History & Culture

© Charles Roffey, Flickr

© Charles Roffey, Flickr

The Kurdish people quite literally live and die by the geography and politics surrounding the Kurdish region. Historically located at the intersection of Syria, Turkey, Iran and Iraq, the Kurdish people have had to fight to maintain their culture for centuries.

Kurdish History & Culture

An old Kurdish adage states that the Kurds have “No Friends But the Mountains,” and for much of their history, the Kurds have found refuge in the surrounding mountains as their primary form of defense against external threats.

After losing the opportunity for statehood during the post-WWI Paris Peace Conference of 1920, the Kurds now exist as an ethnic minority spread out between Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran, and strive to maintain a culture that has been rapidly absorbed by their host countries.

Borne from a long history of strife, Kurdish culture places value on individual freedoms. Whether it be overt religious tolerance, strides towards equality in the status of women, or democratic government, Kurdish culture values individual life and has fiercely defended its ability to live free from external rule.