The single largest community in the United States of ethnic Kurds exists in Nashville, Tennessee. [1] This enclave is often called "Little Kurdistan" and is located in South Nashville. [2] The majority of Nashville's "Little Kurdistan" comes from Iraqi Kurdistan, however there are sizeable communities of Kurds from Syria, Iran, and Turkey. [2] It has been estimated that there are 15,000 Kurds living in Nashville, [2] although more recent estimates place the number at around 20,000, the largest in the country. [3]
It is estimated that there are 15,000 Kurds in Nashville. [2] However, the US census does not take official data on the number of Kurds living in the United States. [4] In the 1990s, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) fingered Nashville as a center of resettlement and issued them federal funding to resettle the Kurds who came to Nashville. [5] Nashville has since become a hub of refugee resettlement for other communities as well. [5]
Following the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, the Kurdish people were separated into many nation-states. [6] While Kurds are in Iran, Turkey, and Syria, the majority of Kurdish population in Nashville is Iraqi. [7]
The Kurdish portion of Iraq is oil-rich and much of the strife between the Iraqis and Kurds has been regarding this issue. [8] This reached its epoch during Saddam Hussein's reign in the 1980s who started the anfal campaign. [6] Iraq began this campaign to stop the Iraqi Kurds from aiding Iran in a war between the countries. [8] This, however, changed into a genocide which killed 50,000–100,000 Kurds. [6] During this genocide, 3,000 to 4,000 Kurdish towns were destroyed, and 1.5 million Kurds were displaced. [8] The American-led Gulf War restored peace to the Kurds after Resolution 688 of the UN established a no-fly zone. [6] Moreover, the Gulf War, as covered by Western media outlets such as CNN, led to the "Kurdish Question" becoming a global issue. While the coverage was originally focused on the Iraqi treatment of the Kurds, CNN covered Turkish military's treatment as well which was negatively received. [9]
The majority of Kurdish immigration happened following Saddam Hussein's genocide in the anfal campaign. [7] Somewhere between 750 and 3000 people came during this largest wave but likely the lower end of that range. [10] There were two other waves of Kurdish immigration to Nashville that preceded this were during the First and Second Iraqi-Kurdish conflicts in the 1970s. [2]
Little Kurdistan is located in the south of Nashville. [2] Unlike other enclaves in major cities like Chinatown or Little Italy, Little Kurdistan is centered around a strip mall, a mosque, and a few stores. [11] While small, the Kurds of Nashville are hoping to create a semblance of their home country in the United States. [11]
Many Kurds are Sunni Muslims, but they are not a religious monolith. There are a number of Kurds who are Shi'a Muslim, Alevi Muslim, Jewish, and Yarsani. [7] In Nashville, the Salahadeen Center of Nashville is the hub of religious life for many of the Kurds living in Little Kurdistan. [11]
Despite holding a strong minority in the city, the Kurds of Nashville do not hold prominent political office; however, the director of the Salahadeen Center, Nawzad Hawrami, is on Nashville's New American Advisory Council, which informs Nashville's local government of pressing issues regarding refugees and immigrants in the city. [12] Moreover, historically, the Kurds in Nashville have been long time Republican voters and proponents of American foreign policy. [13]
Nashville is deigned as one of the few international locations where Kurds can cast their ballots in Iraqi elections. [14] In 2005, Kurds were able to vote in democratic elections for Iraq as long as they were able to prove Iraqi citizenship and US residency. [15] Prior to the vote for the independence of Kurdistan, many Kurds protested in downtown Nashville against the Iraqi government and advocating for a Kurdish nationstate. [16]
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a Kurdish gang—Kurdish Pride Gang—formed. [2] By 2006, the Nashville police had designated 24 individuals as members and many arrests were made for their violence. [2] However, the Kurdish community strongly rebuked the gang and urged for peace led by leaders in the community including a college professor and Nawzad Hawrami, the director of the Salahadeen Center. [17] These actions in conjunction with anti-gang related policing in 2012 disrupted Kurdish Pride. [18] While it was believed that the gang activity lessened following these actions, in 2018, the first Kurdish police officer was arrested for allegedly being a part of Kurdish Pride. [18] Metro Police have not given numbers at how many members still exist. [18]
On October 6, 2019, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of Turkey, informed the US that the Turkish army would be invading Northeast Syria, where many Kurds live. [19] The next day President Donald Trump announced plans to remove troops from the regime which left the Kurds at risk to Turkish aggression. [19] The US House of Representatives in a bipartisan show of support to the Kurds condemned President Trump's actions. [19]
In Nashville, the hundreds of Nashville's Kurdish population protested downtown against President Trump's action. [20] They were joined in protest by Democratic Congressperson Jim Cooper. [20] Both of Tennessee's Republican senators also rebuked President Trump's withdrawal. [21]
Kurds or Kurdish people are an Iranic ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northern Syria. There are exclaves of Kurds in Central Anatolia, Khorasan, and the Caucasus, as well as significant Kurdish diaspora communities in the cities of western Turkey and Western Europe. The Kurdish population is estimated to be between 30 and 45 million.
