Western Australia Kurdish Community

Who are the Kurdish people and why are they divided into four countries?

The Kurdish people are an ancient ethnic group native to a region known as Kurdistan, located in the Middle East. Kurds have their own language, culture, history, and identity, but they are the largest nation in the world without a recognised country.

After World War I, Kurdish people were promised their own borders and a state by international powers. However, those promises were never honoured. Instead, Kurdistan was divided up by new political borders drawn without Kurdish consent.

As a result, Kurdish people were split across four countries:

Turkey – where Kurds face bans on language, culture, and political expression
Syria – where Kurds were long denied citizenship and basic rights
Iran – where Kurdish activism is met with arrests, executions, and military repression
Iraq – where Kurds have limited autonomy but a long history of mass killings and chemical attacks

Because Kurds never received the borders they were promised, they became minorities in four different states, often treated as a threat simply for existing as Kurds.

Across these countries, Kurds have experienced:

Forced assimilation
Criminalisation of their identity
Violence, displacement, and massacres
Punishment for speaking their language or demanding rights

Kurds have repeatedly defended their lands and fought extremism, including playing a decisive role in defeating ISIS, yet they are routinely abandoned once their sacrifice is no longer politically convenient.

This division is not accidental. It is the result of broken promises and political decisions that continue to leave the Kurdish people stateless, marginalised, and under constant threat.

Current News

Overview on the current situation.

What is happening in Rojava and Rojhilat (Kurdish Regions in Syria and Iran) – and why Australians should care

Rojava (Western Kurdistan – Kurdish-led region in northern Syria)

Rojava (meaning “the West” in Kurdish) is a Kurdish-administered region in northern Syria. Since 2012, Kurdish communities there have established a self-governing system based on democracy, gender equality, and coexistence between ethnic and religious groups.

The region is governed by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) (a local, self-run civil administration) and protected by the Syrian Democratic Forces – SDF (a multi-ethnic force led largely by Kurds).

Kurdish neighbourhoods are being attacked, including civilian areas.
Civilians are being forcibly displaced from their homes, with families fleeing active conflict zones.
Critical infrastructure, including electricity, water, and health services, has been deliberately targeted.
Armed groups backed by Turkey (a NATO member) and pressure from the Syrian government are destabilising the region.
These attacks are being led and coordinated by factions linked to Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, a former ISIS and al-Qaeda commander, now presented as a “legitimate” actor despite his extremist background.
Many of the same networks involved have direct ideological and operational links to Islamic State (ISIS) — the very group Kurdish forces defeated at enormous human cost.

Despite this, Rojava is one of the most stable and inclusive areas in Syria largely because of Kurdish leadership and community defence.

Kurdish people stopped ISIS from reaching the world

The Kurdish people especially in Rojava were the main ground force that defeated ISIS (Islamic State terrorist organisation).

Kurdish fighters stopped ISIS from reaching the Mediterranean coast, which would have given ISIS access to international shipping routes and external shores.
Over 11,000 Kurdish fighters were killed fighting ISIS so the rest of the world wouldn’t have to.
Kurdish forces protected religious minorities, including Yazidis, Christians, Armenians, and others.

Without the Kurds, ISIS would have had global reach far earlier and far wider.

This wasn’t just a regional fight it was global security, including Australia’s.

NOW..

Rojhilat (Eastern Kurdistan – Kurdish region inside Iran)

Rojhilat (meaning “the East”) refers to Kurdish regions inside Iran.

Unlike Rojava, Kurdish people in Rojhilat:

Are denied political autonomy
Face systematic discrimination
Experience arbitrary arrests, executions, and military repression
Are punished for speaking Kurdish, organising culturally, or protesting peacefully
Publicly hung, tortured, raped and imprisoned

When Iran faces internal unrest, Kurdish regions are often the first to be militarised and the hardest hit.

Rojhilat is not “quiet” it is silenced.

How Kurdish people are marginalised

Across four countries — Turkey, Syria, Iran, and Iraq — Kurds are the largest stateless nation in the world.

They are:

Excluded from state power
Labelled as “security threats” for demanding basic rights
Used as frontline fighters, then abandoned politically
Rarely defended by international governments once the immediate crisis passes

Kurds are often praised when fighting terrorism, then ignored when asking for protection or recognition.

What Kurds want for Iran’s future

If freedom is to prevail in Iran, Kurdish people are calling for a federal system, not another centralised dictatorship under a new name.

A federal system would allow Iran’s different nations and communities — including Kurds, Baluch, Arabs, Azeris, Persians, and others — to govern their own regions democratically, protect their languages and cultures, and participate equally in a shared state. This is not about division; it is about ending decades of repression caused by forced central control.

Kurds cannot accept dictator after dictator, whether monarchist or theocratic, because history has shown that both systems have brutally targeted minorities. Time and again, Kurdish leaders have entered peace talks in good faith, only to be assassinated, executed, or betrayed. This pattern has created deep mistrust toward any future system that concentrates power in the hands of one ruler, one family, or one ideology.

For Kurds, real freedom in Iran means:

No return to monarchy
No continuation of religious dictatorship
No erasure of minority nations
Shared power through democracy and federalism

Anything less risks repeating the same violence under a different flag.

What Kurds want for Iran’s future

If freedom is to prevail in Iran, Kurdish people are calling for a federal system, not another centralised dictatorship under a new name.

A federal system would allow Iran’s different nations and communities — including Kurds, Baluch, Arabs, Azeris, Persians, and others — to govern their own regions democratically, protect their languages and cultures, and participate equally in a shared state. This is not about division; it is about ending decades of repression caused by forced central control.

Kurds cannot accept dictator after dictator, whether monarchist or theocratic, because history has shown that both systems have brutally targeted minorities. Time and again, Kurdish leaders have entered peace talks in good faith, only to be assassinated, executed, or betrayed. This pattern has created deep mistrust toward any future system that concentrates power in the hands of one ruler, one family, or one ideology.

For Kurds, real freedom in Iran means:

No return to monarchy
No continuation of religious dictatorship
No erasure of minority nations
Shared power through democracy and federalism

Anything less risks repeating the same violence under a different flag.

about.

about.

Perth Kurdish Youth Society was first established in 2016. We as the Kurdish youth of Western Australia have come together to practice and teach our youth and community about our rich culture and traditions. We strive to continue practicing our beautiful culture here and showcase our colorful traditional clothing, dance and music.

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Kurdish Background

Kurds are an ethnic group of roughly 30 million people, it is very real indeed. Nestled on the margins of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, Kurdistan is one of the planet’s most volatile regions, and its people are the world’s largest stateless group.

For further information on the background and history of Kurdistan please click the link below.