Kurdish artists and activists in Khorasan summoned and threatened for wearing Kurdish clothes

Hengaw: Friday, November 17, 2023
By announcing a ban on wearing Kurdish clothes, the Iranian security institutions have prevented the Kurdish citizens from Khorasan from attending various events wearing Kurdish clothing, and have summoned and interrogated a number of Kurdish activists and artists.

According to the report received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, recently the Iranian security institutions in North Khorasan and Razavi Khorasan provinces have warned participants dressed in Kurdish clothes on various occasions, especially artists. They have explicitly prohibited wearing Kurdish clothes.

Hengaw has been informed that in this regard, the Iranian intelligence department recently summoned a number of Kurdish artists and activists in the cities of Qochan, Bojnoord, Shirvan, Esfaran, and Darehgaz, and warned them that they do not have the right to wear Kurdish clothes.

According to one civil activist who was summoned, the Iranian security institutions have threatened the summoned activists and artists that if they wear Kurdish clothes, a case will be filed against them on charges of membership and cooperation with Kurdish political parties.
Over the past years, the Kurds of Khorasan, with the help of civil and cultural activists, have started to wear common Kurdish clothes, and by publishing their pictures with Kurdish costumes on social media, they have encouraged other Kurdish citizens in Khorasan to wear this type of clothing more.

A population of nearly one million and a half Kurds live in North Khorasan and Razavi Khorasan, whose ancestors were moved from the border regions of Khoy, Mako, Urmia, etc. to the borders of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan during the Safavids.