When the black flags of ISIS descended on Kirkuk in 2014, the world witnessed a staggering display of military cowardice. The heavily armed, federally funded Iraqi army didn’t stay to fight—they dropped their weapons, abandoned their posts, and fled, leaving the city and its people completely defenseless against one of the most brutal terror groups in modern history.
Into that terrifying void stepped the Kurdish Peshmerga.

They didn't run. For three grueling years, the Peshmerga stood as the only shield between Kirkuk and total annihilation. They held the frontline, fought back the darkness, and paid for the city's survival with their blood and thousands of martyrs. They protected Kirkuk when Baghdad turned its back.

Yet, history took a dark turn on October 16, 2017. After the Kurds peacefully exercised their democratic right in the independence referendum, the Iraqi government suddenly found its "courage." But they didn't march to fight terrorists. Instead, backed by Iranian militias, the Iraqi army marched on Kirkuk to attack the very heroes who had saved the city from ISIS.

The tragedy didn't end at the borders of Kirkuk; it bled into places like Tuz Khurmatu, revealing the absolute savagery of this assault. The advancing Iraqi forces and militias didn’t just target the Peshmerga—they unleashed horrific violence on Kurdish civilians. Homes were looted and burned to the ground, families were forcibly displaced from the lands of their ancestors, and unspeakable atrocities were committed against those who couldn't escape.

It was a betrayal driven not just by resources, but by a relentless campaign of erasure and domination. Baghdad had no interest in protecting the people of Kirkuk when times were dire, but they were quick to roll in with tanks to seize the city once the Peshmerga had done the heavy lifting. It was a continuation of a long, dark history of trying to suffocate Kurdish existence—using brutal force to occupy the lands they were too cowardly to defend when it actually mattered.
The true legacy of Kirkuk will always remember who ran away when the city was burning, and who laid down their lives to put out the fire.

Kurdish immigrants in Germany voiced growing fears for their future after the far-right AfD's political breakthrough in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt.

Edit: I got a warning on my account because so many Arabs pleasers reported this post

IRGC Attacks PJAK Positions in Shaho with Artillery and Drones

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) attacked the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) guerrilla positions in the Shaho mountains yesterday using artillery and suicide drones, according to reports. All PJAK guerrillas were reported to be safe and unharmed.

Reports also indicate that the IRGC has moved heavy military equipment to areas around Paveh and near the village of Dalamarz. These movements have raised the possibility of a larger operation, though their purpose and scale have not been independently confirmed.

Shaho is part of the Zagros Mountains in Rojhelat (Iranian Kurdistan). It stretches across parts of Kermanshah (Kirmaşan) and Kurdistan (Sine) provinces, near the cities of Paveh, Ravansar and Kamyaran. The mountain range lies close to Iran’s border with the Kurdistan Region (Başûr).

PJAK Reportedly Launches Counterattack After IRGC Drone Strikes in Shaho

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) used suicide drones to attack PJAK positions in the Shaho mountains and around Paveh yesterday, including near the village of Dalamarz, according to reports from the area. PJAK fighters reportedly managed to reach safety.

The reports said PJAK fighters targeted IRGC positions with FPV suicide drones a few hours later. IRGC forces reportedly withdrew following the counterattack.

No information on casualties on either side had been released at the time of writing.

https://x.com/RojhelatInfo_En/status/2110979665280069660
https://x.com/RojhelatInfo_En/status/2111047229335101729

Rudaw: "Clashes between Kurdish militants and IRGC continue in western Iran"

So i have a 3d printing buisnesss i was thinking if anyone would want to buy anithing from me i live in Sulaymaniyah and this is my website lawan3d.com. And instagram lawan3dprinting,help me grow 👌✅🛰️🔌

Hello Kurdish reddit,

Since February I’ve had the idea to open the first serious discord server about alevism that has English as a primary language and doesn’t include all the assimilated beliefs and practices. I feel like a server like this will aid the preservation of this beautiful culture and religion we have. I want the server to have good resources/books about alevism, the culture associated with it and our language. If you have any suggestions please comment them or dm them to me. But the main reason for me to make this post is because I am looking for someone who can possibly co-own the server because im quite busy myself. And I would really appreciate a buddy that could help me with setting this up. The server is already finished. It’s mostly the resources that need to be added and maybe some bots and automated systems. The more people the better.

