Kurds: Through the photographer's lens

The Kurdish people have a population of over 28 million people

spread out over five countries, but without an existing border of a

country to call their own.

The region known to many as Kurdistan presently comprises

parts of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Armenia. It is a land of stark

beauty but also one engulfed in conflict; for centuries, empires,

states and warring tribes have fought for control of this most

inaccessible mountainous region with varying degrees of success.

Since the first Gulf War a myriad of unsettling images, together

with the alienating effect of the language of the so-called war on

terror, have created a deep divide between nations and cultures

of the Middle East and West.

This year the Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHR P) celebrates

its 15th anniversary - commissioned by the Delfina Foundation,

this book brings together images by world-famous photographers

to celebrate the life and times of the Kurdish people over the last

two decades.