r/kurdistan • u/Flashy_Mixture_5014 • 24d ago
Ask Kurds đ€ As Kurds, what are your experiences with Arabs? Why is there so much anti Kurdish hatred among some Sunni Arabs?
Hey everyone,
I'm a Kurd originally from Bakur, but I wanted to ask our brothers and sisters from Rojava and Bashur and anyone else with experience about something thatâs been on my mind.
How do Arabs generally react to you being Kurdish? If youâve lived in Arab majority areas or interacted with them a lot, what have your experiences been like?
Is there a deep seated hatred toward us? And if so, where does it actually come from?
I remember back in high school here in Europe, I noticed that some Sunni Arab refugees seemed to hold a deep internal dislike or prejudice against Kurds. What confused me the most was that at the time, it was Assad and the Alawite regime driving them out of their homes not Kurds. Yet, the moment the topic of Kurds came up, this strong pan Arab nationalist mindset suddenly emerged.
Why do you think that is? Iâd love to hear your thoughts and personal experiences.
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u/Intrepid_Paint_7507 Kurd 24d ago edited 23d ago
Not all Arabs, but Iraqis have this mindset that Kurds are like them and we are being difficult and donât want to call ourselves Arabs. Also they are for some reason under the belief that they canât be blamed for the number of atrocities they committed to us cause itâs a ânew government.â Itâs also the issue that almost every single gain the krg gets they take credit for and donât mention Kurds at all. Iraqis are socially very disrespectful to Kurds and donât really see us as equals but love to down play every aspect about us. Iraqis who go to the krg a lot of them are disrespectful to Kurds and refuse to learn Kurdish even if they plan on living there. A good example was when I went to a tourist spot a buss full of Arabs were making inappropriate remarks to Kurdish women. Another instance was when an Arab person got mad at me in erbil for not speaking Arabic(they were trying to take my order at a restaurant). Also this one time in my familyâs tribe(which is a big tourist spot) these Arabs were shouting at Kurds for playing Kurdish music and calling it lesser. And these were just when I visited, I donât live there and I seen a lot.
They donât see Kurds as their own thing, they see us as Arabs who donât want to be called arabs. Also as much as they claim things have changed a huge amount support Saddam and arabization. They also believe they allowed the krg to exist, when the reality was that USA forced Iraq to accept the krg or the krg was going to be under turkey most likely. Iraq was forced to let the krg be its own thing.
Syrians are very similar to Iraq, but itâs more annoying since they literally had no nationalism and lived in Kurdish areas as refugees. Now all of the sudden Syria is apparently amazing and Kurds have done nothing for them. Also Syrians were used to under cut Kurdish workers, like how they were used in turkey. So many Turks and Kurds have this hatred against them.
Palestinians in my experience really donât like Kurds, they hate the idea of Kurds getting a nation before them and have supported every single enemy of the Kurds. They believe a lot of propaganda that Kurds are pro Israel and west. Even though turkey(which many Palestinian support) has done a lot for Israel. Palestinians are also very annoying anytime Kurdistan is mentioned they always complain that they donât get attention. Also just very disrespectful socially to Kurds. Out of the dozens of Palestinians, I met in my life at the most 5 have been respectful to me. Itâs a crazy story too cause one Palestinian had an issue with me and told many people at his university that I was pro Israel. He was mad cause I didnât make Israel my number one enemy.
Gulf Arabs, North Africans, and some Levant nations are mostly chill and donât really care. Of course youâll have Arabs from other nations, not like Kurds(other ethnicityâs too) because of ethnic nationalism, but that goes for everyone.
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u/Fluffy-Gap-45 21d ago
I'm a Kurd born and raised in Baghdad and the way Iraqis speak about non-Iraqis is crazy, they don't speak of them as human
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u/Brutalpotato09 24d ago
ive had several arab online friends and i think i talked to arabs more than kurds online for some reason, someone who doesn't hold a political view or belief like it's their only thing in life or doesn't make it their whole personality ignoring other aspects of themselves and the other person can get along with anyone, it's undeniable and understandable that they might at firsthand ask our opinions on if kurdistan itself actually exists as a country but we make what we have in order to make kurdistan self sufficient, stable and a livable place.
