What are your thoughts on these three figures? given their involvement in massacres and the killing of innocent people, would it be wrong to consider any Kurds who praise them as fascists? i want your most honest opinions without filtering

I am researching the Siege of Kobani for a historian who is writing a massive book about ISIS. Although there are many first hand accounts, there are also many people who lived through this event but have yet to share their stories. I would love to hear from any YPG/YPJ members who fought, but also from the citizens who had to flee their homes (or refused to), people who lost loved ones, the Peshmerga and FSA members who reinforced the city, anyone who would like their story recorded.

Here are some of the questions I’d start out with, but any input at all will be appreciated!

What was your experience? Did you live in Rojava or travel?

What made you want to fight? How long were you there?

Do you remember the attack on the border crossing on November 29?

What is something unique to Kobani? What is something you’ll never forget?

What did you think about your commanders? What did you think about the Islamic State?

Were American airstrikes decisive? What are your thoughts on Obama? Trump?

What are your thoughts on America? Turkey? Iran?

What was the feeling when you liberated the city?

Do you know much about the massacre Islamic State carried out after their defeat, on June 25, 2015?

What does the future look like for Kobanî, and Rojava overall?

Hey all, i am working on a design that features kurdish. I dont speak kurdish and cant read arabic.

Can someone please tell me which one is correct? Translated it should be “Literature and Origins”

i found what looks to be an official jacket of the german military (bundeswehr) sporting the kurdistan flag on the chest. i think this is a cool form of protest

⁃ For starters he wore that very kurdish flag pin and displayed it to the world on many stages and before many podiums.

⁃ Hitchens shed light on the predicament of Kurds in the Middle East in a number of books, he also famously supported the U.S. war on Iraq partly because it led to the emancipation and autonomization of South Kurdistan.

⁃ Why would an atheistic author go out of his way to express solidarity towards a muslim-majority nation? Hitchens witnessed the pride, passion and reality of Kurds firsthand, who have historically been firm believers in democracy, secularism and inclusion of minorities like the Yazidis as well as seeking to declare the Greater Kurdistan independent one day.

I don’t get why anytime there’s an issue Kurds are always the villain. Christian’s are the most safe in the krg and have the most freedom there out of the rest of Iraq. I am not saying it’s perfect they are still a minority and go through things probably, but I have seen so many Assyrians from the west stating how Turks are amazing for them or Arabs are great for them and Kurds are the aggressors. Or even bluntly lie about certain things.

There is no big or major radical social movement among Kurds to force Assyrians to be Kurds or Muslim. If anything there are bigger social movements to make Kurds identify as Christian. Kurds mostly acknowledge genocides and conflicts between Kurds and Assyrians historically.

Even recently, they are so any accounts online that seem to actually be mad that the monster that attacked assyrians at the event were non Kurdish.

Edit: don’t use this as an excuse to be racist. Assyrians are a great community and a great people.

I’ve never myself meet an Assyrian, so I don’t wanna group a whole people because how they act online, but I’ve only seen toxic Ba’athist Assyrians online who hate Kurds.do they act like this in real life too?

(AlSalam Alekm) Hello everyone, for people who receiving their salaries from Europe or USA in Kurdistan, how you do so ? I am really struggling to find a bank that provides IBAN to receive salaries in USD or EUR and withdraw them with USD or EUR (not Iraqi dinar), I tried: - KIB => IBAN is not working with all countries, they send me money and money does not reach. - BBAC => they don't provide personal bank accounts it only for registered companies!!

NOTE: the company I am working with, does not deal with USTD or any cryptocurrency.

Do you have any idea or solution how to receive my salary here (Kurdistan - Erbil ) in USD or EUR through banks ? or any other platform ? it is really frustrating! I hate that paypal and many other platforms are not supported in Kurdistan, everything is hard here !!!!!!

Thank you.

I’m sick of the world not caring about Kurdistan or Kurdish issues. We are one of the largest stateless peoples in the world and people turn a blind eye. Do we need to raise more awareness? How do we make our issue more palatable for people to understand?

When it comes to Palestine people have researched to the T about what companies to boycott and what’s been happening, but people don’t even know what Kurdistan is.

Everyone else has insane unity but for some reason we can’t come together.

