İshak Pasha Palace: A Jewel Above Doğubayızıt
İshak Pasha Palace (Qesra Îshaq Paşa), the ornate 18th-century palace above Doğubayızıt near Mount Ararat — built by local Kurdish lords, a jewel of the eastern highlands.
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Mount Süphan (Çiyayê Sîpan): The Second Peak of the Land
Mount Süphan (Çiyayê Sîpan), the second-highest mountain in Turkey — a great snow-capped volcano on the northern shore of Lake Van in the Kurdish highlands of Bitlis.
Read article →Mount Ararat (Çiyayê Agirî): The Roof of the Kurdish Highlands
Mount Ararat (Çiyayê Agirî), the highest mountain in Turkey — a snow-capped volcano over the Kurdish plains of Ağrı, fabled as Noah’s resting place and centre of the 1927–30 Ararat rebellion.
Read article →The Ten-Eyed Bridge of Diyarbakır
The Ten-Eyed Bridge (Pira Dehçavî), the historic black-basalt bridge over the Tigris below Diyarbakır — built in the 11th century by the Kurdish Marwanid dynasty.
Read article →Zerzevan Castle: A Roman Frontier Fortress
Zerzevan Castle (Kela Zerzevan), the Roman frontier fortress near Çınar in Diyarbakır — famed for its underground temple of Mithras and its walls, church, and cisterns.
Read article →The Malabadi Bridge: A Great Medieval Arch
The Malabadi Bridge (Pira Malabadê), the great 12th-century Artuqid stone arch over the Batman River — once among the widest stone spans in the world and a masterpiece of medieval engineering.
Read article →Mount Nemrut: The Giant Heads of Commagene
Mount Nemrut (Çiyayê Nemrûd), the Commagene summit tomb-sanctuary in the Kurdish highlands of Adıyaman — famed for its colossal statues and giant toppled stone heads, a UNESCO site.
Read article →Van Fortress: The Rock Citadel of Lake Van
Van Fortress (Kela Wanê), the ancient rock citadel of Tushpa above Lake Van — founded by the kingdom of Urartu nearly 3,000 years ago, with cuneiform inscriptions and the old city ruins below.
Read article →Taq-e Bostan: The Sassanid Reliefs of Kermanshah
Taq-e Bostan, the Sassanid rock reliefs near Kermanshah in the Kurdish region of Iran — carved grottoes of kings and royal hunts, a masterpiece of ancient Persian art.
Read article →Bisotun: The Mountain of Darius’s Inscription
Bisotun (Behistun), the ancient cliff in Kurdish Kermanshah bearing Darius the Great’s inscription — the trilingual text that became the key to deciphering cuneiform, and a UNESCO site.
Read article →The Mudhafaria Minaret: Erbil’s Medieval Tower
The Mudhafaria Minaret (Choli Minaret), Erbil’s great 12th-century brick tower from the age of Gökböri — the city’s most important medieval monument after the Citadel.
Read article →Lake Zrêbar: The Jewel of Marivan
Lake Zrêbar (Zarîwar), the rare freshwater mountain lake beside Marivan in Kurdistan Province, Iran — a forest-ringed jewel of the Zagros and the heart of its Kurdish town.
Read article →Lice (Licê): A Mountain Town of Diyarbakır
Lice (Licê), a Kurdish mountain town in north-eastern Diyarbakır Province — marked by the devastating 1975 earthquake and a notable place in the modern history of the southeast.
Read article →The Munzur Valley (Geliyê Mizûr): A Sacred Gorge of Dersim
The Munzur Valley (Geliyê Mizûr), the sacred river gorge and national park of Dersim in Tunceli Province — a landscape of great beauty holy to the Alevi people.
Read article →Pertek (Pêrtag): A Castle by the Lake
Pertek (Pêrtag), a Kurdish town in the Dersim region on the Keban reservoir — famed for its medieval castle that now rises from an islet in the lake.
Read article →Takht-e Soleyman: An Ancient Sanctuary in the Kurdish Highlands
Takht-e Soleyman, the ancient Sassanid sanctuary and crater lake in the Kurdish highlands of West Azarbaijan — a great Zoroastrian fire temple and UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Read article →Palu (Palû): A Citadel on the Euphrates
Palu (Palû), the ancient Kurdish citadel town on the Murat river in Elazığ Province — a place of Urartian inscriptions and a heartland of the 1925 Sheikh Said uprising.
Read article →Lake Dukan: The Great Lake of Kurdistan
Lake Dukan (Daryaça Dûkan), the largest lake in Iraqi Kurdistan — formed by the Dukan Dam on the Little Zab, a source of water and power and a beloved mountain retreat.
Read article →Gercüş (Kercews): A Town on the Edge of the Tur Abdin
Gercüş (Kercews), a Kurdish town on the southern edge of the Tur Abdin in Batman Province — a quiet district of vineyards, stone villages, and layered heritage near Hasankeyf.
Read article →Midyat: Heart of the Tur Abdin
Midyat, the golden-stone town at the heart of the Tur Abdin in Mardin Province — a cradle of Syriac Christianity and a meeting place of Syriac, Kurdish, and other communities.
Read article →Sason (Sasûn): A Mountain District of Many Memories
Sason (Sasûn), a rugged Kurdish mountain district in Batman Province — once a famous Armenian stronghold, now a remote highland of forests, honey, and layered history.
Read article →Hilvan (Curnê Reş): A Kurdish Town North of Urfa
Hilvan (Curnê Reş), a Kurdish farming town in the north of Şanlıurfa Province near the Atatürk Dam — a tribal town of the uplands between Urfa and the Euphrates.
Read article →Suruç (Pirsûs): A Kurdish Town Facing Kobani
Suruç (Pirsûs), a Kurdish town on the Şanlıurfa border plain facing Kobani — a refuge during the battle for Kobani and a town that has known both solidarity and sorrow.
Read article →Tuz Khurmatu (Dûz): A Town of the Disputed Territories
Tuz Khurmatu (Dûz), a mixed Kurdish, Turkmen, and Arab town in the disputed territories south of Kirkuk — a contested but resilient community of northern Iraq.
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