Urfa (Riha): The City of Prophets and Ancient Edessa
Urfa (Riha) — ancient Edessa and the “City of Prophets” in southeastern Turkey: its mixed Kurdish, Arab and Turkish people and the Pool of Abraham.
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The archive
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: The Kurdish Port Town on the Western Shore of Lake Van
Tatvan, the Kurdish port town on Lake Van’s western shore in Bitlis Province, Turkey — its ferry, railway, the Nemrut volcano, and Kurdish heritage explained.
Read article →Urmia: A Mixed City on the Edge of Rojhelat
Urmia (Wirmê), capital of West Azerbaijan Province in north-west Iran — an Azeri-majority, mixed city within Rojhelat with a significant Kurdish community.
Read article →Marivan: A Kurdish City on the Lake and the Border
Marivan (Meriwan), the Kurdish border city of western Iran beside Lake Zrêbar — a key city of Rojhelat, Kurdish-speaking, Sunni, on the Iraqi-Kurdistan frontier.
Read article →Kobani: The Kurdish City That Stopped ISIS
Kobani (Kobanê), the Kurdish city of northern Syria where YPG and YPJ fighters broke the 2014–15 ISIS siege — a symbol of Kurdish resistance and Rojava.
Read article →Kirkuk: The Disputed Heart of Kurdistan
Kirkuk (Kerkûk), the disputed oil city of northern Iraq — a historically Kurdish city, the heart of Article 140 and the Kurdish struggle against Arabization.
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: Iraqi Kurdistan’s Gateway to Turkey
Zakho (Zaxo), the border city of Iraqi Kurdistan on the Little Khabur — home of the ancient Delal Bridge and the Ibrahim Khalil gateway to Turkey.
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.
Read article →Sulaymaniyah: Cultural Capital of Iraqi Kurdistan
Sulaymaniyah (Silêmanî), the cultural capital of Iraqi Kurdistan — a city of poets and universities, the old Baban capital and stronghold of the PUK.
Read article →Sinjar: The Yazidi Homeland and the 2014 Genocide
Sinjar (Şingal), the Yazidi heartland in north-west Iraq at the foot of the Sinjar Mountains — site of the 2014 ISIS genocide and still a contested, only partly rebuilt district.
Read article →Sanandaj: Cultural Capital of Iranian Kurdistan
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: The Kurdish City Behind ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’
Saqqez (Seqiz), a Kurdish city in Iran’s Kurdistan Province — ancient highland town and hometown of Jina (Mahsa) Amini, where the 2022 ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ protests began.
Read article →Qamishli: Kurdish Capital of North-East Syria
Qamishli (Qamişlo), the Kurdish-majority city of north-east Syria opposite Nusaybin — long the de facto capital of Rojava, now integrating into the new Syrian state.
Read article →Nusaybin: The Ancient Kurdish Border Town of Nisibis
Nusaybin (Nisëbîn), the ancient city of Nisibis — a Kurdish-majority border town in Mardin Province, Turkey, opposite Qamishli, with deep Syriac and Roman roots.
Read article →Mosul: Iraq’s Second City on the Edge of Kurdistan
Mosul, Iraq’s second city on the Tigris — a majority-Arab metropolis on the edge of the Kurdish disputed territories, held by ISIS 2014–2017 and since rebuilt.
Read article →Mardin (MêrÝn): The Hilltop City of Stone
Mardin (MêrÝn), the historic hilltop city of south-eastern Turkey — a mixed Kurdish, Arab and Syriac city famous for its Artuqid old town.
Read article →Mahabad: The Kurdish City of the 1946 Republic
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): Capital of the Soran Emirate
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 (Amêdî): The Mountaintop Capital of Bahdinan
Amedi (Amêdî), the cliff-top town in Duhok, was the capital of the Kurdish Bahdinan emirate for nearly five centuries.
Read article →Bitlis (Bidlîs): The Kurdish Emirate and the Sharafnama
Bitlis (Bidlîs), capital of one of the longest-lived Kurdish emirates and home of Sharaf Khan Bidlisi, author of the Sharafnama.
Read article →Silvan (Farqîn): Mayyafariqin, Capital of the Marwanid Kurds
Silvan (Farqîn), the ancient Mayyafariqin, was the capital of the Marwanid dynasty — the great Kurdish kingdom of the 10th–11th-century Jazira.
Read article →Silvan (Farqîn): Mayyafariqin, Capital of the Marwanid Kurds
Silvan (Farqîn), the ancient Mayyafariqin, was the capital of the Marwanid dynasty — the great Kurdish kingdom of the 10th–11th-century Jazira.
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