Warning: Call-time pass-by-reference has been deprecated in /home/content/v/o/k/vokradio/html/mambots/content/joscomment.php on line 51
Little Kurdistan, USA
VOKRadio.com, Los Angeles, California, USA
Little Kurdistan, USA
January 15th, 2010
wnpt.org :The first program in the Next Door
Neighbors series, Little Kurdistan, USA looks at Nashville’s Kurdish
population, which is the largest in North America. Kurdish refugees
first arrived in Nashville in 1976 and have since established a vibrant
community here. Little Kurdistan, USA examines how our Kurdish
neighbors have adapted to life in Nashville and provides insight into
the struggles refugees face as they build new lives in a new home. The
documentary also explores what it means to be Kurdish, and reflects on
the journey Kurds make as they become Kurdish Americans.
Four Waves of Resettlement
There have been four waves of Kurdish refugee resettlement
directly to Nashville, Tennessee. Each wave of Kurds came from
different geographical areas, with diverse social backgrounds, tribal
connections and religious beliefs. Various waves fled unique conflicts
and had different experiences in their journey to Nashville. In
addition to the four waves, many Kurds came to Nashville from within the
US. Families frequently moved here from other destination cities after
hearing about better living conditions, to be closer to friends and
family, or to join the growing Kurdish community in Nashville. It is
hard to know the exact number of Kurds living in Nashville today. Some
estimates run as high as 11,000 and as few as 8,000.
1976
Kurdish refugees first came to the United States in 1976.
According to Catholic Charities, Nashville resettled the first Kurds in
the US. Refugees from the 1976 wave fled a failed revolution in Iraqi
Kurdistan. Kurds have struggled in various movements for an autonomous
Kurdistan since the end of World War II. The revolutionary effort that
ended in 1975 had begun 14 years earlier in 1961, and had been supported
by both the United States and Iran. That support was eventually
withdrawn due to agreements made between Saddam Hussein and the Shah of
Iran. Hundreds of thousands of Kurds fled to Iran after the collapse
and eventually a few were accepted to come to the US. Some of the Kurds
who came to Nashville in 1976 held positions of authority within the
Kurdish military, called the Peshmerga. Together, the Kurdish community
stood at around 200 at the end of 1976.
1977-79
While some Iraqi Kurds continued to arrive in 1977, they were
joined by Iranian Kurds fleeing a failed autonomy movement in Iran in
1979. The Kurdish community in Nashville remained relatively small
until the mid 90’s.
1991-92
The third and largest wave of Kurdish resettlement in Nashville
represents Kurds who fled Saddam Hussein’s 1987-1988 genocidal
campaign. Hussein authorized chemical attacks against Iraqi Kurdistan,
destroyed nearly 4,500 Kurdish villages and killed an estimated 180,000
Kurds. Some have also called the Kurdish genocide “gendercide” because
male Kurdish youth and adults from ages 15-70 were explicitly targeted
for execution. During 1987-1989, tens of thousands of Kurds fled to
neighboring Turkey and Iran. Many Kurds remained in those countries for
years in refugee camps, and a few thousand were resettled in the United
States in 1991 after the end of the Gulf War.
1996-97
The last significant wave of Kurdish refugee resettlement to
Nashville came in 1996 and 1997. In 1996, Saddam Hussein threatened the
lives of Kurds working with organizations that had received financial
support from Western agencies. This group represented highly educated
members of the Kurdish leadership, many of whom had some form of
relationship with the United States. In 1996 almost two thousand Kurds
fled overnight to Turkey and were immediately relocated by US armed
forces to Guam. They remained on US military bases in Guam for three to
six months, while sponsorships could be arranged for resettlement in
the US. Many of these Kurdish refugees, called the “Guam Kurds” were
resettled to Nashville.
Nashville as a Destination City
Bill Sinclair, now the Executive Director of Catholic Charities of
Tennessee, helped resettle the first refugees to Nashville in 1975. At
that time, Sinclair was hired temporarily by the Catholic Charities
Diocese of Nashville as the city’s sole refugee resettlement
caseworker. He traveled to Fort Chaffey Arkansas, where Vietnamese
refugees had been living on the military base for more than a year.
Sinclair relocated almost 370 refugees in the first three months and
started Nashville on its path to become one of the largest refugee
destination cities in the Southeast. Through an initial process of
trial and error, Nashville became a highly successful resettlement site.
Kurdish refugees in Nashville still struggle with
the trauma experienced in their homeland. While some Kurds deal with
health issues from physical wounds, many are influenced by the emotional
scarring of surviving genocide.
These two stories feature survivor’s of chemical attacks waged by Saddam Hussein’s regime.
Meran Abdullah was living with
his family in the Kurdish village of Ekmole, when the chemical attack
began.
Kurdish refugees brought many cultural traditions with them to
Nashville. For Kurds, entertaining guests in the home is considered an
honor for the host and it is normal to welcome unannounced guests at any
time. Many Kurds in Nashville consider guests to be family and will
postpone any previous plans once a guest knocks at the door. Join NPT’s
Linda Wei as she experiences Kurdish hospitality in Nashville first
hand at the home of Sarkawt Mirza.
Little Kurdistan, USA
Panel Discussion
NPT’s host Tom Lee spoke to three of the
people featured in the documentary “Little Kurdistan, USA” after they
viewed the program to get their reactions and clarification on some of
the points raised in the documentary.
Kasar Abdulla of the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition.
Bill Sinclair, Executive Director Catholic Charities of Tennessee, Inc.
Kirmanj Gundi, Tennessee State University Professor.
