Kurdistan, Land Of God

Man is a mystical creature

Since the beginning of time,
he has tried to apprehend the world around him,
the precariousness of his future and his own existence.

Very soon he realised that the organisation
of this complex and elusive world
depended on a superior Force.

Through symbols and cult rituals,
he tried to communicate with this Force,
with these gods, with This God.

In the Middle East, cradle of Civilisations and
monotheistic religions, arena of blood and violence,
centre of the worst massacres and
the greatest tolerance, Kurdistan is unique.

At the crossroads of main migration routes,
therefore of economic, cultural and religious
interchanges, its mountain redoubts long made it a refuge for the oppressed, who often
were victims of religious persecutions.

Its geography helps explain the extreme diversity of religions throughout Kurdistan.

Yarsanists, Yezidis, Zoroastrians, Manicheans, Jews,
Christians of various denominations,
Sunni and Shi'a Moslems, Sufi Brotherhoods,
all have cohabited here through the ages
in a precarious balance,
upset from time to time by dramatic events reflecting the extreme sensitivity of this part of the world.


This book of photographs tries
to present all these religious facets which make
Kurdistan a unique Land of God.