Rojavayê Kurdistanê (“Western Kurdistan”), usually just Rojava, is the Kurdish region of northern and north-eastern Syria along the Turkish border. It is the smallest of the four parts, home to roughly two to three million Kurds before the Syrian war, living alongside Arabs, Assyrians, Syriacs, Armenians, Turkmen and Yazidis.
Key facts
- Main cities: Qamişlo (Qamishli), Hesekê (al-Hasakah), Kobanê (Ayn al-Arab), Efrîn (Afrin), Dêrik (al-Malikiyah), Serêkaniyê (Ras al-Ayn), Amûdê
- Language: Kurmanji Kurdish; Arabic and Syriac are also widely spoken
- Regions: Cizîrê (the Jazira, around Hesekê and Qamişlo), Kobanê and Efrîn — the three historic Kurdish enclaves
Culture
Rojava’s music grew up around the Cizîrê and the singers of Qamişlo and Amûdê; the poet Cegerxwîn and the singer Mihemed Şêxo are among its best-known names. The Jazira is one of the oldest farmed landscapes on earth, and the mixed towns of the region are known for a shared table of Kurdish, Arab and Assyrian cooking. Kurdish-language schooling, banned for decades, has expanded since 2012.
A short history
Under the French mandate and then the Syrian state, Kurds in Syria faced restrictions; a 1962 census stripped tens of thousands of their citizenship, and the Qamişlo uprising of 2004 was a turning point for Kurdish politics in the country. When the Syrian war began, Kurdish forces took control of the three enclaves in 2012 and set up an autonomous administration, later expanded into the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. The defence of Kobanê against ISIS in 2014–15 brought the region world attention, and Kurdish-led forces went on to take Raqqa and the last ISIS territory in 2019. Turkish military operations took Efrîn (2018) and Serêkaniyê (2019). After the fall of the Assad government in December 2024, the autonomous administration and the new Syrian authorities began negotiating how the region fits into the future Syrian state — a process that is still unfolding.
On Kurdistan.fm
We follow developments in Qamişlo and Hesekê closely, and play the Kurmanji music of the Cizîrê alongside the new artists coming out of Rojava.