Kurdish Americans in Nashville Historical Marker

Dedicated in January 2023, this historical marker commemorates Nashville's Kurdish community, known as "Little Kurdistan" in recognition of Nashville being home to the largest Kurdish population in the United States. The marker is located near the Salahadeen Center of Nashville, a Kurdish mosque established in 1998, making it one of the first Kurdish mosques in the U.S. Kurds began arriving in Nashville in the mid-to-late 1970s, fleeing genocide and persecution. More came in the 1980s and in the 1990s. The community has grown to around 20,000 as of 2022.

Kurds are native to an area in western Asia comprised of parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. They also inhabit central Turkey and north eastern Turkey. Diaspora communities are located in Europe, Canada, Australia and other countries. After the Ottoman Empire collapsed, the Kurdistan region was divided into the aforementioned countries, which often tried to forcefully assimilate them into their societies. The Kurds often resisted and as a result became subject to persecution, deportation, forced migration, and genocide.

Kurds arrived in Nashville in successive waves. The first occurred in the mid-1970s, Iraqi Kurds rose up against the government, which failed to implement a peace plan for Kurdish autonomy by 1974. The Kurds, however, lacked heavy weapons and could not fight effectively against the Iraqi army. As a result, they lost and in the aftermath, the government implemented a repressive Arabization program program. Kurdish guerrillas continued to resist and hundreds of villages were destroyed.

The second wave was in the 1980s after the Iranian Revolution which resulted in the establishment of the current Islamic Republic of Iran. Many Kurds opposed the new theocratic government and left. The third and largest wave occurred in the late 1980s when the Saddam Hussein-led Iraqi government committed mass genocide against the Kurds (it is estimated that between 50,000 to 100,000 were killed). It occurred at the end of the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) when the Iraqi government conducted a counterinsurgency campaign against the Kurds in the northern part of Iraq. The deadliest aspect of the campaign, which was called "Al-Anfal" and lasted between 1987-1989, was the use of chemical weapons, particularly the chemical bombardments of villages. The fourth wave occurred in the mid-1990s during a civil war between rival Kurdish factions in Iraq. Saddam Hussein also targeted intellectuals who were receiving support from Western aid organizations. In recent years, more Kurds have fled fleeing the Syrian civil war and ISIS.

Many Kurdish refugees chose to settle in Nashville in recognition of the large Kurdish-American community that was already established here. The Salahadeen Center is the heart of the "Little Kurdistan" neighborhood. The community is surrounded by various Kurdish-owned businesses, including bakeries, jewelry stores, and an international market called the Azidi International Food Market.

Arpacik, Demet. "Redefining Kurdishness in the U.S. Diaspora: The experiences of Kurdish Students and Their Parents in Nashville Schools." Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies, vol. 6, no. 2, pg. 44-56. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejecs/252.

Marshall, Alexis. "Curious Nashville: How the city became a destination for Kurdish families, and how the community is evolving." WPLN. September 9, 2022. https://wpln.org/post/little-kurdistan-nashville.

"Nashville’s Growing Community of Kurdish Americans." The Kurdish Project. Accessed July 21, 2023. https://thekurdishproject.org/nashville-growing-community-of-kurdish-americans.

Sawyer, Ariana Maia. "Who are the Kurds, and why are they in Nashville?" The Tennessean. https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/2017/06/23/who-kurds-and-why-they-nashville/97706968.