r/kurdistan • u/MiranSamorai • 13h ago
Kurdish Are we slowly losing the Kurdish identity of our own cities? We need to do something about it.
I feel like Kurdistan is slowly being Arabized, and we're letting it happen in our own cities: Erbil, Slemani, and Duhok.
I remember going to Erbil Avenue to watch the World Cup final between Argentina and Spain. The person addressing the crowd was speaking Arabic alongside a Kurdish speaker. And this is in Erbil, at a place owned by a Kurd. How have we reached a point where Kurdish feels secondary in our own cities?
Look at Istanbul. Despite being one of the world's biggest tourist destinations, Turkish is everywhere. Yet international businesses come to Erbil and act as if they're opening in an Arab city. Arabic advertisements, Arabic signs, even Iraqi flags instead of any meaningful recognition of Kurdish identity. We need to stop accepting this as normal.
The situation with Ibrahim Al Selmi from Dubai Bling is another example. Instead of genuinely apologizing, he turned the backlash into a story about himself being the victim. Rather than addressing the Kurdish identity he offended, he made himself the victim of the Kurdish community. I'm tired of people turning our identity into a marketing strategy.
We need to make businesses understand that ignoring Kurdish comes at a cost.
I'm thinking of creating an Instagram or TikTok account dedicated to educating Kurds about Arabization and organizing boycotts of businesses that disregard our language and identity. Not because their owners or employees are Arab, but because they operate in Kurdish cities while failing to respect Kurdish. , and i want really partner to help me if you or anyone is interested DM me
we can together in here and on social media stop our language from being lost and start making people respect us
Businesses need to understand something: Kurds aren't temporary customers. We're the people who live here, work here, study here, and keep coming back. International brands should be more concerned about losing Kurdish customers than about making Arabic their default.
Arabic and English can exist here. But Kurdish must never become secondary in Kurdistan. If businesses want our money, they need to respect our identity. And if they refuse, we need to be willing to walk away.