Oldest cities in the world!

Many cities in Kurdistan are among the top oldest cities in the world where human race resided and settled in.  Below I've provided a short list of some of the oldest cities in Kurdistan. 

• Arbil, capital of KRG; simply the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world! Urban life at Arbil can be dated back to at least the third millennium BC, (5000 years ago)! The city was founded by Hurrians (Khurrites), the forefathers of the Kurds in the land of Karda. Unlike what some people may think, the name of the city is not of semitic origin, but semitized. In other words, the name of the city is of Hurrian origin, (note the Hurrian toponym prefix ''ar''), however when Semitic people migrated northwards and became a power in the region, they reflected the name as ''Arbela'' which according to their language meant ''four gods''. 
  
• Kirkuk, nicknamed ''Quds of kurdistan''; founded by Hurrian-related tribes from eastern Kurdistan (either Guti or Lullubi); the old name of the city was Arrapha. 
  
• Oshnaviya, Shno, that is the ancient town of Ushnuya. 
  
• Sharazor, is said to have been built by Zor son of Zahhak. It was destroyed by Mongols.
  
• Pinaca, later Bezabde, today Cizre, in ancient kingdom of Corduene which was part of the Roman empire
  
• Sareisa, an extremely ancient site, was also an important city in ancient Corduene. 
  
• Satalca, ancient city in southeastern Anatolia, was also part of Corduene
  
• Tigranocerta, modern Miyafarqin/Silvan in southeastern Anatolia. The city was founded by Tigran, a Prthian noble who later became a despot king over Armenia, after he relocated many Kurds to the site wich eventually became Tigranocerta or Tigranakart (parthian for ''city of Tigran'') 
  
• Nineveh, today Mosul, the city was actually founded by Semitic peoples, and was capital of Assyria, however after fall of Assyria the site was inhabited by Kurds up to the twentieth century when it was arabised by the British created state of Iraq.  
  

The list goes on to Mars :) ...

Jaban; The First Muslim Kurd

Although Kurds were among the first nations who severely resisted Muslim Arabs invasion to their territory for centuries, and even according to some accounts it was not up to the end of the medieval age that majority of Kurds embraced Islam, however the first Kurd who converted to Islam unlike what some people may think did not become Muslim through invasion or forced conversion by Arabs; but was a traveller -likely a merchant- named ''Jaban'' who was a companion of Muhammad. In the year 18 after Hijra, he came back to Kurdistan to preach Islam among the people of his homeland. He has been mentioned in several muslim sources including ''Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani'' who writes in his book ''Finding the Truth in Judging the Companinons'', 10 hadithes which are quoted by Jaban. In addition Jaban's son Abu Basir Maymun al-Kurdi ibn Jaban was a Tabi'i.

Kurdish Azarbaijan

West Azarbaijan province of Iran is located in northwestern corner of the country and forms the northern part of Iranian Kurdistan and northeastern part of Greater Kurdistan.

It is formed of 14 counties (shahrestan) and more than 30 cities and towns. The population of the province is about three millions. During two periods, 1919-1922 and again in 1946 the province was a Kurdish state known as republic of Kurdistan, centered at Urmia and Mahabad respectively. West Azarbaijan is among the last places in Iran where Shia Turkmen tribes were not able to turkify under safavids. most of its turkophone minority migrated to the region in 1800s and afterwards. Unlike what its name offers, i.e. containing the word ''Azarbaijan'', it is a predominantly Kurdish-inhabited province; indeed the Kurdish names of ''Azarbaijan'' and ''Azari'' were not in use for Turkic tribes of Azarbaijan before the Persians and Russians deliberately and for political purposes used these names as an ethnonym for them.

Anti-Kurdism

The term ''Anti-Kurdism'' refers to hostility towards or prejudice against Kurds, which can range from individual hatred by ordinary people to institutionalized, violent persecution or discrimination. In other words anti-Kurdism is a social and political disease in Middle east, especially in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria, but not limited to these.
The prejudice or hostility is usually characterized by a combination of political, economical, religious, racial, cultural and ethnic biases. Antikurdism may be manifested in many ways, ranging from individual expressions of hatred and discrimination against individual Kurds to organized violent attacks by mobs or even state police or military attacks on entire Kurdish communities. Historic instances of persecution include the Iranian massacre of thousands of Kurds around Urmia and deporting the survivors to northern Khorasan in 1609-1610 and the Dersim massacre in 1930s by the Turkish government.

Several varieties of antikurdism can be distinguished:

Political antikurdism; giving as example prohibition or closing down all Kurdish political parties who represent Kurds to achieve their basic rights.
Economic antikurdism; A clear example is that Kurdistan is the most impoverished and undeveloped area in all of the four countries occupying it.
Theological or Religious antikurdism; harassing Kurds for being Shafiite Sunni Muslims.
Cultural antikurdism; marginalizing or even banning Kurdish literature and history to be taught, or even banning use of Kurdish language.
Nationalistic antikurdism; accusing Kurds for being proxies of enemies of the country to weaken the country; for instance Qarne and Qalatan massacres in Iran (in eastern Kurdistan) in early 1980s, or the most infamous anfal campaign in Iraq (in southern Kurdistan) which took lives of 182000 innocent Kurds.

