Who are the Kurds?

The Kurds are one of the oldest peoples of the Middle East. They are also the largest ethnic group in the world without their own internationally recognised state. They number 40 to 45 million people, and more than 120,000 of them live in the Netherlands. Yet few people know their story.

Rooted in the Christian faith, Rozia Foundation stands alongside the Kurdish people. We believe that every human being is made in the image of God, regardless of origin, language or religion. That faith puts us to work. We share hope, we stand alongside people in need and we strengthen Kurdish voices.

A people with deep roots

The Kurds are an Indo-European people with roots in the fertile highlands around the Zagros Mountains. Historical and archaeological sources indicate that Kurdish communities have lived in this region for more than three thousand years. Linguistically and culturally they are related to other Indo-European peoples, not to the Arabs or Turks, as is sometimes wrongly assumed.

Kurds are not Arabs. Their language belongs to the Indo-Iranian branch, the same family as Persian, and in a wider sense it is also related to Dutch and German. Arabic belongs to a completely different language family: Semitic. This distinction is not only linguistic; it is also culturally and historically fundamental.

What unites the Kurds, despite all their internal diversity of dialect, region and religion, is a shared cultural identity: a shared sense of belonging as a people, a shared language in its many dialects, and a shared history of resilience in the face of oppression.

How many Kurds are there and where do they live?

Accurate population statistics are not available, because none of the countries where Kurds live registers them as a separate ethnic category. Worldwide, they number 40 to 45 million people.

Kurdistan: the divided homeland

The word Kurdistan literally means ‘land of the Kurds’. Although no state with that name appears on the world map, for tens of millions of people it is their historical, geographical and cultural homeland, divided between four modern states.

The division of Kurdistan is no historical accident. It is the direct result of political decisions taken after the First World War, without any say from the Kurds themselves.

History: from the Zagros to modern times

Ancient roots: the Medes and early peoples

The historical presence of Kurdish peoples in the Middle East goes back thousands of years. According to a widely held view, the earliest ancestors of the Kurds are often linked with the Medes, a powerful Indo-European people who founded a great empire in the 7th and 6th centuries BC and brought down the famous Assyrian Empire (612 BC). For thousands of years the Kurds lived more or less autonomously in their mountainous homeland, which both protected them and isolated them from the great empires that rose and fell around them.

Sèvres (1920): the promise that was never kept

After the First World War, the chance of a state of their own finally seemed close. In the Treaty of Sèvres (1920), the Allied Powers recognised the possibility of an autonomous Kurdish region. But this promise remained a dead letter. The Treaty of Lausanne (1923) replaced Sèvres entirely and made no mention of the Kurds at all. Kurdistan was divided between Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran.

For Rozia Foundation, this ongoing injustice is a reason to stand alongside the Kurdish people. We believe that the gospel of restoration is meant for every people, including the Kurds.

Oppression, genocides and resistance

Alongside oppression, there is also an enduring tradition of resistance and rebuilding. In 1991 the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) was established in Iraq, and in 2005 it received constitutional recognition. Kurdish fighters played an indispensable role in defeating the ISIS caliphate (2014-2019).

This is not theory. We know the stories of Kurdish families who lost everything. We believe that the comfort of the gospel is meant for them too, in concrete and tangible ways.

The Kurdish language: Indo-European and diverse

The Kurdish language belongs to the Indo-European language family, the same large family as Dutch, German and English. This is a fundamental difference from Arabic.

Bible translations: a historic turning point

For the Church, 2017 is a milestone: for the first time in history, the complete Bible appeared in Sorani Kurdish. Bible translations in Kurmanji are now also available, within reach of readers in Turkey, Syria, Iran, Iraq and Armenia. For the first time, God’s Word is heard in the mother tongue of millions of Kurds.

Kurdistan in the Bible

For many Christians, the Kurdish homeland is less unfamiliar than it seems. A large part of biblical history takes place in the mountains and plains where the Kurds live today.

• The rivers of paradise. The Tigris and the Euphrates, mentioned in Genesis 2 in connection with the Garden of Eden, flow right through Kurdish territory.
• The mountains of Ararat. According to Genesis 8, Noah’s ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat, in the border region of the Kurdish homeland.
• Nineveh. The city to which the prophet Jonah was sent lay in the heart of what is now northern Iraq, where many Kurds still live today.
• Medes at Pentecost. In Acts 2:9 the Medes, a people often linked with the ancestors of the Kurds, are mentioned by name among the people who heard the gospel in their own language on the very first day of Pentecost.

So for the Kurds, the gospel is not a foreign, Western message. It was already heard in this region in the earliest days of the church. That is exactly why Rozia Foundation believes that the good news may take root again among the Kurdish people today.

Because the Kurdish language was banned or severely restricted for decades in Turkey, Iran and Syria, it survived mainly in private life and in the voices of the Dengbêj, the traditional Kurdish storytellers and singers. For the Kurds, language is a symbol of identity and survival.

Kurdish culture and traditions

Religious diversity among the Kurds

A widespread misconception is that all Kurds are Muslim. The reality is richer and more diverse. Kurds have long been religiously diverse:

These 12,000 to 23,000 brothers and sisters often carry a double burden: pressure because of their faith and because of their Kurdish identity. Many came to faith through Kurdish-language radio, satellite TV and online mission in Sorani and Kurmanji.

In autonomously governed Kurdish areas, religious minorities are protected institutionally through quota systems and co-chair arrangements. This makes Kurdish governance unique in the region.

Persecution today: religious freedom under pressure

Besides the historical tragedies, the Kurdish people live under constant pressure today. On the Open Doors World Watch List 2025, Iran is ranked 9th, Iraq 17th and Turkey 45th: precisely the countries where the majority of Kurds live. USCIRF, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, again recommended in 2025 that Iran be designated a "Country of Particular Concern" because of systematic violations.

For the estimated 12,000 to 23,000 Kurdish Christians, and for all Kurds who know them, this means daily uncertainty. And yet, wherever the gospel is shared, churches come into being. That is why Rozia is committed to three pillars: gospel and testimony, help and mercy, and justice and righteousness for the Kurdish people.

The Kurds in the Netherlands & the situation today

The Netherlands has more than 120,000 residents with Kurdish roots, one of the largest Kurdish diaspora communities in Northern Europe. They came in waves:

Rozia Foundation stands in the midst of this community. We know the stories, the pain and the hope, and we work for restoration: body, soul and community. For God knows the Kurds by name.

The situation today

Frequently asked questions about the Kurds