In the aftermath of the Kurdistan Referendum, deep fissures between various Kurdish diaspora organizations in Europe, the US, and Canada emerged once again. The DC based KRG(Kurdistan Regional Government)lobby fell short in advancing its goals in part because it lacked a systematic outreach effort to cultivate and grow support among a range of diaspora groups. Growing criticism of the KRG's patriarchal leadership also indicated that a generational aspect creates pressures on diaspora groups. This paper relies on new interviews carried out in 2018 to highlight how the various branches of Kurdish diaspora organizations have reflected on past mistakes and why they pursue different mobilization strategies today (in Europe and the US/Canada). Ethnographic narratives contribute to a more complex scholarly understanding of the construction and fluidity of a variety of Kurdish identities and political motivations in the diaspora. The main question under consideration is how diaspora activists shape political dimensions of Kurdishness by purposefully selecting specific protest and lobby strategies.