On May 14, 2012, the annual conference on Kurdish studies - the third "Lazarev Readings" - was held by the Kurdish Studies and Regional Problems Section of the Center for Near and Middle East Studies. The conference was opened by the Deputy Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, head of the Center for the Study of the Near and Middle East V. Ya. Belokrenshky, who stressed the importance of holding this event, which allows scientists to share their achievements in the field of Kurdish studies. The second issue of the collection of readings is planned to be published. The publication of the first issue of the collection was timed to coincide with the beginning of the current conference. It contains three essays by a prominent Russian Kurdish scholar and historian, Professor M. S. Lazarev, as well as articles by his colleagues, young researchers and graduate students. The conference was attended by employees of the Kurdish Studies Sector, the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of St. Petersburg, representatives of Moscow research institutes (IMEMO, Institute of the Middle East), foreign participants and the Kurdish public, a representative of the Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party B. Hoshavi and employees of the website kurdistan.ru. In addition, reports sent by scientists from Krakow (Poland) were read out. The conference covered a wide range of issues of history, historiography, culture, language, economy, the current state of the Kurdish issue in West Asian countries, etc. The conference was opened with a report by a prominent Kurdish scholar from the St. Petersburg Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, Z. A. Yusupova, in which she drew attention to the problem of Kurdish identity that is currently being discussed by world science. Z. A. Yusupova noted that the self-identification of modern Kurds is connected not only with the name of the tribes and the area of their residence. It is often associated with the name of a dialect, s ... Read more