NASHVILLE, Tennessee – The biggest Kurdish population in the U.S. is in Nashville, the capital city of the state of Tennessee. Kurds call it Little Kurdistan. This city is home to more than 10,000 Kurds.
Packed with Kurdish restaurants, businesses and homes, Nashville does not have any cultural centers. The Kurdish youth have largely forgotten their native language and culture.
The city has seen limited Kurdish political activity and very few Kurds have made it to the city’s academic institutions.
Unlike European Kurds, who have become MPs and occupy important posts in European institutions, Kurds in the U.S. occupy no significant positions in the American system.
Sarwar Hawez, U.S. representative of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), believes political division among the Kurds is the reason.
“Each group here is affiliated with a political party and they want to do their own thing,”
“Each group here is affiliated with a political party and they want to do their own thing,” he says. “This has been very counterproductive.”
In addition to factionalism, Hawez says political parties in Kurdistan are not willing to invest in American Kurds.
“For example, my party has carried out few small projects in Nashville, but it does not really provide us with any long-term funds to carry out cultural and political activities here in the U.S.,” Hawez said.
Former president of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNC) and university professor Dr. Kirmanj Gundi thinks that tribalism is another reason for the separation of Kurds in America.
“For example, Kurds who are originally from one area (in Kurdistan) cling together and keep to themselves rather than opening up and working with others,” Dr. Gundi said.
Dr. Gundi does not think Kurds promote tribalism on purpose, saying, “This is how they have always been. It’s not a plan to avoid interacting with others, it’s just the way they have lived their lives.”
Many Kurds in Nashville believe that the Salahadin Islamic Center (SIC), which offers Kurdish language classes alongside Islamic studies, is the only active organization in Nashville serving the Kurdish community.
SIC was established in 1998 and is maintained by Muslim Kurds. Friday sermons are held there in both Kurdish and English languages. Funding for the center comes from donations and the annual Islamic zakat.
Hawez thinks that this little mosque in Nashville has done more than the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Kurdish political parties combined.
“Even though the Salahadin Center in the city has not dedicated itself to serve the Kurdish cause, I certainly can say it has served the Kurdish community more than the two Kurdish ruling parties have,” he said.
A great number of young Kurds in Nashville do not speak Kurdish and have very limited knowledge about the Kurds.
Dr. Gundi warns that if the current situation and lack of attention to Kurdish youth continues, they will soon forget their history; they already have forgotten their language.
Kamaran Kurdi, a U.S. representative of the Change Movement (Gorran), points out that Kurdish youth in the U.S. have limited resources to education about their nation and people.
“Whatever they know about the Kurds is passed down from their parents,”
“Whatever they know about the Kurds is passed down from their parents,” said Kurdi.
Aside from the lack of support from Kurdistan, Dr. Azad Moradian, from Voice of Kurds Radio, lists the small size of the Kurdish community compared to the overall U.S. population and wide geographic distances between various Kurdish communities among the reasons that American Kurds, in general, are not as active as European Kurds.
“The first thing U.S. politicians asked us was how many votes our community could give in the elections,” Dr. Moradian, who has represented the American Kurdish community in meetings with U.S. politicians, told Rudaw. “Surely not enough to convince them to help the Kurdish community.”
Kurds are scattered across the U.S., with significant groups in Tennessee, California, Texas and Georgia.
“It’s just difficult to gather a considerable number of Kurds in one place, due to the cost of traveling, hotels, etc.,” said Dr. Moradian. “For example, when we have a conference in Washington, only a small number of Kurds show up; but if we hold the same conference in another state where more Kurds reside, a greater number of Kurds attend.”
Others argue that life in the U.S., where you have to work and have little spare time, is one reason that Kurds cannot contribute more to their community.
But Dr. Moradian says that, despite the difficulties, Kurds have done more than some other communities living in the U.S., citing organizations that serve the Kurdish cause and Kurdish communities.
“For example, the governor of Kirkuk was the former president of KNC, an organization that was created here in the U.S.,” he said.
Kurdish political parties and the Kurdistan Regional Government should invest in organizing American Kurds not only for their votes in Iraqi or Kurdistan elections, but for the sake of preserving the Kurdish culture for future generations and strengthening the Kurdish lobby in the U.S.
Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 12:14 pm
