Humans of Kurdistan
The "Humans Of Kurdistan" project aims to present the cultural diversity of the country. A look at the faces but also the stories that lie behind each of them.

December 12, 2020

“I only fear God, who else do I have to fear? Monsters? Or what? I believe this fear is more important than anything. Fate sometimes could be very dangerous, for example a child dying from sickness. I had twenty years old that went to Tahran, but died. That has been the biggest pain in my life, but at least God wanted him to stay with me until then, no one really knows how God can bless you. I am happy with everything I have, I love my wife, she does all the work and what more could I ask for. Knowing people is very important to me, the people in the village know me as a man who fears God, even though I don't consider myself one, but they call me Khalifa. Showing good manners and being good with people is very important, same as our prophet, which I'm in love with. Being good with men and women, young and old, living and nonliving, you can see how much I love my horse. There are things that we need to get over as well, things that are not in our control, and the good work is in your hand and that means everything.” ...

December 10, 2020

“I have been working in a garage for a couple of years, I'm happy about what I do, and I care about the cars more than their owners do. While moving the cars, I will try my best to avoid hurting the cars. I am not like the other people who work in garages, moving cars of people they know under the shadow in expense of other cars. I have never allowed myself to use the radios in people's cars or take selfie's with expensive cars. In the mornings, my pockets are filled with expensive cars’ keys, but all of the keys go back to their owners in the evening. I go back home with a clear conscience and empty hands, listening to music using my headphones.” ...

December 9, 2020

“In 2012 I graduated from college of Media, and decided to work in that field. One of the strangest things that has happened to me was in 2018 when I went to Manbaj for a news coverage and film army forces on the border, I was guiding four of my friends. We went to the frontlines which was between the free army and QSD. We went to a village which was under the control of the free army, there was a checkpoint before the village, we stopped and asked about the road. I was really scared because one of my friends was wearing QSD military clothes, and if they had found out we were going to get caught. I told them that we were civilians and have lost our way, they wanted to check our car, and they saw my friend they pointed their guns on him and captured him.” “I was sure that there was no way we can get out without informing our families. I ran away into the woods while they were busy capturing my friends, they tried to shoot me, but missed, and I didn't stop. I got to a river and crossed it, I got to an area that was controlled by QSD and I was finally safe. I felt guilty for what happened because I held myself accountable for them. A lot of bad scenarios were in my head, and I was never going to forgive myself if something had happened. After 8 months and a half, both of the armed forces agreed to swap hostages, I was extremely happy because my friends were in that swap deal, and they went home safe.” ...

December 8, 2020

“We had a simple life, but the crisis had affected the city badly. Every day, the situation was getting worse. I grew up in Jandaris area in Afrin, on a farm land, we had land and olive trees there. Same as everyone else, I left everything I had and went to Kobani, afraid from Turkish army's attacks. We used to live a simple life, but everything has become difficult now. Even though we are safe now, but we can't go back to how we used to live. The best time in life is before marriage because you are free. After marriage responsibilities increase. I left my children and now I live alone. Everyone is living their own lives.” ...

December 8, 2020

“My father is considered as the first key maker in Mahabad, meaning he was the first ever to work on locks and keys and that was the main reason my brothers and I learned the work, and even our kids are starting to learn. I remember as a kid when my father had a shop, people used to bring him locks to fix and he used to give it to us and tell us if we are able to open it, he'd give us candy. Since I had learned from my father, I used to quickly open it and give it back for the candy. I grew up doing this job and I am more and more drawn into it each day. I finally opened my own shop and started working and got married. Thank God that I have always faced good in life, and I consider myself an honest man, I'm very happy with my life.” ...

December 7, 2020

“I have reached a point in life where I can't remember much, I'm getting older, and we all must be prepared for the inevitable. I am not scared of death. I now live with my sister, and we both don't have much time, but we are living. I have been very unfortunate in my marriage life, my husband used to beat me a lot without having done anything to him. This is how we used to live as females, and we couldn't do anything about it. I was very happy in my father's home, but when I got married that life was over for me. I was even divorced, but we still couldn't say anything.” ...

