ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Gawlan village has become a symbol of coexistence between Kurds, Turks, and Assyrians.
In the village, Sunni Kurds, Shitte Turks, and Christian Assyrians live together. The village is located is 55 km north of Urmia in West Azerbaijan province.
"This is a historical village in which people of different religions including Sunni, Shiite, and Christians live together peacefully," Kawais Jafari, the chieftain of Gawlan village, told Rudaw.
Urmia city is the capital of West Azerbaijan and its residents are mainly a combination of Kurds and Turks with a small minority of Assyrian Christians. Kurds often complain about Turks taking governmental posts in the province.
About 300 households live in this village and the residents are mainly doing farming and raising sheep.
Shiite and Sunni villagers have one mosque and they pray at the same place.
"We live together happily and friendly. When a person at the village has a problem, we all try to help," Saleh Husseini, member of the village's council, told Rudaw.
The village has three churches. Mariukhna Church the oldest, while two others are new.
"We all work together at this village. Our heart is with each other, so we like are brothers with Muslims and Kurds," Benyamin Nikrad, a Christian resident of the village, told Rudaw.
The level of coexistence means Assyrians there even speak Kurdish.
Iran has historically been a diverse place despite strict religious restrictions imposed by the regime after the 1979 revolution, and this is particularly true in northwestern parts of the country like the provinces of Kermanshah, West Azerbaijan and Kurdistan.
