''Memi Alan'' (Kurdish: Mem û Zîn/Memî Alan û Zînî Buhtan (Mem and Zin) is a Kurdish drama that was directed by Nasir Hassan and shown by the Kurdish satellite TV station

Kurdistan TV Kurdistan TV ( ku, کوردستان تیڤی) is the first satellite television station in Iraqi Kurdistan that started broadcasting in 1999. It belongs to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and is based in Erbil, Kurdistan Region. The channe ...

during Ramadan 2002. '' Mem û Zîn'' is a famous novel which was written by

Ahmad Khani Ahmad ( ar, أحمد, ʾAḥmad) is an Arabic male given name common in most parts of the Muslim world. Other spellings of the name include Ahmed and Ahmet. Etymology The word derives from the root (ḥ-m-d), from the Arabic (), from the ve ...

in 1694. It is the most important work of Kurdish writer and poet

(1651-1707). Mam and Zin is based on a true story.

Story

Mem of the Alan clan and Zin of the Buhtan clan are two lovers. Their union is blocked by a man named Bakr of the Bakran clan. Mem, a young

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

boy, falls in love with Zin, the daughter of the governor of Buhtan, while the people are celebrating ''

Newroz Newroz or Nawroz ( ku, نەورۆز, Newroz) is the Kurdish celebration of Nowruz; the arrival of spring and new year in Kurdish culture. The lighting of the fires at the beginning of the evening of March 21 is the main symbol of Newroz among t ...

'', the ancient national new year ceremony of

Kurds ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Ira ...

. Mem eventually dies in the end as the result of a complicated conspiracy by Bakr. When Zin receives the news, she mourns Mem's death on his grave. The immense grief leads to her death and she is buried next to Mem. The news of the death of Mem and Zin spreads quickly among the people of Jazira Buhtan. Then Bakr's role in the tragedy is revealed, and he takes sanctuary between the two graves. He is eventually captured and slain by the people of Jazira. A thorn bush soon grows out of Bakr’s blood, sending its roots of malice deep into the earth between the lovers’ graves, separating the two even after their death.

Media

Nasir Hassan, the director of the successful drama said, "Memi Alan" is the most substantial and the most sophisticated artistic work ever done in

Kurdistan Kurdistan ( ku, کوردستان ,Kurdistan ; lit. "land of the Kurds") or Greater Kurdistan is a roughly defined geo-cultural territory in Western Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages ...

. With a crew of more than 1000 people and 250

actors An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lite ...

Kurdish People

For ''Kurds'', Mem and Zin are symbols of the Kurdish people and the

country, which are separated and cannot come together. The Mem u Zin museum in

Cizre Cizre (; ar, جَزِيْرَة ٱبْن عُمَر, Jazīrat Ibn ʿUmar, or ''Madinat al-Jazira'', he, גזירא, Gzira, ku, Cizîr, ''Cizîra Botan'', or ''Cizîre'', syr, ܓܙܪܬܐ ܕܒܪ ܥܘܡܪ, Gāzartā,) is a city in the Cizre Di ...

province has become a

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

attraction. The movie Mem u Zin was produced in 1991 in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

. It was not allowed to play the story in the

Kurdish language Kurdish (, ) is a language or a group of languages spoken by Kurds in the geo-cultural region of Kurdistan and the Kurdish diaspora. Kurdish constitutes a dialect continuum, belonging to Western Iranian languages in the Indo-European languag ...

. Mem û Zîn also emphasizes the national aspirations of the Kurdish people.

References

{{reflist

External links

* http://northerniraq.info/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1166 *

Mem and Zin ''Mem and Zin'' ( ku, Mem û Zîn) is a Kurdish classic love story written down in 1692 and is considered to be the épopée of Kurdish literature. It is the most important work of Kurdish writer and poet Ahmad Khani (1651-1707). ''Mam and Zin'' ...

* https://archive.today/20130127155125/http://www.kurdmedia.com/article.aspx?id=3110 Kurdish-language mass media 2002 television films 2002 films Films based on romance novels Kurdish-language television 2000s television miniseries