Raperin, the 1991 Kurdish uprising · Raperîn

Culture of origin: Kurdish · Historical

Holiday sources: Kurdish

After the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Kurdish leaders called on the Kurds of northern Iraq to rise against Saddam Hussein's regime, and on 5 March 1991 the town of Ranya rose first. The uprising, Raperîn in Kurdish, spread within days, the Iraqi army was driven from most Kurdish cities and towns, and by 21 March the whole region was free. The regime struck back with helicopter gunships, tanks and artillery; thousands of Kurdish civilians were killed and more than a million fled to the mountains and across the borders, until the United States and its allies set up a no-fly zone over northern Iraq. The uprising made way for a Kurdish parliament in 1992 and the Kurdistan Region's self-rule, and Kurds remember it every year on 5 March.