The Welat–Dewlet Scale
Identity beyond the nation-state
“Kurdistan does not exist” as a recognized nation-state. How, then, do you define who you are as a Kurd?
Zanyar Kurmanc (Urmiyê, Rojhilat) developed the Welat-Dewlet scale for this. This linguistic framework maps which forms of self-designation the political context allows. It shows the constant tension in our language between the bond with Welat (the homeland) and the coercive reality of Dewlet (the state).
The scale is about self-designation, not conviction: not how Kurdish someone is, but which word someone chooses for themselves.
The words on the scale change with your choice.
Three phases, two membranes
The scale runs from one pole to the other: from welat, where the state does not exist in language, to dewlet, where only the state remains. The nine forms of self-designation fall into three phases, separated by two membranes. A membrane is a tipping point: there, the relationship to the nation-state changes not in degree but in kind. Click a phase or a rung for the explanation.
Every other step is just more, or less, of the same. At these two points the boundary itself moves: first the state comes into view, then it creeps into the person.
The scale runs from one pole to the other: from welat (where the state does not exist in language) to dewlet (where only the state remains).
The nine forms of self-designation fall into three phases, separated by two membranes. A membrane is not a gradual step but a hard tipping point: there, the relationship to the nation-state changes not in degree but in kind.
Take, for example, the boundary between phase 2 and phase 3 (The Assimilation Boundary). The question here is not how you are, but where that word sits: on the map, or in your identity.
These tipping points move the boundary from the map into the soul.