Newroz and Kurdish Mythology: Fire, Freedom and the Defeat of Tyranny
Newroz, the Kurdish New Year, marks Kawa's defeat of the tyrant Zahhak. Discover the fire, the legend and why it became a symbol of Kurdish freedom.
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The archive
Kawa the Blacksmith: The Kurdish Hero Who Defeated Zahhak
Kawa the Blacksmith led the revolt against the tyrant Zahhak and lit the first Newroz fire. Meet the Kurdish hero behind the New Year and his legend.
Read article →Kurdistan: The Mountain That Fed the World
The Kurdish mountains (Taurus and Zagros) are at the centre of the Fertile Crescent — the origin zone of wheat, olive, fig, grape, and the pistachio genus. 151 articles documenting the Kurdish kitchen: the oldest continuous food culture in the Fertile Crescent zone. The mountain that fed the world.
Read article →The Kurdish Table at the End of the World: Food, Memory, and the Kitchen That Cannot Be Erased
The Kurdish kitchen survived suppression, displacement, and exile because food cannot be confiscated. One hundred and fifty articles document what the Kurdish mountains gave the world and how the Kurdish people carried their table into every exile. The Kurdish table does not empty.
Read article →Kellep aça: The Amed Dawn Soup and the Last Part of the Lamb
Kellep aça (kelle paça) is the Kurdish lamb’s head and trotter soup of Amed (Diyarbakır) — cooked overnight for 6–7 hours and served before sunrise to laborers and workers. Listed as a traditional Diyarbakır dish. The humblest expression of the Kurdish nose-to-tail tradition: büryan glorifies the carcass; kellep aça honours the head.
Read article →Karpûz: The Amed Watermelon and the Tigris Gardens That Grow It
The Amed (Diyarbakır) watermelon — karpûz — grows in the UNESCO-listed Hevsel Gardens along the Tigris and reaches 50 kilograms. Turkey produces 20% of the world’s watermelons, centred on Diyarbakır. A Kurdish brand internationally, celebrated at an annual festival since 1960. The sweetest fruit of the Amed summer.
Read article →Kurdish News Weekly: Eid Tourism, Rojava Representation, and the Peace Process Debate
This weekly Kurdish news roundup covers Kurdistan Region Eid tourism, Iraq’s armed-groups debate, Syrian Kurdish representation concerns, Öcalan’s call for a legal framework in Turkey’s peace process, human-rights pressure in Rojhelat, and renewed discussion of U.S.-Kurdish policy.
Read article →Tirêya Hov: The Wild Grape of the Zagros and the Vine That Fed the World
Tirêya hov (wild grape, Vitis vinifera sylvestris) grows in the Zagros mountains of Kurdistan Province, Rojhelat. Grapevine domestication began 6,000–8,000 years ago in the Taurus/Zagros/Caucasus zone. The world’s oldest wine evidence comes from Hajji Firuz Tepe in the Kurdish Zagros foothills (5,400 BC). Every bottle of wine in the world descends from this Kurdish wild vine.
Read article →Tirê Hov: The Kurdish Wild Grape and the Mountain Where Wine Was Born
Tirê hov (wild grape, Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris) grows in the Zagros and Taurus mountain forests of Kurdistan — the wild ancestor of all cultivated grapes. The Grape’s Fertile Triangle, where wine was born, is centred on the Kurdish mountain heartland. Genetic studies confirm wild grape populations in Kurdistan Province among the world’s most diverse.
Read article →Giya: The Kurdish Mountain Herbs and the Dried Pantry of the Zozan
Giya is the Kurdish mountain herb tradition — wild herbs gathered from the zozan highland pastures of the Zagros and Taurus, dried in shade, and stored for use in tea, stews, cheese, and winter cooking. Ethnobotanical research documents 54 wild plant taxa gathered by Kurdish foragers. The aromatic wing of the Kurdish preserved pantry.
Read article →Şekirklo: The Kurdish Sugar Candy and the Sweetness That Opens Every Door
Şekirklo (klo) is the Kurdish homemade sugar candy — caramelised sugar cut into cubes, often with sesame or walnuts, served with tea as the opening gesture of Kurdish welcome. In Kurdish hospitality, sweet things come first. Şekirklo is the first taste every guest receives, the smallest and most direct expression of Kurdish hospitality.
Read article →Helise: The Kurdish Wedding Wheat and the Cauldron That Takes All Night
Helise (keşkek) is the Kurdish wedding wheat — whole wheat berries and lamb cooked overnight in huge cauldrons, then beaten with wooden mallets at dawn until silky. UNESCO-recognised, specifically documented from Ağrı (Kurdish Agiri, Mount Ararat) and across Bakur. The final article in the Kurdish wheat trilogy.
