sezgin kivrim

„My children are Kurds at home, Turks on the street and foreigners at school“. This quote by Sengül Senol describes the cultural and identity conflicts of many Kurds living in diaspora. A people marked by escape, and who exist in rootlessness. The development of a sense of cultural identity expresses a great difficulty, especially for many Kurds who have emigrated abroad. As a result, one’s roots and traditions can only be accessed and lived sporadically or rarely in their native countries. This represents a distance to one’s origins. Narrowing this distance in a foreign country, whilst simultaneously trying to create a sense of community and belonging in the new and unfamiliar environment, pose some of the major, but not insurmountable hurdles of the Kurdish diaspora.