Kurdistan Chronicle has been selected for the Award of Excellence by the Religion Communicators Council, an interfaith association of religion communicators working in print, digital media, advertising, and public relations. A delegation from Kurdistan Chronicle will attend the Wilbur Award ceremony in Salt Lake City, Utah, on April 25. The award honors Kurdistan Chronicle, along with other media outlets, for its dediction to promoting religious coexistence.

This recognition is yet another reminder that the Kurdistan Region has become a center of peace in an otherwise volatile region. The stories emerging from Kurdistan reflect a deeply rooted culture of religious, social, and ethnic harmony.

The diverse communities of the Kurdistan Region, whether religious or ethnic, have become so interwoven over centuries that the distinctions between them often blur. In the Shaqlawa district of Erbil, for instance, a shrine is known as Pir Wsu Rahman by Muslims, who visit it on Fridays, and as Raban Boya to Christians, who visit it on Sundays. This shared reverence highlights the spirit of peaceful coexistence.

Elsewhere, in the village of Hawdiyan, two faith communities have lived in harmony for centuries. A Christian resident donated land for the construction of a mosque, and in a recriprocal gesture, a Muslim resident offered land for a church.

Nearby, the village of Bedyal is remembered for protecting its Christian population during the Kurdish struggle for freedom. In the 1980s, as Saddam Hussein’s genocidal Anfal Campaign targeted Kurdish communities, Christian residents were urged to remove their red headwear – identical to those worn by Kurdish Muslim men of Barzan – to avoid persecution. Refusing to abandon their identity or their Kurdish brothers, they stood in solidarity, even at the cost of their own lives.

This issue of Kurdistan Chronicle also features the story of Abdul Karim Afandi, the former Mufti of Erbil, who championed peaceful coexistence between different faiths. As the city’s highest Muslim religious authority of his time, he visited a church and prayed there – a bold act meant to set an example of unity and challenge attempts to sow division.

Religious leaders from non-Muslim communities across the Middle East have repeatedly emphasized that the regions where Kurds live are among the few places where religious and cultural diversity is genuinely preserved and respected. In 2014, when hundreds of thousands of Christians and Yezidis fled ISIS, they found refuge in Kurdistan—yet another powerful example of the Kurdish culture of pluralism and inclusion.

These stories are just a few among many that remind us of the longstanding culture of peaceful coexistence in Kurdistan – a tradition that could serve as a model for the broader Middle East, offering hope for a future defined not by ethnic, religious, linguistic, or racial division, but mutual respect and shared humanity.

Botan Tahseen is the Publisher of Kurdistan Chronicle Magazine.