Camino Kurdish Best - El

However, in the late 20th century, these paths transformed. Following the genocidal Anfal campaign in 1988, where Saddam Hussein’s regime destroyed over 4,000 Kurdish villages, the caminos became trails of death. Hundreds of thousands of Kurds walked for weeks through the mountains toward the Turkish and Iranian borders, carrying nothing but carpets and children. That is the haunting bedrock of the Kurdish way: forced displacement. The Spanish camino offers the Credencial (pilgrim’s passport), stamped at every stop. For Kurds, the "stamp" is the preservation of language. Historically, the Kurdish languages—Kurmanji, Sorani, Pehlewani, and Gorani—were banned in state schools in Turkey, Syria, and Iran for decades.

By Rojda Hassan, Independent Researcher

The Kurds have been allies of convenience: to the US against ISIS in Syria, to the West against the Soviet Union during the Cold War, to Israel as a counterweight to Iran. Yet, at every junction, the alliance dissolves. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Kurdish-led military, were abandoned by the US during the 2019 Turkish incursion. The Kurdish pilgrims learned a bitter lesson: on the world stage, their camino has no permanent sponsors. el camino kurdish

Optimists point to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), a semi-autonomous enclave that has grown oil-rich and relatively stable. Pessimists note the corruption, infighting between the KDP and PUK parties, and the constant economic siege. Purists argue that a true ending would be a united, independent state—an unbroken path from Urmia to Urfa. However, in the late 20th century, these paths transformed

In the lexicon of human migration and collective memory, few phrases evoke such a potent mixture of suffering, resilience, and hope as "El Camino Kurdish." While the original El Camino de Santiago in Spain is a pilgrim’s path toward spiritual enlightenment, the Kurdish version is a forced marathon through the mountains, borders, and bloodied plains of the Middle East. It is not a path chosen for redemption, but one walked for survival. That is the haunting bedrock of the Kurdish