I Am Not Just a Syrian Kurd – I Am Kurdistan
I am not just a Syrian Kurd.
I am Kurdistan —
Not a province, not a border,
but the pulse beneath them all.
I am the fire of Amed,
the silence of Mahabad,
the breath of Qamishlo,
the wound of Şingal,
the shadow of Hewlêr
and the song of Xaneqîn.
My blood remembers
Zagros and Taurus,
Yazd and Lake Van,
Sulaymaniyah,
Dersim,
and the forgotten trails of the USSR's Kurdish exile.
I carry the tongue of Kurmancî,
the rhythm of Sorani,
the depth of Zazaki,
and the broken syllables torn from my ancestors' mouths.
I am not a line in your reports,
not a checkbox,
not a regional sample.
I am the mountain that breathes freedom,
the soil that rejects empire,
the people who will not vanish.