ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Local authorities in the US city of Nashville on Wednesday lit up a historic bridge with the colors of the Kurdistan flag. This comes days before a ceremony in which Nashville will become a sister city of Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region.
A delegation from Erbil province, headed by Governor Omed Khoshnaw, is in Nashville, Tennessee to finalize a deal which will make the Kurdish capital city the 10th sister city of Nashville.
Nashville is home to about 20,000 Kurds, the largest Kurdish population in the US, earning the city the nickname of “Little Kurdistan.”
“I feel so proud - proud of Nashville and honored that so many Kurds have found Nashville to be their home. And it is a great moment to be Erbil’s sister city here in America and we just want to welcome all Kurds from all over the world to come visit us and to see what a great city we have and it is an honor. We have lit the bridge with the colors to be little Kurdistan in America. And we are just excited,” Nashville Mayor John Cooper told Rudaw’s Diyar Kurds on Wednesday.
The flag was lit on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge.
“It is our honor and thrill to have our Kurdish citizens here [who are] ] building a great community that Nashville is so proud of. And our food and culture is enriched by the presence of our Kurdish friends,” he added, noting that Erbil will become “the most important” sister city of Nashville after both cities sign an agreement on Sunday.
“We have sister cities around the world but not many people from those cities. They honor… the historic relationships between America and Europe and the Far East but this is our first city from the Middle East and no other country has this many residents here in Nashville. So it is just super special and it is the most important city of all,” said the mayor.
Tamworth in Australia, Kamakura in Japan, and Chengdu in China are among the sister cities of the American city.
Representatives from both American and Kurdish cities have visited each other as part of efforts to make the Kurdistan Region’s capital the first Middle Eastern city to partner with the state capital of Tennessee. In May, a delegation from Nashville headed by Cooper paid a visit to Erbil and was received by Khoshnaw, who himself led a delegation to Nashville the year before.
Cooper said he plans to visit the Kurdistan Region again, encouraging Americans to visit the Region to see “real history.”
Governor Khoshnaw said he was thrilled to see the Kurdish flag on the bridge.
“One of the things that thrilled us was the lighting of this bridge with the flag of Kurdistan - which will remain for several nights,” he said, adding that Erbil authorities have been working on the plan to be the sister city of Nashville since 2014.
“We will start working on our big objective on [September] 10th when we will sign the agreement. After that our relations will get deeper and coordination will increase,” he added.
Nashville’s city council in July voted to make Erbil a sister city.
Cooper said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday that the partnership “will focus on cultural and educational exchange, transparency in government, and making lasting connections between the people of Erbil and Nashville.”
The Sister City partnership will focus on cultural and educational exchange, transparency in government, and making lasting connections between the people of Erbil and Nashville.
— Mayor John Cooper (@JohnCooper4Nash) September 7, 2023
Last night, we lit up the Korean Veterans Memorial Bridge in honor of this new partnership. pic.twitter.com/WJmdb8tC82
