Kurdish History Journal
Articles filed under Kurdish History and Resilience.
Sulaymaniyah grew from a Baban capital into a centre of Sorani literature, higher education and political life. Its university, museum and publishing networks reveal several distinct layers of the city’s history.
Read article →Sinjar is a town and district in Iraq’s Nineveh Governorate, centred on a mountain landscape important to Yazidi life. Its history connects persecution and displacement with continuing efforts to recover homes, identify victims and rebuild community institutions.
Read article →Sanandaj (Sine), capital of Iran’s Kurdistan Province — the cultural heart of Iranian Kurdistan, a UNESCO City of Music and former seat of the Ardalan principality.
Read article →Saqqez is a mountain city in northern Kurdistan Province, Iran, with a historic bazaar quarter and nearby archaeological sites. It became internationally known as Jina Mahsa Amini’s hometown and the setting of her funeral procession and protests in September 2022.
Read article →Qamishli, or Qamişlo, stands on Syria’s border with Turkey opposite Nusaybin. Its modern growth brought together refugees, migrants and communities with different languages and religions. Its importance in Kurdish history includes cross-border family life, struggles over citizenship, the 2004 protests, wartime self-administration and the changes of 2026.
Read article →Nusaybin, also known as Nisêbîn and ancient Nisibis, stands in Mardin Province opposite Qamishli on the Syrian border. Its history connects Kurdish borderland life with Syriac scholarship, Christian and Islamic monuments, migration and the civilian consequences of conflict.
Read article →Mosul’s history joins the Tigris, regional trade, diverse communities and the fate of a much larger Ottoman province. Its recent recovery includes monuments formally inaugurated in September 2025.
Read article →Mardin’s hillside old town in southeastern Turkey brings together terraced stone houses, mosques, madrasas and Syriac Christian institutions. Its history includes multilingual daily life, architectural change and the destruction of Christian communities in 1915.
Read article →Mahabad, a Kurdish city of about 168,000 in north-western Iran, capital of the short-lived 1946 Republic of Mahabad.
Read article →Rawandiz (Rewandiz), the mountain capital of the Soran emirate and base of Mir Muhammad the “Mir Kor,” above the famous Rawanduz Gorge.
Read article →Amedi, also called Amadiya, occupies a steep-sided rock plateau in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Its history connects the Bahdinan principality, Parthian reliefs, medieval gateways and the memories of Muslim, Christian and Jewish residents.
Read article →Bitlis is a historic valley city in eastern Turkey, known in Kurdish as Bidlîs and Armenian as Paghesh. Its history joins Kurdish princely rule, Persian historiography, religious foundations, trade and Armenian community life.
Read article →Silvan, known in Kurdish as Farqîn and in medieval sources as Mayyafariqin, preserves several layers of history: a late antique Christian city, a Marwanid capital and a centre of Artuqid building and historical writing.
Read article →Diyarbakır, known in Kurdish as Amed and historically as Amida or Amid, stands above the Tigris. Its history connects fortifications and gardens with Kurdish cultural life, Christian communities and displacement in Sur.
Read article →Hasankeyf’s history joins a Tigris fortress, a medieval trading town and the Ilısu reservoir. Archaeology, Ayyubid chronology and monument records explain what was submerged, moved and left above water.
Read article →Erbil, Hewlêr in Kurdish, is a capital shaped by ancient Arbela, medieval patronage, Ottoman neighbourhoods and modern displacement. Its history extends from the citadel to the surrounding plain.
Read article →The 2016 US–KRG memorandum organised assistance to Peshmerga fighting ISIS. Its 2022 renewal connected support to institutional reform within Iraq’s security framework. Dated records help distinguish funding, reform promises and later official assessments.
Read article →Announced on 2 December 2014, the Erbil–Baghdad agreement linked northern oil exports through SOMO with federal budget transfers and Peshmerga funding. Its implementation in 2015 depended on delivery schedules, pipeline capacity, public finances and continuing political agreement.
Read article →A guide to Kurdish language rights, regional institutions, oil provisions and disputed territories, with dated UN records and legal sources.
Read article →The Washington Agreement (1998) ended the Kurdish civil war between the KDP and PUK. Brokered by the US, it created a power-sharing deal that stabilised Kurdistan but entrenched division.
Read article →The Oil-for-Food Programme used supervised Iraqi oil sales to finance civilian supplies under sanctions. Its separate northern account supported Dahuk, Erbil and Sulaymaniyah through UN implementation. Understanding the programme requires separating the 1995 resolution, the 1996 agreement, later revenue rules and the November 2003 handover.
Read article →After the 1991 uprising and refugee crisis, Kurdish parties negotiated with Baghdad over autonomy and wider democratic reform. The talks, international relief operations and the creation of regional institutions followed related but distinct paths.
Read article →The 1975 Algiers Agreement between Iraq and Iran ended the Kurdish rebellion overnight. Iran and the US abandoned the Kurds, 1,400 villages were razed, and Barzani died in exile.
Read article →The agreement announced on 11 March 1970 promised Kurdish rights and regional autonomy within Iraq. Dated documents show the difference between those commitments, their incomplete implementation, the imposed law of 1974 and the collapse of Kurdish resistance in 1975.
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