By Sissy Danninger: German version newly available – Survey of other translations The project took three years, but at the beginning of August 2014 the German translation of Helen’s/Nasrin’s memoirs was finally published by LIT Verlag inVienna/Austria. Unfortunately the book could not be printed in time before the 25th anniversary of Dr Ghassemlou’s assassination on July…
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Category Archives: History
There will not be peace in the Middle East unless the borders are redrawn
By Rebwar Rashed: Since the England´s Magna Charta (1215), there has been hundreds and thousands of different reforms in “the West”. English, French and American revolutions made fundamental changes in the history of mankind. Abolition of the tyrants and despots, the separation of the state and religion, the democratization of political systems, progress in human…
Kurdish Museum of Qachakh – a permanent treasure
By Solin Hacador: I have been to too many museums all around the world in my life but, as a Kurd, I have never had an opportunity to visit any Kurdish museum, till a few days ago. It was a great honour for me to visit the Qachakh Culture Museum, based in the city of Duhok…
Middle East must be re-designed
By Payraw Anwar: There has been no stability in the Middle East from the First World War until now; nothing has happened to remedy this. The Middle East, and the Arabian countries in particular, were divided and designed according to the 1916 Sykes-Picot agreement by which three states (Britain, French and Russia) planned the division…
Ghassemlou the Feminist?
By Zakarya Khezeryan: Heralded as the ‘prophet of peace and freedom,’ Adbul Rahman Ghassemlou (A.R.G) was a man of words, action and wisdom far beyond his years. His message, persona and name resonate with every peace and freedom-loving individual that has come to know him. Many know of Ghassemlou the man, the leader, but very…
Cooperative living comes to life in Rojava
By Rojava Report: The Mothers of Peace have been organizing in Rojava since the 1990s. A couple of years ago, when the Syrian regime was still in power in the Kurdish areas, they were able to meet once or twice a year. Only after the Rojava Revolution were they able to come together regularly. The…
We are human, you are not
By Evin Cheikosman: As many of us are already aware, on May 11th the Iranian consulate released an absurd statement about Iran’s perspective regarding the history of Iranian-Kurdish relations. It came as a shock for many Kurds who, without question, regard themselves as a legitimate people with a long, rich history. In the statement, Kurds…
Why it is Necessary to Refrain from Drawing More Borders
By Payam Dargalayi: They say that history has a way of repeating itself. If in fact, history does repeat itself, are our mistakes preordained by history, or are they perpetuated by human error? I argue in favor of the latter. Humans are imperfect; often they are unable to learn from their past mistakes and the…
Ibn Asroon (1099–1189): Saladin’s Kurdish judge of Damascus, poet
By Yasin Aziz: Ibn Asroon was Saladin’s Kurdish judge of Damascus. He studied jurisprudence, poetry and prose; he was an able poet, essayist and writer. In his youth he studied under the guidance of many noted scholars including Murtada Sharazouri a Kurdish scholar, Saruji, Ibn Abbas Mzrati and Ibn Asad Al Mahani, a Kurdish scholar in Baghdad….
A Tribute to the Sheikh of the Kurdish Diaspora, Talib Berzenji
By Dr. Amir Sharifi: Talib Berzenji, more intimately known to the Kurds of Southern California as Sheik Talib, the veteran political and cultural activist, died at age 80 after suffering from heart failure in San Diego. He died on May 4th, 2014. Kurds of Southern California are in mourning for they have lost a genuine…
KRG and the ‘godfathers’: 2006 secret US cable on Wikileaks
Published by Wikileaks: Kirkuk, Department of State . 2006 February 16 CONFIDENTIAL 1. (C) INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY: Corruption is Kurdistan’s biggest economic problem. The two ruling parties’ dominant control lets corruption flourish. Corruption relies on family-clan and/or peshmerga ties. Kurdish corruption starts at the top with a few political “godfathers” who quietly distribute contracts among themselves. Some members of a…
‘Kurdish question’ can’t be understood ignoring the Armenian genocide
By Julian Tumasewitsch: Genocide against not ‘only’ Armenians, but also Syriacs, Pontic Greeks and Kurdish Yezidin The first definition of genocide was by Raphael Lemkin, inspired by the extermination of the Armenians, Syriacs (also called Assyrians), Pontic Greeks and Kurds of Yezidin belief in the Ottoman Empire from 1912 to 1922. Modifications to the definition were…
The Halabja Bombing, 26th April 1974
By Yasin Aziz: Extracts from the novel, ‘A Few Days Life of Revolution in Halabja’, based on the real events of April 1974. This was an example of a crime against humanity, a crime of genocide committed by the Iraqi Ba’athist Regime, when it deliberately bombed a civilian population twice within three days. When four French-made Iraqi…
An Anfal Survivor tells his story
Translated by Kamal Chomani: Twitter: @KamalChomani Today, 14-04, marks the 26th anniversary of the Anfal Campaign which was carried out by Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship and brought death to more than 100.000 innocent Kurds. Anfal is the cruellest atrocity in the modern history of the Middle East. Here is the story of a survivor, Hassan Ali,…
Life with the Bombs
By Nagham Haidar: Life with the Bombs is a photographic project about places and people after war and it aims to show the physical and psychological effects of the destruction of war and chemical bombs in the Kurdistan Region. The photographer Zardasht Osman has been working on the project for a year, researching places of…