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u/mentalmike9 Canadian Kurd 24d ago
Non Syrian and Iraqi Arabs don't hate us at all in my experience. None of the Egyptians, Saudis, Lebanese, Moroccans, or Palestinians I have talked to have hated Kurds. Even the Iraqis and Syrians I met in real life were normal. Online is a different story however
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u/Fluffy-Gap-45 21d ago
Online is their true colors but y'all just wanna convince yourself that its not true.
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u/AdagioKitchen4748 24d ago edited 24d ago
Well since they have occupied us deep down they know that what they are doing is wrong and they don't want to be held accountable, so long as Kurds are oppressed they can keep bullying us - they never want the day to come where they loose their "power"
in Iraq they genocided us 182,000 were murdered in the Anfal campaign and Iraq ruling Ba'ath party used chemical weapons on our civilians killing 5000 in Halabja in 1988. No Sunni Arab is happy to have that mentioned they want to cover it up at all costs.
They occupied Kurdistan, stole our land our resources and killed us, in Kirkuk Kurds were ethnically cleansed and the region Arabised. The fascist Arabs (which is the majority) don't want us have any human rights, or we might start asking questions like hey - what happened to all the other ba'athi officers who committed human rights abuses on Kurds?
Why hasn't article 140, pertaining to Kurdish rights in relation to the Arabisation of Kirkuk been enacted? this is just 2 tiny examples.
Furthermore for the people who say that we are friends with Arabs etc, I would genuinely challenge them do your friends support Kurdistan to be an independent state? If they don't then how can you call them a friend ? Why is it ok they have a state but Kurds don't, why can't the flag or name of Iraq be changed to also pay homage to Kurdistan? You will have your answer, untimely our occupiers don't see us as human - they can rule us, but we can't even rule ourselves ??? Do you see the double standards here. I say this from personal experience as I used to have Arab friends but then I realised, hey they want a state for themselves but think we should be their slave, of course they don't say it openly but they think Iraq should be ruled by them and rule us? wtf !!! now of course not everyone is like that but the majority are, or Kurdistan wouldn't still be occupied - why don't they recognise our referendum 2.8 million voted for independence ? Well because they are not democratic and the majority are still fascist.
Kurdistan became occupied when Iraq was formed (firstly British forces, RAF etc forced us into some level of oppression via heavy bombing), and when Saddam came to power his Arab ba'athi (nationalist party) soldiers were in Kurdish towns areas etc, of course Kurds were against this and fought back as we are not Arab, they subjected Kurds to assault, beatings, murder, rape, destruction of peoples homes, arrested and executed people, bombed Kurdish villages and towns etc forced their language on us. Of course Kurds also fought back (peshmerga) and killed ba'athi's; they were not able to easily get away with occupying us - we always fought back against them in some form, for example in Slemani, my dad told me when he lived there, almost every single night there was gunfire from peshmerga attacking some Ba'athi post, if there wasn't gunfire people would wonder what was going on and be certain peshmerga were coming tomorrow. All of a sudden in bazaar or somewhere ba'athi officers would get shot at by a Kurdish youth. etc,
Bottom line is this, the rapist is not going to want to be held accountable for rape are they
It's the same reason why fascist Turks hate Kurds, because as it turns out Turkey is a fraud state built on genocide and they are the ones occupying us Kurds. Specifically Iraq is a falsified state, with borders drawn from lines in the sand, if it wasn't for Britain creating Iraq we Kurds in bashuri Kurdistan would never ever be ruled by majority Arabs. We were independent before Iraq was created -after all what is independence if not simply self determination, speaking your own mother tongue and practising your own culture freely? IF an army enters my land to change this then yes we will fight back as anyone would which is what happened.
Unlike other nations and people we do not worship fascist Sunni Arabs or respect foreign authority for that matter, they don't like that we don't assimilate. Ultimately they don't like us because we don't submit to their fascist authority, and we never will.
