Introduction Some of the most recognisable names in music, cinema, sport, science, and business carry a Kurdish heritage that almost never makes it onto the marquee. For more than a century, Kurds living under Turkish, Iranian, Iraqi, and Syrian rule were pressured — sometimes by law, sometimes by stigma — to present themselves as something else. Many of the people below became household names as “Turkish,” “Iranian,” “German,” or “Russian” stars while their Kurdish roots s

Stephen Mansfield: The American Author Who Told the World “The Miracle of the Kurds” Who Is Stephen Mansfield? Stephen Mansfield (born 1958) is an American New York Times bestselling author, speaker, and leadership coach who became one of the most widely read Western chroniclers of the modern Kurdish story. His 2014 book, The Miracle of the Kurds, is an accessible introduction to Iraqi Kurdistan written for a general American audience, and it was named “Book of the Year” b

Who Was Abdul Aziz Yamulki? Abdul Aziz Yamulki (1890–1981) was a Kurdish general in the Iraqi army and a member of one of Sulaymaniyah's most prominent families. The son of the soldier and statesman Mustafa Yamulki, he is best known as the chief organiser of the 1937 plot to overthrow and assassinate Bakr Sidqi, the Kurdish-origin general who had seized power in Iraq's first modern military coup. Key Takeaways • He belonged to the influential Yamulki family of Sulaymaniya

Who Was Halis Öztürk? Halis Öztürk (1889–1977), known in Kurdish as Xalis Begê Sîpkî and in Turkish as Sipkanlı Halis Bey, was a Kurdish tribal chieftain of the Sipkan (Sipki) tribe and a Turkish politician. He took an active part in the 1930 Ararat rebellion — one of the great Kurdish uprisings against the early Turkish Republic — and decades later served as a long-standing member of the Turkish parliament for Ağrı before being imprisoned after the 1960 military coup. Key

Who Was Ali Saip Ursavaş? Ali Saip Ursavaş (1885–1939), also known as Ali Saib Bey, was an Ottoman and Turkish military officer of Kurdish origin and one of the early leading members of the Republican People's Party (CHP). Born in the Kurdish town of Rowanduz, he rose to fame as a hero of the defence of Urfa during the Turkish War of Independence — an achievement that earned him the surname “Ursavaş”, meaning “the Warrior of Urfa”, from Mustafa Kemal himself. Yet he remai

Who Is Mahabad Qaradaghi? Mahabad Qaradaghi was a Kurdish Iraqi scholar born in 1966 in the Qaradagh region of Sulaymaniyah who contributed to Kurdish academic and intellectual life before his death in 2020. His name — Mahabad, recalling the city of the Kurdish Republic, and Qaradaghi, referring to his region — connects him to the traditions of Kurdish cultural and political identity. He is listed among the notable Kurdish scholars of his generation and represents the tra

Who Is Şehrîbana Kurdî? Şehrîbana Kurdî — whose pen name means 'the sweetheart of Kurdistan' or 'the beloved of the Kurds' — is a contemporary Kurdish female poet writing in Kurmanji Kurdish whose poetry gives voice to the experience of Kurdish women in the diaspora: the longing for homeland, the experience of displacement, and the feminist consciousness of a Kurdish woman navigating between cultures. Her pen name is itself a political statement — claiming Kurdistan as a

Who Is Sara Omar? Sara Omar (Kurdish: سارا عومه‌ر) is a Kurdish-Danish author, poet, and human rights activist born on 21 August 1986 in Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan. She is the first internationally recognised female novelist from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and her debut novel Dødevaskeren ("The Dead Washer", 2017) became a literary phenomenon in Denmark — selling over 100,000 copies and being hailed by Danish media as "the MeToo of Muslim women." She writes in Danis

Who Is Dilshad Meriwani? Dilshad Meriwani was a Kurdish Iraqi singer born in 1947 in the Meriwan area of Iraqi Kurdistan who became one of the most beloved Kurdish musical voices of his generation before being killed in 1989 during the Anfal genocide — the Ba'athist campaign of mass murder against the Kurdish people that killed between 50,000 and 180,000 Kurds. His death at age 42 during the Anfal — which destroyed hundreds of Kurdish villages and killed tens of thousands

Who Is Tuncer Bakırhan? Tuncer Bakırhan is a Kurdish Turkish politician born in 1970 who serves as co-chair of the DEM Party — the successor to the HDP — continuing the tradition of Kurdish democratic political leadership in Turkey that runs from Selahattin Demirtaş through Pervin Buldan to the present. The DEM Party (Halkların Eşitlik ve Demokrasi Partisi — Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party) was formed as the successor to the HDP following court proceedings that thre

