Allah created the Kurds so that the mountains won’t be desolate

Allah created the Kurds so that the mountains won’t be desolate

Little shepherd near Moun Ararat.. Dogubayazit / Turkey... 2007

Allah stworzyl Kurdów zeby góry nie byly samotne
Allah Kürtleri yaratti daglar hali kalmasin diye
Allah Kurd afirandine ji bo ku çiya tenê nemînin
Allah created the Kurds so that the mountains won’t be desolate

The title of refers to the old Turkish proverb Allah Kürtleri yaratti daglar hali kalmasin diye describing the Kurds and indicating their primitive and unsophisticated nature. For many decades the Kurds in Turkey were called “mountain Turks”, associated with unrefined tribal culture, and rejected any recognition or political status. The 20th century witnessed the multiple Kurdish uprisings of 1925, 1927 or 1937, and finally the guerilla war that erupted in 1984. Although this reality started to change in the new millenium, giving hope for some peaceful resolution of the Kurdish issue, the situation worsened since 2015.

This photo draws from the abusive Turkish saying in order to show that even such words may contain some positive sense and beauty providing that someone is open to see and hear them. My many photos present the life of the small town called Bazit (Dogubayazit in Turkish), near the Turkish-Iranian border, under the slopes of the Ararat mountain. Were the mountains so lonely and desolate that Allah decided to send the Kurds to them? In such a case the Kurds must possess the unique capacities that are needed in our more and more desolate and devastated modern world. Treating the Turkish proverb as a source of beauty instead of abuse i shed some light on the very different moments of Bazit’s life filled with hapiness and sorrow, tranquility and unrest. We deeply belive that it is not necesserily the military resistance and war but rather the beauty of people and their culture that can make their neghbours more willing to see them as dignified human beings to coexist and cooperate with them on an equal basis.