Kurds across Kurdistan Region, world celebrate Kurdistan Flag Day

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurds across the Kurdistan Region and around the world on Tuesday marked the national Kurdistan Flag Day, holding different events and activities.

Kurdish people proudly hoist their flag annually on Dec. 17 and engage in celebrations where the national anthem is played, and traditional Kurdish outfits are worn.

The day is also unofficially celebrated in other parts of the Greater Kurdistan, such as the Kurdistan of Turkey (Bakur) and Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava). The Iranian government prohibits the celebration of Kurdistan Flag Day in Iranian Kurdistan (Rojhilat).

The raising of the Kurdistan flag is tied to a landmark event over 70 years ago, when the short-lived Kurdish self-governing state of Mahabad raised the flag for the first time, declaring itself the Republic of Kurdistan in Iran.

The Kurdistan flag was hoisted on Dec. 17, 1945, in the city of Mahabad, and was kept as the official flag as the Mahabad Republic was formed on Jan. 22, 1946.

The Kurdistan flag is also known as Ala Rengin, Kurdish for The Colorful Flag.

On Nov. 11, 1999, the Kurdistan Parliament ratified the Kurdistan flag law, choosing the red, white, and green banners with a sun in the middle as its official flag.

On June 19, 2004, parliament chose Dec. 17 as the national Flag Day, a nod to the Mahabad Republic, and its fight for Kurdish rights.

Kurds are labeled the largest stateless ethnic group in the world, with a population of over 40 million people, scattered around the globe but mostly living in southeastern Turkey (Bakur), northwestern Iran (Rojhilat), northern Iraq (Bashur/Kurdistan Region), and northern Syria (Rojava).