in Baghdad, operates freely in Iraqi Kurdistan. At the same time, independent media outlets are emerging. The problem of language is very complex, since there are many dialects in Kurdistan. Therefore, the Kurdish media are working to bring the dialects of Kurmanji and Sorani closer to each other and make them understandable to all Kurds. There is another problem - the lack of an all-Kurdish channel.

Rasul Bashir Sabri, head of the Kurdish Language broadcasting department at the Voice of Russia radio station, shared his memories of working for the Khabat newspaper in the 1950s. In 1959-1961, Bashir Sabri was directly involved in the events in Iraqi Kurdistan. He worked as a proofreader and later as an editor of this newspaper. It was the first newspaper officially recognized by the Government and legally published, which played an important role in uniting the revolutionary forces of Iraq. It was distinguished by its democratic nature, and its co-operation with-

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For the first time, employees were not prosecuted by the police for political reasons. A significant contribution to the work of this publication was made by M. Ahmed, who wrote daily editorials to the newspaper, and political articles were written by J. R. R. Tolkien. Talabani M. Ahmed chose the most topical topics of general Kurdish significance, but in 1961 he was arrested, and the newspaper was closed. But it continued to be published illegally in Kurdistan. After the signing of the March Agreement in 1970, Habat was published in Iraq in Arabic. It served an important function of reducing social tensions between Arabs and Kurds. In the future, a similar task was assigned to the newspaper "Taahi"("Brotherhood").

Yu. Zh. Nabiev, Site Manager Kurdistan.ru He noted that particularly big changes in the Kurdish media have taken place over the past 10 years. If earlier reading newspapers was the lot of the elite, now thanks to electronic media, news has become available to a wide range of the population. If earlier the Kurdish press was published and distributed only by political parties, now in the context of the formation of a new society, a new information space, the problems of publishing and distributing the Kurdish press are becoming a thing of the past. The mastery of electronic media has brought ethnic Kurds in Kurdistan and the Diaspora in Europe and Russia closer together.

Editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Free Kurdistan" I. Miroev made a brief review of the Kurdish Soviet press. He noted the high quality level of publication of the Druzhba magazine, analyzed the problems of the newspapers "Ston Rodiny", "Voice of a Woman" and others. "Free Kurdistan", continuing the tradition of the first newspaper "Kurdistan", is published with the support of the Kurdish House operating in Moscow. This newspaper is published on 20 pages with a circulation of 2,500 copies and is distributed in Russia and some CIS countries.

The speaker highlighted the complexity of the existence of Kurdish media outlets in Turkey, where the government is shutting down opposition media outlets and seeking to ban the MTV television channel. The situation of the Kurdish press is similar in Iran, where journalists are harassed and repressed for political reasons.

Mikhail Osmanov, Chairman of the Council of the Kurdish Regional National and Cultural Autonomy of Moscow, made a report on the Kurdish media in Russia since 1991. Currently, a new magazine "Nourouz" has opened, and Radio Russia starts broadcasting in the Kurdish language.

E.'s report was also read out. Ekrema (Sweden)" On the 110th anniversary of Kurdish journalism", which contained some aspects of the history and current state of Kurdish journalism.

Summing up the conference, O. I. Zhigalina noted the relevance of its topic and prospects for further research.

The conference was widely covered in the Kurdish media of Turkish and Iraqi Kurdistan: in the newspapers "Azadia Welat "(in Yaz. Kurmanji, Turkey), " Kurdistan-noe "(in English. sorani, Iraq), sites www.netkurd.com, www.pukmedia.com (in English and Sorani), as well as in the news broadcasts of two television channels-ROZHTV and Kurd-site.

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