Various festivals were launched over the weekend in Europe to celebrate Kurdish culture. The events aim to protect and preserve the Kurd’s rich cultural heritage, a peaceful act of resistance against what are widely viewed as genocidal and assimilation policies enacted by the Turkish state and its allies against the Kurdish people and their culture.
In France, the 3rd Paris Kurdish Cultural Festival began on 25 May, set to continue until 1 June. An opening ceremony in the streets of Paris boasted a varied program including a presentation of the Kermanshah (Kirmaşa), a Kurdish community who live in the northwestern region of Iran known as Rojhilat.
In Germany’s Frankfurt, the 14th Dersim Festival took place on 25 May and offered a rich programme with educational lectures on topics such as ‘Women in Dersim’ and ‘Ecology in Dersim’ as well as a varied cultural programme with traditional music and dances. The province of Dersim (tr. Tunceli), in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey, has faced historical genocides and massacres, the most brutal being the Dersim Genocide of 1938.
The attacks continue to this day, largely acknowledged to be part of the Turkish state’s assimilation policy, which many describe as a ‘white genocide’ aiming to eradicate the culture of the predominantly Alevi Kurds in Dersim. The festival called for resistance against government attempts to expel Kurds from the Dersim region, ending with the call, “We will not allow Dersim to be emptied!”
Elsewhere in Germany on 25 May, Freiburg hosted the annual Kurdistan Youth Festival, with hundreds of young people from Kurdish regions of the Middle East and the diaspora in Europe coming together to participate in activities such as traditional Kurdish dance, football and chess games, and to enjoy Kurdish culinary specialities.
In Bochum, Germany, young Kurdish women joined the annual Festival Against Racism and Fascism, presenting traditional Kurdish dances and garb.
In Denmark’s capital Kopenhagen, the first Festival of Kurds of Central Anatolia took place on 26 May. Kurdish food from the Central Anatolia region was served at the festival and books by authors from the region were presented. The event concluded with artistic performances and traditional Kurdish dances.
Many more Kurdish festivals are planned for the coming months, presenting the richness and diversity of Kurdish culture as part of an active struggle for its preservation.
