Dubai: When Aref Ramadan moved to the UAE from Syria almost twenty years ago, he only knew of four or five Kurds. Today, he says, the community is thriving.
Despite the many borders that separate the world's approximately thirty million Kurds, Ramadan insists that the diverse community here sees no boundaries, and has come closer to realise its identity and language.
"Back then it was hard to find Kurds here. I didn't know many until 1990 when I attended my first Nowruz celebration," said Ramadan, an Iraqi Kurd, referring to the Iranian new year and a Zoroastrian holiday that is also celebrated by Kurds.
Ramadan has since set up a Kurdish Association, Sema, and a website that aims to bring the UAE's approximately 2,500 Kurds together through community news, events, dispute resolution and even matchmaking.
According to Ramadan, who is also the Gulf representative of an Iraqi Kurdish business council, Kurds initially started coming to the UAE as engineers and teachers from Syria, encouraged by the country's tolerant atmosphere. "Today, there are more than 140 Kurdish owned businesses in the UAE," he said.
Waleed Ebrahim, the Syrian born plastic artist and leader of the Kurdish community in the UAE, says there is an effort now to revive the Kurdish language in the UAE, "which not many Kurds speak today, unfortunately".
The community hopes to soon establish the first Kurdish cultural centre and a Kurdish television channel in the UAE.
Diaspora
- Estimated to number between 2,000 to 3,000 in the UAE.
- First major wave of Kurds came from Syria after the first Gulf War as Arabic teachers, architects and engineers.
- Second wave came as businessmen and investors after second Gulf War.
- 40% of Kurds in the UAE are Syrian, 30% Iraqi, 20% Iranian, and 10% are from Turkey and former Soviet states.
- They are largely concentrated in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi.
