The Mesopotamia Cultural Center (MKM) was founded in Istanbul during the 1990s, a period marked by intense warfare and peak state repression, by a group of intellectuals that included Feqî Hüseyin Sağnıç and Apê Musa (Musa Anter). For 34 years, MKM has stood as both a firm barrier against assimilation and one of the most powerful centers where the Kurdish language meets culture and art.

Emerging on the historical stage as one of the first steps for a people whose name, language, and songs were banned, whose melodies were Turkified and deformed, and whose stories were stolen, MKM soon exceeded the mission it had initially taken on. In the face of the Turkish state’s assimilation and annihilation policies against the Kurds and the Kurdish language, MKM became a cultural and linguistic front line during the harshest years of war proving, through art, the enduring power of the Kurdish language itself.

A new era began

MKM emerged at a time when the Kurdish language was banned and entirely denied, marking the end of one era and the beginning of a new one in Turkey. Taking its first steps in Tarlabaşı, Istanbul, the Kurdish cultural struggle has since become deeply rooted so much so that it can no longer be uprooted anywhere in Turkey, Kurdistan, or the world. In the early 1990s, while villages were being burned in Kurdistan, people were being disappeared in custody, acid wells and massacres filled the land, and ears were cut off, a powerful resistance was also spreading among the people. In the midst of that darkness, MKM appeared on the stage of Turkey’s largest metropolis as the product of a people’s resistance. Since then, it has lost dozens of its members to martyrdom, faced hundreds of raids, and seen thousands of its events banned. Yet despite all pressures and obstacles, it has shown that Kurdish culture is an ancient one with a rightful and enduring place in the history of humanity.

It became part of the freedom struggle

The development of Kurdish culture and art today owes much to the struggle that the MKM has carried on for more than 30 years. Playing a crucial role in the advancement of revolutionary art in Kurdistan, MKM, with its artists and its creative work, helped bring the Kurdish Freedom Struggle to broader audiences. MKM artists adopted as their guiding principle the responsibility of being the artists of the people. They showed the Kurds who were forced to migrate to the metropolises after the waves of repression and massacres in Kurdistan that they were not alone. Standing not only with the Kurds but with all oppressed peoples and communities, they demonstrated what revolutionary art truly means.

It sparked the rise of Kurdish music

At a time when singing in Kurdish was considered tantamount to being killed, the MKM stood against this oppression through its musical collectives, known as KOMs. Together with these KOMs, MKM demonstrated to everyone the existence of both Kurdish music and a revolutionary Kurdish art.

During their time, the KOMs attracted thousands to their concerts and sold albums by the millions. Despite all repression, they produced some of the most beloved songs among the Kurdish people, songs that are still widely listened to today. MKM also created a platform for Kurdish artists who had been denied stages and forbidden from singing in their own language, taking major steps for the development and recognition of Kurdish. Groups such as Koma Amed, Koma Çiya, Koma Agirê Jiyan, and Koma Rewşen, all of which began their artistic journeys in the dark atmosphere of the 1990s within MKM, went on to shape the course of Kurdish music. Among those who expanded this struggle for the survival of Kurdish music within MKM were also artists who later joined the Kurdish Freedom Movement and fell as martyrs.

Some of the artists and KOMs that emerged from MKM and continue to be listened to by millions include Koma Çiya, Koma Amed, Koma Gulên Xerzan, Koma Rojhilat, Koma Agirê Jiyan, Venge Sodirî, Koma Rewşen, Koma Mezrabotan, Koma Azad, Koma Jiyana Welat, the Mesopotamia Orchestra, Çarnewa, Şahiya Stranan, and Koma Asmîn.

The KOM tradition remains a vital legacy in Kurdish music, as it established a collective and communal way of creating art. Many artists performing today under MKM’s umbrella were once members of these KOMs, where they learned the essence and necessity of revolutionary art.

