Rojhilatê Kurdistanê (“Eastern Kurdistan”) is the Kurdish region of western Iran, running along the Zagros mountains from the Turkish and Iraqi borders down towards Îlam. Estimates put the Kurdish population of Iran at 8 to 12 million, spread across several provinces.
Key facts
- Main cities: Sine (Sanandaj), Kirmaşan (Kermanshah), Mehabad, Urmiye (Urmia), Îlam, Seqiz (Saqqez), Bokan, Merîwan, Xoy (Khoy)
- Provinces: Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Ilam, West Azerbaijan and parts of Hamadan and Lorestan
- Languages: Sorani in the centre; Kurmanji in the north around Urmiye; Southern Kurdish (Kelhurî, Lekî) around Kirmaşan and Îlam; Hewramî in the Hewraman valleys
Culture
Rojhilat is famous for its music — the daf and tanbur of Kirmaşan and Hewraman, the voices of Hesen Zîrek, Nasir Rezazî and Şehram Nazirî, and the setar of Keyhan Kalhor, who has carried Kurdish and Persian music to concert halls worldwide. The stepped stone villages of Hewraman were added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list in 2021. Sine is a centre of Kurdish crafts, and the Kurdish literary tradition here reaches back to Mestûre Erdelan, a 19th-century woman poet and historian.
A short history
The Ardalan principality ruled from Sine for centuries under the Persian shahs. In January 1946 Qazi Muhammad declared the Republic of Mahabad, the first modern Kurdish state, which lasted less than a year before Iranian forces retook the city; its flag is still used by Kurds everywhere. After the 1979 revolution, Kurdish parties clashed with the new Islamic Republic and were driven across the border. Kurdish identity and language remain restricted in Iran, and the region has been at the centre of recent protest movements: the death of Jîna (Mahsa) Amini from Seqiz in 2022 sparked nationwide protests under the Kurdish slogan Jin, Jiyan, Azadî — Woman, Life, Freedom.
On Kurdistan.fm
We play the classical and folk repertoire of Rojhilat — Hewramî, Sorani and Kelhurî — and report on events in Sine, Mehabad and Kirmaşan, which are often under-covered in English.