Kurds in Sweden may refer to people born in or residing in the Sweden of

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

origin. Most Kurdish people in Sweden live in the capital Stockholm or in

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Located north of the c ...

. A majority of Kurdish political refugees choose Sweden as their host country and therefore they have a cultural presence in Sweden.

Chronological Kurdish arrivals to Sweden

*1975:

Huddinge Huddinge Municipality ( sv, Huddinge kommun) is a municipality in Stockholm County, east central Sweden. Its seat is located in Huddinge (), which is a part of Stockholm urban area. The municipality is, with its approximately 110,000 inhabitants, ...

becomes the first municipality offering Kurdish as a primary language. *1984: The education of Kurdish teachers in Stockholm begins. *1986-1990: The Turkish regime's mistreatment of the Kurdish population fuels immigration to Sweden. *1991-1995: The crises in

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

due to Iraqi invasion, the war in south Kurdistan, and mass exodus from north Kurdistan into Iran.

Political representation

In Sweden there are several MP of Kurdish descent such Amineh Kakabaveh,

Gulan Avci Gulan Avci (born 20 August 1977) is a Swedish politician of Kurdish descent, representing the Liberal Party. She was elected deputy Member of Parliament in 2006 and served March – September 2009 and February – April 2010. In March 2010, she ...

, Lawen Redar, Sara Gille or Kadir Kasirga. Kakabaveh was delivered the majority vote for that the Social Democrat

Magdalena Andersson Eva Magdalena Andersson (born 23 January 1967) is a Swedish politician and economist who has served as Leader of the Opposition since October 2022 and Leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party since 2021. She has served as a Member of the R ...

would become

Swedish Prime Minister The prime minister ( sv, statsminister ; literally translating to "Minister of State") is the head of government of Sweden. The prime minister and their cabinet (the government) exercise executive authority in the Kingdom of Sweden and are sub ...

in 2021. As in April 2022 Sweden made an accession bid to join NATO, Turkey demanded that Sweden ends its alleged support for the Kurdish

People's Defense Units The People's Defense Units (YPG), (YPG) ; ar, وحدات حماية الشعب, Waḥdāt Ḥimāyat aš-Šaʽb) also called People's Protection Units, is a mainly-Kurdish militia in Syria and the primary component of the Syrian Democr ...

(YPG) and

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of sout ...

(PKK).

Honor killings

The 26-year-old Kurdish woman Fadime Şahindal was murdered by her father in an

honour killing An honor killing (American English), honour killing (Commonwealth English), or shame killing is the murder of an individual, either an outsider or a member of a family, by someone seeking to protect what they see as the dignity and honor of t ...

in 2002. Kurdish organizations were criticized by prime minister

Göran Persson Hans Göran Persson (; born 20 January 1949) is a Swedish politician who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1996 to 2006 and leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1996 to 2007. Persson was first elected to the Swedish Parliam ...

for not doing enough to prevent honour killings. Pela Atroshi was a Kurdish girl who was shot by her uncle in a brutal honour killing. The murder of Pela and Fadime gave rise to the formation of the human rights organization Never Forget Pela and Fadime (GAPF). GAPF is a politically and religiously independent and secular nonprofit organization working against honor-related violence and oppression. The organization's name is taken from Pela Atroshi and Fadime Sahindal which is Sweden's best-known and high-profile cases of honor killings. The honor killing of Sara, an Iraqi Kurdish girl, was the first publicized honor killing in Sweden. These three prominent cases of Sara, Pela and Fadime, brought the notion of honour killings into Swedish discourse.

References

{{Kurdish diaspora Ethnic groups in Sweden Sweden Middle Eastern diaspora in Sweden Muslim communities in Europe