NASHVILLE, TN — Hundreds of members of Nashville's large Kurdish community gathered in Public Square Park Sunday afternoon in support of a September referendum calling for an independent Kurdistan.

Nashville is home of one of the largest Kurdish diaspora communities in the world and, as it is in Kurdistan, the support for independence from Iraq is strong. (For more updates on this story and free news alerts for your neighborhood, sign up for your local Middle Tennessee Patch morning newsletter.)

The Kurdistan Regional Government has, over the objections of the national government in Baghdad and other countries, including the United States, scheduled a referendum on independence for September 25. The referendum poses the questions "Do you want the Kurdistan region and the Kurdistani areas outside the region's administration to become an independent state?" essentially calling for independence not just in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in northeastern Iraq, but also neighboring areas which have been effectively controlled by Kurdistan for at least a decade. It would not apply to other areas which Kurds consider part of Greater Kurdistan in Turkey, Iran and Syria. The Kurdish government announced Friday that Kurds living outside of Kurdistan would be able to vote in the referendum via e-voting.

The referendum is expected to pass easily — in 2005, a similar referendum received support of nearly 99 percent of voters — but even top Kurdistan officials concede the almost inevitable victory for supporters of independence won't necessarily lead to an independent Kurdistan. Hoshiyar Zebari, a top official there, told Reuters in April the vote "would strengthen the Kurds' hand in talks on self-determination with Baghdad" without automatically leading to independence.



The Peshmerga, the Kurdish military force, has been a key force in the fight against ISIS and, earlier, as a U.S. ally in wars against Saddam Hussein.

"There are people here who lost family members, who were victims of Saddam Hussein's genocide campaigns, people whose relatives are today fighting ISIS. So for the community, it's absolutely crucial," Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, the Kurdistan Regional Government Representative to the U.S, told Fox 17.