Batman (Êlih): Oil, Migration and the History of a Growing City
Batman grew around İluh, oil production and the railway. Its history also includes Kurdish social change, displacement and the transformed heritage of its province.
Read article →Kurdish History Journal
Kurdish History and Resilience
Articles filed under Kurdish History and Resilience.
Paveh (Pawe): Kurdish Town of the Hawraman Highlands
Paveh (Pawe), the Kurdish town of the Hawraman highlands in western Iran — famed for its terraced stone architecture and the UNESCO-listed cultural landscape of Uramanat.
Read article →Şırnak (Şirnex): The Kurdish City Beneath Mount Cudi
Şırnak (Şirnex), the Kurdish city in the Botan mountains of south-eastern Turkey — beneath Mount Cudi, the Quranic resting place of Noah’s Ark.
Read article →Akre (Akrê): Old Town, Community History and Newroz
Akre’s mountainside houses and Newroz torches are familiar Kurdish cultural images. Local research, a community letter and a church survey also reveal a town with a layered history beyond the festival.
Read article →Siirt (Sêrt): Languages, Learning and the City’s Historic Landmarks
Siirt, known in Kurdish as Sêrt, is a provincial capital linking the Mesopotamian plains with the eastern Anatolian uplands. Its history can be traced through changing rulers, Kurdish and Arabic writing and speech, Christian scholarship, religious architecture and goat-hair weaving.
Read article →Hasakah (Hesîçe): Jazira, Water and a Changing City
Hasakah, called Hesîçe in Kurdish, is a city in northeastern Syria and the administrative centre of the governorate bearing its name. Its history connects the Khabur basin, twentieth-century urban growth and the experiences of Kurdish, Arab and Christian communities. Recent accounts also need to distinguish the city from its much larger province and to date changes in political control.
Read article →Ağrı (Agirî): Mount Ararat and the Ararat Rebellion
Ağrı (Agirî), the Kurdish province of Mount Ararat — Çiyayê Agirî — home to the 1930 Ararat Rebellion and the tomb of Ehmedê Xanî, poet of Mem û Zîn.
Read article →Hakkari (Colemêrg): The City, Emirate and Peoples of the Mountain Region
Hakkari, known in Kurdish as Colemêrg, is both a provincial capital and the name of a wider historical mountain region. Its history connects Kurdish rulers, Assyrian communities, religious education, carved stone monuments and the changing Cilo landscape.
Read article →Cizre (Cizîra Botan): Tigris Trade, Kurdish Literature and a Contested History
Cizre’s history joins river trade, the rulers of Botan, Kurdish poetry and surviving monuments. Its nineteenth-century conflicts and the violence of 2015–2016 also require attention to the experiences of civilians.
Read article →Afrin (Efrîn): The Kurdish Olive Country of Rojava
Afrin (Efrîn), the Kurdish city and olive country of north-west Rojava in Syria — its people, the ancient Ain Dara temple, and the 2018 occupation and displacement.
Read article →Kermanshah (Kirmaşan): Kurdish Language, City History and Ancient Monuments
Kermanshah’s history connects Kurdish and Persian urban life, the Zagros trade corridor, Taq-e Bostan and the nearby Bisotun inscription.
Read article →Khanaqin (Xaneqîn): A Kurdish City in Iraq’s Disputed Territories
Khanaqin (Xaneqîn), a Kurdish-majority city in Iraq’s disputed territories near the Iranian border — its Arabization under Saddam, the Alwand River, and Article 140.
Read article →Duhok: A Valley City, Bahdinan History and the Maltai Reliefs
Duhok, or Dihok, is the capital of Duhok Governorate in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Its history connects a growing valley city with Bahdinan, Assyrian rock reliefs, modern administration, higher education and the wider governorate’s experience of displacement.
Read article →Van (Wan): Kurdish City of Lake Van and Ancient Tushpa
Van (Wan), the Kurdish city on Lake Van’s eastern shore in eastern Turkey — ancient Tushpa and Urartu, Van Castle, the Armenian past, and the Van cat.
Read article →Urfa (Riha): Edessa’s History, Sacred Pools and Living Music
Urfa, officially Şanlıurfa and also known as Riha, brings together the history of ancient Edessa, Syriac literature, Islamic sacred places and a living musical culture. Nearby Neolithic archaeology belongs to a much earlier regional history, while the city’s Christian past also includes persecution and loss.
Read article →Tunceli (Dersim): The Kurdish Alevi Region and the 1937–38 Massacre
Tunceli, known as Dersim — the Kurdish Alevi region of eastern Turkey and the site of the 1937–38 Dersim Massacre: its history, disputed death toll, and memory.
Read article →Tatvan: Lake Van’s Port, Rail Ferries and Historic Landscape
Tatvan, on Lake Van’s western shore in Bitlis province, developed around routes linking land and water. Its history includes an older harbour, modern shipping facilities and a wider landscape of religious buildings and volcanic lakes.
Read article →Urmia / Wirmê: Monuments, Multilingual Print and Wartime Displacement
Urmia, the capital of Iran’s West Azerbaijan province, has a history of medieval architecture, reform newspapers and Assyrian publishing. War and displacement disrupted these networks; the nearby lake adds a separate environmental history.
Read article →Marivan: Kurdish Language, Lake Zrêbar, Craftsmanship and Life near the Border
Marivan, or Merîwan, is a Kurdish city in Iran’s Kurdistan province near the Iraqi frontier. Research on its surrounding plain, lake, urban spaces and cultural institutions reveals a place shaped by settlement, local craft, public performance and cross-border connections.
Read article →Kobani: Siege, Civilian Losses and Reconstruction
Kobanê, or Ayn al-Arab, is a predominantly Kurdish city on Syria’s border with Turkey. Refugee records, satellite analysis and residents’ testimony reveal a history extending beyond the 2014–2015 battle.
Read article →Kirkuk (Kerkûk): Citadel, Oil, Arabization and the Disputed City
Kirkuk’s Kurdish history is inseparable from its mixed communities, the citadel, the oil industry and the displacement and constitutional disputes of modern Iraq.
Read article →Chamchamal: A Kurdish Town on the Edge of the Disputed Territories
Chamchamal (Çemçemal), a Kurdish town in Iraq’s Sulaymaniyah Governorate on the Kirkuk road — home of the Hamawand tribe and scarred by the Anfal campaign.
Read article →Zakho: River, Border Trade and Community Histories
Zakho lies on the Khabur near the Turkish border in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Its history connects a stone bridge, cross-border commerce, Jewish Neo-Aramaic traditions, Christian institutions and a university founded in 2010.
Read article →Halabja: The 1988 Chemical Attack and a Kurdish City Reborn
Halabja (Helebce) in Iraqi Kurdistan — site of the 1988 chemical attack during the Anfal campaign, now Iraq’s 19th governorate and a centre of Kurdish remembrance.
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