Kurdistan Region is a semi-autonomous administrative entity within the Republic of Iraq. It comprises four Kurdish-majority divisions of Arab-majority Iraq: the Erbil Governorate, the Sulaymaniyah Governorate, the Duhok Governorate, and Halabja Governorate. The KRI is bordered by Iran to the east, by Turkey to the north, and by Syria to the west. It does not govern all of Iraqi Kurdistan, and lays claim to the disputed territories of northern Iraq; these territories have a predominantly non-Arab population and were subject to the Ba'athist Arabization campaigns throughout the late 20th century. Though the KRI's autonomy was realized in 1992, one year after Iraq's defeat in the Gulf War, these northern territories remain contested between the Kurdistan Regional Government and the Government of Iraq to the present day. In light of the dispute, the KRI's constitution declares the city of Kirkuk as the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. However, the KRI does not control Kirkuk, and the Kurdistan Region Parliament is based in Erbil. In 2014, when the Syria-based Islamic State began their Northern Iraq offensive and invaded the country, the Iraqi Armed Forces retreated from most of the disputed territories. The KRI's Peshmerga then entered and took control of them for the duration of the War in Iraq (2013–2017). In October 2017, following the defeat of the Islamic State, the Iraqi Armed Forces attacked the Peshmerga and reasserted control over the disputed territories.
The Kurdish population is estimated to be between 30 and 45 million. Most Kurdish people live in Kurdistan, which today is split between Iranian Kurdistan, Iraqi Kurdistan, Turkish Kurdistan, and Syrian Kurdistan.
Minorities in Iraq include various ethnic and religious groups.
Kurdification is a cultural change in which people, territory, or language become Kurdish. This can happen both naturally or as a deliberate government policy.
The 1991 Iraqi uprisings were ethnic and religious uprisings against Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq that were led by Shia Arabs and Kurds. The uprisings lasted from March to April 1991 after a ceasefire following the end of the Gulf War. The mostly uncoordinated insurgency was fueled by the perception that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had become vulnerable to regime change. This perception of weakness was largely the result of the outcome of the Iran–Iraq War and the Gulf War, both of which occurred within a single decade and devastated the population and economy of Iraq.
Refugees of Iraq are Iraqi nationals who have fled Iraq due to war or persecution. In 1980- 2017, large number of refugees fled Iraq, peaking with the Iraq War and continuing until the end of the War in Iraq (2013–2017). Precipitated by a series of conflicts including the Kurdish rebellions during the Iran–Iraq War, Iraq's Invasion of Kuwait (1990) and the Gulf War (1991), the subsequent sanctions against Iraq (1991–2003), culminating in the Iraq War and the subsequent War in Iraq (2013–2017), millions were forced by insecurity to flee their homes in Iraq. Iraqi refugees established themselves in urban areas in other countries rather than refugee camps.
Kurds in the United States refers to people born in or residing in the United States of Kurdish origin or those considered to be ethnic Kurds.
Kurdish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which asserts that Kurds are a nation and espouses the creation of an independent Kurdistan from Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party, usually abbreviated as KDP or PDK, is the ruling party in Iraqi Kurdistan and the senior partner in the Kurdistan Regional Government. It was founded in 1946 in Mahabad in Iranian Kurdistan. The party states that it combines "democratic values and social justice to form a system whereby everyone in Kurdistan can live on an equal basis with great emphasis given to rights of individuals and freedom of expression."
Kurds in Germany are residents or citizens of Germany of full or partial Kurdish origin. There is a large Kurdish community in Germany. The number of Kurds living in Germany is unknown. Many estimates assume that the number is in the million range. In February 2000, the Federal Government of Germany estimated that approximately 500,000 Kurds lived in Germany at that time.
The 2004 Qamishli riots were an uprising by Syrian Kurds in the northeastern city of Qamishli in March 2004, which culminated in a massacre by the Syrian Arab Armed Forces.
The problem of Kurdish refugees and displaced people arose in the 20th century in the Middle East, and continues today. The Kurds, are an ethnic group in Western Asia, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.
Kurdish Canadians refers to people of Kurdish origin who are born in or living in Canada.
Kurds in France may refer to people born in or residing in France of full or partial Kurds origin.
Kurds in Finland refers to Kurds living in Finland. In 2022 there were 16,603 Kurdish speakers in Finland.
Syrian Kurdistan is a region in northern Syria where Kurds form the majority. It is surrounding three noncontiguous enclaves along the Turkish and Iraqi borders: Afrin in the northwest, Kobani in the north, and Jazira in the northeast. Syrian Kurdistan is often called Western Kurdistan or Rojava, one of the four "Lesser Kurdistans" that comprise "Greater Kurdistan", alongside Iranian Kurdistan, Turkish Kurdistan, and Iraqi Kurdistan.
Anti-Kurdish sentiment, also known as anti-Kurdism or Kurdophobia, is hostility, fear, intolerance or racism against the Kurdish people, Kurdistan, Kurdish culture, or Kurdish languages. A person who holds such positions is sometimes referred to as a "Kurdophobe".
Between 1968 and 2003, the ruling Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party of the Iraqi Republic perpetrated multiple campaigns of demographic engineering against the country's non-Arabs. While Arabs constitute the majority of Iraq's population as a whole, they are not the majority in parts of northern Iraq, and a minority in Iraqi Kurdistan. In an attempt to Arabize the north, the Iraqi government pursued a policy of ethnic cleansing, killing and forcefully displacing a large number of Iraqi minorities—predominantly Kurds, but also Turkmen, Yazidis, Assyrians, Shabaks and Armenians, among others—and subsequently allotting the cleared land to Arab settlers. In 1978 and 1979 alone, 600 Kurdish villages were burned down and around 200,000 Kurds were deported to other parts of Iraq.
Kurdish mafia is a general term for organized criminal gangs that consist of ethnic Kurds. Kurdish crime groups are active worldwide, especially throughout Turkey, Europe, and sometimes in the Middle East.