It laid the foundation of contemporary Kurdish theatre

Beyond music, the MKM succeeded in producing creative works in every field of Kurdish art, becoming a pioneering institution that signed its name to many significant achievements. Despite all difficulties, MKM sought to prove that Kurdish art was not limited to music. By advancing its work in theatre, it founded and nurtured groups such as Teatra Jiyana Nû, Şanoya Hêlîn, and Şanoya Hêvî, training many artists in the process. Today, many of the leading figures in Kurdish theatre first took the stage within MKM.

Teatra Jiyana Nû, which has staged dozens of plays, continues to hold a vital place in Kurdish theatre. The group’s plays were banned, its actors arrested, and even their costumes used as justification for closure cases. Among them, Sarya (Nursen İnce) joined the ranks of the Kurdish Freedom Movement, where she fell as a martyr.

Another member, Başak Kanat, was killed in an armed attack on the bus she was traveling in from Ankara to Istanbul in early 1994. After the murder of 18-year-old Helin Başak Kanat, Teatra Jiyana Nû founded a new troupe named Şanoya Hêlîn to keep her memory alive.

Govend revived and grew with its essence

Beyond theatre and music, the MKM also played a leading role in reviving Kurdish folk dances, bringing govend (Kurdish folk dance) back to life in all its forms. By performing govend in the streets, festivals, and cultural gatherings, MKM helped restore Kurdish folk dances that had been pushed toward assimilation or oblivion to their rightful place. During its early years, dance groups such as Koma Serhildan, Koma Kendal, and Koma Jovenda Şoreş were established within MKM. Not limiting itself to folk dances alone, MKM also created large-scale dance performances and musicals, taking the first steps to preserve and modernize the place of Kurdish art in the contemporary era.

Cultural and art magazine Rewşen

In addition, Rewşen, the first cultural and art magazine published entirely in Kurdish, began its publication life within MKM. Emerging with a great mission to revive Kurdish culture and reclaim its long-denied respect, MKM has inscribed its name in history as a space of resistance for Kurdish culture. Today, with its sign once again hanging at its new location after many years, MKM is reconnecting with the people, accelerating its activities, and continuing to contribute new dimensions to the development of Kurdish culture in this new era.

As production grew, so did the repression

The MKM has always been a target of the state. Its artists were arrested, its events banned, and even its theatre stages were sealed shut. Branches of MKM in both Turkey and Kurdistan were raided dozens of times. Its archives and costumes were confiscated, yet each time they managed to start again to create again. Even when they had nothing left, they continued to produce Kurdish art. The raids and bans reached such a level that MKM, whose concerts and cultural events were prohibited to prevent it from creating art, was ultimately shut down by a decree-law issued under the state of emergency on 15 July 2016. Despite this, the institution persistently continued its work, though all of its activities were banned. In just the past ten years, nearly a hundred MKM events have been prohibited, its artists detained, and numerous lawsuits filed against them.

The artist of the people is the fighter of the people

The 34-year struggle of the MKM cannot be defined merely through pressures, bans, or arrests. MKM has endured as an institution that never took a step back in the face of the state’s full-scale attacks, continuing its creative production even in the most difficult times. This tradition of resistance has reached the present day through the sacrifices of martyrs. The Kurdish cultural struggle has come to where it stands today thanks to dozens of those who gave their lives.

Many of those who began this struggle within MKM and became pioneers of Kurdish art later turned toward the ranks of the Kurdish Freedom Movement, combining their artistic work with their people’s liberation struggle.

In fact, the history of MKM can be best described through the words of Kurdish filmmaker and artist Yılmaz Güney, who said, “The artist of the people is the fighter of the people.” Throughout its 34 years, MKM has embodied this philosophy, becoming the living expression of Güney’s vision and proving itself as the true heir to his legacy.

Some of the artists who worked within MKM and later fell as martyrs include Hozan Hogir, Hozan Mizgîn, Sarya (Nursen İnce), Ali Temel, Helin Başak Kanat, Evdilmelik Şêxbekir, Argeş, and Xıdır Çelik.