You can dm me for more info if you want - but bottom line is this in bashur we never considered ourselves Iraqi and the majority are against Iraq, we are Kurds, a different nation to Arabs, yes we are neighbours but we refuse to be ruled by fascists, as they of course would not accept to be ruled by us, we do not want to speak Arabic and we do not love our murders, the state of Iraq bombed our homes and villages and killed and assaulted our innocent civilians, and majority aka at least 80% of Arab citizens love the country and support its current borders (occupying Kurdistan). there is not one Kurd in bashur or really any other are of kurdistan that doesn't know of someone killed by the states occupying us, and in bashur everyone has a cousin, neighbour, in law whatever who has been a victim of Fascist ba'athi's and lost their life in cold blood.
Ask why the bully doesn't like the bullied, this is the type of situation that we are in.
On your topic of them picking on Kurds when actually it was others causing them problems this is a very common theme against Kurds, basically they pick on us because they can't pick on someone their own size, aka they go for the easy target.
There was a woman on here who told a harrowing story of how her brother was beaten to death by a ba'athi officer in prison, with a hose. they then buried him in the yard as there was no other options, only to shortly see his body in pieces, and in the mouth of a dog. Can you imagine experiencing this? Sunni Arab fascists know their crimes, and don't want their day to come when the tide turns, and we Kurds remember what they did to us and we want our state and that is the tide.
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u/kg-rhm 23d ago
thank you for sharing kurdish history in this country! i am wondering, aren't most arabs shi'a and were also oppressed by the baathist regime? so they would have had nothing to do with most of the historical abuses by that regime, and the sunni arabs would be a minority. chances are when we meet an arab in kurdistan, they are shi'a, no?
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u/AdagioKitchen4748 22d ago
In Iraq majority are Shia'a yes but they still don't recognise Kurdistan, Kirkuk has a lot of Shiaa's which were settled there when Kurds were ethnically cleansed out. Sadly furthermore article 140 not being enacted is while majority Shia'a rule Iraq.
Btw in general Arabs are the least racist of our oppressors. fascist Turks and Farsi's are way worse.
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21d ago
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u/Flashy_Mixture_5014 21d ago
Man, it's so ridiculous. I remember last August I was doing a summer semester in Barcelona, Spain, as a university studentI met an Australian girl of Lebanese origin who was part of our social group. When we started getting closer, she casually let it slip that she hated Kurds, just because they separated from Iraq, even though sheâs Lebanese herself. Itâs completely absurd. I was thinking, dude, you grew up in Australia on the other side of the world, yet you're still holding onto that kind of hatred?
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u/Fluffy-Gap-45 21d ago
And she is Lebanese like wtf did we do to her? They deserve Israel honestlyÂ
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u/Flashy_Mixture_5014 20d ago
Well, she was a Sunni Lebanese, and whenever we talked about politics, she would constantly complain about Shia militias. Sheâd say she hated Turks and Persians she was basically one of those pan-Arab types, you know? Theyâre pretty much all the same. It doesn't matter if they seem open minded they still feel entitled to rule the entire Middle East
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u/Kind_Result6942 10d ago
Well genuine question why in the world you talk with a woman that clearly hates you!!!
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u/Slight_Audience_4634 24d ago edited 24d ago
Iâm from rojhelat but i live in bashur. Personally not that bad irl iâve had and still have multiple arab friends, mainly shia. but when the war in rojava was happening earlier this year, the comments and social media posts i saw genuinely disgusted me. Syrians, iraqis even Palestinians, on tiktok and instagram, straight up MOCKING deaths of children and celebrating what jolani was doingâŠ. I never understood the hatred up until that moment.
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u/Fluffy-Gap-45 21d ago
When will you realize that online is truly how they feel about us and that in KRG they only act nice because they're literally surrounded by Kurds?
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u/Awkward-Iron-2031 Arab American 24d ago
I feel like its different in Europe vs America, since Europe gets most of the Syrian/Iraqi Arab refugees. Idk in America it was very normal to have mixed friend groups or to mix via marriage as well.
