Washington, DC, USA (us.gov.krd) – On Tuesday, February 23, Representative Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman and John Cooper, the Mayor of Nashville, Tennessee, had a virtual meeting in which they discussed the vibrant Kurdish-American community in his city and ways to connect Kurdistani and Nashville businesses.

Representative Abdul Rahman thanked the Mayor and his office for their embrace of the Kurdish diaspora who first arrived in Nashville in the mid-1970s when they fled Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship in Iraq. She said that they are enterprising with a strong sense of community and pride in being American as well as their Kurdish heritage.

Mayor Cooper said he admired the Kurdish-American community and that he was proud that Nashville hosted the largest Kurdish-American community in the United States. He said his office is ready to hear their concerns and address their needs.

Ms. Abdul Rahman and Mr. Cooper expressed their support to the community’s effort to forge a sister-city relationship between Nashville and Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, and discussed the potential for commercial ties between Nashville and Kurdistani businesses.