Yazidi

The Yazidis are a Kurdish-speaking ethno-religious minority indigenous to northern Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. Their ancient, closed religion combines elements of Zoroastrianism, Islam, and other faiths. They have faced centuries of severe persecution, including a recognized genocide by ISIS beginning in 2014. Throughout their history, the Yazidis have faced dozens of targeted attempts to eradicate their community. The most devastating modern atrocity occurred in August 2014, when the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) invaded their historic homeland in the Sinjar district of Iraq.

The 2014 Yazidi Genocide

• The Atrocities: ISIS militants systematically massacred thousands of Yazidi men and elderly women, and abducted over 6,800 women and children. 
• The Aftermath: Young boys were indoctrinated and forced to fight for the militant group, while thousands of women and girls were subjected to brutal sexual violence and human trafficking. 
• Global Recognition: The UN, the United States, the UK, Germany, and several other nations have officially classified these coordinated attacks as an ongoing genocide. 

Prior to 2014, the largest concentration of Yazidis lived in and around the Mount Sinjar area in Iraq’s Nineveh Governorate. Following the genocidal campaign, over 400,000 Yazidis were displaced. While many remain in camps across the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, a large portion of the population has fled to the diaspora, with Germany now hosting one of the largest Yazidi communities in the world. 

Secular Society

For thousands of years, Kurdistan has been a homeland of extraordinary diversity. Jews, Christians, Muslims of various traditions, Zoroastrians, Yezidis, Alevis, Yarsans, and followers of many other faiths have lived side by side, each contributing to the rich cultural and spiritual heritage of the country.

This long tradition of diversity has nurtured a natural culture of secularism, public democracy, and mutual respect among the people of Kurdistan. Throughout history, Kurdish national identity has often served as a unifying bond that transcends religious differences. While Kurds have embraced different faiths and beliefs, they have generally regarded themselves first and foremost as Kurds or Kurdistanis, sharing a common homeland, history, and destiny.

The Kurdish people’s deep respect for human dignity has been matched by a profound love for nature. The mountains, rivers, and landscapes of Kurdistan have shaped not only their way of life but also a culture that values harmony with the natural world.

Together, these traditions of diversity, coexistence, secularism, public democracy, and respect for nature have made Kurdistan a place where different communities have been able to live together with remarkable tolerance for centuries. These values are not merely political aspirations; they are deeply rooted in Kurdistan’s historical experience and cultural heritage. They continue to inspire the vision of a free, democratic, pluralistic, and peaceful Kurdistan—a homeland where every individual, regardless of faith or background, is respected equally.

Kurdish secularism is a defining political and cultural ideology that advocates for the separation of religion and state, setting it apart from many other ethnic and national movements in the Middle East. While the majority of Kurds are practicing Muslims, their overarching national identity has historically been defined more by ethnicity and shared culture than by religious adherence.

Newroz

Newroz (Kurdish: نەورۆز) is the Kurdish celebration of first day of Spring; the arrival of spring and new year in Kurdish culture. The lighting of the fires at the beginning of the evening of March 20 is the main symbol of Newroz among the Kurds.

In Zoroastrianism, fire is a symbol of light, goodness and purification. Angra Mainyu, the demonic anti-thesis of Ahura Mazda, was defied by Zoroastrians with a big fire every year, which symbolized their defiance of and hatred for evil and the arch-demon. In Kurdish legend, the holiday celebrates the deliverance of the Kurds from tyranny, with a blacksmith leading an uprising of villagers against a tyrannical king. It is seen as another way of demonstrating support for the Kurdish cause. The celebration coincides with the Spring equinox which usually falls on 21 March and is usually held between 18 and 24 March. The festival has an important place in terms of Kurdish identity for the majority of Kurds. Though celebrations vary, people generally gather together to welcome the coming of spring; they wear traditional colorful Kurdish clothes as seen in our photo gallery, dance together, light fires to dance around and jump over the bonfire, play Kurdish games.

Zoroastrianism

Kurdish Zoroastrianism is a modern religious and cultural revival movement, particularly prominent in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). Following legislative changes in 2015 that officially protected religious minorities, thousands of Kurds have converted to the ancient faith as an expression of distinct national identity and a rejection of Islamic extremism.

Zoroastrianism is one of the world’s oldest continuously practiced monotheistic religions, founded by Zarathustra (or Zoroaster). Its core philosophy centers on the supreme creator, Ahura Mazda, and the ethical duality of choosing between righteousness and destructive chaos.

Christianity

Christian Kurds are primarily evangelical population of ethnic Kurds who converted to Christianity, existing alongside the region’s ancient, indigenous Aramaic-speaking Assyrian and Chaldean communities. Numbering in the low tens of thousands, they practice their faith openly in places like Iraqi Kurdistan and Syria. The westernmost Kurds in Anatolia converted to Christianity before the 7th century, which contributed to their gradual Hellenization by the 12th century. In contrast, the Kurds of eastern Anatolia largely resisted conversion and faced punitive measures from the Byzantines. At the advent of Islam in the 7th century, most of southern Kurdistan was predominantly Christian

Judaism

Islam

The vast majority of Kurdish people, approximately 75% to 90%, are Muslims on paper, as Islam is traditionally understood to assign a religious identity by birth. Over the last 30 years, Iran, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia have spent hundreds of millions of dollars promoting and supporting various Islamist movements, including the Muslim Brotherhood, Salafism, Madkhalism, Jihadism, and Wahhabism and other sorts of Islamic radicalism.