Who Is Widad Akrawi? Widad Akrawi is a Kurdish Iraqi-Swedish educator and peace builder born in 1969 in Iraqi Kurdistan who has built an internationally recognised career in education for peace, tolerance, and human rights. She is the founder and director of the Culture of Peace Initiative and has worked with UNESCO and other international organisations on education programmes in conflict and post-conflict settings. Her work brings the perspective of a Kurdish woman who e

Who Is Kajal Ahmad? Kajal Ahmad is a Kurdish Iraqi poet born in 1967 in Kirkuk — the disputed, ethnically complex, oil-rich city that has been at the centre of Kurdish-Arab-Turkmen tensions for decades — who is one of the most celebrated contemporary Kurdish female poets. Her Sorani poetry, characterised by emotional directness, feminist consciousness, and deep roots in the cultural complexity of Kirkuk, has been translated into multiple languages and brought her internatio

Who Is Sirwan Barzani? Sirwan Barzani is a Kurdish Iraqi military and political figure born in 1970, the son of Idris Barzani and nephew of Masoud Barzani, who has served as a senior Peshmerga commander and as Governor of Erbil Province. He commanded Peshmerga forces in critical battles against ISIS in 2014-2017, including in the defence of the Kirkuk area and other contested territories. He represents the military dimension of the Barzani family's leadership — the operat

Who Is Rowsch Shaways? Rowsch Shaways was a Kurdish Iraqi politician born in 1947 who served as Vice President of Iraq and as Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region — one of the most senior Kurdish statesmen of his generation. He was a senior figure in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and served in multiple high-level positions that bridged the Kurdish regional government and the Iraqi federal government. His career spanned the armed struggle against Saddam Hussein,

Who Is Narmin Othman? Narmin Othman is a Kurdish Iraqi politician born in 1948 who served in multiple ministerial positions in the Iraqi federal government — including as Minister of Environment and Minister of Human Rights. She is a senior figure in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and represents the Kurdish community's participation in Iraqi federal governance at the ministerial level. She is the sister of Mahmoud Othman — the independent Kurdish political voice —

Who Is Herro Mustafa? Herro Mustafa is a Kurdish Iraqi-American diplomat born in 1973 in Iraqi Kurdistan who served as the United States Ambassador to NATO from 2021 to 2023 — making her the first person of Kurdish origin to represent the United States in one of the most important diplomatic positions in the world. She was born in Iraqi Kurdistan and emigrated to the United States, building a career in American government and diplomacy. Her appointment as US Ambassador to

Who Is Houzan Mahmoud? Houzan Mahmoud is a Kurdish Iraqi women's rights activist, writer, and public intellectual born in 1973 who is based in the UK and is one of the most prominent international voices for Kurdish women's rights, secular democracy, and human rights. She co-founded the Organisation of Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) and has advocated for Kurdish and Iraqi women's rights across decades of international engagement. She has been a fierce critic of political

Who Is Mehmet Şimşek? Mehmet Şimşek is a Kurdish Turkish economist and politician born in 1967 in Adıyaman — the same city as filmmaker Yılmaz Erdoğan — who has served twice as Turkey's Finance Minister: first from 2009 to 2018 under the AKP government, and again from 2023 to the present when he was recalled to restore economic credibility after a period of unorthodox monetary policy. He is widely regarded as the most internationally credible economic figure in recent Tur

Who Is Nadhim Zahawi? Nadhim Zahawi is a Kurdish Iraqi-born British politician born in 1967 in Baghdad to a Kurdish family who fled Iraq when Zahawi was nine years old, settling in the United Kingdom. He became a Conservative Party MP, co-founded the polling company YouGov, and rose to some of the most senior positions in the UK government — serving as Minister for COVID Vaccines (overseeing one of the most successful vaccination programmes in the world), Secretary of State

Who Is Hamdi Ulukaya? Hamdi Ulukaya is a Kurdish Turkish entrepreneur born in 1972 in Iğdır in eastern Turkey who founded Chobani — America's best-selling Greek yogurt brand — and built it into a company worth billions of dollars, making him one of the most successful Kurdish entrepreneurs in history. He emigrated to the United States in 1994 to study English, eventually settling in upstate New York. In 2005, he purchased a failing Kraft Foods yogurt factory in New Berlin