The definition of the Romanticization phenomenon is as followed: “to talk about something in a way that makes it sound better than it really is, or to believe that something is better than it really is” (Cambridge Dictionary)…
We are currently in the summer season; which means that a lot of first, second and third generation Kurds from Europe and the western Diaspora are flying to their homeland, cities and mountain villages with the free financial and political precondition given of course. It is the beautiful excitement of going back, of reconnecting, of seeing family members and its nature. But what often shows during the visit at home or later is a form of deep disappointment, shock or the firm realization that the situation in Kurdistan (in this article I am going to largely refer to Bakûr, North Kurdistan) is not the way we think from our position in the West. Two different world views of this geography colliding. It starts with observations of the amount of Turkish flags that are disproportionately hung in every corner in Kurdish cities, the amount of Turkish that is spoken instead of our view of a fully Kurdish-speaking population, the coldness of the youth and the partly politically and passivated and immunized family circles after centuries of state oppression and most importantly, the outcomes and the consequences of the high economic inflation and the poverty within Kurdish society. The frustration and confusion is a real lived experience since the situation in Kurdistan is changing monthly, but this also shows how disconnected we truly are to the developments, negative change and the actual daily lives of the Kurds in Kurdistan and especially the numbness and trauma of its Youth.
Kurdish culture and the identity of being a Kurd in Europe has undergone a huge shift from solely being something to be ashamed of (and still is with on-going anti-kurdish sentiment and “terror” stigmatization) but nowadays also holds something to be proud of especially after the successful fight of the Kurds and its autonomous womens Units; YPJ; against ISIS. Being a Kurd now in the Diaspora also means being indigenous, leftist, part of an anti-fascist fight and strong community. But being a Kurd by its ethnic-biological definition is not enough to own the right to coat oneself with centuries-long fight and thousands of şehids, broken families, mourning mothers, collective trauma and a destroyed eco-system. With around 1,6 million Kurds only in Germany, the urgent need for collective action in Europe to the international stage with our potential implemented in praxis keeps staying little. This can be led back into the wide-spread lack of deeper political consciousness and regular information of the regional developments in Kurdistan and SWANA in general; Kurdish identity as the “people that resist and fight” and the “appreciation” of Kurdish culture and music sadly is not enough to unlock our full potential as a Kurdish youth in the Diaspora with different opportunities and diplomatic chances and also the importance of young women and their autonomous societal work. A big part of the Kurdish Diaspora Community that actually calls themselves Kurds and not Turks, Fars or Arab, stays in the dimension of appreciation, but doesn’t go deeper into realistic wide political participation or commitment that doesn’t include ones own profit.
The second or third generation in the Diaspora currently is in a “first step” phase of defining its own Kurdish identity, finding its langue and culture again and therefore is confronted with an obstacle of looking deeper into the situation in Kurdistan; this especially applies to those coming from families that did not pass much of its ideological-kurdish identity onto their children for supposed protection sake. What a large part of the Kurdish youth that flies to Kurdistan and sees the catastrophic societal, economic and political situation, does not see is the intense wish of almost all Kurdish youth to escape their own land and migrate abroad because of a lack of perspective and lack of hope that reached immensely high levels. Combined with the shortage of Jobs, the daily gang violence on the streets, the drug networks, constant tension, the fear of incarceration, the costs of studying and then not finding a fitting job, Kurdistan is not left with much that can be romanticized. The numbers of drug-affiliated and Turkish State Apparatus connected informal gang formations is rapidly increasing; femicide numbers are at a high level and arbitrary state action leaves no ground for autonomy over the individual’s body and mind. A significant part of Kurds in Kurdistan currently lives under a constant “state of emergency” which leaves little to no room or space for cultural work or social engagement with the Youth.
The Diasporas disconnection to its roots shows in our distance to family members and our relationship with same-aged Cousins. Struggles with communicating freely and truly understanding each other since we come from different life realities that cannot be compared. They see us being aware and awake of Kurdish culture; which can lead to comments from the family like “You guys in Germany are even more radical than we are.”. This sentence reflects the positive consciousness of our refound kurdish identity and the radical will to turn back to our roots but at the same time shows how much less risk we are confronted with when we live out our kurdish identities in Europe or Diaspora. A strange feeling of distance settles in; and after 2-4 weeks, we leave our homeland again, leaving our people and community alone in its political misery.
The kurdish youth and young kurdish women in the Diaspora hold something super important and can use their situating for a wide international, politicized kurdish movement that is connected between Kurdistan (Bakûr) and Europe or the West as independent actors. The kurdish Diaspora movement has built networks, political working spheres and cultural works since the 80’s; but it remains with a couple hundred individuals that actually permanently work for it and steps into kurdish society. What we need is to step out of a romanticized perspective, leave the sole identitarian dimension of “Kurdishness” and the image surrounded by it and connect with the kurdish Youth in Kurdistan itself. Otherwise, we will not only stay geographically separated from our homeland, but also mentally.