These groups often reject one another and frequently accuse each other of deviating from the “true” interpretation of Islam. Nevertheless, they have succeeded in organizing thousands of followers within Kurdish society. Some of these movements have openly attacked Kurdish culture, traditions, language, and the Kurdish liberation movement, as well as women’s rights and the principles of an open and pluralistic society.

However, the majority of Kurdish Muslims follow the Shafi’i school of Islamic jurisprudence and possess a distinct religious and cultural identity characterized by strong Sufi traditions, rich regional diversity, and a long history of coexistence with different faiths and communities.

Before Islam, the majority of Kurds followed western paganism, which originates from traditions such as Zoroastrian and Yazidi practices. The Kurds first encountered with Islam in the 7th century during the early Muslim conquest and Arab invasions into the region. During the early Arab and Islamic invasions most were forced to either convert to Islam, be persecuted, or practice their own cultures in secret. Many fled east and west, such as west into the Caucasus regions and Western Europe. To this date, and possibly due to such ancient migrations there are similar Kurdish names among Scandinavians.

Medes / Median Empire

Various historians have suggested a link between the Medes and the Kurds. One of the earliest historical texts often cited to support this connection is the Kārnāmag-ī Ardaxšīr-ī Pābagān (Book of the Deeds of Ardashir). In this text, which narrates the rise of Ardashir I (d. 242 AD), the Sassanid king battles a local ruler named Madig, who is referred to as the ‘King of the Kurds’ (Madig î Kurdan Şâh). Some scholars interpret the name ‘Madig’ as a reference to ‘Mede’, suggesting a sociopolitical continuity between the Medes and the Kurds in the perception of the late Sassanid era. Russian historian and linguist Vladimir Minorsky suggested that the Medes, who widely inhabited the land where currently the Kurds form a majority, might have been forefathers of the modern Kurds. He also states that the Medes who invaded the region in the eighth century BC linguistically resembled the Kurds.

Kurdistan sits at the heart of the Fertile Crescent, a globally significant region where humanity first transitioned from nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyles to sedentary farming and herding between 10,000 and 7,000 BC. Kurdistan is deeply intertwined with the Cradle of Civilization as it encompasses the mountainous regions of the Fertile Crescent where the Neolithic Revolution began. This geographic area is credited with humanity’s transition from nomadic hunter-gatherers to settled, agricultural societies. The cultural and historical significance of the broader region is characterized by:

Mesopotamia’s Northern Sphere: While southern Iraq is famously known for early urban settlements like Uruk and the invention of cuneiform, northern Kurdistan played a vital role in early urban expansion. Excavations at sites like Kurd Qaburstan demonstrate that northern Mesopotamian cities were dynamic centers of trade and diplomacy as early as the Middle Bronze Age.

Archaeological and historical evidence indicates that the mountainous Kurdistan region (and broader Mesopotamia) was a vital focal point for human-canine domestication. This area is credited as a historical cradle where ancient hunter-gatherers began forming symbiotic relationships with wolves thousands of years before the advent of agriculture.

Bahá’í

Atheism

Kurdish Atheism and the Growth of Secular Thought

In recent decades, Kurdish atheism and non-religious thought have emerged as increasingly visible intellectual and cultural currents, particularly among younger generations and within the Kurdish diaspora. This development reflects a broader process of critical engagement with religion, history, and identity, as well as a growing commitment to secularism, individual freedom, and freedom of conscience.

For many Kurds, this shift has been influenced by the rise of Islamist movements and their expanding role in political, educational, cultural, and social life. It has also been shaped by concerns over the opposition of many Islamist organizations and religious scholars to Kurdish national aspirations, secular governance, gender equality, and the development of a democratic and pluralistic Kurdistani society. As a result, many Kurdish intellectuals and activists have increasingly advocated a clear separation between religion and state, arguing that citizenship and national identity should rest upon shared civic values rather than religious affiliation.

Although the majority of Kurds continue to identify as Muslims—predominantly following the Sunni Shafi’i tradition, alongside Shi’a and other Islamic communities—an increasingly visible segment of Kurdish society identifies as agnostic, atheist, humanist, or religiously unaffiliated. More broadly, support for secular governance extends well beyond those who are personally non-religious and includes many believing Muslims who view secular democracy as the most effective framework for protecting religious freedom, equal citizenship, and peaceful coexistence.

Kurdistan is widely regarded as one of the Middle East’s more stable and religiously diverse regions. Despite the profound challenges posed by regional conflicts and religious extremism, many Kurds continue to view secularism not as opposition to religion, but as a constitutional principle that safeguards democracy, human rights, women’s rights, freedom of belief, and the peaceful coexistence of diverse religious and ethnic communities. Within this perspective, secularism is understood as a foundation for an inclusive Kurdistani society in which individuals of all faiths—and those of none—enjoy equal rights under the law.