Racial or Ethnical antikurdism, insulting Kurds just for being simply Kurds; an example is Khoja Saddadin (1537-1599) the Turkish Mufti of the Ottoman Turks who wrote in his book ‘Taj ül-Tawarikh’ (The Crown of Histories): “It has been decreed by God that the Kurds cannot found a state because, once upon a time, a very ugly and frightening man visited the prophet Mohammed. The prophet was scared, and asked the man from whence he came. The guest answered in a friendly and respectful manner that he was a Kurd. The prophet lifted his head to the sky and said, ‘Thou, God, must not allow the Kurds to unify; their unification would cause the destruction of the world”.

Waving Kurdistan flag!

I was searching on the web to find a waving Kurdistan flag but found nothing special. So I decided to create one of my own to share with anyone paying respect to this glorious flag! Here it is:



On the history of the flag:
The modern flag of Kurdistan first appeared during the Kurdish independence movement from the Ottomans. It is said to have been created in the 1920s by the organisation of Xoybûn (Khoyboon). However, an earlier version of this flag was flown by the Republic of Ararat in Anatolia during the period 1927-1931. It was later the flag of the Kurdish state known as the Republic of Kurdistan in 1946, encompassing of modern province of west Azarbaijan in Iran centered at Mahabad (this province is predominantly Kurdish and is known as the ''Kurdish Azarbaijan'' in contrast to the predominantly Turkish province of east Azarbaijan in Iran). The flag is now flown by the Kurdistan Regional Government in southern Kurdistan. The flag is banned in Syria, Iran and Turkey. The main Kurdish characteristic of the flag is the blazing golden sun emblem at the center, which is an ancient religious and cultural symbol among the Kurds. The sun disk of the emblem has 21 rays, equal in size and shape.

Kurdish cuisine: Berbesêl

It's time to introduce a delicious food of traditional Kurdish cuisine. I promise posting more recipes in the comming weeks. The first recipe is about a tasty soup called ''Berbesêl'' pronounced: Barbasell. ( in some dialects it is called ''quraw''.)

Ingredients: (for 4 persons)
500 gr meat
1000 gr yoghurt (mast)
1 egg
1 onion
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
some salt, pepper, turmeric powder, dried peppermint (or thyme)

Directions:
Firstly boil the meat in two or three glasses of water. In a separate pot mix the yoghurt with a glass of water and an egg and whip it. Heat the yoghurt pot while ''continuously'' whiping tills it is boiled. Add the yoghurt pot into the pot with the boiled meat. Add the fried onion which you already prepared in a pan. Add the spices. Finally keep heating the pot one more quarter on a low temperature.
Now the berbesêl is ready and you're about to taste a tasty Kurdish food. I recommend listening to a soft Kurdish music while eating! Bon appétit!

Kurds in shadow of history

Below, I've provided a list of notable pre-Islamic Kurdish clans and/or dynasties whose names survived as tribal names up to the modern era. The list is certainly no limited to those listed by me. It's worthy of note that each of these played significant roles in political scene of the time they were shining.
Hezebani: descendants of the Adiabene; the medieval rulers of tracts between Arbil, Urmia, and Maragha.
Garmiyan: from Garmakan; in and around Kirkuk.
Rawendi: from Orontes. As Orontids they ruled over what today is known as Armenia and Azarbaijan. Their offshoots continued to keep their realm over the same areas during early centuries of Islamic era as Shadadids and Rawadids. The city of Rawandiz too takes its name from them.
Bokhtan: from Pactiana together with Armenia formed thirteenth satrap of Achaemenid empire. the city of Bohtan in northern Kurdistan takes its name from Bokhtanis.
Soran: from Suren. a very powerful Arsacid clan who ruled what is now known as southern Kurdistan (Iraqi Kurdistan) during reign of Yazdgird of Sassanids. they continued to real the area up to midle of ninteenth century when attacked by Ottomans. Nowadays the southern Kurmanji dialect of Kurdish is called Sorani too.
Feyli: from Pahlavi. synonymous with Arsacid. Or more accurately name of language and people whose royal class named Arsacids.
Mardîn: a city in northern Kurdistan which takes its name from Mards, mentioned in Greek and Armenian sources.
Mihrani: who were one of the four clans united to support Saladin. they took their name from Mihranid a dynasty ruling Aran in the early Christian era, today known as Republic of Azerbaijan. (the name Aran is Kurdish for 'lowland')
Caf/Cafan or Jaf: from Gabiane of Greek sources. Jaf has been one of the most populous Kurdish tribes who dwelled mainly in southeastern Kurdistan. The city of Javanroud too takes its name from Jafs.

Actually as noted above the list is too longer than what listed here.