The Kurdish national anthem is from a poem by the revolutionary poet Yunis Rauf, who wrote under the name Dildar, written in 1938. The title has been said to be written about the guards in the prison where Rauf was imprisoned at the time for his political beliefs. It was originally written in the Kuridsh dialect of Soranî, but was later translated into the Kurmancî dialect for those Kurds living in the areas (eastern Turkey, north-eastern Syria, Armenia) that speak that dialect.

Its use as an anthem for the Kurdish people started soon after its original composition, and was a natural choice for the national anthem of the short-lived Kurdish Republic of Mahabad (a self-proclaimed Kurdish nation in western Iran; created in early 1946, but forcibly incorporated back into Iran later the same year.) Upon the close of the Gulf War in 1991, the Kurds in Iraq were given greater autonomy and use of “Ey Reqîb” grew in those areas of Iraq; the Kurdistan Regional Government of the area has proclaimed it the official anthem of the Kurdish areas in northern Iraq that it controls. Both of these areas use the original Soranî words.

Special thanks to: Brusk Chiwir Reshvan for some of this information.