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Rebel singers of Kurdistan   

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 by Yann McDowell

From the hilltops where I stand, I hear war drums from afar. At the Turkish/Syrian border in the distance, Kurdish fighters are holding back the Islamic State. Behind me, and behind the frontlines, from Istanbul to Europe, I hear songs, poems praising the resistance. Kurdish singers have now chosen their weaponry. Their guns will be their instruments and their voice.

La nation silencieuse

Where is Kurdistan ? None of my world maps seem to show such a territory.

Kurdistan is in fact an invisible country. Its borders are so far imaginative. The hypothetical territory spans over five countries : Turkey, Iran, Irak, Armenia and Syria

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The Kurds represent so far the largest stateless people in the world

They speak one language named Kurdish, which is divided in different dialects.

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When the Turkish Republic was founded in 1923, the government chose to radically standardize the practice of Turkish language within its national borders.

Between 1983 and 1991, it was forbidden in Turkey to speak Kurdish or any other language than Turkish.

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This didn't stop some singers from expressing themselves in Kurdish.

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Meeting Mîste, a young Kurdish musician

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An illustrated story about Kurdish protest songs