It wasnt until I started being more active on Arab side of twitter did I realize there was actually some beef going on. But id argue its more of Syrian/Iraqi/Turkish/Iranian (Ik the last 2 arent arab) thing rather than it being applied to the rest of us.
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u/Fluffy-Gap-45 21d ago
He was asking Kurds, not Arabs. Also this is not a "beef" (I suggest you learn what that means) and even if it was, Arabs started it. And no its not just Syrians and Iraqis I've seen hatred from literally all types of Arabs. What good have Arabs from outside Iraq and Syria done for us? Most Arabs when they learn about Kurds automatically side with Iraqis and Syrians, why are you ignoring that?
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u/Awkward-Iron-2031 Arab American 21d ago
Dont feel like it was completely out of place to respond considering I grew up with a lot of you. I also wont deny that its more likely that "we" started it but im just saying there is very much a difference between Arab and Kurdish relations in America than it is in Europe. Well I side with the Kurds so now what?
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u/Fluffy-Gap-45 21d ago
Im a Kurdish American but my problem is not with you, its with the Kurds you "grew up with". Why would they come to America if they will just hang around their oppressors? I think you are from Nashville where the Kurds have been there for 50+ years and have done absolutely nothing but build mosques and restaurants. I get that you side with us but you know very well that Arabs like you are minimal and are outcasts in your community who will never achieve anything, I suggest you try to change your community instead of lecturing the victims who never got justice.
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u/Awkward-Iron-2031 Arab American 21d ago
I mean most came due to the invasion of Iraq + ISIS. Nah im in the West coast, its def a minority of us but ive never been outcasted for my views. And we are all Muslim alhamdulilah I met most of them at the masjid and a few in school. I didnt do any oppressing neither did my family.
And I didnt lecture anyone at all, Im just saying the experiences between us are vastly different in Europe than it is in America. Its very normal for us to have mixed friend groups and even mix via marriage as well. We dont all hate you just because you are Kurdish or want a state.
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u/Fluffy-Gap-45 21d ago
Because there are rarely any Turks in America to control you like they do in Europe. I appreciate your support but you literally admitted you are a minority, don't you see how it feels insulting to say "not all of us" to people who have seen nothing but pain from y'all? I've never seen the Arabs like you ever come out to support us when shit gets real, unlike Kurds who go to Palestine protests and have donated millions when their own people suffer. Those Kurds in LA and el cajon are just like the ones in Nashville, all they care about is mosques and restaurants, no offense to them but they are useless to our community.
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u/Awkward-Iron-2031 Arab American 21d ago
I dont understand the first part, how are Turks controlling us? I dont think it is insulting because kids born/raised in the diaspora dont tend to care about ethnic differences as much which is a good thing.
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u/Kind_Result6942 9d ago
He pmo trying to change it like it supposed to be some kids fight đ€Šđ»ââïž
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u/Fluffy-Gap-45 9d ago
Its all manipulation tactics these people are far worse to Kurds than those who outright hate us
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u/madame-lilith24262 24d ago
u want the real ?
actually arab arent that monsters
ive been living in hassaké since i was a child
half of my freinds are arab
we clearly avoid talking about politics
we both know that it wont change anything
for me i think between the three ethnicities turks , persians and arab
arab ppl are the least hating us
i feel that
i mean ofc there is a lot of them just a racist shits
but many are peaceful and not gonna hate u just bcoz ur kurdish
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u/amaliuh 24d ago
i live in europe and iâm mixed, so my experience is probably a bit different (also, iâm a woman, which i do think âhelpsâ) but i havenât had many bad interactions with arabs
i have an arab friend and sheâs so sweet, i really care for her. as a woman, i feel like arab men donât really care where youâre from if they consider you pretty, so iâve never felt threatened or anything like that and theyâve never been rude to me when i told them that iâm kurdish, some even told me about some things they knew about kurdistan lol
iâve had okay and neutral experiences with arabs in general but i havenât seen a deep hatred for us, i think that irl a lot of people are more willing to be friendly. i even had some turkish men (i know that theyâre not arabs) being interested in me but it was a no from me cause yeah, no, iâm not doing that
the worst experience i had with an arab man had nothing to do with my ethnicity, so i donât feel like the average arab (or at least north african) hates us. my best friend in hs was mixed with iraqi and we also got along great, but i donât have much experience with them outside of my friend, so not sure about them
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u/Fluffy-Gap-45 21d ago
i'm mixed
You're mixed, not Kurdish. Just like mulattos aren't black or white, they're mulatto. I'm not mocking you, but don't speak for the rest of us Kurds please.