December 7, 2020

I learned how to treat burns. The first time I time I had to treat someone was my nephew, one day he came and my mother wasn't home. I had to step up and treat him even though the wounds were pretty bad. I have tried to teach my surroundings what I know, but it takes a lot of courage and not everyone can do it. A lot of the times I take off the burned skin, which hurts the person a lot so it's not very easy. My husband can do it as well, but he can't take much it's difficult for him. I don't charge for any of the work I do, I sometimes even give my patients medicine for free. The best feeling is when a former patient is fully recovered and comes back to visit you ...

December 6, 2020

“I didn't marry someone of my own choice because I was just a little kid then. I started to love him, and he loved me back until after the revolution when he found out I can't have kids. The first time I brought someone to marry him he didn't even know, but the second time I brought a 25 years old girl for him to marry and have kids, he was 70 at the time. They had a kid, but after 7 months my husband died, he didn't even get the chance to hold him properly. The child is now 14, and I love him as one of mine, but I don't see him often because the mother has left, and I don't blame her because she was very young when she married my husband. The child loves me more than he loves his mother, whenever I visit them, he makes sure I don't leave his side. He loves me with all his heart and I love him too.” ...

December 5, 2020

“There are many things in our lives that remain unnoticed. Humans are naturally ambitious to gain better things, but we already have many things that we are not aware of or are not appreciated. When I was young, I really liked motorcycles and I really wanted to drive it, I used to say that one day I'll buy the best kind of motorcycle for myself. One day I was sitting with my friends and I noticed that he was driving a really nice motorcycle, it immediately caught my attention. Coincidentally, he sat beside us and I heard him talking about his terminal disease. At that moment, I realized that I had something much more important and that was a good health.” ...

December 4, 2020

“I had to teachers in school that let students do whatever they wanted, one of them let us write and read what we wanted. The other was the person that I learned Kurdish from. One day he told us to come up with two riddles for the next week, and I had no idea what to do. I asked my father and he told me two riddles, I wrote them on a piece of paper, I read it out loud in class and he wrote them in his notebook. He tapped my shoulder and told me good job, I was extremely happy. He said good job, but you also have these mistakes you need to fix. I thanked him and start writing for myself until I went to college. I was regularly going to Karaj to see Mr. Hazhar, and I was always giving him a letter I had written. He used to look at it and say what kind of nonsense this is? Go and read more. This way, he helped me to stay encouraged to get better and better.” “Last time I saw him I read one of my poems for him. Mr. Shapol was there as well, and he asked me what I had brought, and asked me to read it. It was a Persian poem called “Mant Bloorin Saghret”. I read it and Mr. Shapol was amazed, he told me good job. They glanced at each other and my eyes were filled with tears. I have been writing and translating texts for 20 years now. I have worked on history and worked closely in international human rights. Many of my articles were published in Media magazine, Komalayty Sardam in the south, as well as Mahabad magazine and Kashkul, I wrote under the nickname Zardasht Mukriani about social, political, and human rights as well as historical subjects. I now run Zanko magazine in Mahabad and it is published every month here.” ...

December 3, 2020

“I quit school when I was just a kid to follow my desire in raising birds, when I used to go to school, I used to visit shops that sell birds. 24 years ago, I left the city and went to the village and dedicated my life to keep birds because I couldn't do it in the city. I was criticized by my family a lot for what I was doing, but it didn't stop me. Now, my little girls help me keep the birds. My birds are from South of Kurdistan, Iraq, Lebanon and Europe, and when they have grown enough, I sell them in Rojava. I have about 50 different types of birds such as pigeons, peacocks, ostriches, chickens and more. I was once going to Qamishli and it was snowing, the roads between the village and the city was closed down due to the heavy snow, and because of that 60 of my birds died due to the cold. I was really upset, some of them were 10 years old.” ...

December 2, 2020

“Unfortunately, the killing of women and violence against women rise in numbers every day. The names and stories of those women will be forgotten, but they each had different stories, hopes and dreams. I work so those stories are not forgotten. My work is called "The Forgotten" I started on February 7, and whenever a woman is killed, I add them to my list. many of which are killed by their husbands. It really upsets me that those women's lives and dreams are taken away altogether. I have chosen this design, because it needs a lot of effort, and it's an indication for women's struggle.” ...