Mount Cudi and Noah's Ark (Kurdish Tradition)
According to Kurdish creation myths, Noah's Ark landed on Mount Cudi (Cudi Dagh) in southeastern Turkey, not Mount Ararat as in the biblical tradition. The Kurdish tradition holds that after the flood, Melik Kurdim, a member of Noah's tribe, established rule over Mount Cudi and built the first post-diluvian civilization. He created the Kurdish language, considered the first non-Semitic language. The city of Judi was the first town built after the Flood, followed by the castles of Sinjar and Silvan. This tradition is recorded by the 17th-century Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi. Mount Cudi has be