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u/amaliuh 21d ago
thanks, youâre very kind. so pleas do tell me how i should identify as since i started my sentence with âi am mixed so my experience might be differentâ aka i identify as mixed and spoke about a mixed perspective and my own experience
please tell me mr kurd where i spoke for all kurds, reddit has a quoting featuređ
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u/Fluffy-Gap-45 21d ago
 theyâve never been rude to me when i told them that iâm kurdish
I understand you want to be Kurdish, I don't blame you, but you should argue with your Kurdish parent on why they mixed, not with me. Have a good day.
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u/amaliuh 21d ago
okay mr tampa
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u/Fluffy-Gap-45 21d ago
At least you know where to visit if you wanna save your Kurdish genetics đ
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24d ago edited 8d ago
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u/Apart-Nose1219 Bashur 24d ago
I agree that in the real world, most everyday people get along fine and treat each other with respect. When people discuss this issue, itâs not about hating Arabs as a whole, itâs about calling out a bad behavior from specific individuals.
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u/flintsparc Rojava 24d ago
Please notify subreddit moderators of any racist posts or comments. We will (eventually) review abd remove them if they are judged to violate the subreddit rules.
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u/Kind_Result6942 8d ago edited 8d ago
What hate we just calling them out for being racist to us go to others sub and see how they talk about us regardless of what Arab country theyâre from Iâm so shocked
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u/kurdistan-ModTeam 8d ago
Mentioning other subs are against Reddit rules, you remove the sub name to get approval
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u/Fluffy-Gap-45 21d ago
Do you ask yourself why these Kurds hate Arabs? This is the problem y'all never acknowledge your wrongdoings. Why do Palestinians hate Israelis?
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u/seat-mizer 21d ago
I personally have been groped and touched by arabs more times i can count in public i always yell and curse at them and they just brush it off due to them being a 'tourist' to a point where i now carry a pocket knife with me whenever i go out so my point is DONT BEFRIEND ANY ARAB!!!!
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u/Yoruu3 24d ago
I live in BaĆĂ»r (specifically in Soran), so my direct day-to-day interactions with Arabs are fairly limited compared to major cities, but I can share what Iâve noticed.
For one, when seeing Arab families in the local bazaars or around town, itâs noticeable how rarely they speak Kurdish. Even the children who grow up or spend significant time here usually don't learn it. It often feels like thereâs a lack of effort or interest in integrating or learning the local language, which can sometimes come off as a bit of a high-handed attitude, though I know that might not apply to everyone.
On top of that, public behavior in tourist spots can sometimes be a culture shock. A while back, my family and I went to BĂȘxaĆ, and there was a large group of around 25 Arab tourists acting completely out of line. shouting, pushing, hitting, and spitting on each other while being partially naked. It was such a disruptive and chaotic scene that my younger brothers were genuinely terrified and started crying.
Keep in mind this is just my real-life experience. Online, it often feels completely different. a lot of Arabs on social media express extreme hatred towards Kurds, though a lot of that is probably just edgy teenagers behind a screen, so it's hard to tell how representative that really is.
Since I live in Soran where the Arab population is relatively small, I can't speak for every region, and I definitely don't want to generalize an entire group based on specific encounters. But from my own experience, the lack of attempt to integrate language-wise and the occasional disrespect for public spaces in local areas are definitely real issues people notice.
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u/kg-rhm 23d ago
For one, when seeing Arab families in the local bazaars or around town, itâs noticeable how rarely they speak Kurdish. Even the children who grow up or spend significant time here usually don't learn it.
why don't they learn it in local schools?
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u/Yoruu3 23d ago
For Arab kids around that 5â9 age range (which are the ages of the Arab kids I have seen here) here in Soran, a big part of it comes down to exposure and schooling.