I would appreciate any help, please comment or dm me if you’re interested.

Thanks

Declassified 2002 Kurdish Areas Map Created By The CIA

This 2002 “Kurdish-Inhabited Area” map is a classic example of early post-Iraq War CIA and military-intelligence cartography focused on ethnicity, insurgency, and regional geopolitics.

A few notable things about it:

It depicts the Kurdish population as a cross-border ethnic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northern Iraq, northwestern Iran, and northeastern Syria emphasizing that the Kurdish issue is inherently transnational rather than confined to one state.

The shaded area is intentionally fuzzy rather than sharply bounded, reflecting the mixed and dispersed nature of Kurdish settlement patterns.

Major Kurdish cities and political centers are highlighted, including Diyarbakir in Turkey, Arbil/Erbil and Sulaymaniyah in Iraq, and Mahabad in Iran, all historically important to Kurdish nationalism.

The map predates many later developments:

- the 2003 Iraq War,
- the consolidation of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG),
- the Syrian Civil War and Rojava,
- and ISIS-era Kurdish territorial expansion.

raq’s Kurdish region is shown before the later de facto autonomy became firmly institutionalized under the Iraqi constitution.

Syria’s Kurdish regions appear comparatively small and fragmented on this map, which contrasts with how strategically important they became after 2011.

The map also reflects the geopolitical sensitivities of the time:

Turkey is shown containing the largest Kurdish population, but the map avoids implying an independent Kurdistan by using the softer phrase “Kurdish-inhabited area” instead of drawing political borders.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Archaeologists have identified a possible fatal spear wound in 75,000-year-old Neanderthal remains discovered at Shanidar Cave in the Kurdistan Region's Soran administration, potentially providing the earliest evidence of lethal violence involving a wooden weapon.

Emma Pomeroy, who led the research, said in a study published )Thursday, titled “Evidence for funerary behaviour and lethal trauma in a new Neanderthal individual from Shanidar Cave,” that the findings offer rare insight into prehistoric weapon use.

“The nature of the perimortem penetrating traumatic injury adds to a small corpus of such injuries in the hominin fossil record,” the report stated, adding that “the morphology of this scapula perforation is consistent with injury from a wooden spear, providing valuable (albeit indirect) evidence for the use of wooden implements in the Middle Palaeolithic.”

Abdulwahab Sulaiman Hassan, director of the Soran Directorate of Antiquities and Heritage, told reporters Thursday that the discovery is highly significant for the Kurdistan Region and is expected to boost tourism.

“We played a key role… We were with them in the excavation work but we, unfortunately, were not involved in the examination process because the Kurdistan Region does not have advanced technological means. Therefore, the remains are being examined in the UK,” he told Rudaw's Andam Jabar.

Neanderthals, an extinct group of ancient humans who inhabited large parts of Europe and Asia, disappeared around 40,000 years ago. The discovery adds to a growing body of evidence of violence among prehistoric human populations.

Hassan said a national museum would be established to house and display the remains.

He added that genetic research is underway on the remains of another Neanderthal, known as Shanidar Z, and is expected to be completed by the end of 2027, after which the remains will be returned to the Kurdistan Region.

Shanidar Cave, located in the Zagros Mountains, gained international recognition after American anthropologist Ralph Solecki uncovered the remains of several Neanderthals during excavations in the 1950s.

I am sure everyone agree with Kurdish statehood (i assure hope so) but how do feel about other minorities getting their own state, do you support balkanization of middle east? Like we Druze have their own state, Alawites have their own state, Sunni Iraqis have their own state, Assyrians, Christians, shias and etc

"Turkey's parliament speaker warned that legislation underpinning the peace process with the PKK will not be implemented until the group lays down its weapons."