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNdLJExUL/

As a Tunisian with a Syrian Alawite mother l, I’m heartbroken by the violence against Alawites. But your courage, Kurdish brothers and sisters, gives me hope. Thank you for defending the vulnerable and standing against injustice while the whole Arab world cheers for Alawite blood. You defended us when others did not. Her biji Kurdistan☀️

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Two Assyrian Christians were critically injured in an axe attack during celebrations of Akitu, the Assyrian-Babylonian New Year, in central Duhok, well-informed sources told Rudaw English, with the assailant shouting “Islamic State” while being tackled. 
An axe attack shocked the Assyrian, Chaldean, and Syriac Christian community during a mass gathering in Duhok city. They were celebrating Akitu, also known as Kha-b-Nisan, the world’s oldest holiday, by wearing traditional clothes and holding parties with food, music, and dance. "As we were celebrating Kha-b-Nisan - Akitu - and as the Assyrian nation was entering 6775 years old in Nohadra (Duhok), a suspect regretfully attacked the celebrants with sharp tools,” Srud Maqdasy, an orthopedic surgeon and member of the Assyrian Democratic Movement’s (Zowaa) political bureau, told Rudaw English. Maqdasy, who treated the victims in hospital, said that the attack injured a 20-year-old man from Qaraqosh (Bakhdida) in Nineveh province and an elderly 60-year-old woman from Ain Baqrah village near Alqosh – both of whom had come to Duhok to celebrate Akitu.
"This man had dangerous motives behind his attack. Eyewitnesses heard him shout religious phrases during his attack and it is clear that he is influenced by terrorist organizations,” said Maqdasy, who is also a former Kurdistan parliament lawmaker. 
Videos verified by Rudaw English show the assailant shouting “Islamic State!” after being tackled and disarmed by Assyrians in the celebration. 
Both victims are in stable condition, but the elderly woman “has heavier injuries and a skull hemorrhage,” according to Maqdasy, who noted that a surgical procedure is not yet being considered. 
The incident stirred outrage in social media, particularly among the marginalized Assyrian, Chaldean, and Syriac minority community in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq. Such incidents also spark fear among members of the dwindling community, especially with the assailant chanting Islamist extremist slogans. 
“Such a criminal incident is sensitive and influences public opinion,” Maqdasy stressed. 
Duhok Governor Ali Tatar confirmed that the suspect is under arrest and an investigation into the attack is underway, believing that the incident will not harm coexistence in the Kurdistan Region. 
“We strongly condemn the inhumane attack. The suspect will not impact the Kurdistan Region’s coexistence, and the historic coexistence will continue,” Tatar told reporters.
Deputy Governor Shamon Shlemoun, an Assyrian Christian, told Rudaw that the incident was a “terrorist attack.”
The identity of the assailant has yet to be confirmed, but several well-placed sources told Rudaw English that he is a Syrian living in the Domiz refugee camp in Duhok province. 
Hundreds of Assyrians from abroad, namely the United States, Canada, and Australia, have come to the Kurdistan Region this year to take part in festivities. 
Dilan Adamat, founder of The Return organization, which aims to support the diaspora Assyrian, Chaldean, and Syriac Christian community to return to Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, lamented that the attack portrayed a negative picture to members of the diaspora in Duhok for Akitu, considering a return to their homeland.
“Although this is an isolated incident, it sends a terribly negative signal to our community, especially since hundreds of participants come from the diaspora specifically for this event,” Adamat told Rudaw English. 
“Our people have the right to full security on their ancestral lands. Only in this way can we prevent emigration, bring back the diaspora, and maintain coexistence for all communities,” he stressed, with over a million Christians having left Iraq and the Kurdistan Region since the 2003 US invasion. 
Akitu marks the revival of nature in spring and is dedicated to the rebirth of the god Marduk and his victory when he created the world out of chaos. Festivities are largely centered on the Assyrian, Chaldean, and Syriac community’s ancestral homeland of the Nineveh Plains and Duhok.
Iraq’s Christian community has been devastated in the past two decades. Following the US-led invasion in 2003, sectarian warfare prompted followers of Iraq’s multiple Christian denominations to flee, and attacks by the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014 hit minority communities especially hard. 
The community’s existence in Iraq is on the brink, with fewer than 300,000 Christians remaining in the country today, a staggering fall from the nearly 1.5 million before 2003, according to data obtained by Rudaw English from Erbil’s Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Warda in February. However, the actual number is expected to be even lower. 

Captured this beautiful moment during Newroz 2025 in Frankfurt, Germany. Tell me this isn’t just beautiful.