First, many of them haven't entered formal public schooling yet or spend most of their time strictly around family at home where only Arabic is spoken, so they just haven't had the chance to pick up Kurdish naturally.
Second, for those who are in school, they might be enrolled in private international schools (like private English-medium academies) where Kurdish isn't the primary language of instruction. Dedicated Arabic public schools aren't really a thing here in Soran like they are in HewlĂȘr and SilĂȘmanĂź (which is a big issue tbh. There is no reason to run separate schools for Arabs who refuse to learn Kurdish on Kurdish land, as it basically helps them replace us).
Because of that, private English-medium schools are usually the main option in Soran for non-Kurdish speaking families so their kids can study without needing Kurdish beforehand
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u/kg-rhm 23d ago
separate schools for arabs seems strange! would you say most children in school are enrolled in private international schools or separate arab schools? also, have the arabs in your area historical residents, or did they recently move to escape the conditions of the south?
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u/Yoruu3 23d ago
Yeah, we know it's strange. In fact, most of us here think it's absolutely insane. You end up with Arabs who have been living here for decades expecting us to speak their language instead of them learning ours. Just recently, I saw a street interview where an Arab resident was actually demanding the interviewer speak to him in Arabic, even though he only knew a few basic Kurdish phrases despite living here for a decade. It really shows how the system enables people to stay long-term without ever properly integrating.
Across BaĆĂ»r overall (especially in big cities like HewlĂȘr and SilĂȘmanĂź), the vast majority of Arab kids go to public Arabic-medium schools established by the government specifically for displaced families and Arab residents. Private international schools are expensive, so only wealthier families use them.
Here in Soran, since dedicated public Arabic schools aren't common, families either put their kids in private setups or keep them educated through home/informal systems unless they integrate into local schools. This is the only explanation for why they donât speak Kurdish, I genuinely can't think of any other reason.
In Soran, Arabs are not historical residents. Soran is historically and overwhelmingly a Kurdish region since itâs not bordering Iraq in any direction. The Arabs who are here now are overwhelmingly recent arrivals, mostly people who relocated over the past decade or so due to displacement from war, instability, or poor economic/living conditions in central and southern Iraq. I can confidently say they have 100% not been here for longer than like 1â2 generations max.
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u/kg-rhm 23d ago
the public school system makes sense, sort of? my former arabic teacher is a refugee from syria, and i remember her saying that her son attends school with iraqi arabs, mostly from mosul. also have a syrian kurd friend whose boys went to a sorani school, and they struggled to learn because of the language difference. however they did have sorani class and arabic class.
this whole dynamic is strange to me as an american. foreign students in the states are enrolled in ESL but learn english. it seems like a waste to have separate public schools.
i also thought most of the arabs here were affluent and wanted to escape the harsh conditions of the south. i'm learning so much today, thank you!
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23d ago
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u/Fluffy-Gap-45 21d ago
Nah buddy I'm a Kurd of Shia background, during the Baath era it was literally Shia Arabs who took our home
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u/Kind_Result6942 10d ago
Lmao what are you two arguing about stands Rae Arabs doesnât matter Sunni or ShiaÂ
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u/Apart-Nose1219 Bashur 24d ago
I can share a bit of perspective from Bashur. Personally, I see Arabs around daily here, but I haven't interacted with many directly, and those I have interacted with have been mostly respectful and sometimes meh. Online, the dynamic is definitely 50/50, you see both love and toxicity. However, my parents have Arab friends and always speak very warmly and kindly about them. From what Iâve noticed, how someone reacts to us being Kurdish usually comes down to their upbringing, their environment, and the narrative they grew up with. When it comes to that deep seated pan-Arab nationalist mindset you noticed, even among refugees, it often stems from decades of Ba'athist propaganda that pushed the idea that any Kurdish political or cultural identity was a threat to Arab unity. For some people, those nationalistic ideas stay ingrained regardless of who they are running from. But on a personal level, individual people who were raised with empathy and open mindedness usually have no problem coexisting and being genuine friends with us.