"The Kurdish-led Anti-Terrorism Units (YAT) said Thursday that it continues to enforce security in areas it claims to administer, noting that efforts are ongoing to integrate the forces into the Syrian army, a day after Damascus claimed that the group had disbanded and is “no longer part of the current security structure.”

On my stay to Kurdistan. I was taking videos of EVERYTHING. This was Koya (koysnjaq). The snjaq that holds Kurdistan together imo

I’m looking for a fellow Kurd who wants to improve their Sorani Kurdish and is willing to help me improve my English or Kurmanji in return. 😊
We can practise together, correct each other’s mistakes and have conversations to improve our speaking skills

I’m 28, so I’d prefer someone around my age since it might be easier for us to communicate and relate to each other.

Full article: https://www.theamargi.com/posts/kurds-arabs-want-to-reverse-arab-belt-syria

Hi everyone,

I’m a woman from Sulaymaniyah, and I’m planning to marry a foreign man who isn’t Muslim but apparently the government won't marry us unless he converts. So I’m trying to understand the exact process in the Kurdistan Region and would really appreciate hearing from anyone who has been through it, or who knows how it works.

My main questions:

1. Conversion: what does it involve in practice? Is it done by an imam, by the court, or both?
2. Proof: what document do you get, and who issues it? Does the court need it before it will register the marriage?
3. The court marriage: what else does the court ask for from a foreign groom (documents, translations, a medical exam, witnesses, a parent present)?
4. Timeline: how long did each step take, and how many visits to which offices?
5. Tips: anything you wish you had known before starting, or offices and people who were helpful.

I’m not looking for criticism or debate about the decision. This is my life and my choice, so I’d really appreciate respectful replies. If you’d rather share your experience privately, feel free to send me a message.

Thank you very much in advance.

"The following is a book chapter I wrote for the academic book “Kurdish Women Through History, Culture and Resistance”, published in late 2024."

"The chapter places the decades-old history of the grassroots women’s internationalism works led by the movement close to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party in the context of a broader socialist/communist, anti-colonial women’s and feminist history of organized mass efforts for common struggle and world liberation. In addition to providing a historical account, it offers historiographical and methodological reflections on some of the (often ideological) reasons behind the absence of this universe from scholarly accounts. As argued in the chapter, this phenomenon parallels the erasure of anti-imperialist, socialist, and anti-colonial legacies by dominant western-centric narratives of women’s/feminist internationalism, which, in turn, in some ways mirrors the invisibilization of women’s collective labor in the making of political horizons."

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled “unconstitutional” a Kurdistan Region law that suspends parts of the Iraqi Penal Code covering crimes against internal and external state security.

The Kurdistan Region’s parliament adopted Law No. 21 of 2003, which suspended dozens of provisions of the Iraqi Penal Code No. 111 of 1969, as amended, relating to crimes against internal and external state security and offenses against public authority.

The law was passed by the Kurdistan Region’s parliament in 2003, before Iraq adopted its current Constitution in 2005, as the Region maintained its own legal framework under its existing institutions.

The regional law also replaced Article 156 of the Iraqi Penal Code, which prescribes the death penalty for anyone who acts with intent against Iraq’s independence, unity or territorial integrity. Under the regional law, such acts were instead punishable by life imprisonment or a fixed prison sentence if intended to harm the security, stability, and sovereignty of the Region’s institutions.

The court issued its ruling during a session chaired by its president, Judge Mundher Ibrahim Hussein, finding that the law was “unconstitutional” because it violated Articles 110 and 121/Second of the Iraqi Constitution.

The court said the ruling was issued pursuant to the Constitution and the Federal Supreme Court Law, describing it as “a final and binding ruling on all authorities”. 

Article 110 of the Iraqi Constitution gives the federal government exclusive authority over several matters, including “formulating and executing national security policy,” while Article 121/Second addresses conflicts between federal and regional legislation.

The latter provision states that, “in respect to a matter outside the exclusive authorities of the federal government, the regional power shall have the right to amend the application of the national legislation within that region.”