Median Empire As Forefathers of the Modern Kurds

The Medes were an people of Indo-Iranian (Aryan) origin who inhabited the western and north-western portion of present-day Iran. By the 6th century BC (prior to the Persian invasion) the Medes were able to establish an empire that stretched from Aran (the modern-day Republic of Azerbaijan) to Central Asia and Afghanistan. Today''s population of the western part of the Iranian Plateau (including many Persian-speakers Kurds and Azeris) consider themselves to be descended from the ancient Medes. Many people believe that Medes are forefathers of the Kurds For instance one of the well known Russian historian and linguist Vladimir Minorsky suggested that the Medes who widely inhabited the land where currently the Kurds form a majority might have been forefathers of the modern Kurds. He also states that the Medes who invaded the region in the eighth century BC linguistically resembled the Kurds. However This view was accepted by many Kurdish nationalists in the twentieth century. However Martin van Bruinessen a Dutch scholar argues against the attempt to take the Medes as ancestors of the Kurds