Read article →Firik: The Kurdish Green Wheat and the Fire That Makes It
Firik (freekeh) is the Kurdish green wheat — durum wheat harvested young, fire-roasted so only the chaff burns, and cracked into a smoky, nutty grain. From the Kurdish southeast of Anatolia (Bakur), it is an ancient grain dating to 2300 BC, used in soups and pilafs. The companion to genim: same wheat, caught in the fire.
Read article →Saqez: The Kurdish Wild Mastic and the Zagros Tree That Weeps Resin
Saqez is the wild Kurdish mountain mastic — aromatic resin from Pistacia atlantica trees in the Zagros mountains of Rojhelat. Still an important commodity in Kurdistan Province, it is harvested as natural chewing gum, burned as incense at Kurdish celebrations, and used in traditional medicine. The Zagros wild pistachio ancestor.
Read article →Rob-e Hînar: The Kurdish Pomegranate Molasses and the Stew of Walnuts
Rob-e hînar (pomegranate molasses) is the Kurdish condiment made from boiled-down pomegranate juice — sweet-sour, dark, and intensely flavoured. Produced in the Kurdish orchards of Halabja and Horaman, it is the key ingredient in xorsht fesenjan, the great walnut and pomegranate stew of Rojhelat Kurdish cuisine.
Read article →Mîvanperwerî: The Kurdish Art of Hospitality and the Table That Never Empties
Mîvanperwerî is the Kurdish art of hospitality — guest-nurturing — expressed through food, time, and the table that never empties. It is the ethical foundation of the Kurdish kitchen: a guest must be fed, and it is shameful not to serve them well. The central principle of Kurdish food culture.
Read article →Fefil Salçası: The Kurdish Red Pepper Paste and the Rooftops of Amed
Fefil salçası (biber salçası) is the Kurdish red pepper paste — fresh peppers sun-dried for six to seven days on the rooftops of Amed each August. The bright red companion to the dark izot spice, it is the foundational condiment of the Kurdish Bakur kitchen, used in meftûne, kebabs, and countless dishes.
Read article →Şorba Nîsk: The Kurdish Red Lentil Soup
Şorba nîsk is the Kurdish red lentil soup — the most everyday and universal pot in the Kurdish kitchen, finished with somaq (sumac) and served with flatbread. Originating in Southeast Anatolia (Kurdish Bakur), it is eaten across all four parts of Kurdistan and is the first course of the Ramadan iftar.
Read article →Kanzar: The Kurdish Wild Mushroom and the Forests of the Zagros
Kanzar is the Kurdish wild mushroom — foraged from the Zagros oak forests of Bashur (Iraqi Kurdistan) each spring. Edible mushrooms and truffles are integral to Kurdish local cuisine; 17 species have been documented in the Kurdistan Region. The food that grows in the forest floor when the rains come.
Read article →Bih: The Kurdish Quince and the Fruit from Heaven
Bih (beh) is the Kurdish quince — known as the ‘fruit from heaven’ in Rojhelat, with its name meaning goodness. Used in Kurdish lamb stew (khoresh-e bih), prized quince reçel, and quince paste. The last orchard fruit of the Kurdish autumn, transforming under heat from sour to amber-gold.
Read article →Aşure: The Kurdish Noah’s Pudding and the Forty Neighbours
Aşure is Kurdish Noah’s pudding — wheat, walnuts, pomegranate seeds, dried figs, apricots and chickpeas cooked into a sweet pudding and distributed to forty neighbours during Muharram. Noah’s Ark landed on Mount Ararat in Kurdish Bakur; Kurdish communities have been making this pudding from the Kurdish pantry ever since.
Read article →Nanê Tirî: The Kurdish Nomadic Bread and the Morning Fire of Hakkari
Nanê tirî is the nomadic Kurdish flatbread of the Koçer herders of Hakkari / Colemêrg — baked on the same fire used to boil the morning’s milk, eaten with fresh cheese and butter in the highland camp. The bread of a people who keep moving.
Read article →Perde Pilavı: The Siirt Curtain Rice and the Secrets of the Kurdish Wedding Table
Perde pilavı is Siirt’s curtain rice — chicken and pine-nut rice baked inside a pastry dome, served at Kurdish weddings. The dough symbolises keeping the home’s secrets; the rice means fertility; the almonds represent grandchildren. The most symbolic dish in the Kurdish kitchen.
Read article →Hejîr: The Kurdish Fig and the Oldest Cultivated Fruit in Human History
Hejîr (هەنجیری) is the Kurdish fig — wild fig grows spontaneously in Kurdistan, and the fig is probably the world’s first cultivated fruit, over 11,000 years old. Named with the olive in the Quran as a sacred fruit, the hejîr connects the Kurdish mountains to the very beginning of human agriculture.
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