"No friends but the mountains" (Kurdish: Ji çiyan pê ve tu heval nînin; Sorani Kurdish: ھیچ هاوڕێیەک جگە لە شاخەکان) is a Kurdish proverb which is expressed to signify their feeling of betrayal, abandonment and loneliness due to their history as a semi-stateless ethnic minority in the Middle East without faithful allies.[1]
The saying was widely referenced following the withdrawal of US troops stationed in north-eastern Syria and the subsequent Turkish offensive into the region.[2] Invoking the proverb, British YPG volunteer Azad Cudi said that: "The United States, like any other state or any other government, will do whatever serves their own best interests." He also said that despite a lack of allies or equipment to repel the offensive, the SDF would "fight back at all costs".[3] The phrase has also been used to reflect on previous feelings of betrayal by the United States, specifically the Reagan administration's tolerance of the Anfal campaign against Iraqi Kurds in 1988 and the Trump administration's non-recognition of the Kurdistan Region independence referendum in 2017.[4]
- No Friend But the Mountains, memoir by Kurdish writer Behrouz Boochani
- ^ Bulloch, John; Morris, Harvey (1992). No Friends But the Mountains: The Tragic History of the Kurds. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195080759.
- ^ Rossi, Melissa (11 October 2019). "A history of selling out the Kurds, people with 'no friends but the mountains'". Yahoo! News.
- ^ "Turkey Syria offensive: 'The Kurds have no friends but the mountains'". BBC News. 10 October 2019. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
- ^ Hjelmgaard, Kim (8 October 2019). "Who are the Kurds? A Middle Eastern people with 'no friends but the mountains'". USA Today. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
- Literature
- Matloff, Judith (2017). No Friends but the Mountains: Dispatches from the World's Violent Highlands. United Kingdom: Hachette UK. ISBN 9780465097890.
- Documentary
- Kae Bahar, Claudio von Planta (2017). No Friends but the Mountains: An oasis of hope in a desert of hatred and fear (Film). Joka Films, Von Planta Productions.