Long live Amedspor!

After a long struggle of years, Amedspor fulfilled the dream of millions of football-loving Kurds. On May 2, 2026, Amedspor drew 3-3 with its rival İğdırspor and advanced to Turkey's top league, the Super League. This was a historic event because it was the first time that a football team of this type, with Kurdish identity and the name Amed, would play in Turkey's top league.

This victory of Amedspor was celebrated with great enthusiasm, not only in Diyarbakir, but in every area where Kurds live.   Although   Amedspor was founded in accordance with Turkish laws, for the past 16 years, because it is a team from a city in Kurdistan, it has been subjected to racist, discriminatory, and violent attacks.   And the Turkish Football Federation   fines them millions of liras and other penalties every year.

Amedspor has persevered through all these hardships and difficulties to this day and has become the champion, making its fans happy. I congratulate those who have contributed to this success.

The enthusiasm and excitement that Amedspor has generated among Kurds around the world cannot be explained by football alone. The attachment of the Kurdish people's feelings to Amedspor is a matter of Kurdish society.

For years, Kurds have been seeking a free platform to express their Kurdish identity. They are seeking a free arena to show the world their national stance.

Kurds want to find a cure, a reasonable solution, for their national feelings, which have been suppressed by the occupiers for years.

Football, especially Amedspor, is a field outside of politics, where Kurds come together, where they express their common feelings, whether it is pain or anger. For this   Amedspor victory is not just a football victory, it is an expression of a historical achievement achieved by a suppressed identity.

The statelessness of the Kurds has prevented them from having a national Kurdish team, and Kurds, like any other nation, cannot support their national team.

It is a thousand times unfortunate that according to FIFA's Article 10 program, each team must have an independent state   and   be recognized by the United Nations.   Therefore,   as long as there is no independent Kurdish state, 70-80 million stateless Kurds will be without a national team.

Among the 211 countries with national teams, there are some countries whose population is not even as large as a small city in Kurdistan,   but they have national teams. Such as:

San Marino (34,000 + people)
Liechtenstein (39,000+ nufis)
Seychelles (100,000+ inhabitants)
Andorra (77,000+ for us)
Iceland (400,000 people)
Cape Verde (575,000 clouds)
The lack of a national team has forced Kurds to see teams like Amedspor, Zakho, Duhok, Batman, and Vanspor as national teams, not as regional or city-based teams.

Due to the growth of the city of Diyarbakır and the racism, violence, and injustice that exists around Amedspor, it has become a favorite of the Kurds among the above teams.

The Kurdish people see the violence, racism, injustice, and physical attacks being perpetrated in Amedspor as attacks on Kurdish identity and accept them as such.

Amedspor is not just a team from the city of Diyarbakir or the Diyarbakir region today, it has become a team that represents millions of Kurds. That is why millions of Kurds, all over the world, took to the streets within two or three hours and celebrated Amedspor's championship.

This Kurdish effort for Amedspor clearly demonstrated that they see Amedspor's success as a victory for their identity and its defeat as an attack on their identity.

Kurdish politicians or political parties have not been able   to bring Kurdish national feelings to the fore and create a collective sense of belonging, but Amedspor has brought those feelings of Kurdish belonging to the fore.

Kurds show their presence against their opponents at Amedspor matches with the colors green, red, yellow and white, and with the chants 'We hate, we are Kurds'. This phenomenon strengthens collective pride and nationalist memory among the Kurdish community.

When supporters of the rival team Amedspor attack them, the Kurdish community sees those attacks as an attack on Kurdishness, which further strengthens the differences between Turks and Kurds.

The great excitement that Amedspor created within the Kurdish community should be acknowledged as a testament to the power of Kurdish memory.

Amedspor's efforts have created a positive atmosphere of Kurdishness among Kurds who have been deprived of their native language, culture, and folklore.

Millions of Kurds living in large metropolitan areas, especially young Kurds, have become Amedspor supporters and they support Amedspor on the field without hesitation. Through Amedspor, they come closer to their language, culture, folklore, and music.

For us Kurds, Amedspor's participation in the Super League has a social and cultural symbolism that goes beyond football.

Since Amedspor will compete in the Turkish Super League next season, they will play against rival teams such as Fenerbahçe, Beşiktaş, Galatasaray, and Trabzonspor, which have millions of fans.

This also means that Amedspor, with its Kurdish identity, has entered millions of homes.

Kurdish identity or the existence of Kurds, whether positive or negative, will be increasingly debated in Turkey.

Amedspor's participation in the Super League should be recognized as a symbolic Kurdish national team, not only for Diyarbakir but for many Kurds around the world.

The Super League will allow Kurdish identity to be recognized and accepted by a wider audience through the universal language of sports.

For many young Kurds, Amedspor will be the most prestigious gateway to professional football.

The great excitement that this achievement has created within Kurdish society is very important for rebuilding social morale and self-confidence among Kurds.

Well, dear readers, I shared with you some of my feelings for Amedspor.

Many people compare the Amedspor team to the Barcelona team. But we know that Amedspor is not Barcelona, ​​the Kurds   are not Catalans, Turkey is not Spain, and the Turks are not Spanish.

But we know that Amedspor has taken on a heavy burden. Let's see together in the future how long Amedspor will carry this burden.

 I hope this excitement and enthusiasm continues. Congratulations to Amedspor once again.

Bijî Amedspor!