kurdish

Travelers line up to check in at the Irbil International Airport in Iraq on Wednesday.

World News

Iraq Threatens To Cut Off Kurdish Region's Airports After Independence Vote

3:18pm September 27, 2017

by Merrit Kennedy

Iraq's Kurdish region has overwhelmingly voted in favor of independence. Now the Iraqi government says it will block international flights to and from the region's airports in retaliation.

Turkish police officers take cover after the blast in the majority-Kurdish city of Diyarbakir on Friday. The car bomb was detonated hours after the government detained 12 pro-Kurdish legislators.

World News

Car Bomb Kills 8 In Turkey After Pro-Kurdish Legislators Detained For Questioning

8:52am November 04, 2016

by Camila Domonoske

The explosion-laden minibus hit a city in Turkey's largely Kurdish southeast, The Associated Press reports. The blast came hours after 12 pro-Kurdish lawmakers were taken into custody.

World News

U.S. Investigating Whether ISIS Used Chemical Weapons Against Kurds

6:18pm August 20, 2015

by Laura Wagner

Reports have said the self-proclaimed Islamic State likely used mustard gas against Kurdish forces. Officials tell NPR they have not determined what chemical, if any, was used.

The temple of Sharfadin in Northern Iraq is 800 years old, and followers of the Yazidi religion consider it one of the most sacred sites in the world. Though ISIS tried to destroy it, a small group of Yazidi fighters kept the shrine standing.

World News

Outmanned And Outgunned, Fighters Defend Yazidi Shrine Against ISIS

9:08pm February 13, 2015

by Ari Shapiro

Led by a celebrated Yazidi fighter, a small band of Kurdish peshmerga survived a months-long ISIS onslaught. Unlike others in Syria and Iraq, this sacred place still stands, nearly unscathed.

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Syrian Kurdish fighter Delkhwaz Sheikh Ahmad, 22, sits with his wife Siham, 23, and their two sons, Dilyar and Ibrahim, at his brother's house on the Turkey-Syria border on Friday. He was preparing to leave for Kobani, Syria, to rejoin the fighting agains

World News

Understanding The Kurds' Different Roles In Different Conflicts

7:16pm October 22, 2014

by NPR Staff

The Kurds are deeply involved in the current conflicts in Syria and Iraq. But their roles vary in countries throughout the region, so we wanted to step back and take a broader look at the Kurds.

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Aza Betwata (left) and his brother Mirwan (center) left Holland to join the Kurdish peshmerga fighting against ISIS militants in northern Iraq. Though the brothers come from a family of fighters, Aza had just two days of training — his brother must show

World News

Kurds Leave Life In Europe To Fight ISIS In Their Iraqi Homeland

9:33am October 21, 2014

by Alice Fordham

Until August, 24-year-old Aza Betwata was in Holland, enjoying beef and cabbage and studying to be a social worker. Now, he's among the hundreds of exiled Kurds who have returned and taken up arms.

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Kurdish fighters move into position in Kobani, Syria on the border with Turkey Sunday, Oct. 19, 2014.

U.S. Airdrops Weapons, Ammo, Medical Supplies To Kurds In Kobani

2:38am October 20, 2014

by Lauren Hodges

In an effort assist Kurdish forces in the Syrian border town, the U.S. military said Sunday the dropped supplies were meant to help resistance to Islamic State efforts to control Kobani.